Hub centre steering to make its GP comeback
You could help old-school technology make its comeback
THIS YEAR promises to see the return of hub-centre steering to the MotoGP circus with more than one project under way to bring the technology back to the track.
Last seen on the Elf 500, as raced by Ron Haslam in the 1980s, proponents of the design hoped that the launch of the relatively low-cost Moto2 class – with standardised engines in bespoke frames – would see innovations like hub-centre steering return last year. That didn't happen, but in just one week's time Italian firm Vyrus, which has made a business of selling ultra-expensive hub-centre-steered road bikes based on the old Bimota Tesi design to wealthy celebs like Tom Cruise, will unveil its new 986 M2 Moto2 bike. It's also planning a road-going version to go on sale later this year.
And Vyrus isn't alone in developing the idea. Spanish designer Carlos Beltrán Carrión is working on a similar idea, albeit one that's still in the early design stages, with the unusual concept of asking visitors to his website to submit design ideas for the machine. Of course, that means he's still a long way from making even a prototype, let alone racing it.
Can these newcomers finally prove that something other than conventional forks can compete with the established thinking in chassis design?
