MOTOGP SET-UP REPORT - VALENCIA
25 October 2004 - Yamaha Racing

Valencia is a circuit that offers good camber combined with an abrasive surface, but on a slightly undulating layout.

2003 MotoGP race summary
The final MotoGP race of the 2003 World Championship season, held at Valencia Spain, was dominated by recently crowned world champion Valentino Rossi (Honda). The Italian stamped his authority on the main event, and the championship, with a clean and consistent performance. After breaking the tow of Sete Gibernau (Honda), Loris Capirossi (Ducati), Max Biaggi (Honda) and Carlos Checa (Yamaha) - the quintet eventually finishing in that order, first to fifth respectively - Rossi went on to take the final race win of the year by 0.681 seconds. For Checa, the fifth place result secured seventh place overall in the championship.

Checa produced a reasonable start to the 30-lap MotoGP race and entered turn one in sixth before filtering his way through the field to be as high as fourth. By lap five the Spaniard was all over the rear of the leading trio. But as the race progressed Checa, who opted to run the latest generation Deltabox Yamaha chassis during the race, found that the limited time to set-up his new race package hindered his progress in the latter stages.

Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Alex Barros put in a determined ride to finish the day sixth after a difficult start. The Brazilian was as far back as tenth in the first turn before working his way through to the tail end of the top five. Meanwhile Norick Abe (Yamaha) - drafted into the factory team to fill in for the injured Marco Melandri - finished a respectable ninth place, after having last competed at the Sachsenring round mid way through the 2003 season.

2004 set-up report YZR-M1
Valencia is a circuit that offers good camber combined with an abrasive surface, but on a slightly undulating layout. It sports many stop-and-go 90-degree corners, bumps and a tight design which has claimed its fair share of victims via front-end loses. This is especially so on the faster and heavier MotoGP machines. For this reason riders will be chasing security on this very point, followed by stability under brakes, while still offering the agility to deal with a circuit that is more suited to a 250 than a 250ps MotoGP four-stroke.

Despite the circuit being suited to the smaller machines Yamaha is quietly confident of a good result. With the advancements made by Valentino Rossi and Yamaha over the past 15 rounds the YZR-M1 chassis and engine have become a very well balanced package; offering the agility required to be competitive, as well as the drivability off the slow and medium speed turns to be consistent race-long. The latter was an issue in the past for Yamaha''s riders, with the 2003 inline-four proving to be a little too aggressive for a successful endurance assault. But now the more linear character of the ''big-bang'' YZR-M1 power plant offers a much more rider and tyre friendly delivery - making it easier to get on the power earlier in the turn and with more confidence. This is essential in the final turn - the run onto the front straight and the start/finish line - as the M1 is still lacking the top-end performance, albeit slightly, compared to some of its competitors.

Regarding the geometry and suspension set-up, the Yamaha will have a front-end lifted slightly, compared to most other circuits, and the rear lowered. Combined with the right front spring rates and preload, all controlled by the rebound, this will allow for improved stability under brakes and a planted front-end.

With good camber, except for the penultimate sweeping turn, the ability to leap the M1 hard off the turns is essential. Especially with the high corner speeds Rossi like to carry. To ensure this is possible the rear suspension preload will be set to prevent an excessive amount of rear-end squat - reducing understeer - while still offering a plush enough ride to provide good, consistent traction.

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