If the frenzy of the first MotoGP 2023 test which has just ended in Sepang has subsided for the riders, it is not the same for the manufacturers and the teams in the premier category who, conversely, have started a time trial race before the next test which will take place on March 11 in Portugal.
Hervé Poncharal was kind enough to enlighten us on this period of the season when work is intense, although often ignored by the media.
Hervé Poncharal : " Roughly speaking, what you need to know is that, for reasons that we all understand and that I completely support, compared to trying to curb inflation which brings nothing back except that the strongest become always getting stronger, we reduced the number of testing days.
Now there is only one day in Valencia after the last race, where you can give some information that the test teams have been working on, but it is short, especially when you change drivers. Last year, in our stand, there was Augusto Fernández who was discovering MotoGP, there was Pol Espargaró who did not know the 2022 bike since he came from Honda and there was Jack Miller who arrived from Ducati. So there was only Brad Binder, and in one day in Valencia you don't travel thousands of kilometers!
After that, all the factories that are working hard, and God knows they are working and working on the engines in the engine department, the aerodynamics in the aero department, the chassis in the chassis department, etc., and you You find yourself arriving at Sepang where you have a little three-day roughing up called the skakedown, and then, in three days, you have to determine which will be the bike of the year.
This means that, and not only with us, you have a multitude of aerodynamic configurations, several engine configurations, several chassis, and it is only at the end of these Sepang tests, on Sunday evening, that you validate what will be your bike, with the chassis that you are going to use for the start of the season, the type of engine that you are going to use to have it approved at the start of the season, the same for aero, etc. That means that only on Monday morning, you call all the subcontractors and you tell them “I need these specifications”. So you can imagine that it's a race against time and that there are people who will work more than 35 hours a week. And again, if things go well, because when you hear what Massimo Meregalli says that I listened to, or even at Honda, they still go to work in Portugal. »
Which means that they have to make at least double the number of rooms to cover any eventuality…
« In a sense, yes, because Portimão–Argentina–Texas–Jerez, you don't have time to do anything: the motorbikes are on the planes, but on the other hand you have to operate like that because you're not going to not validate a motorcycle in January, which has not been tested, so that it is ready on time. So yes, it's hot, but somehow racing has always been a hot area. »
To summarize, at Pierer Mobility where we line up 8 motorcycles for Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Pol Espargaro et Augusto Fernandez, how many chassis do we order on Monday morning after the Sepang test?
«
Frankly, I don't know anything about it, but I think that as these are people who have experience and who are careful, they will order a certain number of chassis but in addition they will order others with other specifications, because even if a model is validated, sometimes you need to try another option again. So even though that didn't answer your question, that's a lot of chassis. »
Partly yes, because by counting all the necessary frames plus the essential spares in the event of a fall, we are talking about at least 20 frames for Pierer Mobility...
« Oh yes ! Yes yes. »
Not to mention the engines and fairings, and all that in two or three weeks, since then you have to send them, decorate them, assemble them and transport the motorcycles...
« Yes. For example, for the fairings, we have to do them, they will send them to us, we will send them to the painter, the painter will paint them and send them back to us so that we can apply the stickers. »
Is this race against time stressful?
« No, because we have confidence in the Pierer Mobility organization. In fact, I think it stresses them more than us, because we know very well that we will get them, even if it's always at the last moment, not to mention all the media and marketing constraints at the same time. For example, as far as we are concerned, I am going this weekend to take photos in Barcelona with the pilots, so there must be motorcycles that are in the colors for the presentation which will take place on March 4, with at least 2022 fairings as backup, and if possible 2023s, painted in the right colors. Then in Portimão, on March 9, there are all the photos that will be taken, so all the equipment must be ready, so yes, there is a deadline which is very tight but somewhere that is what is exciting and which makes us all vibrate: It's the adrenaline, it's the race!
The race is on all levels, for the drivers between the start and the checkered flag, but the technical teams and engineers are all racing too. We don't often realize it when we look at a sporting event in general or a MotoGP Grand Prix in particular, but there is a huge amount of work upstream, whether during the week preceding the race or also beforehand. of the season. We talk about Pierer Mobility which has four riders, but Ducati has eight! We still remain SMEs and we rely a lot on craftsmanship: All the people who make the chassis, the fairings and the engines, it's prototype, not mass production, and everyone is on stand -by before we give them the green light, and when we tell them GO, it’s actually a kind of race too! »
To be continued…
To be continued…
