At Laguna Seca this weekend MotoGP will put on a fantastic show with the most efficient (and loudest) roadracing bikes that ever went under starter’s orders, and maybe, just maybe, we will see a battle for the lead right down to the wire. We are due for one because there hasn’t been a last-lap lead chance since the penultimate race of 2006, back in the 990 days, when Toni Elias passed Rossi on the last lap to win from the Italian and American Kenny Roberts Junior. But even if we are lucky enough to see a tight race at Laguna, the undeniable truth is that there is trouble right here in MotoGP city and it starts with a capital 'T'.
Clearly traction control is here to stay, but perhaps its place is on the road rather than the racetrack. With more and more countries limiting sports bikes to a maximum of 100 HP and with a steady rise in road deaths by riders of large capacity machines, manufacturers are looking to electronics (traction control and ABS) as safety measures but are cautious about advertising 'un-crashable' bikes for obvious reasons.
Should these devices become part of racing? That depends on what you think racing is about. If, on one extreme, it is public R&D then the satisfaction of seeing precise bikes that rarely twitch and turn ever faster lap times at higher and higher corner speeds, the current formula is the way to go. If, on the other extreme, you regard racing as entertainment, any technology that hurts the show is bad. Obviously there must be a compromise.
Formula 1 bosses, alarmed by a series of processional races with most overtaking accomplished in the pits, made the move to ban traction control this year and most observers believe, at least so far, that the racing is better and the importance of the driver has increased.
Of course
the 990s had traction control too, but the bikes were so powerful that riders didn’t need to use such exaggerated corner speed. There was enough power to override the system and fire the bikes out of corners, occasionally even smoking the tire. Now, sadly for many fans and riders, the game has changed and in the most sophisticated systems GPS tells the onboard computer just how much power can be applied at a specific lean angle, depending on the camber.
As a journalist covering Grands Prix since 1974 (before Hennen, Baker and Roberts), I think I understand that electronics are potentially important for road riders, but, to me, it is hurting the sport. I equate TC to spell-check. It is very handy for anyone writing, but it should not be allowed as an aid to participants in a spelling bee.
However, the fact that Ducati is well out in front in electronics will make the Japanese, even if they eventually accept the idea that some kind of control of electronics is necessary, reluctant to be seen as trying to take away their European rival’s well-earned advantage.
The man who just might be able to find some kind of compromise over electronics is FIM President Vito Ippolito. The Venezuelan is the only FIM president to have actually run a Grand Prix racing team (he managed the Venemotos team that took Carlos Lavado to the world 250 title) and he is not only an outspoken opponent of traction control but also a skilful diplomat (no one wins an FIM presidential election over a well-supported European ex-president (Dutchman Jos Vaessen) by a narrow five-point margin (75-70) without having the political gift.
President Ippolito will have his work cut out for him trying to reign in run-away technology and, to quote Kenny Roberts, “putting the awe back in MotoGP.”
