As at every Grand Prix since the start of the season, Hervé Poncharal is kind enough to share with us his vision of the last race.
In this second part, the boss of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team explains to us why the fins will undoubtedly disappear...
Hervé, there was a Grand Prix Commission in Jerez. Did you mention the fins?
Hervé Poncharal: “Yes, we discussed the subject. Regarding Moto3 and Moto2, you already know
what was decided. In MotoGP, there are still “for” and “against” and the manufacturers must position themselves at Le Mans.
The problem is twofold; First there is security, then the financial cost.
Obviously, there is first and foremost the problem of security. We asked the manufacturers to commit in writing that the fins would not be dangerous. If there is a problem, it will be their responsibility, which should give them pause.
Then there's the issue of cost. On this subject, Carmelo Ezpeleta told us something very true.
There are engineers paid by all the factories to find solutions to be more efficient. A few years ago, a Honda engineer studied the regulations and invented a great box called the seamless box. The regulations didn't mention anything about this, so it was legal. As expected, all the other factories followed suit and today all teams have seamless, “up and down” boxes, including the independent teams.
How much did it cost? Tens of millions of euros for the entire paddock. Really.
What did this bring? 0,1 or 0,2 seconds per lap, no one can really quantify.
The question is: “did it really bring anything to the Championship?” Would if we still had non-seamless boxes, the championship would be less exciting?
No.
Today, there is something with a somewhat similar approach, in terms of aerodynamics; the fins. They are not illegal because the current regulations allow it. Ducati has therefore relaunched the subject.
But some manufacturers came and told us that they had the opportunity to work very hard on the subject, with a lot of wind tunneling, that it was going to be war and that it was going to be very, very expensive.
So, once again, is it in our interest to dive into this? Have those who started not opened Pandora's box and will not find themselves faced with manufacturers who have enormous technical resources, with several wind tunnels at their disposal?
We may therefore find ourselves once again having to face galloping inflation, but ultimately, for what benefit in terms of spectacle?
We are therefore awaiting proposals from manufacturers on these two points.
I have no certainty about what will result from this but we could end up with something similar to what happened in Moto3, namely respecting the work and investment of Ducati by authorizing the wings up to the end of the year, if the manufacturers take full responsibility for these aerodynamic appendages. This would give Ducati time to design their 2017 bike without fins. But nothing is certain, as some competitors highlight security issues. The case of Iannone who cut off Marquez's camera support is not to be taken lightly.
So everyone is thinking about the question and a decision will perhaps be made at Le Mans. »
