MotoGP 2023

Some big changes mooted for the future. From crash.net

MotoGP heading for 850cc future?

As discussions between the manufacturers intensify over the future MotoGP technical rules, there is now a ‘stable majority’ for reducing engine size from 1000cc to 850cc from 2027.
That’s according to KTM’s motorsport director Pit Beirer, who explained that the Austrian factory has now dropped its opposition to the engine reduction.

“We agree to the reduction to 850cc,” Beirer told Speedweek.com. “We think this is a relatively sensible reduction. “Because if you take away 150cc, torque and power are taken out of this class. You can develop very cool MotoGP regulations with 850cc. There is now a stable majority for 850cc.” Beirer added that KTM had initially sided with Aprilia in believing that a cheaper way to reduce engine performance and top speeds would be to change the maximum cylinder bore of the current 1,000cc engines (81mm).

“In principle, Aprilia would like to stick to the 1000cc engine. That was originally our idea too. But after a lot of discussion, we moved into the 850cc direction, which definitely has positive aspects,” Beirer said. “Of course, it was initially a cost factor for us not to change the engine so radically because it would have been cheaper to continue working on the basis of an existing engine. And the cost side concerns not only Aprilia, but all of us.” The MotoGP era began with 990cc four-strokes, which replaced 500cc two-strokes in 2002. But a switch to 800cc engines from 2007-2011 resulted in peaky power curves, as engine designers chased to regain the lost power, and a greater reliance on advanced electronics to tame the delivery.

The end result was expensive, monotonous racing (Suzuki, Kawasaki and Team Roberts eventually deperated) and a return to 1,000cc was agreed from 2012. MotoGP will hope that the single ECU, introduced since 2016, will avoid the 800cc mistakes of the past. Aerodynamics are also expected to be cut back for the next five-year contract cycle between Dorna and the manufacturers, as well as a possible ban on ride height devices. Meanwhile, reducing MotoGP capacity to 850cc might also require clipping the wings of the Moto2 class, which uses 765cc Triumph engines and is tipped to receive more competitive tyres when it changes to Pirellis for next season.

The fastest Moto2 lap at this year's Sachsenring event was one-second behind the slowest MotoGP race lap.

Brad Binder set a new all time MotoGP top speed record of 227.5mph/366.1km/h in this year's Mugello Sprint race.
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Both Yamahas in the top-5, both Tech3s in the top-10, Pecco 15th, Binder 18th, interesting FP1.
 
Harold_Crick said:
Both Yamahas in the top-5, both Tech3s in the top-10, Pecco 15th, Binder 18th, interesting FP1.
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Hopefully follows a similar trend to Buriram where they were also nowhere in FP1 and then Brad stuck it on P1 in practice and went straight through to Qualy 2
 
Just occurred to me and I need you guys to balance me:
Are Pramac the only team with both riders to have won a GP this season?
 
Pretty good sprint race. Wonder if Alex Marquez can keep that pace up over the full race distance tomorrow.

Bastiannini showing a timely return to form with his future at the factory Ducati team the hot topic at the moment.

Encouraging late race charge there from Brad. Almost had Bastiannini at the end. His scuffle earlier with Bastiannini and being stuck behind Miller for a few laps proved costly in terms of the podium battle. Hopefully he can be in the mix tomorrow.
 
Agent_Smith said:
Pretty good sprint race. Wonder if Alex Marquez can keep that pace up over the full race distance tomorrow.

Bastiannini showing a timely return to form with his future at the factory Ducati team the hot topic at the moment.

Encouraging late race charge there from Brad. Almost had Bastiannini at the end. His scuffle earlier with Bastiannini and being stuck behind Miller for a few laps proved costly in terms of the podium battle. Hopefully he can be in the mix tomorrow.
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Really interesting how competitive the GP22 is even this late in the season. Beast doing what was needed from a team perspective - although he hasn't done well this season do you think he should be swapped for Martin?
 
Mzezman said:
Really interesting how competitive the GP22 is even this late in the season. Beast doing what was needed from a team perspective - although he hasn't done well this season do you think he should be swapped for Martin?
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Tough call. From a championship perspective, you'd probably have two riders winning races for your team on an almost weekly basis. But managing two mega personalities would be a real balancing act. It could become the biking equivalent of Hamilton / Rosberg. Does Ducati want to deal with that?

It would also be a bit of a disservice to the Beast. His injuries in the first race of the year have really wrecked him and if he is starting to regain the form that made him such a force last year, then keeping him would give Ducati the strong lineup without the intra team conflict.
 
I don't know, I some what felt todays Sprint was boring, or maybe I was just expecting excitement as Sprints are these days, nonetheless solid Sprint race.
 
RedDevil7108 said:
I don't know, I some what felt todays Sprint was boring, or maybe I was just expecting excitement as Sprints are these days, nonetheless solid Sprint race.
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Definitely not as much overtaking. I feel the tyres (pressure and temps) played a large part
 
Heard Brad said that he didn't "feel" the rear tires in the Sprint, hence he could not do more better than he did
Tomorrow is the main, so hopefully all will be sorted
 
RedDevil7108 said:
Heard Brad said that he didn't "feel" the rear tires in the Sprint, hence he could not do more better than he did
Tomorrow is the main, so hopefully all will be sorted
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I think most riders normally opt for the soft rear tyre for the sprint but that wears exceedingly quickly. Would be surprised if anyone runs it tomorrow, unless you're midfield or to the rear in which case you have little to lose.
 
Looks like the race may start in wet conditions as the forecast says a high chance of thundershowers right before the start. Could throw a spanner in the works for a lot of teams.
 
Hardly a contender for most exciting race of 2023 in all honesty but big congrats to the Beast. A very timely win!
 
Agent_Smith said:
Hardly a contender for most exciting race of 2023 in all honesty but big congrats to the Beast. A very timely win!
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yuuup.... cant remember the last time a motogp race had me somewhat bored. good for beast - makes the decision for the 2nd Factory ride more complicated, lets see if he can continue this form. Still very tight in the title race though
 
I'm guessing Brad's performance was due to him & Miller "touching" - did anyone see that, I briefly saw it, but there were no replays of the incident after...
 
So with the news that Marino will be at Repsol and potentially Aldeguer to VR46 it seems as if Pol and Digi will be without seats next season ? Unless I’ve missed something
 
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RedDevil7108 said:
I'm guessing Brad's performance was due to him & Miller "touching" - did anyone see that, I briefly saw it, but there were no replays of the incident after...
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It sounds like like he was having braking issues throughout the weekend and then he lost the front in the race, which was a risk for everyone in the conditions. Bastianini said after the race that it was so easy to lose the front. Brad being at the back of a train of bikes in close proximity likely also meant his front tyre was burning up as well.

Today was a somewhat complicated race. In the Warm Up we tried a few things that worked very well […]. In the race I struggled to stop the bike in all the braking zones, and I felt that I was never able to slow down and if you don’t brake well you don’t turn well, and today the thing I struggled with the most was the constant loss of the front of the bike. It was difficult to manage at first, I tried to be patient, to understand what was going on and whether it would get better during the race, but I didn’t get that far…’.
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Binder then explained that the failure was crucial: ‘I ended up tucking the front of the bike after nine or ten laps and that was basically the end of the day, there’s not much to say. Already yesterday we had a lot of locking coming from the rear of the bike, the engine braking didn’t work well or at least it wasn’t working as well as we would have liked […]’.
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Mzezman said:
So with the news that Marino will be at Repsol and potentially Aldeguer to VR46 it seems as if Pol and Digi will be without seats next season ? Unless I’ve missed something
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Pol had already accepted a test rider role with KTM to make way for Acosta, so he was prepared to lose a full-time ride. Digia looks like the odd man out at this stage.
 
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