Motorcycle Road Racing
Future Directions – Part Two
See Part One here (link).
Part Two of Trev’s catch-up with Scott Smart, current Director of Technology for Dorna, working on Dorna’s vision for the future directions of road racing. Scott is also the BSB Technical Director.
In part one, we talked about the introduction of the new Next Generation Supersport category, and now we continue on the topic of balancing the performance of the race machinery between manufacturers.
Trev – So how exactly is the balancing managed?
Scott Smart – “Are you sitting comfortably?
“The first task is to dyno all the bikes on the same engine dyno in Italy. That gives us a perfect torque table from the engine. Then we obtain/measure and calculate the inertia of all parts of the engine. Wheels, transmission etc. That is dumped in a model that can then calculate acceleration and speeds. The model includes a lot of detail including bike centre of gravity, a tyre model that considers grip and rolling resistance, temperature corrections and even models the way in which the ECU manages a gear shift.
“We then get data from the track to validate the model initially and to reverse engineer the coefficient of drag and better estimate the ram air effect, etc.
“After that you can play with TPS limitations/weight etc. to arrive at similar acceleration potential.
“It’s iterative as teams get better at optimising cam timing, etc., but at this point, it is more or less settled.
“We then keep checking data to see how the bikes are actually working on the track.
“The limitation in the end is a reduction in throttle opening. However, it’s not a blanket cap. It’s a 4D table. The simplest example is that a heavy bike needs more power for acceleration from low speeds, and a motorcycle with a bad aero needs more power at top speeds to overcome the drag….
“The initial level we worked to was ‘good R6’, but it has crept up since in WorldSSP.
“In MotoAmerica, an R6 won the championship last year, and a CBR600RR won the British Supersport Championship.
“Notice that I have used power and torque almost interchangeably. The word torque appears in many conversations in the paddock, too, and people immediately demonstrate a total lack of technical understanding of what that means (normally immediately after seeing a dyno sheet). Measure power on the dyno and accepting losses, that is, the power at the rear wheel irrespective of the gear. Get a dyno reading of torque, and the dyno software is calculating (estimating) engine torque at the engine (and making many inertia-based assumptions) that is NOT what is at the wheel, which then also changes by gear.
“But let me leave you with this: if torque is just torque, why does your bike accelerate faster in a lower gear (ignore aero)?
“At the first events, I climbed onto the roofs of the tallest buildings to watch everything on track. You don’t see many other techs that involved! It’s NOT a simple job, and we aim to have one balance level globally.”
Trev – Do you think that some brands have at times fielded ‘patsies’ on underperforming bikes to help bring down the average performance of their machinery? To avoid having their performance adjusted?
Scott – “In WSBK, definitely maybe! In WSS no. All the teams are essentially private and privately funded with an oversubscribed number of entry slots, so no one can be that team. The BOP is not based on the complex averaging equations used in WSBK; it’s based on the logged performance of the bikes (WSBK is based on results and time-keeping info too).
“The data set recorded also allows us to see when a manufacturer or team is not optimising the rest of the set-up, so we aim to remove the rider and team from the equation – as best we can.”
Trev – ASBK recently announced the pending introduction of Next Generation Supersport, as a sub category within our Supersport category, which in current years has been a field that has been primarily made up of a fleet of YZF-R6 competitors, with a couple of ZX-6R thrown in from time to time. Our motorcycle market is quite small, and Yamaha offers by far the most help to competitors across the board, which has led to this make-up of the class.
On the 27-rider entry list for World Supersport at the Phillip Island WorldSSP season opener, there were only two traditional 600s, the Petronas Mie Honda CBR600RR machine, and a single 636 ZX-6R Kawasaki.
I should clarify, while I said Next Generation was going to be a sub category of our traditional Supersport, early indications are that ASBK aims to have Next Generation machines race from the back of the grid in the Superbike class. I know this has already seen some people with Next Generation bikes already built, or well along the build process, to seriously reconsider whether they enter this year at all, as they don’t want to race Supersport Next Generation bikes in with the Superbike category.
Scott – “Well… NG will be around 15-20 hp above some of your current supersports bikes, but around 70 hp less than your, basically ‘Superstock, Superbikes, so that may not the best news.
“However from another point of view, no team would want to pay higher entry fees, and to stop that the series needs sponsors. Looking at the Supersport entry list and down the list of sponsors there may be some sponsor pressures there…. Maybe short sighted as most brands will need the NG regulations going forward. But in the end it is probably only for now and gives a good NG rider the chance to prove that and NG may be more fun than a 1000…”
Trev – Do you know if there has there been a conscious decision by Yamaha Europe or Japan to encourage all Supersport racers away from the YZF-R6 and onto the new YZF-R9?
Scott – “It’s the World Championship, and the racing budget is from marketing, so all the teams will have had to run the R9, as that is the product that needs to be marketed.
“The older Supersport bikes were more focused and nearer to race bikes, but also became too expensive to redevelop in relation their reducing sales volume. The road sales have shown that the more competitively priced sports bikes are starting to sell again – the R9 has sold way more than they initially planned to produce for example.
“That demonstrates that the type of rider that is enthusiastic about sporty motorcycles are normally younger. By the time in life you can afford to drop $50K on a V4 Panigale or M 1000 RR, you are then generally in the GS and Multistrada target audience… Plus, there is ALWAYS going to be another new bike around the corner, just like you need a new Macbook.
“If cost of build is the overriding question from you and the organisers, then a single-make series on near-stock bikes and one set of control tyres would be a FAR better option. But this is a national-level series that has created some of the best bike racers in the world; I think it’s above that.
“The scale of Australia is huge and travel cost have risen dramatically over the last few seasons, I think that reducing the footprint to largely events in the Adelaide/Melbourne/Sydney triangle is, in the current economic climate, a good step and offers everyone ongoing savings.”
Trev – The first stock of the YZF-R9 are not scheduled to land in Australia until May. I believe the supply of the race kits for the R9 are currently extremely limited regarding availability. Thus, the majority of our Supersport field will be made up of YZF-R6 riders across the foreseeable future.
Our rules mandate stock camshafts and cylinder heads for Supersport bikes in their current form. Do you think allowing camshafts will bring the performance of the YZF-R6 up to the level that will allow them to compete on a fairly level pegging with the new Next Generation Supersport bikes?
Scott – “Every championship has had a crossover period, but all race bikes come to an end of serviceable life, so in a few seasons, the change won’t be noticed. It seems like 2025 is a ‘soft start’ mid-season introduction for ASBK anyway.
“By the end of the year, there will be plenty of R9 kits and set-up data.
“In MotoAmerica, we had a period where the 600s could fit cams and air funnels but use standard cylinder heads; it made up around 80 per cent of the gap.
“The long decision-making process has certainly been frustrating for teams, but in the end, it’s done, and the steady introduction may be easier to manage.
“First, teams need to build bikes and understand the basics of the electronics. By the end of the year, more knowledge and parts will be available. Don’t forget that the series itself has to learn about the bikes, tech control and so on, so let’s see the steps being taken now as a positive.”
Stay tuned for Part Three of the interview shortly!
Missed Part One? Find it here (link).
