APRILIA TECH: STARTING AGAIN

Aprilia’s ground-breaking, 90-degree V4 RS-GP will be one to watch in 2020

Aprilia have been the worstperforming factory in MotoGP since returning to the class in 2015 with the RS-GP. Year-byyear upgrades failed to fix the 75-degree V4, so Aprilia have built a 100 per cent new machine for 2020.

Like the Ducati, Honda and KTM the new RS-GP is powered by a 90-degree V4 engine. A 90-degree vee is perfectly balanced, can produce more power and torque, as well as a better kind of power and torque, because the engine allows a greater choice of firing configurations. This is crucial. Finding the right ‘bigbang’ arrangement doesn’t only allow riders to put torque to the ground more effectively on corner exit it also allows them to more efficiently use the engine’s negative torque when braking into turns. A 90-degree V4 engine may be bigger than a 75-degree V4 but Honda, Ducati and KTM have proved that it can be the heart of a compact MotoGP bike. Indeed numberone rider Aleix Espargaró says the new RSGP already turns better and is more agile than the 75-degree RS-GP.

Aprilia is MotoGP’s smallest factory effort, so their race department worked day and night to get the new motor on the dyno for the first time in early December and build two bikes for the first tests in early Feb, where they were fast and relatively trouble free. Nevertheless, some of this season will be a test programme for chief engineer Romano Albesiano and his staff. The new RS was created thanks to a major budget increase from parent firm Piaggio, whose bosses presumably decided they must either go big or go home.

FERRARI F1 TECH

Aprilia’s budget boost has allowed the factory to seek out the best brains in motorsport. This year’s team includes an electronics engineer and an aerodynamicist who used to work for the Ferrari Formula 1 team.

CENTRE OF MASS

Early 90-degree bikes like Ducati’s 900SS V-twin housed their engines in an L format, which made the bikes super long. The RS-GP’s engine is housed in a V format, for a muchimproved centre of mass.

TOP SPEED

The 2020 RS-GP ran for the first time in February’s Sepang tests and was just 2.4mph slower than the fastest bike (Miller’s Ducati at 208mph). Last year’s RS-GP was 6mph down on the fastest bike at the Malaysian GP.

HOLESHOT DEVICE

Last year Aprilia were the first factory to follow Ducati’s lead by fitting a holeshot device, but the device wasn’t fitted to the 2020 bike during preseason testing because engineers were too busy with basic development.

PEOPLE POWER

Aprilia’s struggles in recent years had a horrible effect on team morale. The promising performance of the new RS-GP has reinvigorated the entire team – and happy riders and engineers are better riders and engineers.