Some Supersport competitors have asked MA to ban the Mectronik ECU
A number of ASBK Supersport competitors have officially represented Motorcycling Australia in requesting a ban on the use of the Mectronik ECU.
We interview the mastermind of the movement, and expand the conversation to other issues related to future Supersport competition.
For background on how we got here with the Mectronik ECU story, We recommend that you read this explanation first.
This requirement has been introduced under the ‘Balance of Performance’ clause in the ASBK Sports Regulations.
Maurice Nahlous, father of reigning Supersport Championship leader Jonathan, led the intervention and we recently spoke to him to address the current issues from his perspective.
Maurice Nahlous
“The reason was that when I left the track after the Queensland Circuit, my phone wouldn’t stop. I mean we drove for hours and it just kept ringing, phone call after phone call, ‘something needs to be done about this’, ‘this is ridiculous’, ‘this is a joke’. To be honest, a lot of it reflects my own thoughts. Therefore, with the support of a number of competitors in the category, I prepared correspondence with Motorcycling Australia requesting f.or performance balanceand state the reason.”
Trev – Clearly you consider the Mectronik ECU to have a significant performance advantage?
Maurice Nahlous
“Now I’ve heard from several different sources that it’s worth up to one second per round.”
Trev – Cru Halliday ran the same Mectronik ECU on one of his two bikes when he won the Supersport championship in 2018. While not exactly a scientific comparison, Yamaha tells me that on faster tracks the Mectronik has the advantage, while the GYTR ‘Kit’ ECU probably has its own advantage on tracks with slow corners than. That’s hardly a scientific comparison of where we are now, as a new version of the GYTR ECU was introduced the following year, which you’re now running, along with updated firmware. Japan. Likewise, there’s no way for us to know exactly what version of Stop & Seal software is running on Tom Toparis’s car, but one can imagine that it’s superior to what Yamaha was running in 2015. 2018, when Yamaha nominated the Mectronik YMER6WSS as an ECU Kit for the YZF-R6 to be used on 2017 models.
Maurice Nahlous
“Also, it was not technically possible for us to fit the Mectronik ECU to our bike and this is something I feel was overlooked. As you mentioned, this is a recommended ECU Kit for a 2017 model bike and you must be running a 2017 or early 2018 model YZF-R6 for it to be legal. But for those of us with YZF-R6 bikes newer than that, we must use the ECU specified for our bike, which is the BN6-8591A-A1 GYTR kit, or standard ECU, That’s what the rest of the field is currently running.
“The key principle for us as a team is that we don’t care what we’re doing around us, all we want to do is build a bike that’s on par with what allowed, so we can go out there and race them and then when we get beat, we can see where we need to improve, where the riders need to improve? As a team, where do we need to improve? By doing this, what we are doing is creating a rider who has the ability to go overseas or have a career in the sport somewhere, somewhere in Australia, anywhere.
“We do everything on that basis. What can we learn, where can we improve, right??
Trev – Let’s explore the benefits that Mectronik ECU brings.
Maurice Nahlous
“I don’t fully understand the Mectronik ECU, but I do understand that its feature set is superior to the rest of the homologated ECUs that Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki can use, plus a tenth here and there. one-tenth there.
“One of the things we struggled with at Queensland Raceway in particular was engine braking control. The Mectronik ECU can adjust the engine braking parameters every 500 rpm, with our standard ECU and Woolich Racing setup we can only adjust it in 2000 rpm increments.“
Trev – I understand engine braking and how important brake adjustment is these days and how it needs to be changed over the course of a weekend as the rider gets faster. As the rider begins to corner faster, the rider may need to ease the engine brake slightly or vice versa. And yes, I understand the Mectronik ECU has a significant advantage when it comes to controlling engine braking.
Maurice Nahlous
“Basically, in short, I just want a fair and equitable series. I’m not saying we expected to show up and win everything; That’s not at all what we expected.
“We were actually quite shocked after the Phillip Island circuit where Jonathan won three races and he set the lap record. We were actually quite shocked by that, but of course, It was a great thing.
“We were expecting a difficult season this year. Last time at Queensland Raceway Jonathan qualified seventh and was off the lap record… The top seven qualified by lap record. This is what we expected this year, a really good, tight and thrilling competition.
“When we went through our data, we could see that we could have achieved a lap time of 1.10.8, but we didn’t, but we couldn’t see the ability to go fast more than can be achieved with your motorcycle..”
Trev – But Archie McDonald is running the ECU normally with the Woolich in Stop and Seal mode like you…
Maurice Nahlous
“Look, that’s what I was told, I don’t know, but that’s what I was told, yeah.
“I’m really excited to have Tom Toparis racing in Supersport this year, he’s a judge and someone like Tom races in a series like this, you can learn a lot, you can can see what could happen.
“My interest skyrocketed for parity at Sydney Motorsport Park because Tom was so fast. All I heard at that time was Mectronik, Mectronik this, Mectronik that. So I started asking questions and I kept getting the same answers, you know, ‘it’s worth about a second’.”
Trev – Maybe the regulations haven’t really kept up with the times. A lot of people would suggest, let’s just look to the future and move to the next generation Supersport rules. They are all well issued and proven, with parts all available off the shelf, with the torque of different bike models mapped to parity. Many argue that this could actually create a more affordable Supersport category, as it is opened up to more powerful bikes where their engines are reduced in power. productivity effectively; Therefore, significant engine work is required for our ASBK Supersport bikes and constant refreshing is not necessary.
Maurice Nahlous
“Look, I’ll answer carefully. And I do it for this reason. In Australia we don’t have the market that they have overseas in the motorbike world. So we don’t have any money. We have no sponsorship. We have no support. We were so well supported by Yamaha and I’m so grateful that they took such good care of us that I honestly don’t know how we would have done without them.”
Trev – On that point, it is the generous support to Yamaha’s competitors provided by Yamaha Australia, through YRD and the like, through component pricing for competitors that is support in our country really makes Next Gen rules expensive for ASBK competitors. I think this is something other countries don’t like to the same extent, which is why it makes sense that so many other domestic competitions have moved to the Next Gen format. It’s just that Yamaha has given a lot of support to our market within Australian Supersport, not just Supersport, but every category that we have in ASBK, this model line would be difficult to operate without investment. comprehensive Yamaha. And I’m sure that as new brands join ASBK, through the introduction of the Next Gen format, none of them will offer anything close to the level of support that their competitors of Yamaha is currently enjoying.
Maurice Nahlous
“At the beginning of last year, when deciding which motorcycle to ride, we couldn’t ignore Yamaha’s great support on the track and that helped JJ fall in love with the R6, I just stopped and made a logical decision, and realized I would have to be crazy not to run Yamaha, given the support they give their competitors. And I think most people in the field would agree with me.
“But back to the question about Next Generation… If it brings racing closer and it develops riders in this country. I’m all for it, my only concern is, I’m talking to a lot of people, they’ve got it very tight. They don’t have support, they don’t have sponsorship. You are considering an investment of $10,000 to set up Mectronik. I mean the cost of the ECU is not that high, just set it up, tune it and you will need a technician to be at the track to make the necessary changes throughout the weekend. that’s my only concern with this sport in this country, is that we don’t have the support that they have in europe or america.”
Trev – I guess the other side of that coin is that if we’re using what they’re using in Europe, that means riders are going to cross it, technicians are going to cross it. It will be easier for our riders to do wildcards. If you put smart kids in the pit-box learning how to drive and being really good at it, that would open up job opportunities for them around the world in other competitions, which I guess, like me Having said that, once again, playing devil’s advocate, there may be other positives for us.
Maurice Nahlous
“That’s also a good way to look at it. If we have fair racing… I know this is motorsport, so always, some team will have a better prepared bike or a better performing bike, or a better system person. Their suspension will tune the suspension a little better, or whatever. You will always have that, where the team plays a role in the outcome of the race, part of motorsport, no problem. But I’m all for a series that’s a little more equal, a little more classy, and then the drivers can come out and show everyone what they’ve got..”
Trev – Thank you for chatting Maurice. It’s good to have these conversations and work things out openly. We will have to wait and see where Motorcycling Australia takes us from here… Both in terms of the immediately pending decision to ban the use of the Mectronik ECU, and then how the 2025 season will be run .
