Rossi: Electronic aids make bikes boring
By Simon Strang and Michele Lostia Wednesday, October 29th 2008, 11:57 GMT
Eight-times world champion Valentino Rossi has blamed the increasing reliance on electronic aids in MotoGP as a key reason for the lack of wheel-to-wheel racing in 2008.
The Yamaha rider described the latest generation of 800cc bikes as 'boring' compared to their predecessors and that while other factors played their part, the ease at which they could be ridden on the limit was a contributing factor in creating processional races like the series finale at Valencia last weekend.
"For sure the 800cc is a more boring bike compared to the 990cc: there's too much electronics," he told Italian magazine Motosprint. "Now, if the electronics work well the bikes become almost perfect and the gaps increase, instead of reduce."
"The [Valencia] track is to blame too, because at no point you can take alternative lines, so you end up lining up one behind the other."
Asked to comment on the fact that it has been two years since there had been a last-lap lead change in a sport that prides itself on close racing, Rossi said: "That's a very bad thing. It's worrying.
"I don't think the single-tyre [rule] is the solution for this problem," he added. "I repeat: the electronics are very sophisticated, the technical evolution is incredible, and next year will be even worse.
"However, there have been some good races this year, so the track counts for a lot. But tracks like Valencia are not good for the show."
Rossi added that while he believed that reducing the reliance on electronic aids such as traction control would help to solve the problem, he didn't believe that it was likely to happen in the near future.
"These engines are designed considering the electronics, so the power output can afford to be aggressive because there are these systems helping out anyway," he said. "We'd need a smoother power output, to the detriment of power, but the engineers don't even want to hear that!
"So these days you can be aggressive, without being precise with the gas, because electronics helps you out anyway."
