Ducati Desmosedici GP9 carbon fibre frame

Ever since designer John Barnard built the 1981 F1 McLaren MP4-1 chassis from carbon fibre, the world has become increasingly aware of this novel composite material that is very stiff, three times stronger and more than four times lighter than steel! Within a year or two, carbon fibre became the construction material of choice for F1 designers. Strangely, it has taken nearly three decades for a carbon fibre-framed motorcycle to take a race win at the highest level. The World MotoGP Championship kicked off this evening in Qatar, with Casey Stoner taking the first win on the carbon fibre-framed Ducati Desmosedici GP9. His emphatic win indicates yet another competitive-edge Ducati technology to back up its landmark desmodromic valve-train and traction control technologies.

Unlike its four-wheeled equivalent (F1), where the entire cast at the pointy end of the field has changed, the most likely scenario in MotoGP is another enthralling season-long battle between superstar Italian Valentino Rossi and resurgent 2007 Champ, Casey Stoner.

The technological highlight of the pre-season has been the carbon fibre frame and swinging arm of the Ducati which takes frame technology to a whole new level.

Frames have not been constructed of carbon fibre previously because it doesn't flex enough, and the dynamics of motorcycles have made good use of the frame flex offered by metallic frame construction. As the metal frames have been stiffened, motorcycle race constructors have found that the natural harmonics of the frame material can influence many factors, often introducing wheel chatter and other destabilising vibrations. The harmonics of the frame is responsible for a lot of the problems race engineers encounter while setting up a bike to perform at its optimum.

As carbon fibre construction expertise has grown, and Computer Aided Engineering has given us the computational ability to lay the the angles of the the fibre in such a way that designer qualities can be engineered into a component, carbon fibre has been getting closer to use as a motorcycle chassis material.

In the beginning, its aforementioned qualities of being strong, light and stiff were what made it so attractive to F1 designers – Lotus also fielded a carbon fibre car in 1981, but Barnard's McLaren was a monocoque design, taking advantage of another carbon fibre property - it can be moulded into any shape.

The entire F1 field followed suit within a short time, and it seemed like just a matter of time before MotoGP machinery would do likewise. Strangely, it has taken nearly three decades for a competitive carbon fibre-framed motorcycle to challenge for a race win or a championship.

Honda experimented with an aluminium “shrimpshell” monocoque chassis in its 1978 four-stroke NR500 MotoGP bike, but the other novelties of the technological tour de force (such as the four-cylinder, four-stroke engine which had oval pistons) got all the attention, and the carnivorous British press was merciless in lambasting the machine, despite the fact that it got very close to being competitive against the two-strokes of the day – in hindsight, the technologies and innovative thinking used on the machine were remarkable for their time.

Honda experimented with carbon fibre extensively during this period, and it was used in the fairing of the NR500 in an attempt to reduce weight, though not in any structural sense. Whilst it was considered as a possible material for the NR500’s shrimpshell frame, the shrimpshell concept was abandoned because it significantly reduced access to the machine’s engine for checking, adjustments and part replacement during practice.

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