MotoGP Technology

All I can say is “Wow!”  Haynes has done a super-fantastic job with the book MotoGP Technology and if you’re at all interested in motorcycle racing and MotoGP in particular, you must get this book.

As of this writing, it’s only available in the UK, but that isn’t a problem in today’s economy. Order one from one of the links above and it will be at your doorstep quicker than you think.

Haynes has come a long, long way in the last few years. I’m old enough to remember when Haynes books were barely readable and the muddy photos weren’t much better.

They must have gotten a hot new Editor in Chief or something, because the last few Haynes published books we’ve purchased for the webBikeWorld library are outstanding examples of what in my opinion is leading-edge print publishing. The layout, the font, the photos and, of course, the content in this book is fantastic.

This book covers everything you never knew about MotoGP motorcycles and it describes all of the secrets of the technology. It’s a swan song to 990cc MotoGP racing as we know it, coming just as the 800cc bikes are being unwrapped, but there’s nothing wrong with that — the technology is still fascinating. It literally takes you on a mechanic’s and engineer’s tour through all of the components that make a MotoGP bike so magical.

While doing this, it looks at the Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and even the WCM, Aprilia and Moriwaki to show you the good and the bad feats of engineering; why they worked and why they didn’t. The 200+ photos and the cutaway illustrations are wonderful.

Any motorcycle owner who has any interest at all in the mechanical workings of the bike could read MotoGP Technology and Kevin Cameron’s outstanding Sportbike Performance Handbook and increase their knowledge tenfold — and have a heck of a good time in the process. This is true winter reading at its best!

By the way, MotoGP Technology was written by Neil Spalding of Sigma Performance, a Ducati racing and tuning shop in the UK. He raced in the European Supermono Cup and has produced race-winning motorcycles for others.

He does a great job of explaining and analyzing the technology and the design issues and compromises that MotoGP designers deal with and he does it in a very readable style.