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In the fast-moving world of racing, factories and hobbyists come and go. If they fail to succeed, they are usually quickly forgotten. A look back at the technology flops since the beginning of the MotoGP four-stroke era in 2002.
Five manufacturers, Ducati, KTM, Aprilia, Yamaha and Honda, are currently represented in the MotoGP World Championship after Suzuki withdrew at the end of 2022. Kawasaki is also missing from the well-known manufacturers that were there at the beginning of the MotoGP class. But who still remembers which MotoGP projects have come and gone since the beginning of the 990 cc era in 2002?
We have to distinguish between three categories of these projects.
1.) Those who really contributed, at least temporarily.
2.) Those who at least produced a rideable motorcycle.
3.) Those who only fantasized about the premier class.
The first category included Aprilia, WCM (engine derived from R1 Yamaha, but with four-valve head and cassette gearbox), Modenas, Proton, Ilmor, KTM, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Hayate, which emerged from the Kawasaki team in 2009. Ilmor danced with Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt for just three races (two in autumn 2006, then Qatar 2007), then the budget was used up and sponsors or a factory partner could not be found.
The second category includes Motoczycs, Oral-BMW, Petronas Engineering and Inmotec. In Portland/Oregon, the American motorcycle enthusiast Michael Czycs had a C1 prototype built for the MotoGP World Championship with 990 cc. The motorcycle did a few show laps at the Laguna Seca GP in 2006, but was never used otherwise. The reduction in displacement to 800 cc for 2007 came at the wrong time for the US project.
The Motoczycs Motorcycles company has now made a name for itself in the field of electric motorcycles and has won the "TT zero event" several times on the Isle of Man with the E1 pc. The three-cylinder Oral BMW never made it past a few test rides, and the same was true of the Petronas three-cylinder racing machine from Sauber and the Spanish Inmotec.
The third category includes Mecachrome, Norton, Blata, MZ, Gilera and Drysdale. In New Zealand, Drysdale had concrete plans for a V8 project for the 990 cc class, but it was never put into practice. The weak Czech pocket bike manufacturer Blata wanted to build a 990 cc six-cylinder and use the motorcycle together with the WCM team (formerly Red Bull Yamaha with McCoy and Laconi). But there was nothing but a dummy of the 990 cc V6 engine.
It was no different later at MZ, by then owned by the Malaysian company Hong Leong, where the then company boss Petr Karel Korous signed the riders José-Luis Cardoso and Ralf Waldmann and made big noises at the motorcycle exhibition in Chemnitz before the project disappeared into oblivion with a lot of scorched earth and unpaid bills.
The French Renault Formula 1 engine supplier Mecachrome wanted to build a V4 engine for the Chinese motorcycle manufacturer Zonghsen. The Swiss engineer Heini Mader was looking for customers for the French company.
Norton owner Stuart Garner was planning a new 1000 cc V4 engine for 2012. At Gilera there was a temporary idea of buying the 990 cc Petronas three-cylinder and entering in the premier class. But the Piaggio Group preferred to leave the MotoGP commitment to their in-house technology leader Aprilia.
Norton considered a cooperation with the Spanish Inmotec owners; a CAD drawing already existed. But the Inmotec managers never got their own project ready for racing; Norton also lacked the necessary development budget.
From today's perspective, you have to take into account that in 2002 only four factories took part, namely Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Aprilia. And Honda was far superior with the ingenious five-cylinder RC211V bike. Six Honda riders established themselves among the top 8 of the World Championship, with Yamaha at least finishing in 2nd, 6th and 7th place with Biaggi, Checa and Abe. But Valentino Rossi won the World Championship against Biaggi with 355 to 215 points.
In contrast to the situation today (Prima Pramac Racing was the first independent team to win the Riders' World Championship in 2024), the factories did not deliver competitive bikes to the customer teams at that time, with the exception of Honda to Gresini Racing. LCR Honda only took part in the MotoGP World Championship in 2006 – with Casey Stoner.
That is why some hobbyist companies with small budgets dared to enter the World Championship. They quickly found customer teams willing to cooperate.
But today not even Kawasaki and BMW dare to enter the “premier class”. MV Agusta never followed through on their entry announced in 2015. Due to the insolvency proceedings of the 50.1 percent owner KTM AG, the luxury brand will probably never be seen in the premier class again.
Dorna only wants to give the two MotoGP slots that have been free since Suzuki withdrew to a new manufacturer with an independent MotoGP development. But BMW has already announced its entry into MotoGP five times and never acted on it, and it took more than 15 years to finally win the Superbike World Championship with a huge effort and thanks to Toprak Razgatlioglu. Kawasaki also prefers to be a big fish in a small pond rather than being in the spotlight in a big pond (MotoGP).
And whether Suzuki will really return remains questionable. No Japanese manufacturer has been as fickle in its sporting activities as Suzuki, including in other series such as the Motocross and Superbike World Championship and earlier in the 500 cc GP World Championship in the days of Sheene, Hennen, Hartog, Lucchinelli, Uncini and later with «Little Kenny» Roberts, Vermeulen, Bautista and Capirossi. Sometimes they were there, sometimes they were gone.
In MotoGP, Suzuki has also been going back and forth since 2002. The decision to build a 990cc V4 machine turned out to be a flop, and the top manager responsible at one stage even apologized in writing for the poor motorcycle performance to Kenny Roberts junior, who won the 500cc World Championship in 2000 on the Suzuki RGV and did not get beyond ninth place in the World Championship with 99 points in 2002 with the 990cc GSV-R four-stroke. As a reminder: Rossi scored 355 points with the V5 Honda.
Suzuki President Toshihiro Suzuki recently indicated that his company was seriously considering a return to the "premier class", which Suzuki withdrew from after 2011 (an in-line engine was then built for 2025) and after 2022.
But Suzuki must first develop an attractive range of models for motorcycle buyers and bring them to dealers before investing millions in motorcycle racing. After all, the Japanese quickly noticed that the "Suzuki fan base" has shrunk considerably without motorsport involvement.
But the development of a new 850 cc four-cylinder engine would have to start now at the latest if Suzuki wants to return to MotoGP in 2027 in time for the new engine regulations. The successful project manager Shinichi Sahara (MotoGP title win in 2020 with Joan Mir) is still in Suzuki's pay and would be ready for a comeback. And he is glad and thankful that Suzuki did not sell its MotoGP hardware and software to BMW after 2022, when the Bavarian brand was thinking about entering MotoGP one and could have shortened its learning and development phase enormously with such a deal.
