MotoGP: Michelin tyres go wireless for 2017

Michelin, the MotoGP sole tyre manufacturer, and the Grand Prix Commission, the sport’s rulemaking body, have announced that they will press ahead with the introduction of embedded wireless technology in their tyres for the 2017 MotoGP season.

The new technology will hopefully bring to an end the confusion that flag-to-flag races have created in the past, by allowing organisers to feed back live tyre information not only to race control but also to TV and media in realtime.

Its not yet been confirmed how the system will work, other than a brief description from the Grand Prix Commission announcing the news that seems to suggest that the system set to be introduced will be more advanced than the RFID tagging concept originally suggested by the French firm earlier this year.

 

The tyre detection is made by means of wireless technology. The information is then fed to the unified ECU and routed to the track timing system which reports via an updated version of the unified software.

The news will also change the dynamic of race strategy to an extent, if it’s introduced not only for the race but for all sessions, by allowing riders and teams the chance to analyse which tyres their opposition are using as well as when.

The other update with regards to tyres from the GPC meeting is that the two riders who progress from Q1 to Q2 will now also be granted an additional soft slick tyre for the session. Racers had raised the issue in the Safety Commission earlier this year, citing examples of people crashing out of Q2 after being forced to take to the session on a used tyre.