GPOne: MotoGP At A Stalemate

Speaking anonymously (take that for whatever it's worth), a paddock insider has concluded that the current formula is doomed, and that the impending technical changes after 2026, will make it impossible for Honda or Yamaha to rally the board to spend more money on MotoGP. The source also concludes that 3 more years of this formula should be enough to give people the willies, and that changes are needed now. Unfortunately, it seems there are several impasses in the negotiations. First, the clean-sheet crew cannot gain traction against the people who want to make sure the current engines can continue in some form or another. Second, the displacement-reduction faction have a 0% chance of persuading Dorna, who are surely wed to 1000cc for CRT reasons. Seems like they would be better served to go buy a DFV from someone, but I guess they do not agree.

The source, whoever they are, is probably an engineer, imo, because they do not appear to understand that putting independently operating ride height devices on the front forks is an idea so reckless it shocks the conscience. This is not a knock on engineers, just the sort of single-minded pathological thinkers who excel in motorsport (hopefully, I'm not offending present company). They also seem to express support for Ducati gaming the rules and wrecking the spectacle simply because it was not prohibited by the letter of the law, as if MotoGP is some sort of massively multiplayer democratic experiment, not a country club tournament for people willing to pay the member fees.

But at the end, the source throws a major curveball by declaring the sport is an artifice, in which 16 riders lap within 1 second of each other. The sport must therefore be given back to the difference makers. If the source is an engineer, concluding that the riders must be at the center of the sport is somewhat earth-shattering and encouraging. It suggests that even engineers realize that they will never have the shackles removed, until they stop replacing the riders with junk, like ride height, rider aids, and maybe aero. Better to lose some of the high tech components and the savage engine tuning than to be forced into a box.

The quip about the triples is interesting because I think it betrays the leanings of the clean-sheet crowd. There is little dispute that some of the MSMA members are pushing for hybrid power. In my opinion, this could lead away from space-inefficient V-layout engines to space-efficient inline engines. Not sure where this leaves Ducati, but I bet several MSMA members don't care. When Pit Berier was interviewed, he said KTM were against clean sheet, but now that KTM is acquiring MV, could they be swayed to the inline camp? Ducati is the toast of the town today, but I wonder how many bridges they've burned?