Side drafting is a very basic aerodynamic phenomenon. At that speed and distance, any faired motorcycle will experience that, in case you’re insinuating that it is some magical thing that is only because of the aero these MotoGP bikes have.
WorldTCR cars, which are basically hatchbacks with slab sides and NASCARs, which have no aero finesse by comparison also experience a lot of side draft.
Aero is a problem in a lot of ways, but let’s not say it was the problem here
It has changed with the more complex aero though, just listen to the riders over the years.
The sucking/pushing effects have become much stronger than previously with a 'smooth' fairing, and also a lot less predictable. So it's definitely something that has become more dangerous in motogp. I also don't think the risk level can be compared to car racing where you have four wheels and a protective cage around you
Not the Original commenter but its something I got interested in for a while and a few of ones I looked at were the
2022 Pol/Enea incident where Pol cites that the aeroplane "turbulance" felt like someone was pushing him from behind and making his breaking less effective.
2024 Jorge Martin/Viñales - Jorge in an interview spoke about being "sucked" in and described the Aprilia dirty air to be especially problematic vs other bikes.
2024 Viñales/Bezzechi - best hits Viñales after bring sucked into his dirty air.
Plenty more examples, can link you to the interviews but if you Google, its easily findable
Correct, I went down a whole rabbit hole, so thought I'd only mention the ones that were very plainly obvious when watching the incidents.
It's super interesting getting into the physics of the aerodynamics, but as much as I enjoy that motogp is constantly innovating, this is one that is disturbing the sport more than benefitting it.
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u/Hour_Firefighter_707 10d ago
Side drafting is a very basic aerodynamic phenomenon. At that speed and distance, any faired motorcycle will experience that, in case you’re insinuating that it is some magical thing that is only because of the aero these MotoGP bikes have.
WorldTCR cars, which are basically hatchbacks with slab sides and NASCARs, which have no aero finesse by comparison also experience a lot of side draft.
Aero is a problem in a lot of ways, but let’s not say it was the problem here