MotoGP – MotoGP Guide: all about the 2013 Motorcycle Grand Prix – MotoGP Regulations: what is changing in 2013

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MotoGP Guide: all about the 2013 Motorcycle Grands Prix

MotoGP - MotoGP Guide: all about the 2013 Motorcycle Grand Prix - MotoGP Regulations: what is changing in 2013

Exclusively on the web, the MotoGP Site Guide contains all the key information about the 2013 Grand Prix world championship. To be knowledgeable about the regulations, the pilots, the circuits and the motorcycles of the premier category: follow the guide !

MotoGP regulations: what changes in 2013

Unlike 2012, when the 4-stroke Moto3 took the place of the 125cc 2-stroke, when the displacement of the MotoGP went from 800 to 1000cc and when the Claiming Rules Team (CRT) semi-prototypes made their debut in the premier class, the 2013 season promises to be more "stable" in terms of regulations.

And that’s not bad, as the incessant changes in regulations observed in recent years have made a sport that is moreover quite simple to the limit: pilots line up on a grid, the lights go out, gaaazzzz and the first to arrive wins. the race !

If there are no real upheavals planned for 2013, several notable changes will still be released. Changes that are good to know to fully enjoy the spectacle offered from the opening of the championship on April 7 in Qatar, until the eighteenth and last race on November 10 in Valencia !

Technique: one engine less and 3 kg more

On a technical level, the main changes aim, as every year, to reduce costs. Thus, the number of engines granted to each prototype MotoGP rider goes from six to five. A beneficial measure economically and a priori without effect on the chrono, insofar as the Ducati and Honda V4s and the Yamaha 4-legged can "easily" absorb the additional mileage. Lorenzo also won the title in 2012 with five engines, the sixth having gone up in smoke because of Bautista in Assen..

Focus on MotoGP engines

As in 2012, MotoGP and CRT engines can only have a maximum capacity of 1000cc. The number of cylinders and the bore are respectively limited to 4 and 81 mm. Automatic, dual-clutch (like on Honda VFR1200) or continuously variable (like on a scooter!) Gearboxes are still not allowed. On the other hand, a box with "rapid shifting systems are permitted", specifies the rules of the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM). This is the costly option (more than 650,000 euros for the first versions!) adopted by Honda in 2011 and by Ducati shortly after. Yamaha must follow suit. its competitors this year.

The exhaust is always free, or almost: the maximum value is set at 130 decibels at 5500 revolutions, i.e. the same sound intensity as that perceived 100 meters from an airplane taking off … or 25 decibels more than the maximum limit authorized in discotheques! Knowing that the noise level doubles every 3 dB, this gives an idea of ​​the incredible noise generated by 24 MotoGP engines. !

In the CRT (Claiming Rules Team) category, this quota remains fixed at twelve blocks: this is one of the advantages granted to these motorcycles of which only the chassis is a prototype in order to limit the gap with the "real" MotoGP. In the same vein, the decision to grant three additional liters of petrol to the CRTs (24 liters against 21 for the Ducati, Honda and Yamaha prototypes) was renewed in 2013.

However, even "inflated" and more generously powered, the production sports engines used by the CRTs struggle to compare with the little engineering gems developed for Grand Prix. Difficult indeed to compete with the 275 hp of a Honda RCV (value communicated by Stoner in 2012) from a 4-cylinder originally designed to cover tens of thousands of kilometers on the road…

The more so as the preparation authorized in CRT is quite limited, since their engine can be bought by a competitor against 15,000 euros (20,000 euros with the transmission). This is the famous rule known as "Claiming Rule" – from the verb "to claim", "claim" – set up to curb technological escalation. A constraint which explains in particular that the ART (Aprilia Racing Technology) of Randy de Puniet develops between 10 and 15 hp less than the RSV4 of World Superbike from which it is nevertheless closely derived.

In an attempt to balance the forces, Dorna (the company managing the MotoGP rights) therefore asked the sole manufacturer of the championship (Bridgestone) to design a specific, softer tire for the CRTs. Easier to heat up, this tire is included in the allocation of 20 slicks (9 front, 11 rear) granted in 2013 to each driver per Grand Prix, testing sessions and the race included. In the event of rain, ten grooved tires are available to them..

Focus on MotoGP electronics

To cut costs and increase the spectacle, Dorna tries to impose a single electronic control unit (ECU). In 2013, four CRT teams will use a first version of this box developed by Magneti Marelli: Avintia Blusens, Came Ioda Project, NGM Mobile Forward and Aprilia / PBM by Michael Laverty (read). Refractory to this idea, the three prototype manufacturers (Ducati, Honda and Yamaha) managed – not without difficulty – to continue using their own ECU at least until 2014 (read).

In return, they must help Dorna fill the grid by designing less expensive motorcycles: the bar is set at around one million euros, against 3.5 million currently for a HRC proto. Yamaha responded to this request by offering to lease five M1 engines (as Honda did with KR-Roberts, in particular), while the HRC will supply five models of its "compe-client" RCV which will be discovered in Valence ( read in particular). In the short term, the CRTs are therefore bound to disappear since these "low cost" MotoGP will be more interesting sportingly and economically..

Always with the aim of smoothing performance, the minimum weight of MotoGP and CRT has been revised upwards again: it goes from 157 kg in 2012 to 160 kg in 2013. The objective is to limit the massive use of materials noble like carbon, magnesium or titanium, which only "factories" can afford. Carbon rims are now prohibited in the premier class. Note: motorcycles cubing less than 801 cc benefit from an advantage of ten kilos (150 kg). Notice to amateurs !

Finally, to close this passage "weights and measures", remember that the Moto2 are now subject to a minimum limit of 215 kg including the motorcycle and the driver in uniform (read). Already applied in Moto3 (148 kg for the "motorcycle + rider" assembly), this new constraint reduces the natural advantages – in terms of pick-ups and aerodynamics, in particular – enjoyed by featherweights such as Mika Kallio (58 kg) or Toni Elias (61 kg).

Sportingly, the measure is debatable: despite his 75 kg, Scott Redding also won four podiums in 2012, including one in front of the "little" Marc Marquez at Silverstone. And before him, Valentino Rossi or the late Marco Simoncelli demonstrated that having a large size did not present only disadvantages in the intermediate category: it allows in particular to better "load" the rear when accelerating..

Still in Moto2, Honda remains the exclusive supplier of engines (600 CBR 4-cylinders) while the choice of the engine manufacturer was to become free from 2013. A legitimate turnaround under the pretext of preserving the spectacle and controlling expenses. .. And too bad for the gullible – and Honda rivals! – to whom it was promised that monopoly situations like those held by Aprilia in the "good old 2-stroke" would no longer be tolerated !

In Moto3, no major change is to be reported: find all the regulatory and technical specificities of these motorcycles powered by 4-stroke single cylinders instead of the 250cc 2-stroke in our .

Points permit: papers, please !

On the sporting front, two measures will considerably change the situation this year in MotoGP: the first is the appearance of a points license (yes, yes!) Intended to punish pilots who are too "kamikaze" (read), and the second concerns the format of qualifications (read).

MotoGP 2013 test schedule

  • Day 1 : 45 minutes of free practice 1, then 45 minutes of free practice 2

  • Day 2 (morning) : 45 minutes of free practice 3

  • Day 2 (afternoon) : 30 minutes of free practice 4, then 15 minutes of qualifying session "QP1", then 15 minutes of qualifying session "QP2"

From 2013, the qualifying sessions in MotoGP will be inspired by the principle of the "Superpole" in force in World Superbike, the "rival" championship of which .

Concretely, the twelve fastest drivers of the tests will face each other during a "Super qualif" called "QP2" which will take place on Saturday afternoon (Friday in the Netherlands). The other positions on the grid will be allocated according to the times achieved during the first qualifying session, logically called "QP1" (see the program opposite).

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