Enhanced Ducati Mobile Interview | New bikes, group orders?

Enhanced Ducati Mobile Interview

Josh Waters recently raced MotoGP support events in the Superbike class on Boost Mobile Racing with the K-Tech Ducati V4 R and cleaned up.

On behalf of the head of the ASBK Championship, Wayne Maxwell, who makes no sense to compete in non-championship races, Josh Waters took the bike’s reins and put it straight over his head.

Then Craig McMartin and the Boost Mobile team with K-Tech decided to pick Josh Waters alongside Wayne Maxwell in the final two rounds of the Australian Superbike Championship.

Now how far have you come with New Boost Mobile Racing with K-Tech V4R bike build for Josh Waters?

Craig McMartin (Team Leader): “As I’m sure you can imagine Trev a lot of road gears are removed for racing in ASBK, and some of that gear goes deep into the fabric of a modern motorcycle. I’ve found that taking it down to a bare engine and starting from scratch is the only way to be sure that everything is present and accounted for, and properly fastened.

“The whole project took an incredible amount of time, maybe a week for sure. The important thing in my opinion is to make sure everything is done properly, rather than allocating a certain amount of time it has to be done.“

Aside from the seat position and the bar/controller tweaks, what are the most stark differences you can see on the data between how Josh rides at this early stage versus Wayne?

Do you think having data from both riders would be a useful tool for riders to tailor their own riding methods?

Adrian Monti (Captain): “I don’t think two motorcyclists are alike. At this level, trying to tell one person to drive like another will never end well. (laugh)

“We are focusing on the similarities, rather than the differences, between Wayne and Josh, and working together as a team to improve the lap times of both.

“Everybody has access to the other’s data and we will of course use this data to try and make strides for both riders.“

No doubt you can already see where Josh could improve his approach and have taken a few steps to get him and the bike to where they are working together well enough. on Wayne’s bike to set a new ASBK lap record around Phillip Island…

Have you identified areas where Josh is faster than Wayne, could that allow Wayne to go faster?

Adrian: “Josh did a great job at Phillip Island both during his first test and the MotoGP weekend, It’s great that Wayne there has publicly offered his knowledge and experience riding V4R over the past few years, allowing Josh to adapt and get up to speed quickly.

“From a technical perspective, we looked at how we could improve Josh’s bike after every outing and he worked on adapting the Ducati V4R characteristics, and result proved, the whole team did an incredible job. To outpace the best Superbike riders in Australia in just a second day on the bike is a testament to the extraordinary effort of Josh and everyone else.. “

Is the move to get Josh on the bike related to helping Wayne on his quest to successfully defend his title? Perhaps by putting Josh on a bike he showed race winning speed that would allow Josh to put himself between Wayne and Mike, if the cards fall in a way that Mike hasn’t led yet. before both, too early for orders…?

Craig: “We are delighted to have Josh ride our motorbike and be part of the team. He’s there because his record and performance at MotoGP has been amazing and he’s a great fit.

“Wayne has chosen that this will be his last year racing in ASBK and is a team that will do everything they can to help him win his fourth ASBK title.

“There are still a lot of races to come and we are not getting ahead of ourselves or taking anything for granted. Our approach will be the same as always, we will treat each day as we have for the past three years and seek to maximize our points relative to our competitors.. “

Do you intend to race? 2023 V4 model CHEAP next season? The engine looks more distinctive next year, with ‘gun-drilled’ taper rods, lighter pistons, more powerful cams, and perhaps even more important to the competition here could be changes to the engine. with gear ratios inside…?

Craig: “Of course, we want to compete with the Ducati V4R 2023, which will be an updated model and we are sure that Ducati has improved on an already great motorcycle.

“But that will depend on funding, in the end we are still a private group buying motorbikes from a dealer like anyone on the street. We currently have a sizable funding gap for 2023 and need to be filled before we can enter the race.

“If anyone reading this wants to meet us on the grid next year, please contact me, we would love to discuss having you as a partner.. “

Your team in particular has proved quite refreshing when it comes to supporting the MoTeC control ECU for the ASBK, even though arguably the best electronics package is available to you through Ducati’s nominated Magneti Marelli package, therefore potentially really at a disadvantage using MoTeC. Is their serious problem in the way the MoTeC package has limited its capabilities by Motorcycling Australia through the functional areas locked in the authorized MA firmware allowed in the MoTeC

Adrian: “An e-pack by itself doesn’t win races, If it did, the Ducati would have finished 1-2-3 in every race over the past two years.

“Only very few people have spoken out about the locked ASBK Motec firmware. One of these is Anthony (West), I spent a day with him at Phillip Island working on the ECU settings and it was shown that the problem was not the firmware, but the parameters in his ECU cause trouble. I understand that he also rode Daniel (Falzon)’s motorcycle recently and I understand he had a good experience with that too. Locked complaints are now history. “

Aside from electronics, do you think the ASBK rules are in a pretty good place right now, what would you like to change? Some have mentioned that allowing for more affordable aftermarket rims and also opening up restrictions on changing radiators could be useful steps forward to help reduce overall costs. What are your thoughts on those proposals?

Craig: “That’s a great question Trev asks and one that I find very interesting, especially since we are a privately funded group.

“Most manufactured radiators are not capable of maintaining a reasonable temperature when motorcycles are used in competition and there have been cases where engines of different manufacturers were replaced prematurely due to overheating. .

“There is a cost to buying a race car radiator, but it is much less than replacing an engine, or going to Darwin and not finishing the race because your engine is too hot.

“The wheel is the same, a set of genuine wheels for our motorcycle is $6,979, a set of similar aftermarket wheels made of the same material is $3,814. That’s a 45% cost savings per set, with the spare parts we carry, this would save a little over $18,500. We can buy a couple of radiators for that.

“If both of these items are allowed together, it will lead to safer oil and water temperatures, prolong engine life as well as reduce costs, which is a win.”. “

Thank you for your time, see you at the Island in a few weeks when everything is up and running, perhaps enjoy a beer at The Bend.

“Listen, listen, thank you for contacting Trev. “

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