Table of contents

• Top 10 toughest corners in MotoGP The devil’s MotoGP guide
• Often, falls are related to cold tires
• Most falls happen from the front wheel
• 10th place: Valencia turn 4
• 9th place: Misano, turn 4 (Rio)
• 8th place: Austin, turn 1
• 7th place: Jerez, turn 2 (Michelin)
• 6th place: Silverstone, Turn 12 (Farm)
• 5th place: Phillip Island, Turn 6 (Siberia)
• 4th place: Sepang, turn 15
• 3rd place: Sachsenring, turn 3
• 2nd place: Le Mans, Turn 7 (Le Mussee)
• 1st place: Catalunya, turn 10 (La Caixa)

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Last season there were 863 falls in all three GP classes. This is the lowest value since 2010 – but it still means a lot of pain and shattered carbon. Almost a fifth of these accidents were concentrated in just ten corners, for a total of 272 corners.

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5th place is occupied by the Phillip Island circuit. “It is reminiscent of Turn 3 in Laguna Seca, because there you can also take the hairpin and then you have to turn to the other side. I never had a real problem with that, but it’s one of those bends that you drive into and think in the middle of the bend: I could go a good ten km / h faster here, what am I dawdling? But that doesn’t work. The way the weight is on the bike, anyone who tries will be on their face.”

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Julian Simon crashed on Turn 6 in Australia in 2012.

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4th place was taken by the Sepang race track. “A flat curve with a few waves and one of these, where you arrive at the speed of light, squeeze everything out of the brake into the hairpin, want to go through as fast as possible and take as much momentum as possible onto the home straight. Everything often a little bit at a time.”

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Axel Pons is good for a fall anywhere (Sepang 2012).

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Stefan Bradl in 2013 exactly in the said curve. (Sachsenring 2013)

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The race track in Le Mans took second place. “Cold tires are also to blame here. At Le Mans you put pressure on the tires in right-hand corners, but the really treacherous corners are tight little links. Turn 7 feels like being on ice skates. Even after ten laps you still have such a skater feeling as if it just never stops.”

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Toni Elias 2007 with top marks in Le Mans.

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The most dangerous corner is Turn 10 in Catalunya. “A strange curve. I think the Formula 1 guys rubbed metal into the asphalt with their underbody. It really shines there. When it rains, it’s worse. Warning: you get on it and it’s like ice. The curve itself is a little too high, but it hangs where you brake. So the weight distribution on the bike is a bit strange. You think you can slow down a lot, but the balance has to be right all the time. If it is not correct, the front wheel will slip – tremendously.”

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Alex Debon went down with the 250cc in 2005.

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Kenan Sofuoglu at Moto2 at Silverstone.

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The 6th place in the toughest corners is occupied by the Silverstone race track. “Another cold tire corner. At Silverstone you build up a lot of pressure in the right-hand corners, so in left-hand corners you have that ice-skating feeling again. Farm is also very fast, you hammer it right through. Most of the falls come from the rear wheel erupting, nice with highsider on the inside. From my experience at the point it comes from the cold flank, you give in and it wants to throw you off immediately.”

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MotoGP veteran Colin Edwards analyzes the most toxic corners of the Grand Prix circuits.

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The race track in Valencia lands in 10th place. “Sure – cold tires. That curve is notorious, what a shit this thing! Even today I conscientiously warm up the tires for two whole laps in Valencia before I really throw the box in there. The track slopes down a bit, so the balance has to be very good so that everything works perfectly there.”

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Sandro Cortese 2011 in Valencia in turn 4.

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The Misano racetrack finished in 9th place. “You have such a big-assed motorcycle and you try to slow it down for such a narrow-assed corner. You screw it up by a few centimeters and still think: it will work, just has to work, I don’t want to waste any time here. Next thing happening: you slide on your ass. It is simply the case there that you make a tiny mistake and still don’t want to give in.”

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Andrea Iannone with the Ducati in Misano.

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The Austin racetrack took 8th place. “It’s difficult and hanging. You drive in full over the front wheel and feel good about it, but then the track runs away from you. The brake pressure should be removed a little earlier than normal, because if you relieve the front a little too late, it goes away.”

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Nicky Hayden at the rodeo in the USA.

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The 7th place was taken by the Jerez race track. “She got me. After the first bend you come down over this slight knoll into the Michelin. There you can drive through with a lot of pressure on the front wheel, you can get through there with murder yourself, but if you push just a little more, the bike is gone. When you feel the powerful pressure on the tires, it just feels sensational, but when it gives way, you have no chance – in the Michelin it goes so damn fast.”

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Cal Crutchlow had to hit the gravel in Jerez in 2012.

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The Sachsenring came in third. “Cold tires, man! Down Turn 3 you put a lot of weight on the front of the motorcycle, and it’s like being at the bottom of a bowl. You use the cornering speed and the deep lean angle that sometimes the exhaust drags there. Curve 1 is hanging, so be careful! If you lose your grip there, you fly.”

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Top 10 toughest corners in MotoGP

Top 10 toughest corners in MotoGP
The devil’s MotoGP guide

Content of

What are the cruelest spots on the MotoGP circuits? Where are the toughest corners lurking that bring even top drivers to their knees? PS shows the top 10 toughest corners in MotoGP.

Mat Oxley

03/19/2014

People who don’t understand motorcycle racing at all like to claim that we fans go to races to see falls. This is nonsense, of course! Still, we have to admit that there is a certain fascination with watching the best riders push the limit that little bit and go down. Of course, cruel falls are excluded! It’s the fine line between hui and ugh that makes MotoGP what it is. If anyone ever figured out how to avoid falls completely, motorcycle racing would be a completely different sport in one fell swoop.

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Last season there were 863 falls in all three GP classes. This is the lowest value since 2010 – but it still means a lot of pain and shattered carbon. Almost a fifth of accidents in MotoGP were concentrated in just ten corners, for a total of 272 corners. That shows how mean the ten toughest corners in this sport can be.

Often, falls are related to cold tires

And how do these numbers come about? The analysis shows that falls with cold tires are a very big issue in all three classes, especially on “asymmetrical” courses. It is very difficult there to keep the heat on the less-used sidewalls of the tires. The statistics also say that the average weekend crash rate in the Moto3 and Moto2 classes was minimally lower than in 2012. By 0.4 percent in Moto2 with exactly 20.2 falls per weekend and a whopping two percent and 18, 4 falls in Moto3. Probably only because there were fewer wet races in 2013 than in the previous year. In MotoGP, on the other hand, the number went up. An increase of 1.1 percent to 11.4 falls – probably because of the higher number of starters, especially the CRT.

Furthermore, we can see from the statistics that the marshals had a lot of work during the MotoGP races, especially on two circuits. No, not at the Sachsenring, but in Brno and Barcelona, ​​where six drivers had to be fished out of the gravel. There was not a single crash on four tracks: Assen, Austin, Jerez and Phillip Island. Overall, the traction control helps to minimize the risk of falling, but only in MotoGP – something like this is forbidden in the other classes.

Most falls happen from the front wheel

But the statistics do not provide one detail: Why and where exactly the MotoGP riders crashed – entering or exiting a corner? However, our observations say that most falls today are from the front wheel, as our fall guide Colin Edwards explains. “It’s not that difficult to catch it at the back when it smears away. It even happens about ten times per lap, ”says the 40-year-old GP veteran. “If the front wheel slips, it is a lot harder to iron it out again, because all the weight is on a tiny piece of rubber that lies far in front of you. That means you can keep up with it yourself, which makes it almost impossible to catch these kinds of falls. “

Finally, we should actually offer a special prize – maybe a broken piece of carbon cladding on a small golden rod sticking out of a sanded piece of engine cover. And the winner is: Moto2 rider Steven Odendaal. In 2013, he was the only one who managed to fly three times in one weekend in one and the same curve – in Catalunya’s infamous curve 10.

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10th place: Valencia turn 4

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10th place: Valencia curve 4, 100 km / h, 9 crashes

It’s all about cold tires: The last time the right side of the tire touched the track with a lot of pressure was a long time ago. Pretty much everyone has been down on their faces here, but – wonder, oh, wonder – not a single Moto2 rider was there in 2013. The Dunlops were perfect there?

Falls:

MotoGP: Crutchlow, Hernandez
Moto2: –
Moto3: Amato, Azmi, Baldassarri, Binder, Oliveira, Sucipto, Techer

9th place: Misano, turn 4 (Rio)

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9th place: Misano, turn 4 (Rio), 72 km / h, 10 crashes

Turn 4 is the terribly slow left that follows the first right-left-right combination of curves, where a number of hot duels have already been held. Only one MotoGP rider tumbled down there, which shows that the experienced riders know that you should calm down a bit in the Rio at the latest. By the way, ten drivers also crashed in the hanging corner 8 (Quercha).

Falls:

MotoGP: Pedrosa
Moto2: de Angelis, Pasini, Rabat, Sucipto
Moto3: Folger, Granado, Masbou, Miller, Tonucci

8th place: Austin, turn 1

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8th place: Austin, turn 1, 65 km / h, 10 crashes

Undoubtedly the best place to fall on the new Circuits of the Americas course. It is the slowest “problem zone” on the GP calendar. A hairpin in first gear with a blind entrance uphill at the end of the Vmax 260 km / h home straight. This corner is an unusual and difficult corner, obviously especially for Moto3 riders, as the 2013 statistics show.

Falls:

MotoGP: Barnes
Moto2: Elias
Moto3: Alt, Antonelli, Marquez, Salom, Tonucci, Vinales, Watanabe (2)

7th place: Jerez, turn 2 (Michelin)

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7th place: Jerez, turn 2 (Michelin), 80 km / h, 11 crashes

At first glance, Michelin looks pretty calm: a nice 180-degree right hairpin, less than a hundred meters from the first corner, which also goes around to the right. So the tires are warm. Nevertheless, eleven drivers were hit there over the weekend – Edwards included.

Falls:

MotoGP: Barbera, Edwards, Hernandez, Staring
Moto2: Pons, Rivas (2), Rossi, Sucipto
Moto3: Ajo, tech

6th place: Silverstone, Turn 12 (Farm)

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6th place: Silverstone, Turn 12 (Farm), 160 km / h, 13 crashes

Farm is the fastest of the wicked GP corners – a quick left before the slowest part of the course. In Moto3, this point goes full throttle, which is why none of the smallest class fell there.

Falls:

MotoGP: Dovizioso, Hayden, Hernandez, Laverty, Pesek, Staring
Moto2: Cortese, Espargaro, Kent, Rea, Torres, West, Zarco
Moto3: –

5th place: Phillip Island, Turn 6 (Siberia)

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5th place: Phillip Island, turn 6 (Siberia), 95 km / h, 13 crashes

Phillip Island is also one of those asymmetrical counterclockwise courses. Even so, the most difficult corner is not on the right. Siberia is the left to Honda Hairpin, from where the drivers approach Lukey Heights. A successful corner exit is therefore important here.

Falls:

MotoGP: Barbera, Iannone
Moto2: Rabat, Simeon (2), Zarco
Moto3: Ajo, Ferrari, Oliveira, Rossi, Schrotter (2), Techer

4th place: Sepang, turn 15

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4th place: Sepang, turn 15, 77 km / h, 13 crashes

Turn 15 is the tight left hairpin that connects Sepang’s long back straight with the long start / finish straight, and thus also the last corner. It is logical that something like this is a “focus of accidents”, especially with the young hotspurs in Moto2 and Moto3.

Falls:

MotoGP: Laverty
Moto2: Cortese, Marinelarena, Nakagami (2), Shah, Zaidi
Moto3: Azmi, Granado, Iwema, McPhee, Sissis, Techer

3rd place: Sachsenring, turn 3

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3rd place: Sachsenring, turn 3 (Castrol Omega), 90 km / h, 14 crashes

With ten left turns but only three right turns, the Sachsenring is the most asymmetrical track of the season. Getting the right tire flank up to temperature is very difficult. Turn 1 is already brutal, there were also 14 falls, including Pedrosa’s crash, which cost him the championship lead.

Falls:

MotoGP: Bradl, Hayden, Hernandez, Pirro, Staring (2)
Moto2: de Meglio, Smith
Moto3: Ajo (2), Ferrari, Granado, Kornfeil, Vazquez

2nd place: Le Mans, Turn 7 (Le Mussee)

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2nd place: Le Mans, turn 7 (Le Mussee), 100 km / h, 18 crashes

Main reason for falls? Loss of grip! Main reason for this? Rain. In 2013, Le Mans was the wettest GP, which is why there were more crashes than in any other race. Turn 7, a left on this clockwise course, was the purest bike graveyard. Twelve drivers crashed here in the Moto2 race alone. In turn 2, again on the left, there were a total of 18 falls.

Falls:

MotoGP: Staring
Moto2: Elias, Espargaro, Luthi, Nakagami, Odendaal, Pons, Rabat, Redding, Simeon, Smith, Sucipto, Syahrin, Torel, Wilairot
Moto3: Arciero, Binder, Webb

1st place: Catalunya, turn 10 (La Caixa)

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1st place: Catalunya, turn 10 (La Caixa), 105 km / h, 28 crashes

The curve is a slow left at the end of the back straight. The last real chance to overtake before the checkered flag (unless it’s 2009 and your name is Rossi). That’s one reason there were a whopping 28 falls there on a dry weekend.

Falls:

MotoGP: Bradl, Barbera, Bautista, Hayden, Iannone, Iwema, Laverty, Pesek
Moto2: Cardus, de Angelis (2), Odendaal (3), Rossi, Simeon, Smith (2), Sucipto, Wilairot, Zarco
Moto3: Ajo (2), Antonelli, Baldassarri, Finsterbusch, Schrotter, Vinales

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