The time is long gone when a few specialist journalists could try the factory 500cc and then the MotoGP at the end of the season. Today, we can probably count on the fingers of one hand the riders to whom the manufacturers involved in MotoGP trust enough to lend their little jewels. KTM promised it to the Moto2 rookie of the year Peter Acosta, Suzuki did it with Greg Black, essential leader of the 2020 and 2021 EWC world champion trio fielded by the team Yoshimura SERT Motul !
Very kindly, the rider who makes Suzuki's colors shine in Endurance was kind enough to go back in detail on this unique experience, before outlining what his future should be... A big thank you to him!
Hello Gregg, some time ago we discovered that you tried the Suzuki MotoGP GSX–RR in Motegi. Do you feel authorized to tell us a little about it and to explain to us, firstly, how this was possible?
Greg Black : " Yes. I always hoped to have the opportunity to try a MotoGP. Today, some endurance riders are ex-MotoGP riders, like my teammate Sylvain (Guintoli)as an Xavier Simeon or other people like
Randy de Puniet. Today, I have reached a level where, why not try a MotoGP, to try to see the difference with our bike on a technical level. So I made a request last year to Suzuki but it couldn't be done because of Covid. But this year, talking to Suzuki and my team, I told them that if they had the opportunity to let me try MotoGP, it could be fun. So they came back to me and kindly offered me a test ride on the bike in Motegi on the last day of their Test Team. He works in parallel with the MotoGP team, with Takuya Tsuda in Japan and Sylvain Guintoli in Europe. There, it was a test which was planned in Japan, with Tsuda, and on the same day there was also Yoshimura who was present with
Kasuki Watanabe, my teammate. So they offered me a day on the endurance bike to learn the circuit and do a test program that I had to do, which I did the first day. The second day, I rode the EWC bike in the morning, then I did around thirty laps on the MotoGP. »
At the time, it went completely unnoticed. It was when ?
« It was just before the Thai Grand Prix, from memory October 18-19. »
So in fact, you went to Japan specifically for that, to ride MotoGP?
« Exactly (laughs)! »
Although you are a top pilot, how does such a discovery happen? Did you get a lot of explanations and advice before getting on the bike and what were your impressions?
« The bike, I obviously knew it visually but it was interesting to be able to compare this bike. The technical staff explained to me how it worked, with the technical details of the bike, whether it was the buttons, the engine brake, the Traction Control, and what is specific on the motorcycle, i.e. mainly the Ride Height Device which lowers the motorcycle. They explained to me how it worked and then we did the positions on the bike. I was entitled to what Sylvain used, that is to say something close to what
Alex Rins used. On the bike they put the same settings that Rins used two weeks before during the race in Motegi. So I knew I had the base that worked and they explained to me well how the bike worked. Of course, we are a little apprehensive because we have to be careful, knowing that the big differences between the two bikes are above all the carbon brakes, the engine power and the Ride Height Device, which changes a lot. I couldn't wait to try because I think that MotoGP today is still easier to ride than the 500 GP or the first MotoGP which was super hard to ride, very violent, which was riding all the time: it was rough! There, finally, the electronics are very close to what we use in endurance, although they probably have more sensors to refine all the electronics a little bit and make the bike a little smoother and easier.
Afterwards, indeed, the brakes brake harder, but it's mainly that the more we brake, the more it slows down, while for us it's quite the opposite : it brakes very hard, but the hotter it gets, the less it brakes! It's true that because of that, the carbon brakes change a lot, which means that ultimately we arrive with 20 or 30 km/h more each time we brake, especially at Motegi where there are long straight lines, and we can allow ourselves to brake in the same place as with the endurance motorcycle even though we arrive faster. That, indeed, we can clearly see the braking power: all motorcycles stop better.
Afterwards, the chassis, since these are prototype development chassis, allows the bike to turn shorter: the bike is more precise and turns shorter than an endurance bike which runs a little less well. We are therefore able to position ourselves better for acceleration.
Concerning the grip of the motorcycle, I would say that Michelin tires, compared to our Bridgestone, offer a similar type of grip : for me, there is not a huge difference in that regard. I was not surprised when I said to myself “the bike is stuck to the ground” or “there is no grip”.
What changes is when accelerating, due to the power of the bike. We don't necessarily know, but it makes maybe around fifty more horsepower, and in any case it's more powerful, so it automatically accelerates better. And above all, what allows you to benefit from this acceleration, by putting much more power to the ground, is the Ride Height Device which lowers the motorcycle automatically, this makes the motorcycle cut much less electronically because it lifts. There, as it lifts much less, it cuts much less and we spend much more power on the ground. I would say that in gears 1, 2, 3, the MotoGP is more powerful than ours but that the difference is not huge, except that we put more power to the ground.
Afterwards, where you really feel the difference is on gears 4, 5, 6, because the bike is free: we feel that the bike is not running out of steam and has more refined aerodynamics which works better. If we put an average person on our bike, they will say that the bike is extra powerful, but in reality we feel that on gears 4, 5, 6, it runs out of steam slightly. With MotoGP, you feel constant power in all gears.
And one thing that still remains magical with this bike is the seamless box : that’s really incredible! It almost looks like an automatic transmission, like a vario on a scooter, the gears are so fluid. It's really nice to use! »
