Biense Bierma Appointed Secretary General of the MSMA

mylexicon · Mar 26, 2022

https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/bierma-appointed-general-secretary-of-msma/

This is an interesting development for several reasons.

First, unlike the departing Secretary General, Stefan Pierer (CEO of KTM), Mr. Bierma is not affiliated directly with any of the manufacturers. He worked for Aprilia racing for 6 years at the turn of the millennium, but he has not been involved with a motorcycle manufacturer since.

Second, Secretary Bierma's LinkedIn profile indicates he's been Secretary General since January of this year, but the news of his appointment is just breaking as he makes ambassadorial trips to the major MotoGP manufacturers. The public release of his appointment comes on the heels of the MSMA's failed attempt to regulate shapeshifters, which ultimately led to Dorna's outright ban.

Third, Biense Bierma has not managed internal combustion manufacturing in nearly a decade. He's been working exclusively with electric vehicles for the last 8+ years, and his prior position was with the EV division of industrial giant Mitsubishi. Is this a sign the MSMA are considering a move to hybrid powerunits in the not-too-distant future?

Keshav · Mar 26, 2022

Interesting the specific mention of tires in the article. “We are thinking about safety, we are thinking about sustainability and we want to work on the long-term future of racing whether it is with slick tires or off-road treads.”

michaelm · Mar 27, 2022

Double

michaelm · Mar 27, 2022

mylexicon said:
https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/bierma-appointed-general-secretary-of-msma/

This is an interesting development for several reasons.

First, unlike the departing Secretary General, Stefan Pierer (CEO of KTM), Mr. Bierma is not affiliated directly with any of the manufacturers. He worked for Aprilia racing for 6 years at the turn of the millennium, but he has not been involved with a motorcycle manufacturer since.

Second, Secretary Bierma's LinkedIn profile indicates he's been Secretary General since January of this year, but the news of his appointment is just breaking as he makes ambassadorial trips to the major MotoGP manufacturers. The public release of his appointment comes on the heels of the MSMA's failed attempt to regulate shapeshifters, which ultimately led to Dorna's outright ban.

Third, Biense Bierma has not managed internal combustion manufacturing in nearly a decade. He's been working exclusively with electric vehicles for the last 8+ years, and his prior position was with the EV division of industrial giant Mitsubishi. Is this a sign the MSMA are considering a move to hybrid powerunits in the not-too-distant future?

Interesting. My answer to your post on the other thread, if I had thought there was one, in terms of how the sport should be run would be that it would be good to have actual bike racing guys more involved in running the sport rather than just media companies/rights holders. I have just about given up on F1, but the nadir of this was the running of that Japanese GP in which the driver died crashing into a crane which the local officials apparently wanted to hold earlier because they knew a typhoon was coming but reputedly at Bernie’s behest was held at the scheduled time mid typhoon to suit European TV schedules. I didn’t hold much hope for the FIM having much role, since presumably they or their predecessors sold the show off to Dorna in the first place, and didn’t look to the MSMA given Honda would possibly prefer to have a real robot rather than a Pedrobot riding their bike, but this may be a hopeful sign that the MSMA have settled on a bike racing guy who is at least to an extent unaffiliated currently to give some leadership in regard to the future direction of the sport.

As I said on the other thread I am probably approaching the age at which being a curmudgeon is common myself, but don’t find the extra coverage of practice etc improves the show enough to match golden era 500 gp bike racing, not that I would want the bikes to be as dangerous as they were then. The commentary was definitely better then imo, particularly in Australia where we had Barry Sheene, but I guess he would have been unique in any era.

mylexicon · Mar 28, 2022

michaelm said:
Interesting. My answer to your post on the other thread, if I had thought there was one, in terms of how the sport should be run would be that it would be good to have actual bike racing guys more involved in running the sport rather than just media companies/rights holders. I have just about given up on F1, but the nadir of this was the running of that Japanese GP in which the driver died crashing into a crane which the local officials apparently wanted to hold earlier because they knew a typhoon was coming but reputedly at Bernie’s behest was held at the scheduled time mid typhoon to suit European TV schedules. I didn’t hold much hope for the FIM having much role, since presumably they or their predecessors sold the show off to Dorna in the first place, and didn’t look to the MSMA given Honda would possibly prefer to have a real robot rather than a Pedrobot riding their bike, but this may be a hopeful sign that the MSMA have settled on a bike racing guy who is at least to an extent unaffiliated currently to give some leadership in regard to the future direction of the sport.

As I said on the other thread I am probably approaching the age at which being a curmudgeon is common myself, but don’t find the extra coverage of practice etc improves the show enough to match golden era 500 gp bike racing, not that I would want the bikes to be as dangerous as they were then. The commentary was definitely better then imo, particularly in Australia where we had Barry Sheene, but I guess he would have been unique in any era.

I guess a perfect balance would be something like 4-stroke predictable power (in theory) meshed with two-stroke sporting paradigms, aptly described by Burgess as 80/20.

Whenever motorsport strays from the 80/20 arrangement it starts to decay, as spec parts, balance of performance, and other strategies are deployed by the governing body to contain costs and steer control of on-track events back to the competitors.

That’s why Bierma’s appointment is quite interesting. His sharpest skill is the procurement of systems. Perhaps he will merely be procuring spec shapeshifter equipment on the heels on Dorna’s front ban, or perhaps, with 10 years in electric propulsion, the MSMA will have him examine hybrid propulsion?

In this era, 80/20 means 80% bike, imo, and then the MSMA appoints a Secretary General who procures bulk equipment, built to spec, and who deals particularly in electric propulsion. My spidey sense says this is a big deal.

propagandhi · Mar 28, 2022

probably an unpopular opinion :
We're nearing the endgame anyhow. Might as well look to ensure a level playing field for the riders and have this truly be a riders championship. It's not like we would miss out on the next v5/bombadrone. Sport and entertainment above all else in this case.
Hell, would anyone really take offense if beansy beermam just put them on 26 equal Gp4s (run on synthetic fuel so that the non binary brigade would shut the .... up about this thing of ours)?
Edit: punctuation and juvenile jokes

michaelm · Mar 29, 2022

propagandhi said:
probably an unpopular opinion :
We're nearing the endgame anyhow. Might as well look to ensure a level playing field for the riders and have this truly be a riders championship. It's not like we would miss out on the next v5/bombadrone. Sport and entertainment above all else in this case.
Hell, would anyone really take offense if beansy beermam just put them on 26 equal Gp4s (run on synthetic fuel so that the non binary brigade would shut the .... up about this thing of ours)?
Edit: punctuation and juvenile jokes

mylexicon said:
I guess a perfect balance would be something like 4-stroke predictable power (in theory) meshed with two-stroke sporting paradigms, aptly described by Burgess as 80/20.

Whenever motorsport strays from the 80/20 arrangement it starts to decay, as spec parts, balance of performance, and other strategies are deployed by the governing body to contain costs and steer control of on-track events back to the competitors.

That’s why Bierma’s appointment is quite interesting. His sharpest skill is the procurement of systems. Perhaps he will merely be procuring spec shapeshifter equipment on the heels on Dorna’s front ban, or perhaps, with 10 years in electric propulsion, the MSMA will have him examine hybrid propulsion?

In this era, 80/20 means 80% bike, imo, and then the MSMA appoints a Secretary General who procures bulk equipment, built to spec, and who deals particularly in electric propulsion. My spidey sense says this is a big deal.

I am inclined to mostly agree with both of you.

It is my opinion also that the Burgess 80:20 thing is best for racing, but as well that even the current limited 'prototype' racing doesn't really have anywhere to go in terms of the performance/speed of the bikes, limitations of the tracks, physical limitations of the human species etc. I also don't think having shoddy control tires is a great method for providing '’close racing' though.

Perhaps the MSMA of all unexpected parties might be able to come up with something really innovative which allows a human element to racing but also enables technological development. One can only hope. I have encountered a Tesla S but still however love the smell of V8s in the morning, and of 2 stroke bikes even more so.

Keshav · Mar 29, 2022

I see those old RZV500s come up for sale every once in a while and get tempted to buy, if for no other reason than to just pull it out of the garage on Sundays and start it up for the smell. There’s a geezer who has one that comes to the local Sunday meet-up where we get hundreds of exotic bikes. Thing is, he’s afraid to ride the damn thing anywhere near what might be considered aggressive. Too afraid of getting a scratch on it.

Ridden in Teslas and found them soulless. After that Arab guy got turned to to shishkebab in his Tesla, I won’t even get near one.

mylexicon · Mar 29, 2022

propagandhi said:
probably an unpopular opinion :
We're nearing the endgame anyhow. Might as well look to ensure a level playing field for the riders and have this truly be a riders championship. It's not like we would miss out on the next v5/bombadrone. Sport and entertainment above all else in this case.
Hell, would anyone really take offense if beansy beermam just put them on 26 equal Gp4s (run on synthetic fuel so that the non binary brigade would shut the .... up about this thing of ours)?
Edit: punctuation and juvenile jokes

It might be unpopular, but it is correct. What more is there for the MSMA to accomplish? They are playing around with aero, active suspension and experimenting with various engine internals to find increasingly meaningless performance gains. Almost none of it has road relevance and MotoGP isn’t exactly a money making speed circus like F1 so the tech doesn’t fund itself.

If prototype racing is going to continue, the manufacturers will need to find something meaningful to develop with at least a casual relationship to road technology. Maybe hybrid powertrains are it? No idea. Maybe the idea is to chop off the rear cylinder bank and shrink the fuel cell and then somehow wedge some sort of system into the bike. Dunno. Sounds crazy, but they might have a go.

Anyway, none of that really changes the fact that they’ve reached the end of the road. They are going as fast as they can without the specter of certain death. The middle class in the West is disintegrating which is undermining the sport bike industry generally. Motorcycle racing will have to reinvent itself quickly, and entertainment is probably its only real lifeline, for better or worse.

#22 · Mar 29, 2022

mylexicon said:
Anyway, none of that really changes the fact that they’ve reached the end of the road. They are going as fast as they can without the specter of certain death. The middle class in the West is disintegrating which is undermining the sport bike industry generally. Motorcycle racing will have to reinvent itself quickly, and entertainment is probably its only real lifeline, for better or worse.

It will be certainly interesting to see. F1 gets more and more exotic and expensive yet seems to be going from strength to strength. It seems the 'Drive to survive' series, however crap it is, has really rejuvinated interest in the sport when people said it was on the decline because kids are now into gadgets more than cars.

I personally think MotoGP would go for synthetic 2 stroke or biofuel before they go hybrid. There isn't realistically space to fit motors and battery packs. Modern F1 cars are balloons compared to counterparts 15 or so years ago. In 2005 a V10 F1 car weighed 605kg, now they have a minimum limit of 795kg and I say limit because most teams are struggling to reach that. No way could you fit ERS, batteries and motors in the current space of a MotoGP bike.

Now, synthetic 2 stroke fuels. I'd be drooling at the thought of 2 strokes coming back with modern electronic control.

mylexicon · Mar 29, 2022

#22 said:
It will be certainly interesting to see. F1 gets more and more exotic and expensive yet seems to be going from strength to strength. It seems the 'Drive to survive' series, however crap it is, has really rejuvinated interest in the sport when people said it was on the decline because kids are now into gadgets more than cars.

I personally think MotoGP would go for synthetic 2 stroke or biofuel before they go hybrid. There isn't realistically space to fit motors and battery packs. Modern F1 cars are balloons compared to counterparts 15 or so years ago. In 2005 a V10 F1 car weighed 605kg, now they have a minimum limit of 795kg and I say limit because most teams are struggling to reach that. No way could you fit ERS, batteries and motors in the current space of a MotoGP bike.

Now, synthetic 2 stroke fuels. I'd be drooling at the thought of 2 strokes coming back with modern electronic control.

Packaging and safety are a major challenge, perhaps making hybrid impossible. Maybe Bierma is just going to lend his skills to MotoE. Seems beneath the Secretary General position, but it’s possible.

I too would like to see two strokes return as a specialized Grand Prix discipline, perhaps with national series, but EFI would be on the only upgrade I might tolerate to make the power more predictable. However, the return of two-strokes is probably unlikely, unless a couple of crazy upstart mfgs force the issue. The major manufacturers would rather be selling super sport production bikes, rather than a middleweight two-stroke.

Oh well. Maybe nothing changes. That seems to be the trend for the last 10 years.

michaelm · Mar 29, 2022

Keshav said:
I see those old RZV500s come up for sale every once in a while and get tempted to buy, if for no other reason than to just pull it out of the garage on Sundays and start it up for the smell. There’s a geezer who has one that comes to the local Sunday meet-up where we get hundreds of exotic bikes. Thing is, he’s afraid to ride the damn thing anywhere near what might be considered aggressive. Too afraid of getting a scratch on it.

Ridden in Teslas and found them soulless. After that Arab guy got turned to to shishkebab in his Tesla, I won’t even get near one.

One of my best friends from school who is still actively involved in drag racing cars all these years later has a beautiful RD 400 he has fully restored.

Biense Bierma Appointed Secretary General of the MSMA

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