Anyone bored enough to have watched the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last weekend must have wondered if they were watching a proper race or some sort of demolition derby. Of course, proper racing isn't permitted in F1 anymore because of the technological wonders going round the track, so ringmeister Ecclestone has come up with all sorts of artificial aids such as exploding tyres.
As former GP rider Keith Huewen comments in this week's Bikesport News:"It is just too contrived with KERS and DRS and tyres designed to wear out." Even motor racing great Jackie Stewart complained:"Why do we have to have pit stops anyway. Let's just have tyres that last the whole race." Hurrah to that.
Of course, Heuwen had, the day before, been watching a proper race. At Assen. The Dutch TT which, because of a tennis match, was relegated to the BBC's red button. Now that was a proper race, a head-to-head confrontation between great riders made greater because of the sheer guts of a champion defending his crown and the absolute genius of a racing legend desperate to get his mojo back.
MotoGP, sadly, is not always like that because there is an elite of four riders on works machines who dominate. Only recently has their party been rudely crashed by the upstart, one Cal Crutchlow, who has confounded even the most optimistic with dashing bravery and considerable skill.
The extreme lengths to which F1 has gone to make their product (marketing speak) passably entertaining is not open in the same way to MotoGP. But you can bet that Dorna have thought about these things just as F1 tried to do a CRT BUT their £40m cap per team was rejected!
MotoGP simply needs more competitive bikes on the grid and the solution is very simple. Pay the teams more so they can afford to lease the engines. Last season Caterham was paid £35m for finishing tenth in the F1 world championship. It is said that when F1 is sold it will be worth 10 billion, either dollars or Euros or pounds, who cares. The last sale of shares in Dorna valued MotoGP at one billion.
So if MotoGP is worth one tenth of Fl and they can pay the tenth place team £35m then the tenth team in MotoGP should get £3.5m. That should pay for proper engines and we would get proper racing. Problem solved.
AT YOUR OWN RISK?
Brows must be furrowed at ACU headquarters. The fallout from the Senior TT crash on Bray Hill has not yet become apparent, at least not to the outside world, but with 11 people injured, some seriously, it seems inevitable that claims will be made. And who is the insurer? The governing body, the ACU.
The fact by some amazing stroke of fortune no spectator was killed is, of course, very welcome. But just because they were sitting in someone's garden may not, I am advised, free the insurer from the obligation of third party liability.
As we have said here before, this dreadful accident may have a fundamental effect on where people are allowed to watch. It may be that property owners have to take out their own insurance or spectators have to sign some form of indemnity.
Veteran TT rider Mick Chatterton has suggested that certain streets with open gateways and stone pillars close to the road should be boarded up to improve rider safety and also to prevent bikes being flung into the air.
