A motorcycle’s spinning wheels create gyroscopic effect that keeps the machine going straight. The more speed, the more gyro and the more stability. This is all good, unless you are racing. Most racers don’t give a hoot about straight-line stability: they’re happy to hold on like gorillas on the straights, just so long as the bike will turn left or right in the blink of an eye.
And this is why all premier-class Grand Prix manufacturers – possibly for the first time in history – now run their engines backwards. It may also explain why Marc Márquez’s COTA and Argentina victories were so huge – bigger than any dry-track wins from last year.
