Thailand at the heart of Moto2 engine switch to Triumph

With most of Thailand’s recent motorsport headlines trumpeting the three year deal to bring MotoGP to the Kingdom from 2018, another significant move that gives Thailand another important role in Grand Prix racing, went largely unreported.

MotoGP rights holder, Dorna, confirmed that they will change engine supply for Moto2 from the venerable Honda 600cc four cylinder unit to Triumph’s 765cc three cylinder engine that powers the latest Street Triple RS. The change takes effect from 2019, for a period of three years, after eight years with Honda. Peak power will be similar, at around 130bhp, though the characteristics of the power delivery will be vary significantly.

As with Honda, the engines will be race tuned for more performance and durability. Modifications include bigger inlet and exhaust valves, made from titanium to reduce inertia, that will use stiffer springs to enable a higher (as yet undisclosed) rev limit and fewer electronic restrictions. These should increase peak power from the Street Triple’s official 121bhp to 131bhp for the race motor. There will also be a tune-able FCC slipper clutch and a race alternator and a new ECU from Magneti Marelli.

While the moving race parts will be manufactured at Triumph’s Hinckley factory in England’s East Midlands, castings, crank cases and machined heads will come from the company’s plant in Chonburi, 70km from Bangkok. This is a vote of confidence in the performance and quality of output from the British company that says much more than a corporate press release ever could. Triumph was one of the first European motorcycle manufacturers to set up a factory in Thailand, where it has now been operating for more than ten years.

All parts will be shipped to engine builder, Externpro, at Aragon in Spain for assembly. The company has been building Honda Moto2 engines since 2012, achieving remarkable consistency and reliability so that Moto2 teams know that they always have a competitive engine. They have been working with a continuously rotating batch of engines, which are reconditioned and sealed after every three races. With 34 teams allowed for in 2019, Triumph will need to supply around 150 engines. With claimed engine failures numbering just three under Externpro’s stewardship in more than five seasons and one million kilometers of racing, the Triumph engine will be well and truly in the spotlight.

It is a significant step for the British manufacturer. Despite low visibility as a manufacturer of race bikes, its recent record includes numerous short circuit successes in the Supersport categories and victories at the Isle of Man TT and the Daytona 200. Triumph says it is confident in their racing pedigree and their ability to provide reliable engines to the Moto2 grid.

UK based Profile Racing has, for several seasons, been racing the Triumph Speed Triple 675 with notable success. Rider, Luke Stapleford, claimed the 2015 British Supersport Championship before switching to Honda in World Supersport at the beginning of 2016. The pairing was short-lived and, together with his title-winning Crew Chief, Tristan Palmer, Stapleford switched back to Profile and the Triumph after three rounds. Adapting the Triumph for the world championship required considerable development work, but results now speak for themselves, with the Englishman lying 10th in the 2017 rankings to date and having scored a fourth place last time out, at Donington Park.

Speaking from Misano, as the team set up for World Supersport Round 7, Palmer said, “A lot of our parts are made there now. The engines will be really good as they make good power and because it’s a 765 it’s not that stressed. It makes great torque compared to the Honda and the gearbox is better too.

“With three cylinders the engine is very narrow, so frames and fairings will also be narrower.”

The change of engine throws down a major challenge to Moto2 chassis manufacturers. While it will be some time before they receive the actual engines, Triumph is now preparing a technical information kit to help them design their frames around the engine. That could well result in one manufacturer getting an early advantage if they hit it more right than the others. Kalex will need an element of luck to add to their technical brilliance in order to maintain the dominance they are currently enjoying.

From 2019 castings for the Triumph Triple RS engine, precision made in Thailand, will be on display in the world’s most competitive motorcycle racing showcase. It is a move that adds another dimension to the Kingdom’s place in the sport, alongside a growing supply of riders, technicians and race tracks.

You can check Triumph’s official Moto2 video here.

GBmoto Move Fast on Superstock Technical Breach

After being stripped of points for a rule breach on engine modifications after the Oulton Park round of the Metzeler British Superstock 1000 Championship on Sunday, GBmoto moved quickly to diffuse the crisis and get their highly successful inaugural season in the class back on track.

Specifically, the rule breaches were undercutting the cam timing bolts to alter standard timing and the fitting of a non-standard cylinder base gasket.

While it was Tristan Palmer’s bike that was pulled into technical scrutiny, team principal, Mark Smith Halvorsen immediately informed the BSB technical team that Johnson’s engine had been prepared by the same supplier and was therefore almost certainly also in breach, so Johnson’s points were deducted too.

The statement by Smith-Halvorsen is reproduced in full below, but the reason for giving further coverage here that the way the crisis was handled was exemplary. Although the statement refers to pressure from the BSB Technical Team for the last few rounds, there was no carping or finger-pointing (GBmoto’s early success has ruffled feathers amongst the established factory-backed teams) and no complaining that the breaches were so minor as to have made no difference to the results. There were just straightforward apologies to the organisers, promoters and the other teams and to the riders who are explicitly exonerated from knowledge of any wrongdoing. The sponsors are also thanked for their support.

It was a grown-up, decisive, 21^st Century response to a crisis that other teams would do well to take note of. And it is a lesson in life: if you do something wrong, say sorry, don’t blame anyone else, don’t do it again and communicate your backside off to ensure that your supporters stay with you. You can be sure that behind the scenes the team is taking lessons from the crisis to tighten controls over suppliers to avoid a repeat.

Until the storm broke GBmoto had brought colour in more than one way to the paddock, being consistently among the leaders right from the pre-season success in the World Superbike supporting races at Donington Park. Until the points deduction, Tristan Palmer had a four point lead over MSS Colchester Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan, who also failed to score points at Oulton Park because of a DNF.  After the penalty Buchan sits on top, with 117 points, two ahead of Palmer, with Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper, who finished fourth yesterday, on 110. The next closest Honda is Jason O’Halloran’s HM Plant machine on 61 points and Padgett’s Adam Jenkinson on 56.5 points.

There is a summer break until the Brands Hatch GP circuit round on 5-7 August when battle will resume.

Official Statement from Mark Smith-Halvorsen, GBmoto Racing Team Principal

On Sunday afternoon, the engine of Tristan Palmer’s bike failed technical scrutiny on two counts – relating to a cam sprocket bolt and a base gasket. It is true to say that we have been under some pressure from the technical team at BSB for 3 or 4 rounds regarding our bikes’ performance, but sought to change nothing as we were very confident that our engine preparation was strictly within the championship guidelinesThe result of their inspection shows that we were wrong and they are not. At that point we communicated that all three of our engines (including an unused spare) would almost certainly have been built to the same specification. On that basis, the decision was taken to remove David Johnson from the results too. GBmoto Racing will continue to work with our chosen partner, to prepare freshly modified race engines, which fulfil all of the technical regulations and controls – these will be in use from the next round at Brands Hatch.We chose a Honda CBR1000RR to contest the championship, as we believe it has the best compromise between chassis and engine characteristics. We have always sought to maximise that balance, whilst clearly giving away straight line performance and outright power and speed to other manufacturers teams and riders. This has been borne out very consistently throughout the year in relation to our competitive lap times, versus our mediocre speed trap performance. To this end, we will continue in exactly the same way.Firstly I would like to offer a formal apology to the organisers, officials and teams that make up the BSB paddock and in particular our competitors in the Metzeler National Superstock series. It was and is our intention to ‘bring something to the championship’; certainly not to abuse or discredit it. I understand that we have a long, hard journey ahead of us to re-establish credibility, trust and recognition amongst our peers and want you to know that we are committed to doing just that.Secondly I would like to apologise to Tristan Palmer and David Johnson who have made a fantastic effort this year to deliver the goods on track and have in no way shape or form, contributed to the issues we currently face. I hope their reputation and skill is still respected and admired in just the same way. Finally I would like to thank our sponsors and suppliers for their continued support. We will make every effort to continue our professional promotion of your goods and services and can only ask for your patience and understanding at this difficult time.