MotoGP 2003 - Round 15 - Phillip Island

October 19 2003
Country: Australia
Track length: 4448 m
Opened: 1956
Fastest ever lap: 1'31.919 (Jeremy McWilliams, 2002)
MotoGP lap record: 1'32.233 (Valentino Rossi, 2002)
Last year MotoGP winner: Valentino Rossi
GP250 lap record: 1'33.556 (Valentino Rossi, 1999)
Last year GP250 winner: Marco Melandri Circuit

After the success at the Malaysia MotoGP, where Max Biaggi (Yamaha) took the YZR-M1’s second win of the 2002 season, Yamaha’s expectations where high when the championship moved to the penultimate round in Australia. But the gusty conditions on the island circuit proved to be a major hindrance for the M1, and the Roman Emperor was forced to be content with sixth place. The result came after a race-long skirmish with Nobuatsu Aoki (Proton), Olivier Jacque (Yamaha) and Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) – the trio finishing seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.

Garry McCoy’s home GP came to a premature end, for the second time in succession, when the rear Dunlop on the Yamaha YZR500 blistered and forced the second place qualifier into the pits for a tyre change. The Australian was running as high as fifth, after the more powerful four-strokes swamped him off the line, before things went a little sour on lap 13.

This left Valentino Rossi (Honda) and Alex Barros (Honda) to decide the race win, as the pair powered away to a ten second lead over Tohru Ukawa (Honda), Daijiro Kato (Honda) and eventual fifth place finisher Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Honda). Barros looked to hold all the aces, leading every lap across the line until lap 23, when Rossi made his move. The Brazilian fought back repeatedly before out-braking himself on the final lap entering the Honda corner hairpin – handing the race win to Rossi. Barros recovered to finish second.

Set-up report YZR-M1

The fast flowing nature of Phillip Island is a favourite of many riders, often lending itself to close racing while allowing riders the rare opportunity to attack the circuit. With this in mind the set-up of the machine will need to offer good acceleration and turning ability, rather than braking stability – a given considering there’s only one hard braking area.

The Island, as it is often referred to, offers a variety of cambers throughout its sweeping 4448m layout, both positive and negative, therefore the key component to success will be the rear suspension unit. It will need to offer enough feedback and predictability, without pumping through its stroke as the rider tries to drive hard off the side of the tyre or squatting as the weight transfers onto the rear. The latter will unload the front of the motorcycle, causing it to understeer and push wide – affecting exit speed and eventually lap times. On the other hand too stiff a rear shock will only lead to the front wheel rising while the rider powers off each of the slow and medium speed turns. It will also lead to the deterioration of the rear tyre and increase the likelihood of a highside.

The rear shock must use a slightly soft spring rate, to aid feel, with a reasonable amount of preload to prevent rear-end squat. As for the damping, it will be dialled in to help balance out the package over some of the finer bumps, located in some of the high-speed sweepers. The front forks will mimic the rear set-up to ensure an overall balanced geometry. Too hard and the front will become vague in its feedback, and at these high speeds and lean angles this can be detrimental. Too soft and the basic feel will be too loose to be efficient. This has been the approach of the YZR-M1 technical team over the past few races, and with the experience gained this could prove quite beneficial at Phillip Island, where rider confidence counts for so much.

Power is tuned more towards offering a stronger midrange to top-end with acceleration the key to a fast lap time, especially off the final fast turn where momentum can make the difference between winning and losing. Helping with the top speed potential of the YZR-M1 will be the recent engine improvements and increased rpm ceiling – which was first put to the test in Motegi. Also the new ram air intake, which made its first appearance in Malaysia, should be ideally suited to the high speed circuit.

With the 2003 YZR-M1 featuring its smaller and more aggressive bodywork, which first appeared in Suzuka earlier this year, the Yamaha contingent shouldn’t suffer the effects of high cross winds to the same degree as they did in 2002. The improved 2003 aerodynamic package’s biggest advantage is its positive influence on agile handling at speed, while also reducing the drag coefficient effects in such strong cross winds.