WSBK – MNC interview: Ernesto Marinelli, Superbike director at Ducati – Occasions DUCATI

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MNC interview: Ernesto Marinelli, Superbike director at Ducati

WSBK - MNC interview: Ernesto Marinelli, Superbike director at Ducati - Occasions DUCATI

Invited to lunch in the hospitality of the official Ducati team during the WSBK event at Magny-Cours, Site spoke with the big boss of the Reds in World Superbike: Ernesto Marinelli. Interview with cheese pasta and apple pie…

After having devoured a succulent plate of "pasta al formaggio" and before trying a mouth-watering apple pie (hard job as that of journalist-tester-taster …), Site passes from the "VIP" table of the hospitality of Ducati team to that, even more prestigious, of the boss of the SBK at the Reds…

Ernesto Marinelli, a small coffee in hand, does not seem at all concerned about the Superpole scheduled in an hour. For a few minutes, however, and for the first time this weekend, heavy rain has fallen on the Magny-Cours circuit….

A little more worried, the press manager warns us in the preamble that due to his busy schedule, our interlocutor will unfortunately only have 5 to 10 minutes to grant us. In the end, we will spend half an hour with him. A treat there too, which you can enjoy this time !

Site: Hello Ernesto. You were born in Modena, you grew up there and you still live there. Why don’t you work for Ferrari ?!
Erneto Marinelli (SBK project director at Ducati): (Laughs) I happened to do my secondary education in Maranello, in the Ferrari school. I worked a few weeks for Ferrari and then I went to university where I did my final thesis for Ducati. Quite honestly, I literally fell in love with, let’s say … the Ducati organization, which was a little different from what it is today because there were fewer people, the "Race" department was less structured. Personally, I was fascinated. And since my work had been useful to them, they decided to hire me. My career was starting…

MNC: It was 20 years ago! And you never left your first employer again…
E. M .: Exactly, I started working at the end of 1995. Before, I was a lifeguard !

MNC: What is the accomplishment that still makes you proudest today? ?

E. M .: No doubt the 999 F03, I was technical director at the time. It was my first 360 ° project and the first Superbike that I managed from the first pencil strokes…

MNC: As responsible for Superbike at Ducati, what do you think of the evolution of the regulations in World SBK? ?
E. M .: At the moment, motorsports – in general, not just Superbike but all disciplines on two and four wheels – have been going through a fairly serious crisis for several years now. All the championships have more or less modified their regulations in order to decrease the costs for the teams, to make the participation in an entire season more affordable, to level the performances not only between manufacturers but also between private and official teams, and to maintain the interest of the teams. satellite teams that are essential within a championship. And it worked. Since the Dorna arrived there have been a few rule changes and despite the bad times, I consider that today the Superbike is doing quite well in terms of professionalism, level of performance and committed riders..

MNC: You mentioned the crisis and the difficulty of organizing championships. Do you think that the WSBK and MotoGP must or can coexist for a long time? ?
E. M .: It must, in my opinion. MotoGP is Formula 1 for two-wheelers. You ride on prototypes and this is the broadest field of research and development for a manufacturer. On the other side, you have the Superbike, based on production models with a limited level of preparation. It’s a good platform located halfway, which allows you to transfer what you develop in MotoGP to the series. Because in the end, what counts for a manufacturer is the number of motorcycles sold. To keep a business going, you have to make the best product for your customers, a better product than the competition. That’s why competition is important. It allows new technologies to be developed and performance to be improved: weight, power, electronics, etc. !

MNC: Precisely, in terms of performance which is the most complicated for an engineer, to develop as much power as possible or to ensure that this power is controllable? ?
E. M .: Riding a motorcycle is a matter of compromise. You always have to be careful to keep your balance. In this case, find the right balance between the maximum power, absolutely necessary, and the management of this power. This is more true on a motorcycle than in a car because we spend a lot of time on the corner, on a trickle of gas. The control, linearity and progressiveness of the motor are therefore an important objective, more important moreover than the power itself on the majority of circuits. Of course, if you’re riding Monza, then power is everything. But if you run in Jerez, a more … "wavy" circuit, as you say, then other aspects take precedence. So the hardest part in all of this is finding the right compromise. And this is also true of the chassis, engine, etc. Above all, the pilot must be confident in most turns..

MNC: Your Panigale won his first race this year. What was missing before ?
E. M .: In all fairness, I think our biggest problem was the regulations. Decisions made over the last five or six years, from around 1198, penalized twin cylinders compared to 4 cylinders. However, we are the only ones to run a twin. I think we paid for our past successes. But at the same time, if you look at other categories like Superstock where the bikes are more like production models, we won the championship in the first year. The bike was immediately competitive, the feedback was positive from the start. We won the Spanish and Italian championships, then the following year in the German championship, etc. The bike worked great from the start. Unfortunately, in Superbike, the conditions weren’t there to be able to make a difference. This was mainly due to the engine performance, but because we were more limited than the 4-cylinder in our preparation. We already had the most efficient 1200 cc twin on the market, no one else comes close, which proves that it is not that easy. In competition, we gave more freedom to the 4-cylinders and we constrained the twin with ballasts, restrictors at the intake … And since the straight line is the place where we can easily overtake , it was becoming almost impossible to win a race. We have set good times in testing (Checa had signed pole in Australia during the, Editor’s note!), but on Sunday our rivals had only to wait for the straight line to pass in front and we had to risk our lives to pass them again in the bends. Until 2014, this was our biggest problem. Since then, the performance of the engines has been leveled because the preparations of the 4-cylinder and twin-cylinder are the same. The competition is fairer and this can easily be demonstrated by observing the top speeds of each manufacturer. Today, the variations do not exceed 5 km / h. Before, they reached 15, 16 or 18 km / h! It was clearly a handicap.

MNC: You regularly increase the displacement of your Superbike, going from 916 to 999, 1098, 1199 and even 1299 this year for the road version of the Panigale. This is just a guess, but rather than increasing the bore of your twin, wouldn’t it be easier to add two more pistons? You do it well in MotoGP…
E. M .: (Laughs) We do have V4 in MotoGP, but it’s another championship. Once again, we must respect the basic principle: for a manufacturer, the important thing is to sell motorcycles on which his customers will take as much pleasure as possible. What we believe, and our customers confirm it to us, is that the behavior of a twin, the sensations it offers you on the road, are unique. This is the character of Ducati, which has allowed us to succeed for years. To answer your question, if we increase the bore of our engine it is obviously in order to increase its performance, but also to make the arrival of power and torque generous. Because that’s what counts when you ride a motorcycle: get out of bends quickly !

Editor’s note: The team’s press manager then asks Ernesto Marinelli if he still has time to answer a few questions … Yes !

MNC: Do you think that an excellent pilot is necessarily a good engineer? ?
E. M .: This is a thorny question…

MNC: OK you have two hours and I pick up the copy !
E. M .: (Laughs) No, no, I have the answer, it’s easy! I will be very honest. In a team, it is always preferable to have only one engineer who analyzes the data (laughs)! The relationship between engineer and pilot is essential. On the technical level of course, but also, and above all I would even say, on the human level, psychological if you prefer. My 20 years of experience allow me to affirm that the best performance is achieved when the rider is very precise about how he feels on the bike, what bothers him and what he is looking for in his bike in order to to have more confidence, to go faster. Once you can make that connection, then the technical side of the job becomes very easy. This is really the easiest part. But the key to going fast on a motorcycle is 90% confidence. There is no such thing as magic tuning, nor is there a magic motorbike, the one that would suit everyone. Okay, there can be cooler, easier bikes that adapt more easily to different riding styles … But I’ve learned over all these years that what really matters is the faith of the pilot which pushes him to flirt with the limits in every part of the circuit. This is what is most important. I have worked with pilots who have the reputation of being engineers…

MNC: Names, names !
E. M .: No I can not. But it is more difficult to work with them because they have so many prejudices, or memories of things tested in the past on other motorcycles, with other tires, or other things still that they are already starting to doubt. modifications proposed on the paper which, on this specific motorcycle, on such tires and under these conditions, can be effective. In the end, if the pilot is not convinced that a change can make a difference, then this change will do nothing. I have used the "placebo" changes a lot as I call them, and they are often the most effective.. (MNC laughs this time, Editor’s note …) But yes, the pilot needs this extra confidence, in his head, to be able to brake 20 meters further for example. He was probably able to do it before, but he didn’t believe it. Of course, the previous changes made have to be successful. But if you can build that confidence, then the performance is there..

MNC: We recently spoke with your "Very Big Boss" (read our). His first big decision as CEO of Ducati was to restructure the brand’s sports program. It was good news for you !
E. M .: Ah, I’ve known Claudio since I started at Ducati and I think he’s one of the people I respect the most in the world, whom I trust the most too. He too has spent most of his career at Ducati and knows what the company has achieved in the past. The DNA of the brand has always been racing and performance, and that remains true. Of course, the market is evolving today and is encouraging us to have more models, to invest in new areas. But the course taken by Claudio is undoubtedly the best for the company. We have produced sumptuous motorcycles, lighter than all the others, generally more powerful too. We aim for both beauty and technology, in order to succeed as a premium brand.

MNC: We also spoke with Andrea Dovizioso (read our), who told us that the arrival of Luigi Dall’Ignia at the head of Ducati’s racing department was at the origin of his good results this season. Does he also work on the World SBK ?
E. M .: Yes of course, he’s my boss! (Laughs) I also think Gigi’s coming is a very good thing.

MNC: Dovi told us that he had worked a lot on the exchanges between the team and the factory. At home too ?
E. M .: Certainly yes. Before, the racing department lacked, say, stability. Gigi has done a very good job on the relationship between the people who work on the circuits and those who work in the factory, between the different projects, etc. He brought cohesion to all of this, by having everyone sit at the same table to allow them to communicate, share and aim for the same goal. In addition to its purely technical skills, this is what allowed us to regain our competitiveness..

MNC: Some additional questions? Yes ! So give us the biggest strength of Chaz Davies and what is his weak point ?
E. M .: Braking. Before him, I had never seen a rider in the world brake where he brakes and then manage to take the turn. !

MNC: He brakes too late, too far, but he’s getting there ?
E. M .: No, I don’t know how he does it. If the others started to brake at his cue, they would go straight.

MNC: A weak point, perhaps ?
E. M .: Let’s say that before, this precipitation at the entry of the curve penalized him at the exit. This is why he could have more difficulties on certain circuits where you have to be fluid. But during our two seasons together, I saw him work a lot on these points and on our side, we made sure to provide him with a bike that would allow him to take turns after such heavy braking. We put the pieces of the puzzle together and today he has a package that gives him enough confidence.

MNC: We can also consider that he is the champion of the end of the season !
E. M .: Absolutely. We hope it’s training for next season … (Laughs).

MNC: What can you tell us about Davide Giugliano ?
E. M .: So, Davide’s strong point is his speed in the curve..

MNC: Which can be a double-edged sword…
E. M .: On winding tracks, its speed can be incredible. Like in Jerez or Phillip Island for example, or even here in Magny-Cours. Of course, there is a flip side with this style of riding. It depends on the surface, the conditions and the tires, but when you lose your grip on the angle then you are penalized much more than a "stop and go" style rider. This explains why on some circuits he manages to be very fast in testing, but he has more difficulties over an entire race. He’s working on it and he’s been making a lot of progress this year, only his two injuries didn’t allow him to show them..

MNC: Last question … At the start of the season, Troy Bayliss replaced Davide, precisely, at Phillip Island and Buriram (read). It was very well done from Ducati in terms of marketing, communication and even results. Why not have asked Carl Fogarty to take over at Assen? It is a circuit that your "King" particularly liked !
E. M .: (Laughs) First of all, they’re two very different people: unlike Troy who never really quit racing, I think Carl has quit his career for good. And then Troy really wanted to compete in the Phillip Island race: he was present on the circuit anyway and he wanted his son to see him ride, because when Troy was still running, Ollie was still too small. There was something romantic, charming about her participation. Because after all, he had nothing to prove. Troy is one of the most talented drivers I have ever worked with. He was one of those undefeated champions: he ended his career with a pole position, a double with 15 seconds ahead … Point bar. But on the other hand, it was now or never. And some young Superbike riders had never toured with him: they could make a dream come true !

Interview by Matthieu BRETILLE

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