MotoGP, Yamaha engines: the truth told by Ramón Forcada (Petronas Yamaha SRT)

De Luigi Ciamburro / Corsedimoto.com

The Yamaha-gate affair experienced by the Petronas SRT garage during the 2020 MotoGP season. Ramon Forcada jokes: “We consumed more oil than gasoline”.

The controversy over unapproved valves at Yamaha also hit the Petronas team during the 2020 MotoGP season. For technicians and mechanics, this led to additional work, “performance anxiety” of the engines, greater consumption of oil. In the end, points lost and the constructors' title disappearing in the championship final. The technical staff of Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli had to treat the few available engines with tweezers. Ramon Forcada addressed the subject in the latest episode of the podcast Radio Ocotillo presented by Dennis Noyes.

Franco Morbidelli's chief engineer's skill lies in extending the life of the engines. He thus avoided the use of a sixth unit, as happened to Maverick Vinales, forced to start from the pit lane in Valencia. “ When the engines broke in the first race, the second race engines arrived, which were different. And we broke one of these engines, which were theoretically new. There was a bit of panic, because we then only had two left for the whole season ". Franco Morbidelli's chief engineer had to manage these two engines for 12 Grands Prix! An almost titanic undertaking for any MotoGP box. “We took care of the engines as if they were children. We had to take a lot of things apart to check everything. There are many ways to check motors without opening them, without breaking the seals. Yamaha has not broken any seals ».

Work on Yamaha engines

The freezing of the engines, in accordance with MotoGP regulations, forced us to proceed with great care and sophisticated techniques. “You have to use optical devices, mini-cameras to go through the exhaust and the spark plug holes, to look at what's inside, changing the oil very often. This ended up costing Petronas a lot because we used more oil than gasoline”, joked Ramon Forcada. It was said that the power of the engines had been reduced to extend their life. Hypothesis denied by the Catalan technician. “We didn't have any drop in performance until the last race... We didn't lower the rev limiter, in any practice session or in any race. Everything that has been said about the rpm is not true, we have not lowered them”.

Another precaution was taken to avoid any rupture in the in-line four-cylinder. “The “Soft Limiter” prevents you from reaching the ignition cut-off, it reduces the engine torque. The only thing we did was to try, through the gear ratio, to always use the “Soft Limiter” so as not to rev the engine too fast, because it's not bad , but that's not good either. If you are in a critical situation, you try not to exceed the “Soft Limiter”. It was a job to do in each practice session, studying the gear changes, in each corner, seeing how many laps we took. This is the work that has been done”, concluded Mr. Forcada, “but the rev limiter was not lowered during the year”.

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Luigi Ciamburro