A Short History of MotoGP

[NarendZORCE]

The MotoGP World Championship is the pinnacle of motorcycle racing; it brings together the highest performing prototype bikes, the most skilful riders and cutting edge technology. It is Formula One on two wheels.

MotoGP is a series that has always attracted the top motorcycle manufacturers of the world. Since the inception of the 500cc Grand Prix Road Racing Championship in 1949 (one year before Formula One), legendary names like MV Agusta, Gilera and Norton have all played their part. Now known as the MotoGP World Championship, until 2002 it was the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix series.

The first decade of 500cc Grand Prix racing was dominated by European machinery, such as Norton with the now famous �Feather Bed� frame and MV Agusta with the immensely powerful and musical V8 engines, Gilera and Moto Guzzi. The Japanese (Honda) arrived for the first time in 1959, coincidentally the same year as the legendary British rider Mike Hailwood. Other riders of note from the first decade of Grand Prix racing include Britain�s John Surtees and the first FIM Grand Prix World Rider�s Champion, Les Graham.


The swinging sixties ushered in a new era for 500cc Grand Prix racing. The dominant European factories were facing a challenge as the Japanese had now arrived and wanted to win. However, the Italian team, MV Agusta, were not going to give up without a fight and eventually took every 500cc Grand Prix crown for the decade, helped in no small part by the riding genius of Mike Hailwood and the Italian Giacomo Agostini. In retrospect, the writing was on the wall. Through the Sixties, although Honda may not have won the 500cc crown, it gathered up 140 Grand Prix wins and 16 World Championships in the smaller classes � the Japanese manufacturers were going to be a threat. By 1968 Honda had decided to withdraw from all levels of Grand Prix racing leaving the smaller GP classes devastated, but in the 500cc class it therefore allowed Agostini on the MV Agusta to win every race he finished for the next four years. In 1968 he won every race! The arrival of Angel Nieto in 1969 meant that his was the name to watch for the seventies, and the two-strokes were about to terrorise the big 500cc class.

The seventies were a time of great change for the racing bikes of 500cc, big power was on its way courtesy of the new two-strokes, and big names were arriving, such as American �King� Kenny Roberts and British playboy Barry Sheene. It was to be the decade when 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle racing would begin to grow again, the Japanese manufacturers would return in force, riders would get their �knee down�, the Isle of Man race would be removed from the Grand Prix calendar for good and race-replica bikes would be brought to the street.

The tail end of the seventies had seen 500cc Grand Prix experience its fair share of political problems and this continued into the early eighties. But when the fighting finished, the sport would explode � 500cc Grand Prix racing was ready to go global. European racers and teams would face ever more competition from international manufacturers and riders. The Americans particularly would begin to dominate with riders like Kenny Roberts, �Fast� Freddie Spencer and Randy Mamola � all fighting for bigger prize money. Barry Sheene would find himself on a privateer bike, while Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha would all continue to push the technological envelope on these immensely powerful bikes.


The titanic struggles between American and Australian racers was a highpoint of the 90�s with Wayne Rainey and �Revvin� Kevin Schwantz battling eventual five time 500cc champion Mick Doohan. Honda then began their stranglehold upon the series, from 1994 racking up nine victories in ten years in the premier class, including seeing the very first Spaniard to win the top class, Alex Criville.

The 1990s would see the continuation of the technological two-stroke charge right the way into 2002. But a change for the 2002 season would be the inclusion of 990cc four-stroke bikes to compete alongside the 500cc two-strokes which had dominated the sport for 25 years. This was a move brought about by the manufacturers who argued that 500cc two-stroke bikes had no relevance to those bikes being used on the road � they were right.

For 2002 and 2003 the 500cc two-strokes and new 990cc MotoGP bikes would compete together, but the 500cc bikes were gone in late 2003. The downfall was simple to see � the MotoGP bikes were faster with their use of technology similar to that used in Formula One engines. Power figures of 250 horsepower were commonplace, but the two-strokes would not go down without a fight; Irishman Jeremy McWilliams would be the last man to take a pole position on a two-stroke bike, the Proton storming to the top spot at the Australian GP in 2002.


Having grown out of the 500cc GP, the popularity of the MotoGP World Championship has grown at an astonishing rate. All the races across the globe now attract notoriously large crowds who come to support their team or rider and experience the emotion and the tension at first hand, while television audiences continue to grow towards the levels of Formula One.

The 990cc era of MotoGP, which disappeared at the end of 2006, saw the domination of Valentino Rossi, first on his Honda and then on a Yamaha. But American Nicky Hayden would take the last 990cc World Crown � it went right down to the wire at the final race of the season in Valencia, a race that would see Ducati�s first one-two finish in MotoGP. With speeds ever increasing, the FIM implemented changes to the technical regulations aimed at curbing the lap times, first with the reduction of the fuel tanks from 24 to 22 litres, and then with entirely new, lower capacity, engine rules for 2007.

The 800cc bikes introduced in 2007 look set to be even faster than the 990cc bikes of the previous four years. The playing field has been levelled however and teams from Ducati Corse, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki, to name a few, will send their teams across fifteen countries on four continents to take part in 18 MotoGP Grands Prix this season.
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