One-make tyre rule in doubt
September 27th, 2008Significant resistance is being encountered by Dorna in the organisation’s attempts to introduce a single-make tyre rule in the MotoGP class in 2009. The grounds for the proposal this year are to limit corner speeds and increase rider safety, without circuit owners incurring large costs year on year for further improvements, run off areas, air fences and so on. In other words, the aim is to slow down the bikes.
There is a meeting of the Grand Prix commission (see previous post on the 600cc class war for the details of the make-up of the GPC) to make the call this weekend. MotoGPBlog understands the following:
- IRTA (the teams) want a single tyre rule to cut costs and save money.
- Dorna want a single tyre rule to cut costs for circuit owners. The IRTA and Dorna will therefore vote the same way, as per usual.
- MSMA (the manufacturers) do not want the single tyre rule as this reduces competition and differentiators between the teams. All the factory teams have tyres made specifically for their chassis and suspension set-ups. If all have the same tyre, that is one less factor to make the difference. Provided the MSMA vote unanimously, they hold a veto over the proposal, in the same way as they did last year.
This impasse has led to some interesting proposals. Ducati have offered to run their three satellite bikes on Michelins, and have not ruled out switching all five to Michelin. This is the same approach they used when Bridgestone arrived on the scene: take advantage of having something different to Rossi to beat him, as beating him on the same equipment is harder.
There is, according to Eurosport, a gentleman’s agreement between the tyre companies that the field be split no more widely than 60/40 between the tyre companies. With five Ducatis on Michelins, this would mean a further three Michelin runners would need to be found. Where might these come from?
Repsol Honda are likely to keep Bridgestones for Pedrosa, but it is not impossible that Dovizioso stays on Michelins on the other side of the garage. Yamaha will almost certainly be all-Bridgestone next year. If the Gresini Hondas also took Michelins, and LCR and Scott take Bridgestones, the deal is done. Also potential Michelin runners are all three Kawasakis, after their less than brilliant showing this season.
And so it is not impossible that the tyre situation is resolved in a way that allows Michelin and Bridgestone to continue to compete. It is also still very possible that the single-make tyre rule will still be introduced. With luck we will know this weekend.









Kawasaki have had the screamer in development for a while now and believe it to be the optimum firing order for an 800cc engine, delivering smooth pulses of power though the entire revolution of the engine rather than grouping cylinders to fire together (big bang). It certainly sounds awesome - see the
Tech 3 were
At the Jerez Round Zero meet, talks were held between manufacturers about future changes to the technical regulations. Yamaha and Honda put forward a proposal to cap engine revs to 19,000 rpm so as to limit the costs involved in engine development.
Remember back in 2005 when Yamaha came out with this lovely livery for the YZR-M1? Harking back to the Roberts/Lawson/Rainey era these were Yamaha USA’s historic racing colours, the livery celebrated 50 years of Yamaha competition in motorcycle racing.
The colours we sufficient to inspire Paul Edwards in the UK to modify a PC case to match the livery. Some clever adaptations of the side window to allow the black and white stripe to continue across it, plus as the PC is a performance machine and requires water cooling, he has even included a mock petrol filler cap which he opens to allow him to top up the water cooling fluid! See more at the
I’m a bit late to the party on this one.
The system is self contained, and most importantly for Dianese, can be inserted into off-the-peg leathers you and I can buy relatively straightforwardly.