Ducati tech chief against rev limit idea

Talks about future changes to technical regulations were held between manufacturers at last weekend's official MotoGP test at Jerez, and one idea being discussed is for MotoGP engines to be limited to 19,000rpm.

But with Ducati likely to be the only manufacturer to suffer as a result of such a change, Preziosi has suggested the plans are being designed to hamper their team on the back of their dominant 2007 campaign - rather than reduce costs or improve safety.

"Well, (we may as well) say that Italian bikes ridden by Australian riders are barred from taking part in MotoGP," Preziosi told Gazzetta dello Sport. "In fact, since in Superbikes we won only with Australians and Britons, I'll add the latter ones too. What a coincidence this limitation is...

"I say since we are able to get this performance with a system that is fitted on a road bike like the Monster 695, the issue of costs doesn't hold water. If then we talk about safety, riders haven't crashed on the straights for years, they crash in turns, so top speed doesn't have anything to do with it.

"I have too much respect for the Japanese to believe they really want to go forward with these projects."

Preziosi's criticism of the idea to introduce rev limits has been supported by Ishiro Yoda, Kawasaki's technical director.

He told Gazzetta dello Sport: "By bringing the engine displacement to 800cc it was said that the regulations wouldn't be changed for five years. We've already spent plenty of money to re-do the bikes, and there's no point in spending more.

"The aim was to slow down the bikes on the straights, and the 800cc are slower there, even though the lap times decrease. To limit the number of engine revolutions doesn't make sense."

Honda's Shinichi Kokubu, project leader of the RC212V at HRC, made it clear that he was fully supportive of the idea.

"As an engineer, I say that limiting the engine revs could be a way if we want to limit the costs of our bikes. I think that 19,000 revolutions would be a fair limit," he said.