What was being tested at Jerez? More than the riders were telling us. But fortunately, we had spies in pit lane, picking up on some of the things the teams wouldn’t tell us about. Photographers Niki Kovács and Leslie Hantos put together a collection of some of their best shots from the pits, with some deep technical detail. Sign up and subscribe or support us on Patreon for the full set of tech photos in very high-resolution and much more.
Ducati were once again experimenting with the ride-height device at Jerez. This time, though, it was much harder to spot exactly what they were trying to do. Here is what the hydraulic control system for the ride-height device on the GP26 looks like.
At the front, you can see three cables going in, which come from the levers on the bars, used to arm it for the starts and out of corners. At the back of the unit, you can see three nuts which look a lot like they might contain damping control screws, which would help fine-tune the pace of release. And below the cables, a dry break connector which allows the unit to be disconnected from the hydraulic piston on the swingarm linkage without needing to completely bleed the system.
And here’s the mystery. Here’s the front of Marc Márquez’ Ducati GP26, but without the hydraulic control unit. Had they removed the ride-height device? Márquez said they hadn’t when asked. The most likely explanation is that they are experimenting with moving the control unit to a different part of the bike. Having such a significant weight in the nose poses problems for weight distribution and balance. Where did they move it to? Who knows…
A rare shot of Pecco Bagnaia’s Ducati with the fuel tank removed and the tank cover off. The ECU sits above the airbox, normally hidden by tank and cover.
One of the big mysteries at the Jerez test was the row of small white pyramids stuck to the bottom of the Aprilia fairing, seen on the bikes of Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi, and Lorenzo Savadori. What exactly was the purpose of these things? It’s actually simple when you realize…
Sign up and subscribe or support us on Patreon for the full set of these amazing tech photos in very high-resolution.
If you’d like to have very high-resolution (4K) versions of the fantastic photos which appear on the site, you can become a site supporter and take out a subscription. A subscription will also give you access to the many in-depth and exclusive articles we produce for MotoMatters.com site supporters. The more readers who join our growing band of site supporters, the better we can make MotoMatters.com, and the more readers will get out of the website. You can find out more about subscribing to MotoMatters.com here. You can also see these photos and all our subscriber material on our Patreon page.