During the last MotoGP tests in Brno, Marc Márquez had several Honda RC213Vs at his disposal. Four or five, the doubt still remains, but what interests us today is the RC213V all in unpainted carbon which seems to foreshadow the 2019 version.
It was in fact the only one that had some visually observable differences. These are mainly located behind the steering column, an area in which we first notice that the fuel tank cover has been partially raised to make room for what looks like a steering damper.
This element is not the only one that has been moved since, on each side, there are now electronic connectors leading to small carbon boxes, whereas they appeared lower down under the fairing previously.
The following photo, in which we see an aluminum sheet added to the side of the steering column, allows us to put forward the hypothesis that this motorcycle would be equipped with a more direct air passage to the air box. , in place of the two side entrances which have been fitted to RCVs for ages and are still present on Stefan Bradl's prototype.
This hypothesis seems confirmed if we observe the places where we could until now see the side air ducts: behind a “tweak” due to the movement of the rectifier, we can in fact directly see the coated air box. with its gold leaf, on both sides of the motorcycle…
The direct passage into the air box allows overpressure allowing a surplus of air (and gasoline) in the cylinders. Until now, Honda was the only one to use the lateral air passages solution, whether in MotoGP or Moto3… and had been copied in the latter category by KTM.
In any case, we see that Honda is working not only on the exterior aerodynamics of its motorcycle, but also on the internal flows of the fairing, whether they concern intake or cooling, as this magnificent photo illustrates. of the curved radiator core (and the gold foil of the air box).
Furthermore, almost all of the 2019 prototypes tested by Marc Márquez had the latest version of the carbon swingarm, thereby indicating the direction Honda is following in the future for this element...
This has evolved a lot since its first use during the Valencia 2017 tests, and is now completely protected by a second skin... also made of carbon. We know that the element takes a very long time to manufacture, which caused some supply problems during the first part of the season.
