We’ve contacted Alex Baumgartel, Managing Director of KALEX engineering GmbH, to ask him about what will mean to them if the engine supplier swaps from Honda to Triumph.
In fact Mr. Baugaertel said that any change on the engine will drive the company to a brand new project developement, because of the different stiffness on the block, but furthermore has pointed that with Triumph those developements should be based on more particularities. The fact of having a different arichitecture with more mounting points, and in a higher position, makes those differences deepen.
In sporting considerations he told us that the fact of having a new engine can make the concept they have now, useless. This could drive the category to set a new order on the dominance of a brand or another, losing their current position.
Will this mean developing a brand-new chassis or adjusting current designs is enough?
With any new engine, even if it is same dimensions and weight , it will end up in a more or less new design of the frame just because of the different stiffness of the engine itself.
But if it will become the Triumph engine it will be quite different. The Triumph engine has 2 mounting points per side for the front engine hangers, quite high up. The Honda engine has only one point per side, positioned much lower. This difference has a big impact on frame/chassis design.
Could this change threaten your predominance?
Every rule change can change the situation and not only a rule change. We are heading the 8th season with a more or less unchanged regulations.
All bikes are on a high level and every manufacturer in Moto2 has tried a lot of solutions and modifications in the past years.
The gap between the manufacturers is actually pretty small so it is easy to make a small mistake in the evolution every year, and this can cost 0.1 of a second per lap and then you are off-pace. But coming back to the new engine for 2019: At the moment, as we did not do any exercise with any other engine as the Honda engine, we do not know what we can carry over from the current bike concept and what is working or not.
Yes, a new engine can mix up the ranking.
3) Technically, does your company like facing new challenges?
Of course. That’s why we all love racing. We love to look for new concepts, check details and enjoy the feeling of seeing new parts working well.
We are looking forward to this challenge creating a motorcycle with a new engine, we are really happy for it.
@MotorluNews