You are here

Trieb (KTM): "the MotoGP bikes are too powerful"

Risk of taking off without wings: "At Mugello 350 Km/h are exceeded. In a couple of years aspiration will need to be limited"

Trieb (KTM): "the MotoGP bikes are too powerful"

Share


The MotoGP designers will have a problem to face next year: the tendency of their prototypes to do wheelies.

With power that has reached 280 HP by now and that is approaching the theoretical limit of 300, tamed only by electronics, the engineers will need to reckon with the laws of physics and aerodynamics, since the 350 Km/h and beyond that can be achieved by the current 1000 cc monsters is a take-off speed.

Downforce, where are you? Where can we find you? That is the mantra of this winter. In fact, what will happen next season, for example, on the downhill straight at Mugello? Already in the year-end tests at Valencia, the riders complained of the fact that by now the front wheel is touch and go, making the braking sections particularly treacherous.

Maybe Kurt Trieb was right, the designer of the KTM V4 engine when he said at the recent début in Austria: “At Mugello 350 kilometres per hour are exceeded. Maybe within a couple of years a limitation will be placed on aspiration. I am not happy with the current power and speed. If they had asked me what type of engine to use for the MotoGP bike, I would have said a 600 cc prototype aspirated engine with very limited electronics. It would be interesting. Don’t get me wrong: I liked designing the RC16 engine, but in my opinion, the current MotoGP bikes have too much horsepower.”

Translated by Jonathan Blosser

Related articles