Repsol Universe: Manuel Olivencia, Dani Pedrosa's Showa
suspension technician
 “RIDERS
LIKE DANI KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE, WHAT THEY WANT AND WHAT THEY
NEED”
Manuel Olivencia is Dani Pedrosa's Showa suspension technician.
This is his third season in MotoGP. Though his relationship
with Honda dates back to 1998, when he was a member of the
Showa racing department, first as suspensions technician at
the World Superbikes Championship, working with Colin Edwards
and Aaron Slight. He started working with Dani in 2005, when
the Repsol rider was still in the 250cc category.
First tell us about how you got here. When and how
did you start out in the world of motorcycling?
“A long time ago. My father was a professional motocross
rider, and he later went on to be a mechanic at the World
Championship, so I've been to circuits since I was small.
Then I started in Showa, carrying out tests at the prototype
department and getting to know how suspensions work in depth.
At the end of '98 I started in the Superbike racing department,
with Colin Edwards and Aaron Slight. I spent three years there,
and in 2002 I returned to the factory, carrying out tests
in the development department. In 2003 and 2004 I went back
to Superbikes with Gregorio Lavilla, Chambón and Fujiwara.
Then, in 2005, I started to work with Dani in 250cc, up until
today.”
Can you describe what your job is like over a weekend,
from the moment you reach the circuit until the race is over?
“We generally get to our destination on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday morning, at around half eight, we get to the
circuit and set up the truck, which is the base where we work,
our mobile workshop. In the afternoon we get down to some
office and paperwork, and have a meeting with the Chief Mechanic
-Mike Leitner- and the rest of the team, where we comment
on how the Grand Prix may develop and think about all the
possibilities we could try out. We decide on what will go
out and race on Friday. On Thursday we do the more mechanical
side of things, which is preparing the suspension. On Friday
the training sessions kick off and we fine tune what we'd
prepared with comments from the rider.”
Do you use the data from previous years on the circuit
for each race? What references do you start off with?
“It depends mainly on the development during the current
season, and the trend coming from the previous race, while
always backed with data collected from previous years. Mainly
for the problems that might arise and to always be prepared,
because in an hour of training the reactions have to be very
fast, you don't have time to try out a lot of things. That's
why in this meeting we try to anticipate any possibilities,
to be as prepared as possible for any situation.”
How many suspensions do you have for each race?
“We have three forks and three shock absorbers ready
for each rider, apart from all the possible spares we have
in the truck. What's more, every few kilometres we do what's
called a complete service, which means completely dismantling
the fork or damper, changing all the friction joints, valves,
oil, etc. It's all revised and left as good as new.”
Everyone knows what a shock absorber is, but, broadly
speaking, how does it work and what are its most important
elements?
“Basically a shock absorber is composed of two groups,
a spring and a hydraulic part. The part with the spring is
what holds the weight of the bike, gives it its position,
and the hydraulic part -which is the inserted rod-, counteracts
the force of the spring.”
How psychological is your job? There is always talk
about riders who, on specific occasions, have more need for
that fictitious “click” in their suspension than
real changes to the adjustment...
“In my experience I haven't had riders who needed a
“psychological click”. Well, I had a Japanese
rider who always needed something done when he was on the
grid. But it's generally not the case. Today, -I've been with
Dani a few years now-, you see that the more confident the
rider feels, the less psychology he needs. If he need a click,
it's because he really needs it to improve the bike, I don't
believe in a psychological click, though it may possibly be
the case with some riders. It is not with Dani. What's more,
at 330 Km/h you can't play around with psychology much. They're
professionals who know what they have, what they want and
what they need.”
Are there any circuits, speaking of suspension, which
are particularly critical due to rough surfaces or any other
circumstance you could tell me about? How many shock absorbers
would you fit and remove during a Grand Prix weekend?
“No, there aren't any particularly terrible, or on the
other hand, particularly good circuits. You can find circuits
where the effect of the formula 1 cars or the trucks is evident,
because they are obviously more uneven. But currently I think
that the grip is the most important aspect, as it is where
the transfer of power from the bike occurs, through the tyres.
The grip is what gives you a good idea of the reactions of
the bike, if not, it's as if nothing was working and you lose
the confidence of riding comfortably and fast.”
What is Dani Pedrosa like when setting up a bike,
particularly the suspension? Is Dani a rider who communicates
his sensations on the track and the performance of the suspension
with precision?
“First of all, Dani is a very intelligent rider, and
second, he knows how to communicate what he feels on the bike
at all times. Everything he says when he gets off the bike
is what is really happening to him; he's very sensitive and
precise. What's more, in my opinion he's a rider who apart
from being intelligent, is capable of making our job easier
through his work, because he adapts very easily and knows
that if there are unavoidable problems, he won't focus on
them but on what really can be improved. For example, if you're
on a circuit and there's a bend where, for whatever reason,
the adjustments are terribly inappropiate, he knows how to
dismiss the feelings in that bend because he knows how important
it is to have the maximum performance on the rest of the track.
He knows how to find the best compromise for the bike, because
making a perfect bike is impossible.”
What would you highlight as his best quality?
“He has many, but it's probably his consistency. I call
him “the swiss watch”, because when during a training
session we see that, if all goes well, he always runs the
same times in every partial, it's not that he improves by
a tenth in one lap, then climbs two more, and varies his performance.
He doesn't constantly fall behind or jump ahead.”
Which rider has impressed you the most as far as
sensations go during your professional career?
“I think it's Dani. Because we sometimes carry out tests
with new material, which other riders have already tried out,
and he makes comments which no one else has made, or is aware
of things that seem hard to pinpoint with such precision.
For example, I remember that in Brno 2005, we tried out some
bars that had a different treatment which had never been used
before in 250cc, though in MotoGP other riders had actually
tried them out, for example Valentino Rossi, Colin Edwards
and many more people. Everyone always agreed with their comments,
but Dani added a comment giving a point of view which I, who
had heard the comments from the others, found very surprising.
It was a question of friction, and everyone felt that it was
a much smoother and easier fork to move, while Dani added
that the uphill chicane before the finish line was so smooth,
that to the contrary, he couldn't feel the wheel properly.
Nobody had made that negative comment about how smooth that
fork was. In many situations, he notices the slightest changes,
and that's not easy and doesn't cease to surprise me.”
How do you save a situation where rain arrives on
Sunday and there has been no prior training? I suppose that
in the end the adjustments are a bit of a lottery...
“No, it's not a lottery. As I said, before the race
we prepare for the situations that may arise during the weekend,
and have adjustments ready for wet conditions. So we don't
leave anything to a “let's see what happens” lottery,
but depending on the number of times we've run in wet conditions,
we draw conclusions which give us a starting point. When Sunday
arrives and you haven't done any training, you have to to
fit something that, while not perfect, has a precedent. No
lotteries at all.”
The new Honda RC212V 2008, has it made your job adjusting
the suspension easier with respect to the previous version?
“Maybe a bit. I think the package itself is slightly
better. I think overall the bike is more compact, more of
a racing bike, and probably a bit easier. Last year's bike
was much more critical when both braking and accelerating.
Now it's more suited to our style.”
Could you give us your opinion on how the suspension
has changed in a bike in the top category, from the 500cc's,
followed by the 990cc's, and finally the current 800cc's?
“Basically, the suspension has always worked the same
way: a fork or a shock absorber are a few springs, oils, dampers,
etc. It doesn't vary that much. The 500cc's were lighter than
these bikes and the 990cc's were heavier. Furthermore, with
the four-stroke engine, engine braking also has a big influence,
though we didn't have to look for anything different. The
delivery of power with the four-stroke engine and ttraction
control are quite different, so in the rear end there has
been more development, in order to deliver power to the tyre
more efficiently than before. As for the front end we've been
making and testing new stuff, but if we still had the 500cc's,
the fork would definitely be the same.”
It has been some time since there was talk about
a demon called 'chattering' which ran about the paddock. What
happened, is 'chattering' dead? Has the suspension technicians'
nightmare disappeared? Can you explain what caused this 'chattering'?
“'Chattering was an internal vibration produced between
the tyre and the bike. I don't think it has disappeared, in
fact with telemetry we can see it exists, but here you need
what I said earlier about an intelligent rider like Dani,
who knows well that there are problems that won't be solved
and others that will be, and knows that a particular solution
might complicate things, so he chooses to leave it as it is
and gets used to it. As soon as the bike starts moving, some
riders say they have chatter, and there are people who can't
tell the difference; until it became fashionable for a while
as the cause of every single problem, even when you didn't
know what was happening. With telemetry sometimes you can
really see it happening, and you try to solve it. But it so
happens that there are riders who don't think it's worth wasting
so much time on this issue. Everyone always recalls Biaggi
- chatter drove him mad”.
How do you solve a problem with 'chattering'?
“It depends on when it happens, if it's opening up the
gas, braking, not braking... Depending on where it happens
you can play it one way or another. But always without going
crazy about it, for the same reason we commented earlier:
if on the rest of the circuit it's doing fine, and at a particular
moment you feel a vibration, you can't sacrifice the rest
just to overcome that problem. You have to know how to discriminate
and evaluate, and Dani knows well how to do that.”
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