Retired Superbike champ left stunned by sheer power of KTM MotoGP bike

Former MotoGP rider, 2003 World Superbike Champion, and current TNT Sports MotoGP pundit Neil Hodgson spun a few laps of the Red Bull Ring in anticipation of last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix on a KTM RC16 to get a taste of modern MotoGP.

Hodgson spent one year in MotoGP, 2004, following his title triumph in 2003, which was the debut year of KTM in GP racing, when it ran in 125cc class.

By now, it’s a multiple MotoGP race winner with its RC16, which is among the most advanced bikes on the current grid.

Before his session on the RC16, Hodgson hadn’t ridden a MotoGP bike since he had a few laps at Misano on the 2016 Ducati Desmosedici eight years ago.

Compared to then, Hodgson said in his TNT Sports feature, “A lot has changed: aero, ride height devices, and that engine — power, loads of power, about 300bhp. These bikes are animals.”

While the engine is more powerful now, the manufacturers, including KTM, have worked — especially in the past five or six years — on solutions to use as much of that power as possible for as much of the lap as possible. 

Aerodynamics prevent wheelie, as do ride height devices, and both of these also help to increase braking performance by increasing front load, and therefore front grip, during braking.

Hodgson’s first impression of the bike wasn’t about the newest technology, though, rather the size of the bike, and the carbon brakes, which require an incredible amount of heating  to begin working. 

“It feels small, straight away,” he said while on the bike. “My god, the brakes aren’t working — I was already waiting for that to be the case.”

Beyond that, the stability of the bike impressed Hodgson, as well as the smoothness of the seamless-shift gearbox. 

“First thought: gearbox, unbelievable. [...] It feels so stable, so stable.

After one or two laps, Hodgson started to open the bike up a bit more. On using the ride height device for the first time, he said: “Oh my god. I can’t talk, I can’t concentrate."

While the aerodynamics help to keep the front wheel on the ground coming out of corners, the new ground effect aerodynamics, pioneered in MotoGP by Aprilia in 2022, help mid-corner.

“What a bike! It turns, it feels planted round the corners, but so fast, like ridiculously fast,” Hodgson said. “No wheelie, it’s unbelievable.

“What I love [is] the brakes feel so good. That gearbox, this chassis — everything is unbelievable. Unbelievable. It just turns! You look at the corner and it just goes to it.

“What a bike, honestly. What a bike. You can’t believe how good it is. It sounds like I’m exaggerating for TV, I promise you I’m not. Unbelievable, unbelievable.”

Following his ride on the RC16, Hodgson continued to break down his impressions of the bike.

“The best bike I’ve ever ridden times-1000,” he said. “Talk about game changer, talk about the game’s moved on. It’s unreal. No wheelie, full power. The front brake, you can feel every little bit of that front tyre.

"You look at the corner and the bike turns into it. It’s outrageous, I can’t believe they’re not going faster. That’s how good the bike is. Stunning.

“It felt nothing like what I expected, it was like everything’s on steroids. It’s so precise, like nothing [else].

“I rode the Ducati, but that was eight years ago, so you can’t compare the two — it feels like you’re comparing a superbike against a MotoGP bike. That [the RC16) is the most precise, beautiful machine I’ve ever ridden.”

Hodgson then spoke to Jack Miller, and spoke about how different the MotoGP machine is to ride compared to a road bike.

“It’s been so long since I rode a proper bike. You get used to riding street bikes and they’re just vague. [On the RC16], you just look at the corner and it just drops in. And the front brake, I can feel every bar, or 0.1 of a bar I can feel it.

“That is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. It was even better than I expected, and actually quite easy to ride. I thought it’d be nervous and twitchy, but it didn’t feel like that at all.”