Breaking news
MotoGP
Honda says optimising electronic set-up its main weakness
Both Marc Marquez and HRC vice-president Shuhei Nakamoto believe that the main problem with the Honda bike is in the complexity of correctly setting up the electronic control unit.
Oriol Puigdemont
Edited: Aug 24, 2016, 2:07 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Last week, at Brno, Nakamoto evaluated the first half of the season together with his counterparts from chief rivals Yamaha, Ducati and Suzuki.
And when he was asked if the new engine introduced this year - with the counter-rotating crankshaft - as per Marquez's request, was the main headache for his engineers, the answer was unequivocal: "No, the problem is the electronics."
The statement from Nakamoto, who proceeded to explain it further, was corroborated by championship leader Marquez, who has been complaining about a lack of acceleration since the start of the season.
Losing out to Yamaha or Ducati in this area does not necessarily mean that the engine is not as powerful than those of its rivals, but that the power it generates cannot be transmitted to the ground.
The most visible symptom of this is the wheelies that the engineers and the riders try to avoid as much as possible when exiting corners.
"What I do is touch the rear break on the straights to try to stop the bike from lifting," explained Marquez.
Naturally, braking on the straights does not seem the best solution when it comes to racing. Another sign is the winglets, which are used to keep the front end on stuck to the ground.
The common denominator for all that can be found in the electronics control unit that came into play in 2016, or more specifically the software Magneti Marelli, the supplier, gave the teams to work with.
"Last year we used our own software, and the setting was not so critical," continued Nakamoto. "But with the new software you have to find the exact number.
"Sometimes we manage it, but most of the time we don't. The rider complains that the bike doesn't accelerate, so then we change the setting and then there is too much wheelie."
He added: "The [unified] software works well, but extracting performance is different. The set-up is now much more important that before.
"The Honda system was much simpler: the engineers trackside would make changes and the bike responded right away in the way we expected.
"With this system sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, and we don't understand why. Maybe our engineers are lacking experience."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Randy Mamola: Good old Cal finally breaks his duck
Next article Baz wants to prove Avintia right for retaining him
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Oriol Puigdemont
Jorge Martin confirms he will travel to Qatar to try to race
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
Jorge Martin confirms he will travel to Qatar to try to race
How MotoGP teams and riders are organising themselves for their arrival in Qatar
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
How MotoGP teams and riders are organising themselves for their arrival in Qatar
More from
Marc Marquez
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
5 h
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
Marc Marquez unveils simple plan as he closes in on MotoGP title: "Train, eat, sleep, repeat"
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
23 h
Marc Marquez unveils simple plan as he closes in on MotoGP title: "Train, eat, sleep, repeat"
More from
Honda HRC
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
8 h
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
Honda names Jake Dixon as Joan Mir's substitute for Qatar GP
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
Honda names Jake Dixon as Joan Mir's substitute for Qatar GP
Joan Mir says Marc Marquez’s MotoGP rivals couldn’t cope with title pressure
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
Joan Mir says Marc Marquez’s MotoGP rivals couldn’t cope with title pressure
Latest news
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 10 min
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
23 min
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
Ex-DTM champion Guven fails to clear Formula E license hurdle: What is Porsche doing?
DTM
DTM DTM 28 min
Ex-DTM champion Guven fails to clear Formula E license hurdle: What is Porsche doing?
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe