It is with the kind permission of its author, the excellent Peter McLaren who operates on the British site crash.net, which we summarize here the words he collected from the technical director of MotoGP, Danny Aldridge.
The latter in fact contributed to the drafting of a revision of the regulation currently under discussion within the MSMA (manufacturers' association).
Current regulations prohibit the use of traditional fins, but allow aerodynamic downforce devices that are “integrated” into the fairing. Aldridge is the sole judge of the legality of a device or fairing.
As previously reported in February, the most significant change for the 2019 proposal will likely be the ban on removing parts or materials from the fairing.
This will fill the gap that a single fairing currently allows for multiple downforce configurations.
Danny Aldridge declared to crash.net : “The wording of the rules allows you to remove material. The concept behind this was for things like hand profiling[and drilling holes in windy conditions, etc.], but the teams interpreted the rules well as written, and they now have multiple fairing parts. That wasn't the concept, but once one manufacturer does it, others must follow. It is therefore at the request of manufacturers that we are beginning to examine the regulations for 2019 and beyond.
We presented them with some proposals. It's a back and forth between us, that is to say me, Corrado [Cecchinelli, Technical Director of MotoGP] and the MSMA. It seems that the majority [of manufacturers] are in favor of keeping [the aerodynamic appendages], because they seem to work and these aerodynamic packages are now part of the sport to some extent. From the media and public side, it's nice to see different design concepts. Love them or hate them, there's a lot of interest in them.
The most important thing is security, and if the manufacturers told us, "we want to get rid of this completely", we would be more than happy to do so.
The biggest problem with this is that unless we adopt a system that is more like a single envelope, and that was one of the proposals, it is very difficult to write a rule [to prohibit all type of attached parts].
I think we are very close [to an agreement]. My personal opinion, this is not yet confirmed, is that we will probably end up with "Yes, you can have aerodynamic appendages attached, but they will be restricted in size, there will be criteria to follow and you cannot remove the material or attached aerodynamic appendages. So you won't see the fairings changing from race to race as material and accessories are taken off and put back on. What you see at the first race will remain, until they upgrade mid-season.
For example, at the moment Marquez can remove [his attached aerodynamic appendages] however he wants because they are screwed on. Which is very smart and allowed within the rules. In the future, it won't matter whether it's [removable] or not. Once you homologate it, it will stay in place.
Some teams will probably still [do attached aero appendages] for cost reasons, because if you mold them into the fairing and you crash like Marquez did on Saturday, you'll lose the whole fairing. While attached, you can simply replace the damaged part. So, if the proposal is accepted, we will allow the attachments to be screwed together for cost reasons and manufactured in as many pieces as desired, but the fairing will need to be used as a complete assembly at all times. I hope we are very close to finalizing what will happen in 2019.”
Currently, under a system agreed by manufacturers, Aldridge is the sole judge of the legality of a device or fairing. The 2019 proposal will provide greater clarity by specifying a range of dimensions for appendix attachments.
“There will be an imaginary box shape that the attached pieces will need to fit into. The dimensions will indicate how far they can protrude outwards and there will be an element of safety in that the front must be rounded and so on. It will be in the regulations, and then there will be a booklet written by me, saying what I have allowed and what I have not allowed, so that the builders will have something to refer to. What happened was I said to a builder "You can't do that". Then another builder came to me with the same thing and I gave him the same answer. What we are going to do is put all this information in a booklet and all the other manufacturers will see that they do not have the right to use this concept, but without indicating which manufacturer approached me to ask me the question. So this will be a list of what you can't do, rather than what you can, and I won't have to answer the same question six times. »
However, most, if not all, current fairings would still be legal under the 2019 proposal.
“I don’t think you’ll see much difference from what we have now. They might be slightly smaller to accommodate the new rules, if adopted, but not much difference in shape. »
Interview by Peter McLaren for the site crash.net
