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Ducati Pulling out of WSBK

Discussion in 'General' started by jelder, Aug 27, 2010.

  1. RichDesmond

    RichDesmond Well-Known Member


    Inefficient in relation to what parameter? In relation to displacement, yes. But if that's important thing then a four is inefficient compared to an eight.
    Displacement is easy to measure, and a traditional way to classify engines. But is it really the critical parameter? When someone says an engine is "efficient" I tend to think of it terms of power per weight, or power for unit fuel consumed.
    We've all thought of displacement as the only way to classify bikes for so long that it's hard to realize that it's not as fundamental as we think.
     
  2. tzrider

    tzrider CZrider

    Law of diminishing returns, i.e. a V16 won't be anymore efficient than a V8 for that matter....

    When motogp went 4S, the boys went to work and looked at all possible engine configurations for 1000cc. None of the teams came out with a V-twin for many good reasons.

    - Combustion Chamber size
    - Engine and component layout
    - Total Engine Mass
    - etc.

    L4s, V4s and aV5 came out on top.
     
  3. RichDesmond

    RichDesmond Well-Known Member


    There was a triple also. :) Given the way the rules were written, it was obvious that twins wouldn't work.
    I think we're all talking past each other a bit here. We all agree that for a given displacement a four will make more power. In the MotoGP case, instead of varying displacement limits for different numbers of cylinders they just gave a small weight break. Not enough to overcome the inherent disadvantage that a twin has, so no one built one. No surprise there.

    My only real point is that if you want a simple engine formula that also allows different configuations to be competitive, then one based on total bore area rather than displacement is going to work a lot better.
     
  4. tzrider

    tzrider CZrider

    I may be repeating a post I missed but that is what they (Dorna) are targeting for 2012 (81mm max?).
     
  5. RichDesmond

    RichDesmond Well-Known Member

    Yeah, 81mm. That works out to 206 cm^2. But they also limit displacement to 1000cc, and the max number of cylinders to 4, so in effect it's a 4 cylinder class because that will be the way to make the most power. If it was me writing the rules I'd just make it a "200" class, run whatever number of cylinders and displacement you wanted as long as the total bore area was less than 200 cm^2.
     

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