Aprilia addresses overheating and clutch issues before Official Sepang Test gets underway
Aprilia hopes to end its overheating issues with its 2024 challenger which haunted the Noale factory at the end of last year. It’s also found a solution to its clutch issue after it got taken away after a clarification in the rules.
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2023 was a competitive year for the Noale factory as it scored 2 victories, 6 podiums and 2 pole positions along with finishing 5th and 6th in the world championship standings with its official riders. However, to fight for the title in 2024, Aprilia will be looking to iron out some of its past inconsistencies.
Bike overheating was one of the major issues for Aprilia going late into the 2023 season when it suffered multiple retirements due to mechanical issues and ‘breathing’ problems for its riders in extreme heat races like India and Indonesia.
Aleix Espargaro called the Indonesian Grand Prix the ‘hardest race of my life’ owing to the overheating issues of the RSGP machine, which caused him to panic in the race due to lack of fresh air. Vinales, meanwhile, retired midrace as he couldn’t further deal with the heat.
Speaking to Mat Oxley from MotorSport Magazine, Aprilia’s Technical Director Romano Albesiano suggested that solving the heating issue was his main priority going into the 2024 season.
“The 2023 bike was better than the 2022 bike, but clearly not enough,” suggested the Italian engineer. “We are designing the 2024 bike by routing the hot flows in different ways.”
“Before, maybe we privileged too much the efficiency of the motorcycle and we considered, OK, the riders are well paid for suffering a little, but maybe it was a bit too much!”
Aprilia was also forced to withdraw its semi-automatic clutch system that it had been using prior to the 2023 Australian Grand Prix after further clarification of the rules regarding its use.
Aprilia now claims to have solved that issue with its brand new clutch system for the 2024 RSGP.
“We started using a carbon clutch a couple of years ago and we struggled a lot. This system helped the rider to counteract the, let’s say, the not-optimum behavior of the clutch.”
“Honestly, the regulation was really difficult to interpret, but we accepted the clarification and removed the system. Now we have improved the function of the clutch itself, and it’s working quite well.”
Romano Albesiano also touched upon the new harsher tyre pressure rules for the 2024 season.
Aprilia were in fact the first manufacturers to get penalized in 2023 when stricter rules for tyre pressure were implemented in the second half of the season.
Aleix Espargaro received a three-second time penalty after a second infringement of the minimum tyre pressure threshold.
The 2023 rules did provide some leeway, with the first infringement being only a warning and the second infringement resulting in an actual penalty of 3 seconds. However, for 2024, the infringements in minimum tyre pressure will be dealt with much harshly, with time penalties to be awarded from the very first infringement.
“You must assume, especially in cold temperatures, that you will race alone, that you won’t be in someone’s slipstream,” speaking on the challenges of the new rules.
“If you assume that you will probably be in someone’s slipstream, that you will be in a group, then you can take a risk [by going with a lower pressure]. But it’s gambling, it’s not motor sport.
“I think Michelin should consider giving us a bit more margin [by lowering the minimum]. No one wants the responsibility of their product causing an incident, but it’s been widely proven that you can run lower than 1.88 bar.”
MotoGP Sepang Shakedown 2024 is underway, with Dani Pedrosa topping the first day. Tune in for more updates regarding day 2 and day 3 before the first official test of 2024 takes place in Sepang on 6th February.
