MotoGP
MotoGP Overview
Among the exciting forms of motorized vehicle races is the MotoGP motorcycle Grand Prix. The main motorcycle racing championship held is the Road Racing Grand Prix World Championship. This features three unique classes, those of the Moto GP, the 250cc, and the 125 cc. MotoGP class bikes utilize four stroke engines. Motorcycles raced in the Grand Prix are racing machines that were built for the racing purpose specifically. These can not be driven legally on public roads, nor bought by members of the public.
The rights to the Road Racing Grand Prix World Championship are held by Dorna Sports. The IRTA, or the International Road-Racing Teams Association represents the various teams themselves. Conversely, the MSMA, or Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association represents the motorcycle makers. FIM, also known as Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme is the original organizer of a MotoGP Grand Prix, which they held back in 1949 for the first time. These four groups together make all decisions to any changes to rules and regulations, and they jointly comprise the Grand Prix Commission. Dorna holds the tie breaking vote in the event of a hung vote.
MotoGP History
There were always races at every MotoGP event held for all of the differing motorcycle classes. These classes were broken down into engine sizes, with a special class for sidecar racing. The historical classes were cc's of 500, 350, 250, 125, 80, and 50, with 500cc and 350cc classes for sidecars. In the 1950's and 1960's, all of the various classes were mostly won by four stroke engine bikes. In the 1970's, engines that were two stroke designs surpassed the old four stroke engine bikes entirely. Honda proved to be the last motorcycle manufacturer to attempt to win with a four stroke engine in 1979. Only a few years later, in 1983, Honda too was utilizing two stroke engine 500cc models to win. By the 1990's, the 80cc class, that had earlier replaced the 50cc class, was completely dropped. Italy's and Spain's manufacturers had been dominant in these two classes for years. In the 1980's, the 350cc class at last disappeared. The 1990's saw another update to the classes, with sidecars completely eliminated from the MotoGP World Championship races. This left the field with only the 125cc's, 250cc's, and 500cc's classes.
In the last few years, MotoGP has transformed significantly. Dating back to the 1970's and lasting until the year 2002, the top GP class of racing was the 500cc with no more than four cylinders. Because two stroke engines possessed more power output at their engine's capacity, all bikes were built with these engines. In 2002, a rule change was affected that phased out the two stroke engines. Four stroke engines won out in the battle of the engine types, since by the year 2003 not a single two stroke engine was left in the field of MotoGP.
MotoGP Race Grids
MotoGP racing grids are made up from three columns. They are comprised of around twenty riders. The positions of the grid are determined using a descending order based on qualifying speed. These MotoGP races go on for around forty-five minutes. Every race proves to be a matter of sprinting from the start to the finish line with no pit stops for tires or gas.
MotoGP Class Bikes
The FIM has the power to form different specifications for the various racing classes as it wishes. Moto GP motorcycles have not been limited to any particular configuration of engine. Still, the motorcycles in this class do have a minimum and maximum weight, and this is commonly determined by the quantity of engine cylinders used within the engine. This has proven to be necessary since engines that have greater numbers of cylinders are able to create additional power.
In the year 2004, companies entered various motorcycles that had five, four, and three cylinder designs. These days, the four cylinder engine variants seem like they offer the most effective combination of fuel consumption, power, and weight. All of the competing entries in the 2009 series used this four cylinder design in either an in-line or V type of configuration.
Because the FIM grew troubled by the technological improvements in both engineering and design that were leading to greater speeds on the race tracks, they introduced changes in regulation for engine capacity, quantity of fuel permitted, and weight restrictions. These different rules lowered the legal engine capacity from 990cc down to 800cc, limiting the allowable fuel that was available to race with to only twenty-one liters from twenty-six liters, taking effect in 2007. Similarly, they altered the minimum bike weight requirements by raising them another three kilograms.
The greatest speed ever achieved by a MotoGP bike is 217.037 miles per hour, or 349.288 km/h. Dani Pedrosa, while riding a Repsol Honda 800cc model, set this record. He was riding in Free Practice 1 in the Italian Grand Prix motorcycle 2009 race at the time.
MotoGP Popular Racers
The best MotoGP riders travel around the earth to compete against each other in the yearly held FIM's World Championship series. Both the Spanish and Italians tend to most closely watch the championship series, since their countries are homes of the most victorious riders in the last ten years. The Italian Valentino Rossi dominated the premier class early this century, winning the successive 2001 to 2005 titles, as well as the 2008 and 2009 ones. Various other manufacturers attempted to enlist younger riders in a series of heroic efforts to unseat Valentino's astonishing successive victories on first 500cc two stroke bikes and later 990cc four stroke bikes. The most recent champion has once again been Italian Valentino Rossi, riding Japanese Yamaha bikes.