Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner talks about comeback of 1000cc engines – MotoGP news
Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner shared his experience and views about the development and differences regarding the 1000cc comeback in the 2012 MotoGP season.
The new regulations have revealed that the 800cc prototypes will be replaced by 1000cc machines from the 2012 season onwards. The next season will also see an increased number of riders on the MotoGP grid.
The Australian rider in the Repsol Honda squad, Casey Stoner commented about the change regarding the riding style with 1000cc machines and said, “Yes and no. I'm not really sure. I think the way 1000s were beforehand, there was still a tyre battle and there
was a tyre battle for the first part of 800s, which produced some great races and passes back and forth and all the rest of it.”
The Aussie further added, “Now with 1000s, it's not going to be a lot of difference. I've ridden the 1000 again and I went from 1000 to 800 and there weren’t huge differences. The main thing you notice is in the higher gears, fourth, fifth on the 800, you
basically don't have a lot of power to spin.”
In Stoner’s opinion, the 1000cc bikes are harder to handle while the rear tyre is spinning loose. He said when the rider has finished the corner and has the bike upright, the raw power from the engine tends to spin the rear wheel.
He said such things will make a difference in the race and under wet conditions, it will be even more difficult. He also said that the wheelie technique to control the front-end lift will be changed with the bigger engine.
As the engines get bigger, the wheelie range will be increased to more gears as compared to the 800cc prototypes. So as a result to minimise the lift, the rider will have to stay loose on the throttle or manage it anyway.
However, the riders will learn new tips and tricks to keep the tyres on track. Especially the riders leading the MotoGP grid have more tendencies to learn early than others. Let’s see when the 1000cc prototypes make their debut and what are the challenges
faced by the riders.
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