Kurtis: Broken wheel sensor opened throttle.
Small but vexing problems at the first public outing of the revised-firing-order Proton KR V5 engine left riders Nobuatsu Aoki and Kurtis Roberts 21st and 22nd respectively in Le Mans first qualifying.
The latest engine developments arrived just in time for this weekend and include a motor with revised bore and stroke, designed to give a less oversquare configuration.
"This makes it less like a car F1 engine, and more like a motorcycle engine," explained team principal Kenny Roberts.
Small but vexing problems at the first public outing of the revised-firing-order Proton KR V5 engine left riders Nobuatsu Aoki and Kurtis Roberts 21st and 22nd respectively in Le Mans first qualifying.
The latest engine developments arrived just in time for this weekend and include a motor with revised bore and stroke, designed to give a less oversquare configuration.
"This makes it less like a car F1 engine, and more like a motorcycle engine," explained team principal Kenny Roberts.
That engine, fresh from dyno bench testing, was fitted to one of Kurtis's machines - but an unusual problem meant he was unable to do more than a few laps...
"Both bikes were good this morning, and I finally got quite a few laps in," began the American. "(But) in the afternoon a lot of stupid little things meant I hardly got any successive laps, and nothing on soft tyres.
"One problem with the new engine was strange - the front-wheel speed sensor wire was damaged and shorting out, and that sent the engine management crazy, so that it would open the throttle mid-corner," he revealed. "I finished the session on my spare bike. Tomorrow will be a lot better... It has to be."
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
