Motor Sport Moto GP Module

YOU WILL NEED THE MOTOR SPORT GAME IN ORDER TO USE THIS MODULE. This is now included in the main game.

MotoGP is one of the most spectacular forms of motor sport, with groups of riders circulating in close proximity at speeds up to 180mph, heeling over first one way then the other to negotiate tight, high-speed bends with knees and elbows brushing the track. Unlike most other forms of motor sport there are frequent changes of positions and the last lap can often see several riders fighting through the final series of bends in an exciting race to the chequered flag. Not sure about MotoGP? Take a look at this then!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEvwTheO9a4

From a simulation design point of view, within the context of the 'Motor Sport' series, MotorGP poses several new problems. Firstly we need to re-create the closeness of the racing and the constant swapping of race positions, and especially the last lap drama that is often a feature of MotorGP races. Then we need to be mindful of the fact that in MotorGP a rider's total race time is often close to his qualifying time multiplied by the number of laps - there are no pit stops (except to change from dry to wet tyred bikes or vice versa if the weather changes) so no 'artificial'additions to lap times to split the field up. Sure, there are minor mechanical problems that may downgrade a rider's performance but anything more than minor is usually reason enough to post a retirement as pit stops for running repairs just cannot be absorbed in such competitive and comparatively short races. And then there are tyres (‘tyres’ to Brits, ‘tires’ to everyone else). With so little area of rubber in contact with the track, and with enormous stresses being placed on that contact point, tyres are often an issue and even a deciding factor in the later stages of the race. Some very quick riders are destructive on their tyres, others seem able to travel just as fast but make their rubber last the whole race distance without heavy degrading. In this simulation we have situations where the condition of the tyres can be a slight bonus or a factor for down-grading. The final important design factor is a cosmetic one, trying to re-create the groups that tend to form during a race and becoming to a great degree separate races within themselves. We do this by suggesting that the user uses the Rider Cards as a visual display in front of him, keeping the individual riders within each Group stacked (face-down) in front of him on the table as a reminder that those riders form part of a Group separated from the next by a distance of tarmac. What distance you may ask. Well, early in the race the time between Groups may be no more than a second, later in the race this may have stretched to 4, 5 or 6 seconds. But it really doesn’t matter, it’s just a visual aid to the user. The Groups DO matter on the Last Lap Turn, for while movement of riders up and down the Groups is perfectly possible during the six main Turns of the race the Last Lap Procedure, as we will see, merely decides positions within each Group separately, and does not provide for up and down movement through the Groups on that last frantic lap. The gaps between Groups is too great and the lap too short to allow such ‘promotion’ and 'relegation’. If we assume that each Group covers a time slot of one second between first and last in the Group at racing speeds that represents 80 to 90 metres so if four or five riders comprise the lead Group through the last series of bends that’s close racing !