MotoGP set-up report - Mugello, Italy

Mugello, Italy
30/5/2005

Round 5: Mugello, Italy
Track length: 5245 m
Opened: 1974
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 49.553 (Sete Gibernau, 2004)
MotoGP lap record: 1' 51.133 (Sete Gibernau, 2004)
Last year MotoGP winner: Valentino Rossi
Circuit web site: http://www.mugellocircuit.it

2004 MotoGP race summary

Valentino Rossi held his nerve and maintained his race-long aggression to
outpace his rivals not once but twice at Mugello during the 2004 Italian Grand
Prix. In doing so he seized his second win since joining Yamaha, in outstanding
style. The initial race was stopped with five laps remaining after rain
interfered. Ultimately a six-lap restart would determine the final
classification of the race, with the first section now nullified under the 2004
rules.

Rossi, who'd led Sete Gibernau's Honda on the last of the laps in the first
running, repeated the trick in seemingly impossible damp conditions while on
slicks. The 25-year-old (at the time) from Tavullia won by 0.361 seconds in the
restart. With treacherous conditions to deal with Rossi was last in a six-rider
group at one stage, before asserting his class and quality to outrun Gibernau
and third placed Max Biaggi (Honda) in what proved to be a sprint race run on a
knife-edge.

If the second running was a minor classic, the opener was conducted on a no less
grand scale. Rossi drew roars from the crowd as he took the advantage from the
start, leading into the first corner with his great Italian rival Biaggi in
second place. A huge 300kmh crash on the main straight for Shinya Nakano
(Kawasaki) saw debris littering the track surface; the Japanese rider escaped
serious injury by a whisker, although the race continued until the rains
descended on lap 17.

2005 MotoGP Set-up report YZR-M1

Located in the beautiful Tuscan hills, Mugello boasts a sequence of undulating
medium to high-speed corners combined with a straight where even the former 500
two-strokes were capable of producing an outright top speed of 315kmh. The four
strokes are now comfortably pushing beyond the 240kmh barrier.

Although picturesque, the Italian circuit has a reputation as a very demanding
venue on chassis set-up and engine performance. In fact Mugello is a circuit
that requires the best from every aspect of a race motorcycle. The main aim for
each team will be to find a balanced geometry that will provide the rider with
the ability to change direction quickly through the high-speed switchbacks, and
especially through the tricky right-hander at the end of the main straight. This
corner, to some extent, is the key to a fast time around Mugello as it
influences the next sequence of turns dramatically. Make a mistake in this area
and the lap-time will pay the price through the next series of turns.

Yamaha's chassis technicians will also need to provide a front-end which will
offer the rider the feedback while braking into the numerous downhill Mugello
turns. This is especially the case onto the front straight as it influences
corner exit speed and eventual top speed.

The set-up involves lowering the front of the M1 to improve front-end feel and
lighten the handling response through the chicanes. Mugello doesn't require a
front-end to be dialed in as firm, regarding fork springs, as some circuits, but
still the braking needs aren't quite as extreme - especially at the end of the
mai9n straight. There is no major issue concerning bumps entering the turns, as
at some circuits of similar age, resulting in a more linear medium-damping
characteristic, a must to aid feel.

Where bumps are an issue will be on the exit of the turns. To ensure Yamaha
riders will be able to find the necessary drive a medium to high rear
spring-rate will be used, along with progressive rear suspension linkage rates.
It will also be necessary to prevent squatting as riders wind the power on in
the well-banked, high G-force corners.