This has gone almost unnoticed in the specialized press, but Michele Pirro's latest comments about the next Ducati GP 19 that he recently tested in Valencia seem to confirm a whole host of presumptions suggesting that Ducati has slightly interpreted the regulations regarding the IMU which will be unique from next year…
What is the IMU?
The IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) is an inertial unit comprising several sensors (accelerometers) providing accelerations along the 3 axes, XYZ (from which the instantaneous speed is also obtained with a mathematical formula), as well as the three angles of rotation on these axes: pitch, roll and yaw.
An a priori passive element but which many suspect of having been "improved" by equipping its programmable "brain" with lines of code offering the possibility of transmitting "elaborated" data allowing the unique software of the official ECU to be influenced.
That's why it will be unique from next year, and we will publish a more complete article on the subject next Tuesday.
In the meantime, the words of Michele Pirro on GPone clearly state that we should not underestimate the step backwards that the single IMU 2019 will entail. And therefore implicitly to recognize that the 2018 IMU was “more elaborate” than the model which will be compulsory next year.
Michele Pirro: “The GP19 was created from the GP18, that is to say the best Ducati ever created, and was able to see all the riders capable of riding it. The new one has more scope for development and much can still be done although initial feedback seems positive. However, we must remember that the GP 19 was born with a unique electronic package, therefore a step backwards. We should not underestimate this. With the GP 19, we have only ridden with this package so far, and the drivers are going to try it in Valencia. Our bike was born with this set and so far the work has been positive. At the Valencia test we will see the first base of the GP19 with the (single) IMU, then we will continue the work in Jerez to collect the latest information.”
From there to saying that the 2018 Ducati IMU was no longer really "passive" but on the contrary "active and elaborate", there is only one step that we are ready to take, without however qualifying this as cheating, but simply exploiting a loophole in the regulations.
The game of hide and seek between legislators and engineers has always existed and is not about to end: in this little game, and whether in motorcycling or motoring, our Italian friends have always proven themselves to be very imaginative and clever, which generates on our part much more admiration than indignation…
