MotoGP news
Michelin looking forward to first 800 battiel
06 March 2007This long-awaited first 800cc MotoGP race follows a gruelling winter of research and development during which Michelin engineers have dedicated themselves to creating the best tyres for the new 800cc machines. The 800s have quite different characteristics to the 990s they replace. They aren't lighter but they are more nimble, allowing them to enter corners faster and maintain higher corner speeds, so even though the 800s are slightly slower on the straights they are often faster over a full lap.
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Michelin's main focus of development is to help the 800s take full advantage of these qualities. The company's new 16in front slick replaces last year's 16.5in tyre to offer less inertia for lighter handling, so riders can flick the bike onto its side even quicker, and a larger footprint to give riders more grip and confidence in attacking corners. Michelin's latest 16.5in rear slick has been developed to deliver even more edge grip, allowing riders to exploit the 800s' stunning cornering ability.
"Qatar is going to be very interesting and we are expecting a nice battle," says Michelin's director of motorcycle racing Jean-Philippe Weber. "I think the difference in performance between the various 800s isn't as big as it was with the 990s, so the racing could be very close. Also, with these bikes you need to be more aggressive to overtake, so I think it will be a very exciting race. We are really looking forward to it because we have tested a lot of tyres and done a lot of development, and now it's time to start racing.
"We got a lot of good information during last month's Qatar tests. Obviously, it's very useful to test at a track quite close to the race and our riders' lap times were quite fast. Dani was quick on qualifiers and also did a very good long run, plus the Yamahas also performed well, so we are quite confident for this first race with the 800s.
"As always at Qatar, the problem is that we don't know whether our work will be disturbed by sand. If it's windy then sand gets blown onto the track surface, reducing grip and working against the tyres like sandpaper. Even if we have two good days of practice we can't be sure that track conditions won't change on race day, so we need to have tyres to face this problem. Also, the conditions will be warmer than they were during last month's tests."
There is one other big change in MotoGP this year, apart from the introduction of the 800s. All Michelin riders are now limited to 31 slicks (14 fronts/17 rears) per race weekend. All slicks are barcoded and logged with Grand Prix Technical director on the evening before practice starts and are controlled by pit-lane scrutineers equipped with barcode scanners. "We have had to do a lot of work to get ready for this new system, adapting our way of working to be best prepared," says Weber. "Now we are ready."
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