In the very rich program offered by the Sunday Ride Classic June 11-12 features an exceptional exhibition of French Grand Prix motorcycles.
Obviously, the Mistral M610 built by the Tech3 team will hold a special place there, especially since its creator, Guy Coulon, will be present at the event to share his knowledge and passion.
However, having experienced it many times, we already know that the man will be extremely sought after by the public who find it a unique opportunity to approach, greet or even converse with the professionals of the competition. So we took the lead and asked Guy Coulon to tell us the story of the Mistral M610, what he was willing to do with his kindness and his usual frankness…
Guy Coulon : “At the beginning of 2009 it was decided that there would be Moto2 in 2011 and that in 2010 each team could do a wild card or two, mixed with the 250cc. That was the idea. So in the spring, we attacked the drawing with the MotoGP team, in spare time, telling ourselves that we were going to do a wild card or two in 2010 to judge the case. At the beginning, we had nine months ahead of us to make a prototype, test it during the winter, tweak it a little and make our wild cards the following season. But finally, three months later, in late spring, they said “two and a half is over, next year it’s Moto2! “ . So there, six months from the deadline, we obviously find ourselves still making the prototype, but we also have to make enough motorcycles to run two riders, we have to find a truck, we have to find a team, the infrastructure and the whole mess! It was downright panic! In addition, no one had any basis in anything, nor even an idea of the engine: we knew it would be the Honda but it was announced to us with 150 horsepower. So fortunately, no one really believed in it but we started on these bases for the concept of the motorcycle, because you are obliged to start with something: if there is that much power, we make a swinging arm of that length there. Afterwards, depending on that, it will determine the wheelbase and the wheelbase will determine the center of gravity. So the geometric basis of the motorcycle starts from the power, going through the steps that I described in the order: Arm length, wheelbase, center of gravity.
There were no manufacturers who had already made motorcycles, and that's why we found ourselves the first year with 13 manufacturers for around thirty riders. Everyone had done their own thing since no one had the advantage. So there, we had to move our ass, especially since we were doing it in spare time with the MotoGP team. Fortunately, that year, there were no tests on Friday morning: there were only three sessions and no tests on Friday morning, so when we were there, every Friday morning we worked the concept on the computer. In any case, the deadlines were met and we drove last week of November/first week of December. »
At the time, it was written that the Mistral was a smaller Yamaha M1…
" No way !. No way ! Obviously, people must have said to themselves “they pumped on the Yam“. But as I explained to you previously, there were much fewer horses than in a MotoGP, especially since when we got the engines, we had at best 121 horses. So, immediately, everyone panics! Everyone shortened the swingarm and so on. Everything had to be redefined, as best and as quickly as possible. In fact, because of that, we made three types of chassis during the 2010 season and as many types of arms, to readjust as quickly as possible to the very low power. »
We remember quite impressive figures concerning the machining of elements in mass...
“Yes, we started with around 300 kg of aluminum to make the frame and the complete arm. In the end, the frame weighed 8,5 kg, and the arm 4,2 kg. »
The machining was carried out by a French company in Haute-Savoie…
“For machining yes, on the other hand at that time, the first two years, we assembled and welded everything ourselves. »
You also had to do your tanks, fairings, etc.…
“We made the tanks, we made the fairing models and we even made the fairing prototypes, everything. A big job. »
To be continued… (yes, we are sadists!)
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Florian Marino for the first run at Lédenon (1/12/2009)…
Seen on the SRC:
