McPint on MotoGP lap gaps
McPint says power isn’t everything when it comes to racing
Ifound Michael Laverty’s piece about corner speeds really interesting (p60-61). It’s incredible to see how much faster Moto3 are than MotoGP in some corners. I think people will be surprised at that. It’s like that at the TT as well. Where we’ve made up time is power and a little bit of tyre. You come out of Quarter Bridge and you get to Braddan Bridge faster than you would have done in 2001 riding an SP-1. But if you had a speed gun on you at the apex at Braddon Bridge it would be the same – you just get from A to B and B to C faster now because you have more power. I bet when
‘You’re flat-out but you are in the right place’
Steve Hislop was on the side of his tyre on his RC45 in 1994 at the Verandah he was going as fast as we are now even though he’d have had 140bhp – now it’s 240bhp. It’s like the Paton I race at the Classic TT. It’s got a 100mm front tyre and a 110mm rear and when I did my 113.4mph lap I was on the limit. You carry tons of speed and have so much feel because you’re on treaded tyres. Honestly, there are some bends around the TT where I’ll be faster on the Paton than on my Superbike. The reason is that you can put yourself in the perfect place on the road. You can never really get into a perfect position on a big bike because you’re arriving so fast it’s hard to get ahead of the bike. It’s so hard to scrub off the speed and make the perfect turn-in point at the perfect speed. On the Paton you’re flatout but you’re where you want to be and instead of braking from 180mph, you’re braking from 120mph, a touch of the brakes to help turn it in, then back on the power. I did a 113.4mph lap on the Paton and went through the speed trap at 140mph. On a Superbike you’re doing 130mph★ laps but you’re doing 200mph down the straight.