MotoGP Aero Problems - EXPLAINED 

It's incredible how MotoGP has willingly gone down this route despite riders clearly saying that it is ruining the racing.

Some corrections. 1 The wings are enclosed because the regulator said that so they are safer in case of a crash. 2 The wing on the fork have been introduced by Aprilia, not Ducati.

Moto GP is in their 2008 F1 phase

Maybe I am wrong, but from what I remember the vertical connection between wings is due to regulation because back in 2017 when single wings were banned, ducati found a "hole" in the regulation introducing fairing integrated wings. And from that moment on all the wings maintained that style

I still find MotoGP races pretty amazing and competitive, whilst being faster due to aero. For now, I like it very much

As much as I love the technical aspect aerodynamic development brings, if it gets in the way of racing, it's a no-brainer which is the priority. Good racing comes first, always.

I disagree, the racing is great. Unless there's actual statistics, like passing has decreased, I could see it somehow. The only thing I'd say is getting worse, is the chances of rider injury because the bikes are too fast. Other than that, people should just watch moto2 if they don't want aero.

The rear wing is very helpful for braking aswell, as it keeps the bike from flipping over. Ideally the rider moves to the side before initiating braking to not block the rear wing. Also having ground effect on a bike must feel scary as hell. Imagine being close to the lean limit and suffently the bike gets sucked down further

The awful Michelin tyres that were introduced were the cause of these wings due to zero frontend grip.

I believe that if you want to create the fastest road bike possible and race them against each other, it should be done on a clock. If you want rider’s skill to be showcased, then they need to be more of a spec machine. This can be applied to any motorsport.

It's killing the excitement of a MotoGP race when before, we can see overtake in almost every part of the circuit, almost every corner. Now the overtaking area is massively reduced to some corner or in only in the straight. Riders used to overtake side by side corner by corner tirelessly, but now rider tend to follow each other longer without any overtake.

I know a lot are against it... but for me its very interesting the wings and the track times how they are faster and lap times are broken every year And thats why i am for the wings 😃

Ban aero in motogp! This absolutely ruins racing.

It won't get anywhere as bad as F1 given how small bikes are there's far better line options.

5:04 This is an excellent example of how far behind team Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki were in the Aero Development race. Not even KTM and Aprillia’s factory teams have beaten all the Ducati satellite teams.

A minimum amount of rules is always the best policy. Tons of rules, that's what's ruined F1.

MotoGP is going the same boring way that F1... Little winglets in every single inch of the bike...more than a ride they look like transformers...😮

looks like shit, is expensive af, riders hate it, is unsafe up to clearly dangerous to drive around other people with blades on rockets that freak out when the air changes, most visitors hate it, the leading driver has an extreme advantage because noone is disturbing his air, probably one of the reasons why suzuki left the moto GP, guess yamaha will drop out sooner or later too and we will have a (already) superboring Ducati Cup with 12 ducatis and 2 hondas following....... MotoGP was best to watch at Stonertimes, with cornerdrifting fully manual bikes where the rider was the key and not a bazillion of electronic devices on a selfdriving bike.......... was so boring to watch that i missed half the 23 season because i almost fell asleep at every race....

Clearly MotoGP has learned nothing from F1. I guess the manufacturers see an opportunity to sell silly looking, high margin aero bits to weekend road warriors.

No more wings for motorcycles. Let’s go back when we all had fun without those bikes without aerodynamics. I’m not good person to say that because I have one of those

That’s what I’m saying. Aero is performance at the disadvantage of Hard racing

I think it's cool and would like to see a special series of bikes that are designed with aero in mind

They saw how horrible racing has become in F1, and thought they should have that as well. Geniuses...

Interesting bit about the ground effect design on the Aprilia and the need to move the cooling fins upwards. If I am not mistaken Espargaró and Viñales both faced extreme overheating in Indonesia, Malaysia and other extremely hot venues. Certainly the design has some cooling deficiencies.

Motogp needs to get ahead of this and ban all aero surfaces outright before it starts to look like the f1 hybrid era

I don't agree that better aerodynamic performance "makes racing worse". I think what makes racing better is getting around the track faster.

3X more injuries... just ban aero altogether.

Who is gonna come up with drs....

Wings should be banned in motogp

I think that aerodynamics helps if the list of advantages is definetly longer than disadvantages. It seems not the case for motorbike. Due to his natural shape, a motobike belongs to the world extremely low aspect ratio bodies, therefore the real big advantages could be confined to a small amount of technical choices. And these choices could work very well in a isolated wind tunnel test model, i doubt with the same efficiency in the "middle of the crowd".

If regulations ban wings on bikes innovation will evolve to wings on forearms of riders

Wonderful video with some great photos. I say it's a prototype class, let them have their way.

Crazy how far aero in motogp has gone. It's even more complicated to understand than in cars since the bikes have so many different fases when going into a corner.

needs to be banned, the braking/anti wheally wings can stay, but the rest needs banning.

I’m mixed. I love the way racing was. However, I love the aerodynamic elements a lot. I wish we could have both!!!

The problem with aero devices on GP bikes is: (herald trumpet fanfare) ⚜️They Are Ridiculously Ugly⚜️

Depends what you would consider "right" direction the goal is to increase viewership from more competitive racing so down force can increase passing while also increasing danger both are attractive to new viewers but it also for the same reasons cause many problems

I don't have to draw my own opinion. Every gp rider says when they get in the wash they can't brake. I'll take their word for it. MotoGP has gone the way of F1 and now have the same problems. Can't follow. If you can't follow, you can't race. And just like in F1, the smartest racing engineers in the world are progressively figuring out how to kill racing.

It's fantastic to finally see teams pay attention to aero; every type of road going bike also has terrible aero. MotoGP shouldn't stand in the way of vehicle development as they have done in F1.

Whether I like it or not. I am thoroughly impressed at how quickly motorcycle fluid dynamics engineers are figuring all this out. It took automobile racing engineers close to 50 years to figure out how to best use the air. And the motorcycle engineers are accelerating the speed of improvement for bike in what, a decade? I don't know but it seems like warp speed acceleration. I don't see cars beating bikes through corners for very much longer.

In my opinion, I don't know if it should be MotoGP doing so but I really like aero finally coming to bikes because the motorcycles will become a lot faster and also the production models will become faster as well, I truly like it because bikes stayed basically the same for a lot of years now (electronic aids apart). So I think MotoGP should be the forward tecnology carring sport for motorcycles (because they have more money) while the fun and competitive part should be carried by WSB for example

MotoGP is in my opinion becoming boring. More downforce = smaller braking distances reducing overtaking opportunities. It's obvious that aero is one of the main reasons the Japanese bikes have fallen behind. Soon it will be as boring as F1 with one manufacturer winniong every race. Only 5-6 years ago, we had 4 or 5 manufactures capable of winning.

in my oppinion, MOTOGP nowadays is becoming silly. with too many aeros. no more skill of the riders, all is controlled by ECU.

Dorna witnessed F1 struggling with aerodynamics for years and now they’ve allowed it and completely ruined the sport for me. I just no longer enjoy watching it. World Superbikes is so much better, more action in a single lap than an entire GP race. You can see this at the tracks, even the big European races don’t attract the fans they once did. It needs changing and quick. Qatar 2024 was so boring. It’s like F1 from a few years back but without the interest of pits stops etc.

A new problem arises what for they all go a bit quicker so what it does nothing for the racing. F1 cars are seriously affected bu down wind and cross winds. Imagion the number of casualties we are going to have in future. The rule guys have no idea what they have started all to throw more money away to assist Ducati with Audi money.

I think is great addition from technical perspective, but from racing is too effective because the dirty air But, Marc Marquez said it on the commentary at Honda Racing Thanks Day, there gonna be 2027 regulations with less aero part. Great vids.

The excessive aero is hideous.... I know that much. Wsbk is flat out better at this point. Take hp and lap times out of the equation. The bikes look better and the racing is closer.

Make them start in reverse current championship standings order and problem solved.

Just put air rule of leaving as clean as possible air behind rule. Surely this will bring some serious engineering challenges. And till then racing won't be effected by aeros that much.

I’m glad I have a 2019 bike with just an integrated front aero. These new ones look goofy.

As an engineer I really do not want to see this banned. This is the fun I get in high end motorsports. F1 is incredibly boring thanks to having such strict standardization and rules which simply smother technical innovation instead of encouraging it.

Mass dampers, ride height, traction control, lean sensors, winglets… it’s a joke.

I like engineering aspects of aero in MotoGP. That said, it is so disconnected from reality that it is hard, for me personally, to relate to it. The only similarity with a regular motorcycle is the fact that it's the same vehicle concept. My personal opinion is, or ban aero completely or let manufacturers do whatever they want.

Me personally, I’m opposed to launch control, anti dive control, traction control basically all electronic nanny controls should be banned. Engine, tires, shocks and rider only.

Idk, MotoGP races are still incredibly competitive and Moto2 on the other hand tends not to be as close racing and they don't have any wings at all. It definitely doesn't help the racing, but motorcycle racing is so much more conducive to close racing compared to cars.

if you can control air at that speed, you should be flying. you reduce drag, improve efficiency and expose the sport. flying bikes are always a show.

Time to stop it now, a la Casey Stoner's comments. And for that matter Rick Mears (do a little googling FIM it is worth it)

They should race on naked bikes... with a wind shield. Racing is not about speed.

6:38 Sure. if you wanna go fast in the water, you need hydrodynamic. You wanna move fast in the air, you need aerodynamic. That's what nature do.

Funny suspension a-kits and mass/j-dampers that benefit most road riders aint mass produced/marketed...

I think aero isn't something that belongs on bikes and if left unchecked will result in bikes that are cornering at such high speeds that riders will struggle to control them. The whole appeal of bike racing is that it's close racing but putting aero on bikes is making it so they can't follow each other. IMO wrong way to go

I think the aero effect of these tiny wings can't be compared to what F1 does. F1 aero produces so much downforce that they could drive upside down on the ceiling of a tunnel if they wanted to. You're never gonna get that on a moto. Of course relying on aero comes with some downsides when the aero doesn't work as planned. But really they are trying to make the fastest bike they can. Ideally it is faster than the opposition and in that case you'd never have to ride in the dirty air of someone else. The plan is to qualify pole position and then drive away from the rest.

IMHO it´s the wrong path to take. The costs of aero development has skyrocketed and there is greater risk of accidents when riders suddenly lose parts on track.

motogp needs active aero due to the nature of their physics

Honestly, I love that they are bringing in more aerodynamics. Comparing MotoGP and F1 isn't really ideal since most overtakes are done by a faster car and on straights in Formula 1 because it's that hard to follow other cars. With motorcycles, we're seeing plenty of action regardless of the aerodynamics and, despite the dirty air, Marquez has benefited from towing other riders in qualifying so it's clearly not as much of an issue as most people seem to think. Realistically speaking, we've been having much more action now than when Marquez was winning every race. MotoGP is supposed to be the top of motorcycle engineering. Formula 1 was forced to reduce aerodynamic components and add a drag reduction system because the racing was that bad. MotoGP isn't having that issue at all so reducing the aerodynamic components would just ruin the fun. Another thing is I personally find it really cool to see riders finding other lines to avoid the dirty air. MotoGP is perfectly fine the way it is right now imo

Tec wise it amazing but unfortunately it makes the bikes look ugly it is doing the same thing as f1 when they had them stupid looking things on the nose of the car. The bikes don't look slick and sexy like they did with the wings on side of the bike very ugly in my eyes

This is why I watch World Superbike instead

Honda, Yamaha will exit because of this aero nonsense, these are bikes, not aeroplanes.

I personally love them but I understand why it would be better for the racing if removed.

CEO of michelin tyres and aero marcsmith wants to debate racers and the truth

Lets all be honnest here, edge of your seat racing is what we want ! 3 or more possibly winners down to the last corner ... IF earo let the first rider take off to be never seen again.. we are definitely on the wrong pad here !!

HEY! THOSE ARE ALL PASSIVE! AEROSYSTEMS WHICH AREN'T INTERACTIVE AEREOSYSTEMS

Thank you thank you 🙏🤲🔥🔥🙌🙌👏👏 outstanding work flawless

I don't know how it happened but I've essentially become notification gang with this channel, the content is so good

You do not get better racing when everyone goes faster- you simply increase costs to all at the expense of the thrill of competition.

Michelin front tyre ruined Marc Marquez career he can no longer brake as aggressively as before

I dont really watch moto GP but i watch a lot of car racing and almost every race car now has a lot of wings and downforce even entry level ones i dont see it as a problem but please some one who watches moto gp a lot maybe could give an explanation as to why its bad? and also i must add the ingenuity of these engineers to create downforce on a bike is insane

favouring european manufacturers, what else

Awesome video. AWESOME.

f1 has this problem to but with bikes yes they really need to use less wings i think yes the bikes will be slower but the racing will be better

Agree the "aero" is getting out of hand, next gen bike gonna have spoiler and drs now what happen to motogp tho

Aero muuuust be minimized. Lets not go the F1 route pls

MotoGP stopped being interesting years ago.

And then the engine will get a nerf and we start again from begining

Transitional tech. Fads.

i hope you get a better mic for your video😀

6:10 there was contact between them.

Ban it now while they can, it’s killing the racing. Or become f1 and constantly change the regs to aid closer racing (because the changes never work).

Great video. I had no idea of the side diffusers.

The biggest problem is these bikes are ugly. They are just flat out ugly. Should that matter? Maybe not. I don't know. But I do like pretty things, and I think motorcycles can be art. And these things are ugly.

I haven’t watched MotoGP in 20 years and I’m seriously baffled by how stupid these bikes look now. If anyone would’ve shown me such an design in 2000 I would laughed in their face!

Make 'em ride naked bikes!

Phenomenal video 👏 top work! As someone who follows F1 and MotoGp, I've been fascinated at the aero development in MotoGp over the years. If you look back even as long ago as 2015 it's like the manufacturers were stuck in time with only the front wings to help with anti wheelie. And then circa 3 or 4 years ago Ducati must have had osme a-ha moments and I've been fascinated to understand what the different components do. The front wheel attachment: I always thought these devices on the Ducati and Aprila were some sort of flow conditioners until I watched your video. I now understand they are....ground effect. Wow. Insane. I would love to hear from a current rider how much more physical this makes the bike. I remember on a F1 related podcast a few years ago, Gary Anderson (ex Jordan F1 head of technical) explaining how different the current era of ground efect cars are versus the 2018-2021 era of F1 cars and he explained the 2018-21 cars there was a much wider suction effect which allowed for different ride heights but the new cars from 2022 onwards, whilst the ground effect is more extreme, the suction window is narrow and once the ride height is changed the cars drop downforce massively. He explained this by the analogy to when you try and pick up a piece of heavy laminated chipboard off a smooth floor. To begin with it just won't lift and then once you get your fingernails under you see the air sucks all the wood chippings and dust from nearby under the sheet and then as you lift it the suction stops. Mad!

1 major minus point on aero development of MotoGP bikes is the road-going relevance; aero is not relevant to road-legal bikes. Though it is a full-blown prototype series, the technology adopted is more likely to be applied on the road-going products (thank god that the WSB is still not taking this route, for now)

MotoGP must simply take the brave step in allowing ACTIVE AERO that will come into effect as needed under acc/braking and turning- the inner wings could fold away or angled at a perpendicular to the ground when folded. Same strong electro servos as valve timing systems like VANOS/VTEC could be used...it's about time both MotoGP and F1 allow active aero...next level shxt'...

Great video, Yes its getting worse . MotoGP needs to implement an Aero Freeze for 2 years

Excellent video, as usual. The work the aerodynamicists are doing in MOTO GP is very interesting, but unfortunately, is not good for the sport. IMHO, it's time to take off all the wings and winglets of the bikes and allow them to work only in the shape of the bodywork.

looks horrible

Its not MotoGP themselves that are creating rules to allow teams to put more wings on the bike. The regulations have been stable for some years and teams are just developing. I sort of get what you mean but the way you said it, comparing to F1 sounds a bit wrong. I hate aero on bikes and what it gone. Very very good analysis too, bike aero although isnt great for racing, is very interesting and complex. There is an aerodynamicist that worked in f1 at Ferrari, then moved to Aprilia, he said motorcycle aero is way more difficult to get right than car aero

How about active aero devices ? so wings can tilt horizontally depending on lean angle and get straight as bike gets straight. this way we can use both left and right wings and drivers don't have to "block" one side wing in corners. we could further make it better by giving wings motion in vertical plane as well , so during hard braking they can create lift on front so it doesn't dive under braking and keep rear planted hence we can use rear tyre more during hard braking, evening out the braking forces on both wheels. regarding wake problem , is this really an issue ? how much of total grip is coming from these aero devices on high speed zones ? i'm bit skeptical about complains , i don't think aero wake on motogp is as big issues as in F1.....maybe drivers beings drivers and complaining about everything, thats their job to be fair.