Honda RC212V - This is Honda's second 21st century race bike (hence the name RC Racing 21 21st Century 2 Second Generation V V style Engine). The RC211V was a 5 cylinder engine, and for the 2007 season the engine becomes a V4. The Honda has not performed as well in testing as was expected.
Yamaha YZR-M1 - Although there is no new name for the 800cc Yamaha, it is certainly a new bike. The new Yamaha in the hands of Rossi and Colin has set records at all of the test tracks. Rossi used the Yamaha to win the annual BMW fastest lap at Barcelona. It appears the new chassis is better configurabled for the two riders this year.
Roberts KR212V - This is the Team Roberts bike, and although the engine is based on the factory V4, the chassis is custom designed and built in the UK by the Roberts team.
Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR - The 2007 Kawasaki team is not the same as the 2006 one. The engine in the Ninja has been reduced to 800cc like all the other teams, but this is the first time that Kawasaki have run the team themselves. It used to be that Harald Eckl ran the team on Kawasaki's behalf. This means that 'Team Green' has a huge learning curve to overcome.
Suzuki GSV-R800 - Suzuki struggled with advanced technologies in the 990cc era. It looks like the team may have got some of the issues behind them: the 800cc Suzuki in testing consistently performed well, and was up around the Honda times.
Ducati Desmosedici GP7 - The Ducati team have proved that they do not need to stick to the V-Twin concept of their road bikes to create a good engine. The GP7 is probably the most powerful of the 800cc bikes (as its predecessor was in the 990cc days). Having the fastest bike down the straights does not guarantee the fastest race bike around the track, and we must wait to see if Ducati can sort out the chassis this year as well.
Ilmor X3 - The X3 showed up at circuits late last year, and they were given permission to race their 2007 spec bike in the 2006 series. Ilmor is a much respected engine manufacturer (they produce the Mercedes F1 engine for McLaren). Mario Illien decided that he wanted to try his talents on another race formula, and with Eskil Suter (designer of the previous Kawasaki MotoGP chassis) decided to try their hand at MotoGP.
Article comments
1 - alessandro nicolo
MotoGP deserves some attention. Good stuff.
2 - Ashleigh
That's what I thought :)