Valencia 2008. Qualified in 15th position on the handlebars of his KTM 125 FRR, Tomoyoshi Koyama made a lightning start, moving up 8 positions before almost falling at turn #3 and falling back to 16th position. He nevertheless finished the race 7th ahead of Scott Redding, and this ease of overtaking in a straight line immediately intrigued the competition...
The Japanese driver actually used the first (and only) Grand Prix motorcycle equipped with KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), the kinetic energy recovery system then already in vogue in Formula 1.
The principle is simple: We recover part of the energy dissipated during braking to reinject it during acceleration. It was then completely legal and that is why KTM, under the leadership of the former pilot Harald Bartol, had embarked on this path and had carried out secret tests during the 2008 season. Externally, only a large aluminum box fixed on the left spar of the frame distinguishes the motorcycle from Tomoyoshi Koyama and those of his teammates, Randy Krummenacher et Jonas Folger (at the time, teams could field 3 drivers, whatever the category).
Faced with the curiosity aroused by the performance of the Austrian motorcycle, the man who was now technical director of Mattighofen confided: “ This is a hybrid system. When braking, the system charges capacitors (we don't call them batteries, because a battery can't charge fast enough during deceleration), and discharges the energy along the next straight. This gives us about 2 kW (about 2,7 horsepower) extra, although we only use them when the bike is in third, fourth, fifth or sixth gear. »
At the time when the 125cc 2-strokes were particularly successful and there was not much to gain in terms of engine power, the idea seemed particularly promising and Marc Márquez, as a 2009 KTM rider, would logically test the system on the same track in Valencia during pre-season testing, as well as in Barcelona.
Unfortunately, this new technology did not receive a good reception from the IRTA, which rather hastily announced that the principle was illegal.
As this was perfectly in accordance with the regulations of the time, the FIM secretly apologized to KTM for the IRTA's declaration, but Harald Bartol, as a prudent man, still contacted the latter before the start of the race. the following season. He received a response during the first 2009 race at Jerez that he would have to ask permission to use KERS at the Grand Prix Commission on the Friday evening before the race...
And the latter declared the system non-compliant.
Faced with such facilities, the Austrian preferred to put the system into oblivion and the 125 FRR inflated with KERS never reappeared.
Harald Bartol in 2009: “I would never implement something that wasn't in the rules, so I wrote to them and two weeks ago they wrote back saying 'yes, sorry, it's in the rules,' everything is fine but you have to go to the MotoGP Commission to ask for permission.” They try to give racing a new green image, then they ban technology to do it. They never ask about the cost. They never ask how it works. Then after the race in Jerez they came to inspect us to see if we were using it. I told them they wouldn't even know where to look. »
The technical regulations define a motorcycle as “a two-wheeled vehicle powered solely by an internal combustion engine”. The debate was therefore open as to whether KERS should be considered as an independent propulsion system, and in this case illegal, or a simple indirect application of the thermal engine, and in this case legal.
Despite all our attempts with our contacts at KTM, we have never found any trace of the 125 FRR equipped with KERS. Nobody knows where they are, if they still exist. KTM, like most manufacturers, destroys a lot of equipment at the end of the season! Damage…
