2019 will see Triumph engines equip the Moto2 category. MotoGP technical director Danny Aldridge takes stock with the site's Peter McLaren crash.net on the preparations and progress of the operation.
Danny Aldridge: « The decision has been known for a while behind the scenes. I will be going to Triumph during the summer break with Externpro to review all the information requested by the chassis manufacturers. We had a meeting with the chassis manufacturers here on Thursday at the Sachsenring.
The most important thing is to have a 3D drawing of the engine, the sensors used, which elements are mandatory, which they can use themselves. But the most important thing at this stage are the physical dimensions of the engine. »
At this point in the interview, it seems useful to us to specify that, according to our information, the Triumph engine is heavier than the Honda, that, despite its 3 cylinders instead of 4, its width at the level of the cylinders is not only 25 mm smaller than the Honda, and its anchor points to the chassis are placed very high. In summary, we will undoubtedly have motorcycles that are less agile than the current ones.
Danny Aldridge: “We started writing what is called the “Moto2 Technical Information 2019”. We have been doing this for Honda engines for years and now we are making a new version for Triumph. It provides all the information about the mounting points and dimensions of the engine. This is the bible for chassis manufacturers to find information. So Suter, Kalex, KTM, Tech3 and Speed Up will have no direct contact with Triumph. They have to go through us. We gather all the information together. There are two points of contact with Triumph, myself and Trevor Morris from Externpro. We produce this document which is updated regularly and everyone receives the same information at the same time. We are quite advanced and every week we get an update from Triumph. »
Having proven itself with Honda engines, the philosophy will not change with British powerplants.
Danny Aldridge: « Triumph will send the standard engines to Externpro who will make the modifications for Moto2 specification. It will be more powerful than the standard, obviously, but just like the engine we use now, it is important that the engines are as identical as possible. There's no point having an engine that makes 1 horsepower if we can't get 50 of them at exactly that power level. So, more important than power is ensuring that each engine has the same power. Externpro has a pool of around 30 engines at all times, either here on the track or under reconstruction. Once they've been rebuilt, they're bench tested, and from there they select the closest motors, within a tolerance, for the next batch. They're really close, it's incredible! »
As for the provisional schedule, the Technical Director is confident…
Danny Aldridge: « To begin with, we will provide chassis manufacturers with a virtually standard engine. Then the official Triumph Moto2 engines will be used in an official test, under our supervision, and at the end of the test the engines will either be sealed or taken over. »
There remains a year and a half to finalize the specifications of the Triumph engine in order to offer competitors a propeller that is both powerful and reliable. At this level, the "old" Honda CBR engine was quite respectable, with only a few crankshaft nut problems at the time of maintenance from Geo Technology to Externpro, a gearbox martyred in competition use as well as an archaic cooling circuit, hence radiators as big as in MotoGP.
Let's just hope that the Triumph engine offers the same reliability while erasing these disadvantages due to an already old design...
