Kurt Trieb, Technical Director at KTM Factory Racing and responsible for the design of the MotoGP engine, gave his views on the advantage of the V4 concept over the inline 4 during an interview with speedweek.
Already at the base of the 4 cc V990 engine for MotoGP in 2004, the man then took care of the multiple world champion off-road engines as well as the Moto3 engines which have won three of the five manufacturers' world titles since the birth of the category.
We don't know much about the KTM MotoGP engine, other than that it's a 4° V90 screamer. Even if the riders have no complaints about it, there is no doubt that it is still evolving, like the 17 different chassis versions produced since the start of the project, especially since KTM, as a new manufacturer, is in no way impacted by the engine development freeze which concerns all other manufacturers with the exception of Aprilia.
Kurt, you are a strong believer in the V4 engine concept. At the Sepang test, three inline engines were in the Top 4, two Yamahas and one Suzuki. In Australia, it was the same. Does this make you think, although all other manufacturers rely on V4 engines?
“From my experience I can say that for this use only in MotoGP, the V4 is the correct choice. But I find it impressive what online engine colleagues achieve. We must say it quite clearly: if we had started with such an in-line engine at KTM, we would have had difficulties.
Suzuki competed with the V4 engine in MotoGP for ten years and did not have the expected success. So, they changed course and developed an inline engine.”
Suzuki indeed has such engines in the Superbike category. Is this part of the DNA of this company?
"I believe. It is simply incredible that in motorcycling sport Rossi with his four-cylinder Yamaha can be as fast as Marquez with a V4 engine. They all reach the same level.”
Would it be easier for KTM if you had Öhlins suspension and an aluminum frame? That would make two fewer unknowns…
“Regarding the WP suspension elements, I didn't hear any complaints during testing, and it seems to work very well. And if we made an aluminum chassis, we would have to learn even more. Furthermore, the steel chassis is in KTM’s genes.”
Aerodynamics is of course an important issue. Some teams have experimented with mounting wings inside the fairings, since winglets outside are banned in 2017. Is KTM planning to do this, even if your engine is mounted further back than Ducati?
“I don’t know that. We plan to work on it. However, we must choose our priorities. Putting what we have seen into racing, i.e. the side channels, is surely a medium to long term affair. I think it will take us until the middle of the season.”
