The importance of rider feedback20/05/2009

Motorsport journalist Kunihiko Akai (KA) continues his series of features with Hiroshi Yasukawa (HY), Director of Bridgestone’s Motorsport Division and Mr. Tohru Ubukata (TU), Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport Motorcycle Race Tyre Development.  

The 2009 MotoGP season opened in mid-April in the Middle East country of Qatar. On Sunday, however, the circuit was drenched by a heavy downpour and the race postponed to Monday night. Ducati’s Casey Stoner dominated and won the race with Valentino Rossi finishing second.  

Tohru Ubukata, Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport Motorcycle Race Tyre Development, headed Bridgestone’s technical staff on-site in Qatar. It was an important race with Bridgestone starting its new era as the sole official tyre supplier to MotoGP this year, just like Formula One.  

Being the sole supplier has potential influences on the racing as well as environmental and economical issues and in the following interview Ubukata answers some of these questions.

KA: First of all, Bridgestone has started its first year as the official sole tyre supplier for MotoGP, just like Formula One. What will be different from last year?   
TU: As all of the manufacturers used our tyres in 2008 we understood the characteristics of the respective bikes. We also knew which characteristics would overlap among the specifications so it was not that difficult for us to deal with the move to single tyre status. This is because MotoGP has fewer chasses compared to Formula One. Current chasses for MotoGP are made by five manufacturers: Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Ducati. That’s all.  

In that sense, I could say that the characteristics required from the tyres are limited and easy to organize. On the other hand, Formula One chasses were completely different team to team so it was a harder task to fit the characteristics to each of them. I think single tyre status will not be a problem in the future as far as MotoGP is concerned.

KA: That said, some teams may find it difficult to cope with the tyres. What do you think of that?
TU: The teams, especially the works teams, may be confused because having a single tyre status is unusual for two-wheelers. They used to ask us to adjust the tyre compound or construction somehow to fit such and such a characteristic of their bikes, but under the current regulations they cannot insist on that. They are required to adjust their bikes to fit our tyres. Their development process should have changed now, which I suppose may not be easy for them to cope with.      

KA: A Bridgestone shod bike won a MotoGP championship for the first time in 2007 and in 2008 Rossi clinched the title, also on Bridgestone tyres. This year, all races will be won by Bridgestone shod bikes.
TU: You are right. But the single tyre status requires development from a different point of view. In previous years our most important objective was to win races against other tyre manufacturers, so sometimes we developed tyres which were designed to improve specific characteristics. But this year, the primary objective has changed. Now we are required to produce tyres which offer consistent performance, and to provide them fairly and equally to all teams.  

Though it is not difficult to produce tyres that fit all teams, it is not easy to produce tyres that satisfy all of them. Therefore, using our expertise in tyres, we are also trying to add to our role by being good advisors on tyre usage, instead of just being suppliers and engineers. We are more able to focus on reviewing the data gained from the respective teams which will help us accumulate knowledge about the characteristics of their bikes. If all teams point out the same problem, we must work hard to fix it but so far no complaints like that have been presented to us.     

KA: What are your criteria when deciding which tyres to bring to each race?
TU: Firstly, at the beginning of the year, we decided the specifications for the season; then from those, we chose particular specifications for respective race tracks. The procedures are the same as those of Formula One but MotoGP has more specifications. To be specific, there are more compounds.

KA: Why is that so?
TU: The contact patch areas of four-wheeled vehicle tyres basically remain same. Almost the entire width of the tread is in contact with the road surface while they are travelling through either right-handers or left-handers. With motorcycle tyres however, they lean to the side on corners. When they run on a circuit with many right-handers, where mostly the right side of the tyres is in contact with the surface, it is the right side that gets more wear, and vice versa on a circuit with many left-handers.  

To give you an extreme example, some tyres are composed of different compounds on each side because another characteristic of motorcycle tyres is that on straights, in contrast to corners, only the centre parts of the tyres touch the road surface. It means that both sides are cooled directly by air and there is no heat build-up in the tyres. As they go into corners without warming up, grip that works appropriately at a low temperature is required. For those particular reasons producing specifications with different compounds is essential in MotoGP.  

KA: Whilst I believe that the outcome of a race should depend on the abilities of drivers or riders, technology is also an important factor in achieving victories. What is the difference between excellent riders and good riders? 
TU: I suppose it is sensitivity. Top riders like Stoner and Rossi have the ability to inform us correctly of their views and feelings. Based on their experience, excellent riders seem to be able to detect the source of the problems, whether they come from the chassis or tyres. They give the tyre engineers exactly the sort of information they need to know. They view things in the right perspective and make proper comments according to the situation so it is quite easy for us to incorporate their demands into tyres.  

I think top riders clearly know the direction to go in order to achieve victories. When some tyres were unable to provide the required performance they would provide us with some sort of solution, by suggesting ‘the problem is like this but you can use the tyre in this way’ or ‘if you fix this part it would be much better’, instead of saying ‘the tyres are not good”.  

KA: There is often talk about top riders’ great skills. Do you have any interesting stories to tell us?
TU: Rossi, for example, has quite a delicate sensitivity. He recognizes the slightest distortion of a tyre balance weight, which ordinary riders do not notice at all. He comes and says ‘something is wrong’ even when the slightest distortion appears, and we eventually find out he is correct. The technical glitches he points out are normally within the acceptable tolerance margin but he has an ability to detect them. He feels the smallest difference of air pressure.  

When riders say things like ‘something’s wrong with my tyre’ or ‘I think this specification is not proper,’ engineers cannot focus on the proper approach right away. It is much easier for us to understand if they say ‘the situation is like this in terms of performance but something is wrong.’ Top riders have such accuracy, which is amazing. The riders who competed on other manufacturers’ tyres in previous years use Bridgestone tyres this year and we have learnt a lot too from their impressions of our tyres.     

HY: These sorts of points made by Ubukata are valuable assets for Bridgestone. It is one of the most significant elements of our motorsport activities, either in Formula One or in MotoGP, that we are able to get valuable advice from top drivers and top riders. This advice is attainable from pursuing the outer limits and will lead to enhancing the performance of our consumer products. It is so beneficial that we place great importance on our motorsport activities.

KA: Are the technological advances achieved through racing activities often transferred to consumer tyres?
TU: Yes. In the Bridgestone BT016 motorcycle tyre, for example, several MotoGP technologies have been introduced. And I expect that motorcycle tyres in the near future will use MotoGP derived technologies in terms of durability, kinetic performance, and so forth. Kinetic performances are what have improved most through racing.    

KA: Could you please explain Bridgestone’s organization and the tyre allocation procedure for this year’s MotoGP?
TU: Seventeen MotoGP races will be held this year. We locate our service team in Germany and dispatch tyre fitters to each race circuit from this base. I usually head tyre development work at the laboratory in Kodaira and participate in every race. I stay in Japan to ensure the tyre development goes smoothly. In Japan updates can be easily made and any action involving other departments can be taken promptly as we can communicate in Japanese. We used to send five Japanese engineers to races previously, but since turning into a single tyre status which requires fewer specifications, we send three engineers this year. They are then joined by three European engineers and eleven tyre fitters.    

KA: How many tyres do you send to every race?
TU: We supply tyres for eighteen bikes this year. We can bring in two specifications of front dry tyre, four tyres for each specification, so eight front dry tyres in all. We also bring in two specifications of rear tyre, six tyres for each specification, so twelve rear dry tyres in all. Therefore each rider can use up to twenty slick tyres in total.  

There is one wet specification per grand prix and each rider is allowed to use up to five sets if every session is wet. So there are a total of thirty MotoGP tyres of dry and wet specifications for each rider per race.  

HY: Bridgestone exclusively supply tyres to the pinnacle of both two- and four-wheeled racing and although sometimes we must go through some hard times, on the whole, the respective governing bodies, teams and riders are very cooperative and I believe we provide efficient services.  

We have not stopped our racing activities because of the economic recession. I believe the value of motorsport activities will come if we think carefully and work efficiently without wasting anything. While there are visible technological build-ups, there are many invisible benefits too. Examples of such benefits are an increase in global brand recognition and expansion of sales. The understanding of the value of our motorsport involvement by our top management and the great efforts of our laboratory engineers supports our activities.

To hear further insights from Mr. Yasukawa, please read the following articles:
Bridgestone in motorsport 2009
Life in MotoGP
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