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The Grand Prix Commission have decided to add dashboard messages for MotoGP and Moto3 riders from the 2018 season! Moto2 will get it in 2019 when Magneti Marelli will provide spec ECUs for the series.
The GP Commission came to this decision at the end of the Assen round of MotoGP. MotoGP and Moto3 riders will be getting dashboard messages from next year itself, thanks to both using spec ECUs. Currently, Race Direction can send limited messages to the rider's dashboard. These are only warning lights of red flags for stopping proceedings and black flags for individual riders.
There will be a stipulated number of messages which Race Direction can send to a rider. Along with this, even teams can send messages to their rider. As of now, teams can only use pit boards to convey information to their riders. The pit boards are displayed along the main straight, the only place a rider has time look away from his riding.
The introduction of dashboard messages brings forth two pertinent questions.Safety
How safe is it to have a rider looking at his dashboard to check his messages? In the heat of battle, it would be near impossible for someone concentrating completely on their riding to check their messages! At 350 kmph while flying down the main straight, even a moment's distraction could have damaging consequences. Though one can argue, riders already are looking away towards the pit board, they can surely manage their dashboards as well then!
Such a decision would have been made after taking the safety of the riders very seriously. Not the right wrist!
Currently, once the rider is on the grid, he is alone. Whatever the team had to do, they have done. The rider is in complete control of the situation. He knows when to attack when to conserve tyres, when to pit in case of rain and when to cross the finish line with a wheelie! His right wrist and head are all that matter once the race starts. As the age-old racing adage goes, 'When the flag drops, the bullshit stops!'
But now team managers can tell the rider what to do. There is no pre-defined message list from which the team needs to choose. They can send any set of instructions they desire. Heck, they can even tell the rider he is fired if he doesn't get on the podium!
It will become more like Formula 1, where the driver 'heeds' the instructions of his team.
Fortunately for us spectators, MotoGP racers aren't quite the heeding type! You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. And if a rider so chooses, he can ignore every word of advice given by his team. The Etceteras
During the 2016 Assen race, a number of MotoGP riders didn't pit in when they teams advised in the heavy rain. They ignored the pit boards in the heat of the battle and paid the price with a bad result. They had been rumblings of dashboard communications before that, but after the race, Valentino Rossi mentioned that it would be a good idea to have. And that has been mulled over for a year before becoming rule at Assen 2017.
What about cheating? Can teams 'hack' into the messages of other riders and 'order' them to do something incorrect! Might be stretching it too far, but nothing is impossible.
And finally, a question which many fans will have. Will the dashboard messages be shown on television live? Probably. Since it would add a bit of spice for the spectator, as it happens in Formula 1.
Source and Image: MotoGP.com
The GP Commission came to this decision at the end of the Assen round of MotoGP. MotoGP and Moto3 riders will be getting dashboard messages from next year itself, thanks to both using spec ECUs. Currently, Race Direction can send limited messages to the rider's dashboard. These are only warning lights of red flags for stopping proceedings and black flags for individual riders.
There will be a stipulated number of messages which Race Direction can send to a rider. Along with this, even teams can send messages to their rider. As of now, teams can only use pit boards to convey information to their riders. The pit boards are displayed along the main straight, the only place a rider has time look away from his riding.
The introduction of dashboard messages brings forth two pertinent questions.Safety
How safe is it to have a rider looking at his dashboard to check his messages? In the heat of battle, it would be near impossible for someone concentrating completely on their riding to check their messages! At 350 kmph while flying down the main straight, even a moment's distraction could have damaging consequences. Though one can argue, riders already are looking away towards the pit board, they can surely manage their dashboards as well then!
Such a decision would have been made after taking the safety of the riders very seriously. Not the right wrist!
Currently, once the rider is on the grid, he is alone. Whatever the team had to do, they have done. The rider is in complete control of the situation. He knows when to attack when to conserve tyres, when to pit in case of rain and when to cross the finish line with a wheelie! His right wrist and head are all that matter once the race starts. As the age-old racing adage goes, 'When the flag drops, the bullshit stops!'
But now team managers can tell the rider what to do. There is no pre-defined message list from which the team needs to choose. They can send any set of instructions they desire. Heck, they can even tell the rider he is fired if he doesn't get on the podium!
It will become more like Formula 1, where the driver 'heeds' the instructions of his team.
Fortunately for us spectators, MotoGP racers aren't quite the heeding type! You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. And if a rider so chooses, he can ignore every word of advice given by his team. The Etceteras
During the 2016 Assen race, a number of MotoGP riders didn't pit in when they teams advised in the heavy rain. They ignored the pit boards in the heat of the battle and paid the price with a bad result. They had been rumblings of dashboard communications before that, but after the race, Valentino Rossi mentioned that it would be a good idea to have. And that has been mulled over for a year before becoming rule at Assen 2017.
What about cheating? Can teams 'hack' into the messages of other riders and 'order' them to do something incorrect! Might be stretching it too far, but nothing is impossible.
And finally, a question which many fans will have. Will the dashboard messages be shown on television live? Probably. Since it would add a bit of spice for the spectator, as it happens in Formula 1.
Source and Image: MotoGP.com
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