MotoGP | Michelin: simulations dismantle the pressure "case".

Tire pressures have become a hotly debated topic in MotoGP. We have probably never heard about it as much as in the last year, in particular after the summer break of last season, when the new rule requiring riders to remain above the values imposed by Michelin was made 100% operational for at least 50% of the long race distance and for 30% of the Sprint distance if they did not want to incur a penalty.

In particular, it was the front tire that created debate: according to the riders, in fact, the bar set at 1.88 bar imposed a value that was too high. Above all because the situation changes a lot depending on the position one occupies in the group: if one follows another motorbike, in fact, it is easy for the tire to overheat, also raising the pressure to limit values, which according to those directly involved make the motorbikes undrivable, going a little against the spirit of the rule, which would be to raise safety standards.

The French company has always firmly rejected this concept, but has nevertheless decided to accommodate the riders and teams. As manager Piero Taramasso revealed to Motorsport.com a couple of weeks ago, after carefully analyzing the data from all the races of the past season, Michelin has in fact decided to lower the limit value to 1.80 bar for the season 2024 (it will be 1.85 bar at Sachsenring, Mandalika and Phillip Island, which are more demanding tracks for the tyres), however asking in exchange that this be respected for 60% of the race distance.

A Michelin MotoGP front tire

Photo by: Michelin

A reasonable compromise, given that from this year in the event of an infringement, a disqualification from the results of the race should be triggered, while in 2023 there was a warning for the first infringement, followed by time penalties, which increased from violation to violation. However, it is not certain that this position cannot be alleviated before the start of the season, returning penalties in time.

“Today the limit is a little lower, so they can take a little more margin to make sure they don't get penalized. Last year, some took a substantial margin, others took a little more risk. There was also the famous story that for the first infringement there was only a warning, so someone even played with it, using it as a wild card”, said the head of Michelin, Piero Taramasso, during a visit to the Gravanches plant, where the rear tires for the premier class are made, at which Motorsport.com was also present.

“This year there will be no warnings, as soon as you do not respect the rules you will be sanctioned. They have no intention of joking and, I repeat, the teams are able to respect the recommendations because they now know the system very well”, added Taramasso , denoting great confidence in this sense.

The Michelin test bed in Ladoux

Photo by: Michelin

However, what was revealed by Romain Cacheux, MotoGP tire designer, is probably even more interesting, explaining that in reality the numbers prove this rule right, because since the Silverstone race the average pressure used by the riders has increased significantly, but the number of falls has also been reduced.

“This famous regulation scared everyone at the beginning of the year,” Cacheux recalled. “They told us: 'No, it's not possible, we'll all end up on the ground, we'll lose performance, it will be a disaster. After the introduction of the rule, which they really respected, not only did we not have more crashes than at the beginning of the season, but the trend has even been to have fewer”, added the engineer, underlining that there were no crashes in the long races at Buriram and Losail, and that lap records were broken on these tracks.

Among other things, the visit to the Ladoux research and development center allowed us to ascertain that, at least in numbers, there is the possibility of maintaining competitiveness almost unchanged even with higher pressure. In fact, we had the opportunity to witness a comparative test on the dynamic test bench which gave a very interesting result.

The test bench is essentially an enormous wheel like those found in hamster cages, which however is capable of turning up to a maximum speed of 350 km/h, recreating three different grip conditions (high, medium or low) depending on the fund that is used. Then there is a mechanical arm on which the tire is mounted, which is able to reproduce both the steering effect and that of the lean angle, even if in only one direction (you can see it in action below) .

Watch: MotoGP Video | This is how the Michelin test bench works

In this way it is possible to simulate a real lap of the track and this is what was done in our presence, observing how the performance of a front tire changes on the Misano track by bringing the pressure from 1.9 to 2.1 bar. The result was astonishing, because the difference over the lap was just one hundredth, even if there is a but and Cacheux himself also wanted to highlight it well.

Clearly, this type of simulation does not take into account the human variable, i.e. the feeling that is transferred to the pilot with a variation in pressure of this type, which actually changes a lot. However, this data is useful to explain that theoretically, by doing adaptation work on the bike's setting and probably also in terms of riding style, there is the possibility of obtaining very similar performances. But to this it must also be added that, based on the data in Michelin's possession, the 2.1 bar of pressure is a “limit” case, which is only reached on rare occasions during races, even when the bikes are in a group.

“Not only are they able to comply with this recommendation if they really want to, but there is also a very, very small impact on overall performance. There are no more accidents and we continue to break race records,” Cacheux summed up in conclusion .