Out the door, the combined weight comes back out the window. Alvaro Bautista will be weighted down but the Ducati '24 will have a lot more power. Here is Why…
By Paul Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com
Counter order comrades: on February 15, the International Motorcycling Federation announced that the proposal to include the combined rider-motorcycle weight in World Superbike was “ruled out”, that is to say canceled. But on October 11, barely eight months later, the same body announced that “in the 2024 World Superbike, the combined weight limit of the rider and the motorcycle has been established in agreement between DWO (Dorna), the FIM (Federation) and the MSMA (Manufacturers)”. At the time of the announcement, fans rightly assumed that next year would mark the end of the featherweight pie, particularlyÁlvaro Bautista. Between him and the heavyweights of Superbike, like Scott Redding, there is a difference of about 30 kilos. Jonathan Rhea et Toprak Razgatlioglu, more or less, fall between the two. In reality, things won't happen quite like that...
Bautista will get away with it
The current weight limit concerns exclusively the motorcycle: 168 kilos. The “combined” figure, that is to say including the pilot, is not yet known, but there are leaks. It seems that the procedure will be as follows: an “average” weight/pilot value will be identified, which, including clothing (suit, helmet, boots, gloves, protections), will be set at 80 kilos. The ballast to be applied to the vehicle will be 50% of the difference. Example: if the runner weighs 70 kilos in running order, the delta is 10 kilos. The ballast will therefore only amount to 5 kilos. Bautista weighs 60 kilos, so adding the clothes we can assume that an extra 5-6 kilos will need to be placed on the Panigale V4 R. On a racing bike, that's a lot. Moreover, to save a few grams, we use bolts and many other components made of very light alloy. Such ballast can have a great influence on acceleration, settings and, above all, tire wear. Grip management is one of Bautista's strengths.
Out of rev limit
The combined weight is out the door and in the window, but this is just one of the many technical innovations of the 2024 regulations. The main one is the removal of the maximum engine speed limit and the adjustment mechanism in addition or less resulting from it, established using the infamous algorithm designed by former FIM technical director Scott Smart. A total failure, because as we have seen, modifying the threshold of the limiters, more or less, did not affect the values in the field. The one that could have benefited the most, Kawasaki, was not able to take advantage of the bonus because it would have been necessary to make structural adjustments to the engine components (in particular: the camshaft) which were not authorized unless other regulatory concessions, defined according to a very complicated mechanism activated on the basis of the results. Rea didn't do a bad enough job of modifying the engine.
The flip side
This abstruse rule also means that Bautista's Ducati is forced to rev 900 revs lower than the road model. Nonsense. From next year, the Panigale will be able to reach the approval threshold, i.e. 16 rpm. More revs mean more power, Alvarito will find himself in the hands of a Rossa that is much more efficient in terms of engine than the one he drove during this season which is ending. Thus, the advantage that he will lose (hypothetically) with the ballast, he will be able to compensate with the power of the engine. The other Ducati riders, whether factory or satellite, also benefit, because they are heavier and will not be forced to use ballast (like Danilo Petrucci…) but will have more power, like Bautista. As we are still missing certain values, we are navigating by sight. But it could also be that the fierce battle between the giants over combined weight turns into a boomerang. Unless you drive a Rossa…
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Paul Gozzi
