Keith Huewen: MotoGP in ten years’ time? Hopefully not electric!
The question was sent in by Steve from Victoria in Australia, with former grand prix rider and British champion Huewen answering: “Another great question. I think MotoGP's got headroom to grow, as we’ve seen Formula One do in recent years.
“Losing Valentino Rossi, a global superstar, was a blow whichever way you look at it. He was probably bringing in 50% of the audience back in the day, the same as when we had other worldwide icons like Barry Sheene, or Mike Hailwood.
“But the product itself still seems really good to me. Where will MotoGP be in 10 years’ time? Hopefully not electric. And I think that we've pretty much proved that by going the sustainable fuel route at the moment.
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"I can't see us moving away from that direction at the moment. In fact, from a personal point of view, I could see the rest of the world coming towards us on sustainable fuel.
“But you can't know exactly where technology is going to go. People will be beavering away now in white coats somewhere coming up with tomorrow's new ideas. It's going to be really interesting.”
Crash.net MotoGP editor Pete McLaren added: “We know MotoGP is going to run 100% non-fossil fuel from 2027 but at the moment everything else is up for grabs.
“I don’t actually think there will be huge technical changes in the next five-year contract with the manufacturers. Perhaps a ban on the rear ride-height device. Maybe more restrictions on the aerodynamics, but I don't think they'll get rid of them completely. Whether they'll change the engine size, we’ll have to see.
“But it will definitely be internal combustion engines, running on non-fossil fuel. And they will have a choice of either Biofuel or eFuel for that.”
Huewen said: “Either way, Dorna have been clever in covering the electric angle with MotoE, before someone else did. But in my view batteries are too heavy at the moment, they don't last long enough, which is why it’s not called a grand prix.
“But the fact is Dorna has got that option for the future, which I think is very clever. And it’ll be good to see engineering wise what happens with Ducati coming in this year to take over as the single MotoE manufacturer.”
“The first official test with the Ducati is going on as we speak," McLaren said. "Unfortunately there’s been some rain every day, but they still broke the old Energica lap record late on day two.
"So it is quicker, but we still don’t have a clear idea of exactly how much quicker.”
The latest MotoGP team launches, Huewen's fear that television coverage is in decline and this weekend’s Portimao test are among the other topics being refereed by Podcast host Harry Benjamin.
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