One step forward and two steps back for the safety of the friendly speed devils who ride Grand Prix motorcycles. Liberty Media, new total master of the world motor racing circuit (it had Formula 1 and now it has everything) does not give discounts in the race for spectacle and therefore for businessFor the MotoGP season, which officially opens this weekend at the Buriram circuit in Thailand, everything remains as before, in the spirit of testing the new direction. But from 2027, everything will change.
Pilots and big brands will find themselves with the technical decision already taken some time ago, partly to contain costs and mostly to recover some extra safety margin compared to the charm but also to the curse imposed by the super-racers of 1000 cubic centimeters that exceed 300 horsepower and 350 km/h. From the 2027 season the displacement will drop to 850 cubic centimeters, the engines will have some more constraints in the internal geometry, the tanks will contain a couple of liters less for the same race length, the aerodynamics will become less extreme And less critically, the cumbersome mechanisms that allow for on-the-fly setup adjustments to gain room in lean angles and reduce drag on straights will disappear. The prototypes are already revving up their engines, alongside the latest versions of the "old" GP bikes that will take to the track in a few days for their final lap.
In short, slightly safer bikes. Just a little, considering they'll lose about forty horsepower, but they'll still unleash at least 250, three times what our super champion Giacomo Agostini had in his first world championship victories. 300 miles an hour will certainly be a thing of the past. Technology will do something for safety. But here are the needs of the show and the greed of the new owner, hunting for new business.
The reasons for a wrong choice
In Australia there is perhaps the most beautiful circuit in the entire world championship: Phillip Island, on the beautiful island of the same name below Melbourne, in the southernmost heel of the continent. wonderful circuit, at the pinnacle of safety, spectacular for the public and for television coverage, the most beloved by pilots, the most respected by technicians. No way. By the new standards of global entertainment, an island, no matter how beautiful, is no good. It's urgent to capture new opportunities, new risks, more spectacle and related money.
Monte Carlo teaches us. Formula 1, with its walls and thrills, countless hotel rooms worth their weight in gold, even balconies rented at a ridiculous price, and lucrative events galore, all in the spirit of the international jet set. A Moto GP Monte Carlo, with its gladiators between walls of concrete oozing business, something we've never seen before. The time has come.
There were two candidates suited to the task, both already trained with her majesty Formula 1. There's the semi-permanent street circuit of Albert Park in Melbourne, right next to the unforgettably beautiful Phillip Island. And there's, further east, the pure street circuit of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. This was chosen. It will be modified – promise the architects of the operation – to create run-off areas more suited to the deadly challenges of MotoGP, which even more serious problems compared to Formula 1 racing cars.
Once upon a time, it was the lack of run-off areas, replaced by a few bales of straw, that killed Grand Prix motorcycle riders. Nowadays, deaths are a little less, but we still die. It doesn't matter, obviously. The final plan is already there. The Adelaide circuit will copy, with some variations, the old downtown track, which hosted Formula 1 between 1985 and the following decade, with 18 turns along just under 4,2 kilometers. Is it possible? No, according to those who actually work on MotoGP.
The no of the real racing world
"It's a show now, no longer a sport. This is what happens when everything is in the hands of American showmen" cuts short Carlo Pernat, long-time manager of the motorcycle world championship teams. The abandonment of Phillip Island? "It's a shame that of all the tracks they take away the most spectacular in the world. That's where you see the true champion. It's a insult to sport. I suggest that pilots create an association with a person who looks after their interests,” he urges.
“Why should MotoGP remove from the calendar what is perhaps its best circuit?” warns Australian super champion Casey Stoner on Instagram. He is echoed in the same tone by our Valentino Rossi, who asks and hopes for a afterthoughtGrand Prix motorcycle riders are fierce competitors among themselves, but they are not indifferent to joint initiatives to reconcile entertainment and safety, business and the awareness that the limit – this is their job – is touched but not exceeded.
