Moto2: Preparations continue for Triumph debut

The Moto2 World Championship will face its first real shake-up when Triumph takes over from Honda as official engine supplier in 2019.

MotoGP Technical Director Danny Aldridge gave Crash.net an update on the preparations so far...

Crash.net:
What is the next step with Triumph?

Danny Aldridge:
"The decision has been known for a little while behind the scenes. I will be going to Triumph during the summer break with Externpro to go through all the information that is being requested by the chassis manufacturers. We had a meeting of the chassis manufacturers here at the Sachsenring on Thursday."

Crash.net:
What sort of things do the chassis manufacturers want to know at this stage?

Danny Aldridge:
"The most important thing is a 3D drawing of the engine, which sensors are used, which items are compulsory, which they can use themselves. But the most important thing at this stage are the physical dimensions of the engine.

"We have started to produce what's called 'Moto2 Technical Information 2019'. We've had it for the Honda engines for years and now we are making a new version for Triumph. It gives all the information about mounting points, engine dimensions. This is the main avenue for the chassis manufacturers to find information.

"So Suter, Kalex, KTM, Tech 3 and Speed Up will not have any direct contact with Triumph. It has to come through us. We pool all of the information together. There are two points of contact about Triumph, myself and Trevor Morris of Externpro. We produce this document which is updated regularly and so everybody gets the same information at the same time."

Crash.net:
So if one chassis manufacturer asks you a question, everybody gets the answer?

Danny Aldridge:
"Exactly right. It's a level playing field. We are quite advanced and every week we get an update from Triumph. It's going very well."

Crash.net:
What exactly will the role of Externpro be?

Danny Aldridge:
"Triumph will send the standard engines to Externpro and they will make the modifications for the Moto2 specification. It will be more powerful than standard, obviously, but like the engine we use now the important thing is that the engines are as identical as we can make them.

"There's no point having an engine that's 150bhp if we can't get 30 of them at exactly that level. So more important than horsepower is making sure each engine has the same horsepower."

Crash.net:
How do Externpro ensure the engines are as identical as possible?

Danny Aldridge:
"Externpro have a pool of about 120 engines on the go constantly, either here at the track or being rebuilt. Once they have been rebuilt they are dyno tested and from that they select the closest engines, within a tolerance, for the next batch. They are so close it's unbelievable!"

Crash.net:
Do you know when the Triumph engines will be ready for the teams to test with?

Danny Aldridge:
"To start with we will supply the chassis manufacturers with a virtually standard engine. Then when the official Triumph Moto2 engines are used it will be at an official test, under our supervision and at the end of the test the engines will either be sealed or taken back."