With Honda’s stunning 1,2,3,4 at Sepang yesterday, the rumour mill has kicked into top gear. Owing to a somewhat incautious comment by “one of the Italian Honda riders” to a press official, the rumour swept the paddock that Honda have perfected and are using a Dual Clutch Transmission in their MotoGp bike. Now, given that the RC212 is clearly the best bike in the paddock at the moment, it’s no surprise that competitors are looking at something, anything, that could claw back some of the disadvantage that pre-season testing has shown them they have.
Everyone acknowledges that the Yamaha is still the best package, as it proved last year; it steers best, is the most stable, tips in better and is a more predictable platform. Problem is, it’s SLOW. And, in the end, fast wins most times the flag gets shown. So, if rivals would be able to prove that Honda is using something illegal, it would be a major coup.
However, like most rumours, it has little basis in fact. DCT is illegal in MotoGp in ANY form, and though Honda has perfected it in road use (VFR1200F), its use in racing would be a clear breach of the technical regulations. So, we can safely say that Honda ISN’T using DCT. Anyone who knows anything about the subject will realise that any performance advantage of DCT (faster gear changes) would be well and truly negated by the extra weight that is imposed by the incorporation of the system on a bike.
So, what did the unnamed Italian rider mean? Well, it seems that Honda IS using a piece of new technology in their gearbox to allow faster changes, but it is NOT DCT. At an impromptu press conference this morning, HRC’s Shuei Nakamoto admitted that something new was being used, but, in inscrutable Oriental style, he went on to say, “Don’t ask me how it works, because I don’t know!”
Meanwhile, back at Phillip Island, Carlos Checa sits on provisional pole after continuing to grind the opposition down in both FP1 and FP2. Given that the new Superpole rules say that only 16 riders progress, there is going to be some frantic scrambling amongst the non-Ducati riders to ensure that they don’t miss the cut. Max Biaggi has been persuaded by the Aprilia factory to abandon his traditional #3 and wear the champion’s #1 plate for 2011, the first time this has happened since Troy Corser in 2007.
In the mean time, it’s good to see motorcycle road racing getting some attention in the mainstream media, this feature on the Waters brothers showing up on FoxSports.com
On another subject altogether, this article on last year’s Annual Report from Harley Davidson makes for some very interesting reading.
gearsau says
Phil
See how much aid went to Harley Davidson ?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120106870.html
It bought paper from Harley-Davidson 33 times, for a total of $2.3 billion.
Phil Hall says
The American government has been subsidising/protecting HD for years. Hell, they even changed the laws about what capacity of bikes could be imported into the country just to protect HD from “unfair” competition.