Tech Talk with Team Leader McMartin, Adrian Monti

Tech Talk with Team Leader McMartin, Adrian Monti

With curly braces

We caught the McMartin Team Leader Adrian Monti during the ASBK Test at the Sydney Motor Park.

Adrian Monti is the technical brain behind the McMartin Race with the Ducati K-Tech Team.

After two ASBK titles with Wayne Maxwell in the saddle, the team briefly expanded last year to include another three-time ASBK champion, Josh Waters.

Waters steadily joined the team and quickly made his mark by surging through three assist races and setting a new lap record at the Australian Grand Prix. A few weeks later, it was a repeat performance for local Mildura, including as he set his own lap record at the circuit.

With Maxwell’s retirement, Waters is currently the only driver on the team‘His mission is to reclaim the ASBK crown in 2023, and Monti is the one making the technical decisions to assist Waters in his mission.

Mark Bracks: Well, Adrian, talk to me about the first day of the 2023 season.

Adrian Monti: “We had a really good day. We were here a few weeks ago at a night meeting in St George where we looked at a few things and found some areas for improvement. We worked on those yesterday (Tuesday) and we have some direction and hopefully we can move forward today.”

Bracksy: You had a pretty good bike late last year, but I know you’re always aiming for improvement. What is your focus here and what problems are you facing?

Adrian Monti: “It‘pretty much the same problem that every rider wants to fix; better grip and feel, so we’re just trying to work on different ways to get there. Here is another circuit we have‘we’ve been here for a few years and the track has resurfaced in areas from our last visit to this test, so we‘I’m just trying to understand the necessary changes to motorcycles.”

Bracksy: So it rotates well and holds well, because the 2 surfaces are different, the new one will hold better than the old one?

Adrian Monti: “For now, there is a possibility, it will be smoother so I think‘it’s faster but i don’t‘I don’t know if it has more grip‘t much rubber down. It got better all day yesterday and I think the time went faster because the track was smoother. I think today people will go faster because there is more rubber in each session.”

Bracksy: Where are your major improvements, as Josh said yesterday you have six stages to complete. What is the most satisfying thing?

Adrian Monti: “We found a little more grip. We’ve gotten a bit more stable when braking and now we’re just working on putting all that together and hopefully giving him a bike that can do things a little better. little compared to what it did.”

Bracksy: Can Josh get a little aggressive with the bike and not let the Ducati work the way it wants, compared to other bike brands he’s ridden?

Adrian Monti: “I’m not‘don’t say that, really. Josh is an extremely competitive individual and he‘he always tries to give the best he can to give us the best feedback. So he just rides as hard as he can, which I don’t‘no problem with.

Bracksy: How many bike changes did you have to change from the way Wayne is riding it?

Adrian Monti: “Last year, the geometry setup was very similar – the electronics were completely different – ​​but the geometry and chassis setup were very similar.”

“We are paradise‘not being here with Wayne properly so we’re not‘t have a good setup for this circuit. We‘I’m just trying other ways to get more out of the bike.

“Every year we look at the previous year and see how we can improve – what areas of the bike do we need to improve on. We‘working on those, they’re mostly grip and steering.

Bracksy: When you talk about brake stability, is that how you set it up, is it pretty ‘heavy’?

Adrian Monti: “Not that much. We made a pretty significant change when we were on The Bend last year and Wayne was able to make more passes on the brakes. We see in the hairpins he can really attack people, so we‘I’m trying to do that forward but maintain the same drive out of the corner and not lose traction behind.”

MB: So Adrian summed up two days?

Adrian Monti: “We had a really successful test. We came in with some things to work with and we worked on that stuff. We have made improvements in all areas that we want. We‘There are still some areas for improvement. We‘Found some solutions. We‘created some more problems so we‘I will come back to see the data and rate Josh‘s notes and see where we can get back here for round two.”

MB: So you ticked all the boxes during these two days?

Adrian Monti: “I think we did. I‘d said ‘Correct‘. We definitely got what we wanted in these two days. For us to continuously go faster or maintain the fastest time we did when the track got worse. I think that’s all we can ask. The track got hotter, less grip and we still managed to make 29 seconds in each session so…“

ASBK Calendar 2023