is that horsepower, and with it, top speed, has become incredibly expensive. The best way to cut costs, then, is to make horsepower cheap again.The easiest way of making horsepower cheap is the old-fashioned way, by raising engine capacity. There is no replacement

to reduce the capacity of the MotoGP bikes from 990cc to 800cc. The intention was to make the bikes slower - and therefore safer - in the hope of preventing a similar accident from happening again.It didn't work, of course. As soon as the 800cc Ducati GP7

capacity, new tire restrictions and a new fuel limit, speculation and rumor had spread through the press, paddock and fans like a forest fire, raging out of control. Would Honda dominate the new series, the same way they did the last time new engine

The Doctor deserted them. So, with so much to look forward to, what does the 2007 MotoGP world championship have in store?Less Is More The most talked about change to this year's championship is the reduction in capacity. When the reduction was announced

towards rules, regulations, and tickets-only policies.Despite the fans' unlimited capacity for improvisation, the track has limits to the numbers it can hold. The Ricardo Tormo track is built in a natural bowl near Cheste, a small town 20 miles west

is reduce costs.For the reason that it won't cut costs, look no further than the lessons of reducing engine capacity to 800cc. Beyond the practical difficulties of limiting electronics, the teams would simply spend more time looking for ways to circumvent

fitted with a combustion engine. From the little Piaggio Ape three-wheeler with the open megaphone exhaust (no good for horsepower on a small capacity two-stroke engine, but oh, the noise!) to brand new Honda Fireblades being bounced off the rev limiter

, to ensure that water supplies would not run out.All that changed in May though. It started to rain, producing the wettest May on record, and has not stopped since. The reservoirs are back almost to full capacity, and even on sunny days, the rain seems always

.SlowhandHow ironic, then, that the German MotoGP round should take place at the Sachsenring, a circuit at which the world's fastest racing motorcycles never reach anywhere near their maximum speed - even after last year's capacity reduction to 800cc. Indeed, so

had stalled his bike and had managed the impressive feat of bump-starting a large-capacity, high-compression racing motorcycle, but Terrible Toni was left down and out, a victim of his own impetuousness.Back at the front, the question of tactics