Description
Added on the 06/09/2018 11:15:22 - Copyright : Auto Moto EN
Following the event in South America, MotoGP is moving onto North America for the 3rd race of the 2018 World Championship scheduled for April 20 to 22 at the Circuit of the Americas (Austin, Texas). The track was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke and is one of the few circuits in the world to host both the MotoGP World Championship and Formula 1: the single-seaters register a lap time half a second lower than that of the motorcycles. Some stretches on the track were inspired by famous corners on historic circuits. The Texan circuit stands out for the intimidating incline on the straightaway leading to the first left-hand turn. In all, there is a difference of 133 feet between the lowest and highest points on the track, which makes it easy to imagine what might happen if the riders make a mistake in braking on the downhill stretch.
As per tradition, the MotoGP World Championship will end with the Valencian Community Grand Prix, being held this year from November 15-17. Stage of the race weekend, Circuit Ricardo Tormo is located just outside Valencia and is named for the first world champion rider from Valencia who died prematurely in 1998. Each lap, the MotoGP riders turn to their brakes nine times, splitting fairly evenly the amount of left and right-handed turns: there are five left-handed corners and four right-handed. On one full lap, the MotoGP riders use their brakes for a total of 27 seconds, which is equivalent to 31% of the time needed to complete a lap. The average peak deceleration per lap is 1.16 G, the highest of the four Spanish tracks used in MotoGP. If the section composed of turns 4 and 5 were eliminated, this figure would definitely be higher.Summing up all of the force applied by a rider on the brake lever from the starting line to the checkered flag, the result comes in at about 1,020 kg (2,249 lbs). There are a good seven corners where the load reach at least 4 kg (8.8 lbs).
"Two weeks after Formula 1, MotoGP also arrives in Japan for the 16th round of the World Championship, scheduled from 19th to 21st October at Twin Ring Motegi. Built by Honda in 1997, it is located on the hills surrounding the town of Motegi, on Honshū Island, the largest in the country. The name Twin Ring derives from the union of the English terms Twin and German Ring and serves to indicate the presence on this area of two tracks: an oval and a road circuit that intersect between the curves 5-6 and 11-12. Of course, the MotoGP uses the road circuit that is characterized by a few fast corners and many lenses, interspersed with straights of medium length: there are even 7 curves faced by the bikes at less than 100 km / h. Just the abundance of second gear corners makes it since its first use in the World Championship, in 1999, one of the most challenging for the brakes complicit the difficulty of cooling the discs between a detached and the other."
"After the long summer break the Formula 1 starts again and, as usual, the engines are rekindled at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, venue from 24 to 26 August of the GP Belgium, 13th round of the 2018 World Championship. Immersed in the Ardennes hills, it is unanimously considered the most complete track of the World Championship for the combination of fast corners, blind bends, slope changes and endless straights. Formula 1 is back for the fifty first time but over the years the track has changed a lot: from 2007 it measures 7.004 meters, which makes it the longest in the World Championship. Distinguished by 19 curves, however, only boasts 4 braking characterized by very high energy. The cooling of the braking systems is assured by the presence of fast corners like the Eau Rouge and the Blanchimont where the brakes are not involved in the least. An unknown factor is represented by the weather: last year in the race the air temperature touched 24 degrees while in 2014 it did not exceed 16 degrees. According to Brembo technicians, who have classified the 21 tracks of the World Championship, the Circuit de Spa-Franchorchamps falls into the category of circuits that are not very demanding for the brakes."
Formerly a road based circuit in-and-around the city of Chemnitz, Eastern Germany, Sachsenring’s purpose built track was opened in 1996 and hosted its first motorcycle Grand Prix in 1998. The circuit was then updated in 2001, with the Sachsenring sitting as the shortest track on the MotoGP calendar, as well as having 10 of its 13 corners left-handed. After last season’s resurfacing, Michelin come into this year’s German GP well equipped after compiling the data from 2017’s race. As expected, Michelin’s soft, medium and hard front and rear tyre compounds will be asymmetric in design. The tyres will have a harder left-hand side to cope with the added stress that part will go through, with the right-hand side having softer rubber in order for that side of the tyre to gather heat quicker – something that often catches the riders out at the top of the famous ‘Waterfall’ section.