The 2019 season was long and difficult for Aprilia. The hiring of Massimo Rivola as CEO of Aprilia led to the halting of RS-GP development while he completely overhauled Aprilia's organization, and allowed Romano Albesiano to focus on building a brand new machine, with a 4° V90 engine, from an almost white sheet.
It was a major gamble. Aprilia abandoned four years of development in MotoGP and started almost from scratch. The Noale plant had a lot of new development opportunities, but it had to make the right choices in so many areas that it would be easy to find itself heading in the wrong direction again.
The bet seems to have paid off. Aleix Espargaro and test rider Bradley Smith were extremely enthusiastic about the new RS-GP. “I didn't really expect that with a bike as new as this that I would be so competitive right off the bat,” Espargaro said. “Even after 20 laps on the track and worn tires, I can run 1'59, it's incredible how fast I can go. I think with this RS-GP the bike is much closer to the podium. »
Aleix Espargaro was delighted after the first laps on his new mount
Bradley Smith was also positive. “The new bike was eagerly awaited,” said the test rider at Sepang. “It was delayed from when we expected it, but it was worth the wait, it was worth the time spent and the extra engineering hours to get all the information we had last year. The guys understood and managed to implement all the improvements we needed in many areas. On a MotoGP prototype, there are so many things you can do and so many variables, and they were able to refine a lot of things. »
As for Romano Albesiano, technical director of Aprilia Racing, he was full of praise for their new prototype: “We are really pleased to see that the new bike has really taken a step forward from the previous one, in many areas: stability, cornering, engine response, braking performance. This is what we were looking for, and maybe even more than we expected. Then we don't know where we are in the rankings because everyone has improved. We will see. Regardless, we are doing everything we can on the ground to advance development. »
And indeed, the Aprilia of 2020 has nothing to do with that of 2019. You just need to observe the frame and the fairings to realize this. But, well hidden in these fairings, a completely new engine was developed by the Noale factory. But why did Aprilia change the engine angle of the RS-GP and how does that affect power delivery?
The engine angle is a little more open than before. It is now a 4° V90, instead of 72° since 2016, the first year the RS-GP appeared. This change is not negligible in terms of performance, because on V4s, a cylinder angle of 90° is the optimal solution for several aspects.
The RS-GP engine, here on the test bench
This gives the possibility of making the intake area more optimal, optimizing the intake manifolds and placing them more easily. The V being more open, an air box with more volume can be installed. And a larger air box means greater intake efficiency. The throughput is also higher. By favoring the filling of the engine with air, performance is affected.
This also allows you to use big bang timing without having balancing problems.
Finally, Aprilia had problems with engine braking that was too weak, the riders were straining their braking system more and risking it overheating. On this latest version of the engine, completely redesigned, the use of an exhaust valve would allow them to increase engine braking, even if for the moment, Romano Albesiano said he had not yet tested this system.
As for reliability, which was one of Aprilia's black points in past years, the move to a 90° V has no impact. It's not a question of design. It is a question of experience that the factory must acquire, and must learn from its mistakes. Starting from a blank sheet, the Aprilia engineering team was well aware of the problems with the old version. They thus evolved the entire motorcycle, without completely revolutionizing it.
Going towards what we think are the right points, trying not to go too far, not to go towards a revolutionary and unknown solution, but to direct everything towards the direction which seems to be the right one is a hell of a job. engineering. And that's also true in terms of center of gravity position, stiffness, rider ergonomics, cooling, a lot of things. Apparently this seems to work.
The development process has only just begun, and Aprilia is designing new developments in the engine and chassis. Although it seems that they have currently found a good balance, and they must not lose. Like any factory involved in MotoGP, they have numerous components under development: a new cylinder head which should appear by mid-season, a new frame, a new carbon fiber swingarm. In other words, at Aprilia, many new ideas are in preparation. For Aprilia, the technical freeze decided for engines and aerodynamics will not take place until June 29. It is very likely that new pieces will appear during the test in Misano on June 10 & 11.
