‘Who says racing lacks comedy?
Brno, after the summer break, is the annual venue of first-class humour, a knock-about laugh fest in the best old music-hall tradition.
It’s officially called the ‘Group Technical Briefing’ where each MotoGP manufacturer sends a delegate to face probing questions. It’s a daft idea. As if anyone is going to reveal their technical secrets in private let alone sitting alongside their rivals.
It’s even funnier in execution, as delegates find varying ways of answering without actually saying anything.
Yamaha’s Kouji Tsuya evoked sentimental memories of oldschool Japanese disinformation helped by a command of English so personalised it was almost impossible to understand. Analysis of his recorded answers afterwards revealed that Yamaha hadn’t won in over a year because “our bike is not at a level to win”. Yamaha’s secrets are safe in his hands.
Honda’s Takeo Yokoyama showed
‘As if anyone is going to reveal their secrets’
the contrasting modern side of Japanese reticence. Eloquent and unashamedly humourous, he said absolutely nothing. But with style. KTM’s Sebastian Risse was more straightforward. Asked about their impending reverse-crank engine, he disclosed that he was not able to confirm anything about specifications, past experience or future plans.
Well, thanks for that. Aerodynamics? Step forward goatee-bearded Ducati mastermind Gigi Dall’Igna, wizard of winglets, doctor of downforce.
Gigi is increasingly miffed about the restrictions and his first answer to questions was: “We’ve talked too much about aerodynamics. It’s difficult to say more.”
His railing against the everchanging rules is hard to argue with, but his assertion that Pirro’s horrible high-speed crash at Mugello “with proper aerodynamics would not have happened” is slightly innaccurate. Pirro was thrown over the bars at more than 200mph after a big wobble spread his brake pads. His panicky second handful locked the front wheel. But there is some merit in his assertion as the wobble would not have happened if the front was properly anchored by the wind. But Dall’Igna makes the mistake that racing is about engineering and valuable research. Wrong. That’s music hall.