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MotoGP, Valentino Rossi goes back to riding school

After the problem at Austin: Yamaha mounts a sensor to understand how he uses the clutch

Valentino Rossi goes back to riding school

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In the past, two fingers on the clutch were a must. Constant contact with this element of the engine meant safety and performance.

Safety because the two strokes had a nasy habit of seizing up, so having your fingers ready on the clutch could mean being able to prevent a crash Performance because the engine and transmission sometimes needed a little help. An extra touch on corner exit could help you get those 200 revs needed to stop it going under minimum torque.

So the clutch was most definitely needed.

"We'd often keep a finger on the front brake too, because with the systems of the time, we wanted to be sure that, if necessary, we were ready", recalls Randy Mamola jokingly as Luca Cadalora, now 'coach' to Valentino Rossi, smiles alongside him.

All of this to explain how Yamaha, in order to understand what happened to Valentino Rossi's clutch at Austin, has mounted a sensor, connected to the lever to understand how the Doctor uses the clutch, seeing how, with the seamless shifting, electronics and launch control, it should barely be used at all.

Now we need to see if Vale, the last rider to have won a 500 two-stroke world title - in 2001, 15 years ago - is simply nostalgic about the good old days or really does still use the clutch... perhaps when it's not needed. Habits are, after all, difficult to break.

 

Translated by Heather Watson
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