MotoGP News
Date: 27/September/2012
The MotoGP World Championship looks set to follow in the footsteps of Formula One and introduce a control ECU in the near future.
Such a move would be opposed by all three factories - Honda, Yamaha and Ducati - but the announcement that Magneti Marelli has reached a deal to provide a cutting edge ECU to anyone who requests it from next season is a clear sign of where MotoGP is headed.
For 2013, the factories will continue with their own bespoke electronics - Yamaha and Ducati have long worked in partnership with Magneti Marelli, while Honda creates its own systems - but the majority of the privateer CRT class are likely to accept the new ECU.
That will allow the system to prove its worth and, should the ECU be both safe and successful on varyingly types of machines, make opposition to a compulsory ECU much harder.
Riders have a love-hate relationship with electronics, complaining that they mask individual talent and dampen the show, whilst at the same time being grateful for the reduction in crashes.
But if a standard ECU is introduced, rule makers are expected to ban - or at least heavily restrict - traction control.
Yamaha’s World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo explained: “If everyone has the same electronics that would be positive, but we have to have the same level of safety.
“Now we avoid a lot of highside crashes and maybe with standard electronics the bikes would be more dangerous.
“The bikes are very powerful, more than 250 horsepower, so we have to take care if those things.”
Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, 38 points behind Lorenzo heading into this weekend’s Aragon round, is encouraged by the example of F1.
“It’s hard to say because nobody has tried the new electronics, but obviously it’s a idea that has come F1 and it seems like it is working there. They don’t complain about it, but obviously that is a car and not a bike, so there are a lot of unknowns.”
Seven time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi made his premier-class debut in 2000, before the electronic age, and has frequently spoken of a desire to restrict the amount of control.
“It is good to have everyone on the same electronics, but they need to find the right balance to remain safe,” said the Ducati ride. “A bit less help from the electronics would make the races more fun. With more fights. F1 races have been more fun since they made the change.”
Englishman Cal Crutchlow also welcomed the idea, but believes the same riders would still be winning.
“I think it’s a good idea, but you’ll still see the same guys at the front. Those guys are fast for a reason, not just electronics,” he said. “It’s not going to make a guy at the back suddenly win, but it’s good for the championship and the financial situation.”
And then a joke about the possible dangers: “Maybe the leather manufacturers will need to make some parachutes in the humps!”
Free practice for the Aragon Grand prix takes place on Friday.
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