250GP class to be replaced by 625/650cc

[fatman]

As is being reported at MotorCycleNews.com (http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/mcn/2008/may/12-18/may1708frenchmotogpexclusive250classtobereplaced/)

"The new class will be exclusively for in-line four-cylinder four-stroke machines with the philosophy behind the new class being cheap, competitive and prototype racing to replace the current two-stroke 250 class.
...
Traction control will be banned and Dorna will operate a controlled ECU management system to keep costs down and also ensure a level playing field for participating teams and riders.
...
Ezpeleta wants lease costs for the new four-stroke class to be around less than 100,000 Euros."

Sounds interesting to me. I wonder why they are waiting until 2011. Having the new regulations in place by 2010 would be doable.

Hard to say what the racing will be like. A 650cc 4 stroke sounds like it will be much heavier than a 250cc bike. But then again the 800cc motogp bikes seem smaller than 600cc super stocks sometimes. So who knows what the bikes will look or ride like.

[patnicholls]

This is a very interesting line from that article:

"Originally planned to be 600cc, Dorna changed the displacement at the request of the FIM, motorcycling racing’s governing body. It is believed that move was to protect the current World Supersport series operating as part of the World Superbike championship."

[fatman]

This is a very interesting line from that article:

"Originally planned to be 600cc, Dorna changed the displacement at the request of the FIM, motorcycling racing’s governing body. It is believed that move was to protect the current World Supersport series operating as part of the World Superbike championship."

I think it would be more fitting to say the move is an attempt to appear like they are protecting the current 600cc series. Regardless if the new class is 625cc or 650cc, if they are successful in having an average lease cost of bikes be around 100,000 eur then they are going to be attractive to the same type of team owners and sponsors currently supporting the 600cc super sport class.

[maxu05]

I would prefer it to be 400cc. A 600cc class is too close to the 800cc bikes, though, they will be limited by traction control and most likely be restricted by the affordability criteria set out, they would still be too close to Motogp times I would imagine. 400cc makes much more sense to me.

[ChrisS]

Factory 2 strokes cost about 1mil and have been around since forever so developing new bikes and leasing them for 100K seems unrealistic to me. Especially for Aprilia and KTM that don't have any experience with in-line 4 engines. Dorna probably has assurances from the Japanese 4 that they will provide bikes if the formula is changed.

as for protecting supersport, 600cc or 650cc doesn't make much difference to expert teams like Ten Kate so switching is a possibility. My prediction however is that we will see teams out of 250. Somehow I don't think is possible to have 25+ equally developed new bikes available for 2011.

[maxu05]

I think if they go to a 400cc bike, it would be affordable. All of the Japanese manufacturers have developed 400cc 4 cyl 4 strokes for their domestic market. I don't think it would be that hard for other manufacturers from Europe to develop a 400cc motor. I don't think it should be limited to 4 cyl engines though, as, perhaps the likes of KTM, Ducati or perhaps BMW etc, would like to develop a 2 cyl 400cc bike for this series.

[AndyRAC]

In Enduro World Championship they have 3 classes;

E1; 250 4 strokes & 125 2t
E2; 450 4 strokes & 250 2t
E3; 450+ 4 strokes & 500+ 2t???

Why not have a similar arrangement?

[ShiftingGears]

So long as they look fast. The 250's at Le Mans were quite boring to watch, but that might just be because its a boring circuit.