MARC MÁRQUEZ WAS once
again Honda’s stand-out
performer, but Honda didn’t
only win the riders title, they
also won the Constructor and
Team championships. While
the performances of fellow
HRC rider Dani Pedrosa didn’t
get the headlines, he scored
the second highest number of
podiums in the MotoGP field.
This was impressive, given
that Honda started the season
with a new big-bang engine.
This is reflected in Márquez’s
year of two halves: one win
from the first eight races; five
from the last 10.
“We had to work hard to
understand the engine because
it changes everything,” says
Márquez’s crew chief Santi
Hernández. “The engine
delivers power to the rear
tyre in a different way, so we
had to make changes to the
chassis and the electronics.
Our weakest point with the
old screamer engine was grip
at maximum lean, because
the engine was too aggressive,
so it was very difficult for the
rider to open the gas. The big
bang gives the rider a better
connection between torque
delivery and tyre grip.
“With more grip Marc can
have more corner speed, which
was where we really struggled
with the screamer because he
had to brake, turn, pick up the
bike and go. Of course, this
changes the set-up, so we now
struggle with braking, where
we used to be very strong.
Whenever you find a good
point, you will sacrifice some
other points.
“When we got more grip
from the rear, the rear tyre
tends to push the front, so
then we had to work on that.
Also, we often used different
gear ratios. The screamer
engine was aggressive, so we
had to use longer gears to be
smoother; with the big bang
we could use shorter gears
for more rpm and better
acceleration.”
Márquez struggled throughthe first few races, crashing out
of two of the first five before
he got the hang of the new
configuration.
“The first half of the season
was more like development.
After that we could arrive at
each circuit and start preparing
for the race, like a normal
weekend,” says Hernández.
“By then Marc knew how
to manage the engine and
understood what he needed
from the electronics and
chassis. The test at Brno
[between the German and
Czech GPs] was very important.
We changed the bike a lot,
especially the geometry to
change weight distribution,
more to the front for the
harder-casing front tyre.”
Honda’s priority for 2018
is to reduce its straight-line
speed disadvantage.
“Ducati is very strong,
especially in fourth, fifth and
sixth gear. Of course we want
more power and torque, but
also we need to take advantage
of the power we have, because
we have too much wheelie,
even in third, fourth and fifth,
so then the wheelie control
cuts the power. Ducati has
made a great job with the aero;
they brought the new aero
mentality to MotoGP.”Clean sweep
HONDA
Wins 8
Points 357
Final position 1st“The big bang
gives the
rider a better
connection
between torque
delivery and
tyre grip”
Hernandéz (above) and
co are still targeting
improvements for 2018, a
frightening prosopect for
HRC’s rivals