The challenge of reaching the top in MotoGP20/05/2009
In this second of Bridgestone’s series of features by motorsport journalist Kunihiko Akai (KA), Hiroshi Yasukawa (HY), Bridgestone’s Director of Motorsport is joined by Tohru Ubukata (TU), Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport Motorcycle Race Tyre Development.
Tohru Ubukata now supervises the company’s MotoGP tyre development but was involved in Formula One tyre development until the end of 2003, when he was transferred to MotoGP. As a MotoGP race tyre development manager, he is currently busy at work at the Bridgestone Technical Center in Kodaira City, Tokyo. He joins every MotoGP race on-site and acts as a valuable technological pipeline between laboratory and race track.
KA: Thank you for joining us, Mr. Ubukata. First of all, when were you transferred to the motorcycle tyre development team from four-wheeled activities? Did you find any differences between them?
TU: I moved over to two-wheelers at the end of 2003 when I set to work on MotoGP tyre development. Bridgestone had already started providing tyres to MotoGP in 2002 but in terms of performance they did not take us seriously. Though I once worked on tyre development for the 125cc class, going straight up to MotoGP, the top two-wheel category, was a bit of a confusing experience for me. I needed to develop tyres for top-class motorcycles without taking any proper steps in the other two-wheel categories. So, I had to start by organizing a fundamental development system, rather than working on tyre development. That was the hardest time for me.
KA: What was the opinion of Bridgestone’s MotoGP tyres in 2003 and 2004?
TU: It was not that good, to be honest. Our rival’s performance was outstanding then and it seemed we still had a long way to go with our tyres. The primary weakness of our tyres was a lack of capability to respond to riders’ demands properly. Riders could not run in the directions they wanted as our tyres were unable to keep up with their moves. After all, the inputs to tyres on MotoGP bikes and 125cc bikes are quite different. It means that the characteristics required from the tyres are not the same and that was a know-how we had not acquired by then. It took some time before we came to understand that the respective tyre usages were different. As I said, we started participating in MotoGP in 2002, and our first World Championship title came in 2007.
KA: How did things turn out after you joined the MotoGP team?
TU: Well, I saw that we could not display the capabilities of Bridgestone’s tyres to the full. The turning point was the accident during the Mugello race in 2004, when Makato Tamada and Valentino Rossi were competing for the lead and the tyre on Tamada’s bikes suddenly started to work irregularly. While they were running on the Mugello straight, where they usually hit 300km/h, tread from Tamada’s rear tyre started breaking up and he eventually fell. Shinya Nakano had the same problem two weeks before that. Fortunately, neither of them were injured seriously, which was a great relief for us, but that was when our development team shared a feeling of crisis that we should not go on this way.
KA: What was your approach to come to grips with the problem?
TU: I used to think that the risks of destroying a motorcycle tyre would be lower due to them being lighter in weight. I also thought that motorcycles would not be under the sort of huge stresses that Formula One cars for example would go through. But, I found I was wrong when that accident occurred. We took that opportunity to review every process from development to manufacture, referring to our know-how accumulated from our four-wheeled racing experiences, and our base of development was finally established.
Our development team started to brainstorm ideas on how to change the characteristics required from our tyres, and realised those ideas. The first stage of development focused on safety and endurance; on that basis we stepped up to the next stage where we improved kinetic performances. In terms of kinetic performance, we were behind our competitor. But Nakano finished the race in seventh place with these newly developed tyres on his bike. Thanks to his achievement, we all felt that the direction we were proceeding in was right.
HY: Participants in motor races sometimes go to extreme limits. They can go to the limits only when mutual trust has been established and when they are confident that these tyres are absolutely right. In our motorcycle activities, our staff, including Ubukata, made great efforts to build up such mutual trust. As Ubukata explained, Bridgestone and its staff confronted the problems head-on to find the best solution. I believe this is our strength and it enables us to go forward.
KA: How did things turn out after the accident?
TU: We went on pursuing a gradual improvement of kinetic performances and achieved our first ever victory at the 2004 Brazilian GP thanks to Tamada. That victory convinced us that some solutions had been found. Following that win, our tyres were evolved to enable riders to win at those circuits where we could take an advantage, however the tyres did not display their full potential at other circuits where we had less of an advantage. We had to work hard to improve such weaknesses through till the end of 2006.
KA: In 2007 a rider finally clinched the long-awaited championship title.
TU: Exactly. I can point out two reasons for that victory: one was that we were able to prepare good enough tyres, having accelerated the pace of the development; another was that the regulations had been modified. The regulations of MotoGP had been quite tough compared to those of Formula One. While the latter specifies tyre widths or diameters, the former only specifies the maximum rim diameter and aside from that we could take whatever we wanted. They don’t care how large the outside diameters are, and this is still the same now.
There were also no limits imposed on tyre specifications and numbers. So the tyre volume we brought to the race circuit was enormous. It was standard procedure to bring a bulk of tyres to the race track and then pick the individual tyres for the race. In these disadvantageous circumstances, where we produced tyres in Japan and had to bring tyres to European circuits, we could not produce different tyres in time for Sunday’s race even if we had found the tyres used on Friday and Saturday were not the best. Meanwhile, our France-based rival had a geographical advantage. They were able to get tyres delivered by Saturday afternoon if they found their tyres were not good enough on Friday. We were no match for them at that point no matter how hard we tried.
However, thanks to the modification of the regulations in 2007 and limits being imposed on numbers of tyres, the tyres permitted for use during the race weekend were only those registered on Thursday. No tyres were permitted to be brought in besides those registered. Under these circumstances our philosophy was to make tyres with characteristics fit for the respective tracks from the outset. This was an advantage for us because we had a lot of experience in four-wheeled racing and already had simulation facilities of a good quality. So we made the most of it and tried to prepare the best tyre specifications for each circuit, which eventually lead to victories, I think.
HY: I‘m sure it was a consequence of limiting the numbers of tyres. Expenditure increased more and more, which placed larger burdens on both bike and tyre manufacturers. Therefore Dorna might have thought that some restrictions should be imposed. That was in 2007. On the other hand, the technical and engineering staff wanted to try whatever they could. I think it is quite a natural response as technicians, and I understand their feeling. But races are carried out with some rules. The rules must include considerations across a diverse number of issues, such as technical developments, costs incurred to carry out races and so on. And imposing some limits proved to be necessary.
In the third feature in the series, Mr. Ubukata continues his insight into Bridgestone’s MotoGP activities.
To hear further insights from Mr. Yasukawa, please read the following articles:
Bridgestone in motorsport 2009
Importance of MotoGP rider feedback
Developing Formula One technology
Charlie Whiting interview
Formula One benefits for the brand
Logistics and Formula One
Motorsport and the Spanish market
Importance of Motorsport in North America
