{"id":215426,"date":"2025-10-15T14:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/215426\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T14:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:25:12","slug":"the-real-reasons-yamaha-built-a-v4-motogp-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/215426\/","title":{"rendered":"The real reasons Yamaha built a V4 MotoGP bike"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not very often that a totally new motorcycle appears in MotoGP.<\/p>\n

Yamaha<\/a>\u2018s YZR-M1 V4 is the first brand-new bike since KTM<\/a>\u2018s RC16 made its MotoGP debut nine years ago, so it\u2019s a big deal.<\/p>\n

The Iwata manufacturer\u2019s decision to park its M1 inline-four \u2014 winner of 13 riders\u2019 and constructors\u2019 titles between 2004 and 2021 \u2014 completes the V4\u2019s takeover of MotoGP.<\/p>\n

And not only the V4\u2019s, but specifically the 90-degree V4\u2019s. All five manufacturers now race MotoGP bikes powered by 90-degree V4 engines (in fact, the RC16\u2019s vee is 86 degrees wide to save a few millimetres in engine length), because this is how racing works \u2014 engineers tend to copy the winning formula.<\/p>\n

The final decades of 500cc MotoGP were the same, with a fully homogenised grid of two-stroke V4s, which won the last 36 500cc rider and constructor titles over 18 years. And, funnily enough, while Yamaha is the last brand to race a four-stroke MotoGP bike, it was the first to win with a two-stroke V4, the 0W61 of 1982<\/a>, a configuration soon copied by Honda<\/a> and Suzuki<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why does everyone love a V4 now? A V4 engine\u2019s crankshaft and camshafts are shorter than an inline-four\u2019s, so they\u2019re less likely to twist and vibrate at high rpm, so a V4 can make better power. A V4 engine is also narrower, which helps chassis and aerodynamics engineers.<\/p>\n

Obviously, the new M1 isn\u2019t just an old M1 with a new engine, it\u2019s an entirely new motorcycle, with a brand-new chassis, which gives a different machine balance to make the tyres work better over race distance. And so on and so forth\u2026<\/p>\n

The man to tell us the full range of reasons to go V4 is Yamaha\u2019s technical director Max Bartolini, who joined the company at the end of 2023, after a decade as Gigi Dall\u2019Igna\u2019s right-hand man at Ducati<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Fabio<\/p>\n

Quartararo celebrates his Silverstone pole with Bartolini (beard and glasses) and M1 project leader Masuda, both behind Quartararo\u2019s right shoulder<\/p>\n

Oxley: This must be a very complicated year for you, because it\u2019s not very often that a manufacturer races two completely different motorcycles \u2013 an inline-four and a V4 \u2013 during the same season.<\/p>\n

Bartolini: At the start of the season we balanced our resources in one direction and then during the season we moved more resources to the new project, while still doing a bit of development with the current bike, mostly to develop concepts we want to apply to the new bike.<\/p>\n

Balancing our resources has been the difficult part, because this company\u2019s resources aren\u2019t unlimited. We don\u2019t have as many staff as some people think we have. Yamaha is a big company, but the race department isn\u2019t so big. It\u2019s not like Honda.<\/p>\n

How many times do you visit Yamaha\u2019s race department in Iwata?<\/p>\n

So far, five times this year. In August I spent the holidays working at YMC [Yamaha Motor Company] in Iwata. My wife came with me \u2013 she stayed in Tokyo for two-and-a-half weeks while I worked at Iwata and we saw each other at weekends. I will visit again after Valencia, so six or seven times this year.<\/p>\n

When did you decide to race the V4 at Misano?<\/p>\n

We tried to bring the bike to a race as soon as possible, because we want to speed up the project and as, you can imagine, developing a completely new bike is always a disaster [Bartolini means very complicated and challenging!], so we thought it was better to risk racing the bike as soon as possible, because even if the bike had problems, it\u2019s always easier to understand where you are [in terms of relative performance] during race weekends, because you have the same grip as the other guys, the same tyres, the same conditions and so on, while during tests they\u2019re never the same.<\/p>\n

We decided on Misano three months before [in June]. Augusto will also race the bike at Sepang<\/a> [at the end of this month], because again the idea is to have the bike race in very difficult conditions, and at Valencia, so in the end we will make three \u2018test\u2019 wild card races this year, because it\u2019s the best way to speed up the process.<\/p>\n

\"Yamaha<\/p>\n

The V4\u2019s wafer-thin frame shows that Yamaha are working hard on lateral flex to increase cornering and exit performance<\/p>\n

\n Mat Oxley\n <\/p>\n

For a test rider, Augusto Fernandez showed some good speed when he raced the bike for the first time at Misano last month \u2013 1.2 seconds off pole and 1.4 seconds off the fastest race lap.<\/p>\n

In general, I can\u2019t say the weekend was perfect but, honestly, it went better than we expected. We were expecting much, much more problems and to be slower than we were. Like always with a new project we needed to manage some, let\u2019s say, unexpected behaviour from the bike, but that\u2019s quite normal. It\u2019s also true that the bike doesn\u2019t yet have the correct balance, so we didn\u2019t even work so much on the settings at Misano.<\/p>\n

And presumably you\u2019re not using the engine\u2019s maximum rpm yet?<\/p>\n

Right now the engine isn\u2019t ready. Sometimes we can use some revs, but the engine isn\u2019t yet developed to a state of maximum power.<\/p>\n

After a positive weekend with Fernandez at Misano, were you surprised that Fabio Quartararo wasn\u2019t so impressed by the bike during the Monday tests?<\/p>\n

Not really. I think the good points were what we expected and the bad points were what we expected. Fabio wasn\u2019t so slow \u2013 around one second off the pace with a completely new bike and we clearly saw in the data where we need to improve.<\/p>\n

Misano is quite demanding for the front, with very little straight-line braking but lots of braking from very high speed, with a lot of combined force on the front tyre [lean angle\/brake load]. But we haven\u2019t yet arrived at the correct balance with the new bike, so it\u2019s not OK for front feeling.<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t work to set up the bike in the tests either, because it\u2019s still early stages, so we still need to decide where to put the balance and where to put the front wheel. And when you are at this point it\u2019s very difficult for a rider to get the confidence to go faster. I understand this is difficult for Fabio, because he wants to fight for the win.<\/p>\n

\"Yam<\/p>\n

Fernandez\u2019s V4 cockpit at Misano<\/p>\n

Fabio is an amazing natural talent \u2013 how analytical is he?<\/p>\n

Fabio is very powerful and sometimes he struggles to put that power in the right direction. In talent, I think he\u2019s very, very talented \u2014 more than you can imagine from the outside, so I was surprised when I arrived at Yamaha.<\/p>\n

About analytical ability \u2014 he has this fire inside him, which sometimes covers other things, because he wants to be fast. Later, when he calms down, he\u2019s better, but he needs to calm down first.<\/p>\n

What are your priorities now?<\/p>\n

We need to improve the engine and at least to get to the level of handling of the other bikes, by finding the right bike balance to gain front feel. I\u2019m not sure the new bike\u2019s front will ever be like the current bike\u2019s, because in the end, when you gain something, you lose something.<\/p>\n

These are the main points we are working. The good point is that Augusto and Dovi [Andrea Dovizioso<\/a>, former Ducati MotoGP winner who now works with Yamaha] say the same things, which is why what Fabio said during the Misano tests wasn\u2019t unexpected, because he uses the front much more strongly than they do, so when Augusto had [earlier] complained about the front, I said, \u2018F***!\u2019 because I knew when Fabio tried the bike he would complain more about this and he did.<\/p>\n

There are many reasons why a V4 works better in MotoGP now, like the inline-four is wider, so the engine needs to be higher in the chassis, so you can\u2019t get the swingarm pivot in the right place to get the right amount of chain force\u2026<\/p>\n

Chain force is one of the points but not the most important point.<\/p>\n

What are the other big points?<\/p>\n

Okay, aero is one of the first.<\/p>\n

Because a V4 is narrower and makes more power, so it can carry more downforce aero?<\/p>\n

Power isn\u2019t the main reason, because I still think an inline-four can have the power. The first problem is rideability, because in the past the M1 had a very smooth engine, but now you can\u2019t make a torque curve with the same shape as a V4\u2019s torque curve, plus you need a balance shaft, so it becomes a very complex and heavy engine.<\/p>\n

\"Fabio<\/p>\n

Quartararo and the M1 V4 during last month\u2019s Misano test<\/p>\n

\n Yamaha\n <\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t you make a good torque curve \u2013 because you need light engine inertia, so the engine revs to make the power?<\/p>\n

Yeah, very light.<\/p>\n

Then you get wheelspin because you\u2019ve so little engine inertia?<\/p>\n

Then you have to add more inertia and you end up with a very, very heavy engine.<\/p>\n

For me, these are the biggest points, plus the balance of the bike \u2013 the height of the centre of gravity and the position of the centre of gravity compared to rider position. We can put more load on the rear tyre with the current bike, but the front wheel will end up under the rider\u2019s feet. So everything goes in that [V4] direction.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure you couldn\u2019t make an inline-four that works now, but you\u2019d have to completely change the concept of the inline-four and how it works. Then this would be something away from the other bikes, so you would need to do something nobody else is doing, so in the end, it\u2019s best to stick to what everybody knows.<\/p>\n

Also, when we move from Michelin to Pirelli in 2027, I honestly don\u2019t expect the Pirellis to work in the opposite direction of the Michelins.<\/p>\n

If that did happen, at least you\u2019d have the inline-four to bring back\u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be surprised if that happens with Pirelli, but if we went back to Bridgestone, the inline-four would be pretty good! [Because Bridgestone\u2019s amazing front slick favours front-focused motorcycles.]<\/p>\n

Obviously, you brought a lot of V4 know-how when you joined Yamaha from Ducati\u2026<\/p>\n

I worked on the same bike [the Desmosedici] for many, many years, so I\u2019ve tried to share my experience, but like in every company, you need to bring people to understand what you mean and go in the same direction and this requires a little time. Because, thinking in the opposite way, when people came to Ducati from the outside, also Ducati struggled to understand. [I wonder if he\u2019s talking about Gigi Dall\u2019Igna.]<\/p>\n

\"Augusto<\/p>\n

Fernandez gives the V4 its race debut at the San Marino GP<\/p>\n

I try to explain things in a better way \u2013 I make sketches and so on. Because even if you brought a whole bike with you, it\u2019s very difficult to make that same bike somewhere else, unless the people understand the concept behind the bike. Also, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s proper to arrive in a company and tell them, \u2018This is how we make a bike.\u2019<\/p>\n

Yamaha have many positive points that we didn\u2019t have at Ducati, so now at Iwata we share experiences and try to make a better bike overall. For sure I have in my mind what we did to improve the bike at Ducati and we will try to do some of that here.<\/p>\n

I recently watched Hitting The Apex [excellent 2013 MotoGP doc] again and the bikes were so short!<\/p>\n

Compared to then, because of the increase in power, MotoGP bikes are now around 60 to 70mm longer.<\/p>\n

Why doesn\u2019t Quartararo turn up at races with one guy filling the inline-four\u2019s fuel tank and one guy fitting tyres, while everyone else stays at Iwata, working on the V4?<\/p>\n

In some ways are you right, but another thing we are developing is the way to work in the garage, so the guys at the track are learning new ways to work and whatever we learn today will be useful with the new bike. The people at the track are racing guys, not designers. Then there\u2019s me and project leader Kazuhiro Masuda, who are trying to make the bridge between the Japanese side and the Italian side.<\/p>\n

I know Yamaha\u2019s Milan MotoGP engineering base is growing \u2013 what work do you do there?<\/p>\n

We are doing part of the aero, engine building and some engine development.<\/p>\n

\"MEYM_260425__GIG7209\"<\/p>\n

Bartolini congratulates Quartararo for his 2025 Jerez pole<\/p>\n

Is Luca Marmorini [former Ferrari Formula 1 engine designer, who worked briefly with Aprilia\u00a0before joining Yamaha in 2022] still with you?<\/p>\n

Yes, he is a consultant, but we consider him more of a partner, a long-term partner. It\u2019s easy to find many engine experts but not easy to find MotoGP engine experts, so it\u2019s good to have him, even if the engine department in Japan is also quite strong.<\/p>\n

Do you now use a virtual garage (basically a replica garage housed in the manufacturer\u2019s race department, linked to the track via live audio, video and data) in Iwata and Milan?<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t have enough resources yet, but the data goes worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not very often that a totally new motorcycle appears in MotoGP. Yamaha\u2018s YZR-M1 V4 is the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,5745,806,805,803,804,85,3561],"class_list":{"0":"post-215426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motogp","11":"tag-motor","12":"tag-motor-sports","13":"tag-motosport","14":"tag-motosports","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-yamaha"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}