Interview with KTM Technical Director Harald Bartol
 "We
will improve - and stay on top!"
KTM has made it to the top in the 250 cc category in just
three years of development. KTM Racing News talks to Technical
Director Harald Bartol about the extraordinary talents of
world championship leader Mika Kallio, his high hopes for
the title hunt and the rocky path in this year's 125 cc campaign.
Mika Kallio is leading the 250 cc world championship.
How much credit should go to the rider and how much to the
motorcycle?
He deserves a lot of credit for this achievement, without
a shadow of a doubt. But I never tried to come up with percentages
and I never will. The important thing for me is that we were
strong right from the start of the season and there were no
significant weaknesses. And I believe that we will be able
to improve step by step, wherever necessary, from now to the
end of the season.
But we also shouldn't forget that luck has been on Mika's
side for a change this year. We don't hide the fact that some
of our opponents have made mistakes and we've benefited from
that. We also know that we have to improve, because the others
won't always be riding to our advantage. The Catalunya Grand
Prix showed how quickly things can turn around.
Great achievers, so they say, create their own luck.
Is Mika the best and strongest of your riders?
He certainly is. Mika knows how to avoid getting too entangled
in technical issues. Instead, he's able to fully concentrate
on himself and because of this he can compensate for certain
technical shortfalls. He just doesn't waste his mental energy.
He's able to assess the situation and say to himself: Things
are the way they are, and if I don't have anything else at
my disposal, I make the best out of it. Others tend to keep
looking and racking their brains about further improvements.
Sometimes they end up with exactly the opposite.
Is there anything in Mika's cool Finnish character
that gives him an advantage over his Southern European competitors?
Maybe. But Mika is not only cool; he's also got a great sense
of humour. And the most remarkable thing about him is his
trust. He seems to have full confidence in us and in what
we prepare for him. Our Technical Manager Mario Galeotti once
said: You can find two tenths of a second in the set-up of
the motorcycle, but not always a full two seconds in the head
of a rider. And Mika is able to come up with these two seconds
in the most unlikely circumstances - in Valencia, at the end
of last year's season, for example. Mika was on pole position,
and right before the start he said: The quick-shifter doesn't
work. I answered: There's nothing we can do to fix it now.
Try to shift 200 revs earlier and the system will work. He
said: Okay, will do. And he went out and won the race. Another
rider wouldn't have had this mental strength and would have
written the race off as lost.
Another example was this year's Italian Grand Prix, where
Mika's clutch failed in the first corner. Another rider would
have raised his hand and stopped. But Mika adjusted to the
problem and rode on without proper use of the clutch. It's
no easy task to ride to fourth place under such circumstances.
At the same time, nobody should underestimate Mika's technical
understanding. He has a more profound knowledge than any of
our other riders. He certainly tinkers enough with his own
motorcycles at home. He even prepares his own cylinders for
his ice racers. I know that because I help him to get certain
parts. Mika definitely knows what makes a motorcycle run,
but when he is at the GPs and doing his job he's able to focus
on the most important piece of the puzzle - himself.
Will he be able to defend his small lead in the point
standings?
I can't see any reason why we shouldn't be able to stay on
top or very close to the top, and continue to play a big role
in the hunt for the title. That's what I'm working for.
Getting back to the two tenths of a second that you
can find in a motorcycle: Has the new chassis you introduced
for this season been the solution to the problems?
I believe there's still room for improvement. We continue
to work hard in this area and we've tested some new chassis
components after the Catalunya Grand Prix. We'll know if we're
going in the right direction at the upcoming race in England.
And what about the engine? So far, Aprilia had a small
advantage in terms of top speed on most tracks.
That's true if you include practice performances. Remarkably,
things have been different in quite a few of the actual races.
Our opponents didn't manage to pass us on the long back straight
In China and they weren't really much faster in Mugello. Our
biggest handicap isn't a matter of one or two horsepower;
it's the fact that we don't come to the circuits with a mass
of data to fall back on. Aprilia has vast resources at their
disposal. We have to squeeze the maximum out of the two practice
days in order to find a decent setting for Sunday.
Is it the worst scenario for KTM when race weekends
are like it was in Italy, where the track was wet for one
and a half days and then dried out for the race?
Yes, certainly!
Are you happy with the performances of Julian Simon
and Hiroshi Aoyama?
When it comes to Julian, we have to accept that he's always
eight kph down on top speed, no matter if he drives a harvester
or a motorcycle. We once did wind tunnel tests with him and
Kallio on exactly the same bike and the results confirmed
this. Once, in Albacete, we even swapped bikes and had Simon
do a few laps on Kallio's machine. He was surprised that his
own motorcycle was actually running better than Kallio's bike,
despite him being down on top speed. The fact that Simon hasn't
had similar results is certainly not a question of his bike.
If you look at his computer data, it's easy to see that he's
not very consistent. He seems to get it all together one minute,
then spoils it the next. He has to relax and improve his riding
consistency. If he does this, success will follow. The talent
is certainly there.
Aoyama has proven his great talent on numerous occasions.
But I think he worries too much about small peripheral things.
He tries to take everything on, right down to the last click
on the suspension set-up. Instead, he should keep his mind
on the task ahead.
Is the team structure for next year dependant on Kallio
winning the title?
We always have behind the scenes preliminary talks but a lot
will depend on Mika and the way our world championship campaign
continues to shape up. It's much too early for official statements.
Is there a possibility for KTM to further increase
their GP engagement?
If this happens, I'll go into early retirement!! It's simply
impossible to put more KTM bikes on the grid. We jumped off
the deep end this year, and in certain ways we're still paying
for it, especially when you look at the 125 cc category. We
have to consolidate instead of expanding.
You've got lots of work in the 250 cc title campaign.
How do you still manage to push ahead with the 125 cc development?
It's not easy. We don't have any more people, so we just have
to work harder. For example, Mario Galeotti, despite his illness,
made the new chassis for the 125 at home in Italy. But it
was the only way for us to move forward and we still don't
know exactly where the problem lies. I just can't understand
why Randy Krummenacher rode to a new lap record in Barcelona
a year ago and now suffered from a lack of grip and a whole
bunch of other problems with exactly the same bike. He was
nine kph slower this year in some of the corners and we have
to find out why.
As far as our satellite teams go, there are many problems
that could have been avoided. I'm not pointing fingers; I'm
just saying in general that we have to make our bikes more
foolproof in the future. We have to deliver such a good base
that there's no temptation for other specialists to try their
luck with modifications and end up with trouble.
When will all 125 teams have the new chassis that
Esteve Rabat first tested in France?
All our riders will have one new chassis for the race in England.
Rabat got his first because he was the one who complained
the most. Now, the others have also started to complain because
they saw that the new chassis has its advantages. It's the
way things go.
Do you plan other development steps for the 125 in
the near future?
We should also do some work on the engine but there's not
a lot of time at the moment. Our first goal is to keep up
in the 250 class. The racing calendar is so intense that we've
been desperate to find time for bench tests and other urgent
matters.
Will you introduce a traction control in the 250 class
like KTM's main competitor Aprilia?
So far, there's a crucial question that still hasn't been
answered: Are the riders using traction control going any
faster? We've got an electronic traction control system up
our sleeves, but I am not very keen to introduce it. I even
had it back in 1991, with Joan Garriga in the 500 cc category,
and yes, the rider liked it. He enjoyed the smoothness of
the engine but there was no big advantage on the stopwatch.
In fact, there was no advantage at all.
The downside of these systems is that they can tempt a rider
to take it easy. It's the same with a power valve system on
the exhaust. If the rider has a peaky engine he knows that
he has to hit the corner at precisely the right revs and precisely
the right throttle opening - otherwise he'll lose at the corner
exit. With a power valve, you can suddenly negotiate the same
corner at lower revs and the engine still pulls you through,
all soft and pretty. But then you look at the stopwatch and
there is no improvement.
I refuse to use traction control until there's proof that
it makes the 250 riders faster on the stopwatch. I just don't
like it. Personally, I would ban these systems from racing
altogether. It's another step in electronic development and
I don't think it's positive. When it comes to traction control,
you might as well get a chimpanzee from the neighbourhood
zoo to ride your bike!
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