Some days ago I received the book Motogp Technology, by Neil Spalding. Books about motorbikes and technology are not very common, even less common if they are about racing motorbikes, so I was waiting for it with impatiente. I had good expectations about this book, because I already read some really good technical articles (normally about MotoGP) by Neil Spalding, here in Spain they are published from time to time in SoloMoto magazine.
The book is hard cover (27×21×1.5 cm) and it has 192 pages full colour. Just only because the photos it is worth to buy it.
The author makes a technical review of the first MotoGP era, from 2002 to 2006, with 990 cc. engines, analyzing all the bikes that raced in the category: Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Roberts (Proton, KTM, Honda), Suzuki, Yamaha, WCM, Aprilia and Moriwaki.
Neil has focused this analysis in a very interesting way, explaining the different approach that every brand took to face the technical challenge involved in starting a completely new category. He also explains the difficulties that the brands found, and the way they tried to solve it.
I think that every MotoGP enthusiast is aware of the level of means and the huge amount of work that racing departments dedicate to be competitive, but reading this book makes you feel more aware about it.
As well as the motorbike analysis, there are chapters dedicated to history, rules, technology, engines (valves, crankshaft, clutch, big bang), electronics (ride by wire, data adquisition), chassis (packaging, construction), suspensions, brakes, tyres and aerodynamics (basic theory, flow).
I think it is an indispensable book for those interested in motorbikes from a technical point of view. I wish that more books of this type were publicated more often, I learnt a lot of things reading it.
English is not my native language, so please let me know if you find any mistake. Thank you.
[tags]motogp, book, technology, neil spalding[/tags]