Keith Huewen: Prototype vs cost ‘a nightmare’ for MotoGP rulemakers | MotoGP

Ducati’s five rivals all voted to ban the front system – but retain the rear, for now – mostly on the basis that the mechanical ride-height system does not have relevance to production bikes.

But does that really matter, given the premier-class has other non-road applicable technology such as seamless gearboxes and carbon brakes. Afterall, an F1 car has little in common with a road vehicle.

Speaking in the latest edition of the Crash.net MotoGP podcast, MotoGP editor Pete McLaren explained:

“It was legal, and so that’s why Ducati were not happy about the front ride-height ban. But on the other hand, ride-height devices are not what the sport wanted when they drew up the technical rules.

“So you’ve got this compromise, which MotoGP director of technology Corrado Cecchinelli was explaining, between trying to give the clever people the benefit for coming up with something that’s legal – and you see this in Formula One a lot also – but at the same time, it’s not an area that the sport wants to go into.

“If you were going to build a ride-height device for a road bike, you would do it electronically. That is already banned under the MotoGP rules; What Ducati did was very cleverly come up with a working mechanical system that doesn’t use electronics.

“That’s why it’s legal, and it obviously helps with performance. But at some stage the rulemakers felt they have got to rein it in.”

‘You’ve got to look at what is best for the sport’

Former grand prix rider and British champion Huewen said: “We had all this furore before with the Ducati ‘scoop’, was it a tyre cooling device or an aero thing? You are always going to be in a position where clever people come up with a slight loophole or way around a rule.

“Like in F1, as you said Pete, they allowed Ducati to have the front ride-height for a year because otherwise you are penalising innovation. Penalising innovation is a bad thing, but I also think sometimes you’ve got to look at what is best for the sport and the dangers of bikes becoming too quick for the racetracks.”

McLaren added: “During the technical press conference at Aragon, with all the manufacturers talking about the front ride-height ban, the differences between them were obvious.

“The main split seemed to come down to the question of whether something is road relevant or not.

“Most of the five factories that voted for the front ride-height ban gave the reason that they don’t see it as having any road relevance, also partly because you’d do ride-height with electronics if you really wanted it.

“On the other hand, look at a Formula One car, where is the road car relevance there? In MotoGP you’ve also got seamless gearboxes, carbon brakes… So how much does the question of ‘can we put this on a road bike’ matter?

“There’s no clear answer, but it was repeatedly raised by the manufacturers opposed to Ducati on the ride-height issue.

“Ducati pointed out ‘never say never’ and you…