MotoGP seemed to have managed to control its costs with a single manufacturer and a standard electronic control unit. Add to this a maximum quantity of gasoline in the tank and a limited number of engines per year and you will have all the ingredients of a motorsport discipline open to as many participants as possible. Protagonists reassured by a predictable budget. Yes, but that was before the fins. Or more precisely before their ban specifies Aprilia.
Ducati warned when it lost its regulatory standoff with Honda: banning wings for a false safety reason is giving a real pretext to a very expensive aerodynamic development. Because prohibiting does not mean renouncing. We never give up on what improves performance and the fins have shown that we can go faster with them. With which more is a more stable motorcycle. We must therefore regain this efficiency. By other means which will prove much more expensive.
An inventory drawn up by someone who would have liked a synthesis between the positions of Honda and those of Ducati: Aprilia. His sports director Roman Albesian commented on Motoracing : " adding fins to the fairings was not complicated. Now that they are banned, a lot of money is being put into wind tunnel tests and computer simulations. ».
An escalation that the limitation to two possible fairing outings during the season has paradoxically accelerated: “ Limiting to two aerodynamic solutions per year is a good idea initially because it limits the costs of building the parts. But in fact, it has worsened the development budget because all the teams do lots of tests before settling on the two best choices ».
An approach reminiscent of Formula 1 known for its substantial budgets and transfers of engineers, not to mention an atmosphere weighed down by mutual espionage and recourse to regulations. Each team plays to the limit of the latter by seeking the best possible interpretation for its interests. Casually, this is the trajectory that MotoGP seems to be taking. We cannot say that Roman Albesian didn't warn us.
Nowadays Yamaha showed off its fairing while Aprilia and Suzuki have barely revealed theirs. Ducati and Honda, on the other hand, have yet to produce anything on the track.
