For several Grands Prix, Cal Crutchlow has had a Honda factory frame, and it has worked out quite well for him.
As he has already explained, this frame is neither that of Marc Marquez nor that of Dani Pedrosa, but a chassis initially designed for the latter and used in the race in Barcelona by the #26 before finally being rejected.
Cal Crutchlow: “I know, of course, Dani raced with it in Barcelona in June, and he was on the podium. But it had negative points. Perhaps on this track, the negative revealed itself a little more. And maybe if I rode that track with it, it would have been even worse than with Dani, because of the size, weight, fins, etc.
But I can go back at any time, I could have used it for a session and abandoned it, it's just that I wanted to continue with him, we decided to continue with him. Plus, it's good that we have some mileage with it. » (learn more)
Those who have been following us for a while (thanks to them) know that we are interested in technology and spend time photographing and then analyzing the photos to follow the different developments in the factories.
In this case, it was not very difficult because the difference is obvious once you take the trouble to observe.
The frame available to the British driver has two spars that are much thinner than those attributed to Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa. A priori, we can deduce a much more flexible frame, perhaps less easy on circuits like Motegi which requires great braking stability, but visibly very effective in the big curves of Phillip Island...
We will notice in passing the modification of Marc Marquez's frame at the level of the swingarm axis, but we already knew that...
