My Interview with Nicky Hayden's Crew Chief

[G.Irish]

Finally got this one up. To be honest I was a little bit disappointed because he didn't really elaborate on anything ande was kind of simple in his answers. I think my interview with one of the American Honda superbike crew chiefs was much better. But then again the Laguna weekend didn't go particularly well for Nicky and crew so he probably wasn't in the best of moods. Anyway the next two that I have are pretty good.

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[JackoliciousLegs]

The RC212V's V4 uses an irregular firing order where 2 cylinders fire very close together (almost simultaneously), followed by a long pause, then the other two cylinders fire closely together. In a regular firing order all four cylinder firings are evenly spaced out. The advantage of 'big bang' is that it gives the tire more time to regain traction between power pulses which helps put the power to the ground and makes the bike more ridable. The disadvantages are that it reduces crank longevity and saps power. Currently the only bike in Moto GP that uses the regular firing order is the Ducati GP7.

Wow... that's amazing. I had no idea...

[HAULN-SS]

I heard about that before somewhere. Pretty interesting.

[G.Irish]

The big bang firing order is also what gives the GP bikes their distinctive boom, because basically the power pulse are set up like a V-twin's. The difference being that these things run a lot more revs so they sound pretty different than the typical street-based V-Twin.

Here is a video clip of the RC211V prototype. Definitely among the most glorious engine sounds I've ever heard:

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If anyone can find a good clip with the Yamaha M1 (where you can hear the engine) post it here too. I really like how smooth and mellow the exhaust note sounds.

[.RJ]

I love the sound of GP bikes

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