MotoGP: MSMA Agrees To Freeze Electronics Ahead of 2016

With the MotoGP series due to switch over to standard software for the spec Magneti Marelli ECU in 2016, there comes a point at which it makes no sense for the factories to continue developing their own electronics.

There is, after all, little point in spending money on software which will be discarded all the way to the last race of 2015, especially as the factories will need to start work on the shared electronics package for 2016 and beyond.

GPOne.com is reporting that the factories have finally agreed to a date for an electronics freeze to commence.

From the 2015 Assen round of MotoGP, all development of factory software will be frozen, Ducati, Honda and Yamaha Racing have the rest of the 2015 season with the software they have developed up until that point. Ducati had initially opposed the software freeze, GPOne.com reports, but finally settled for the Assen date.

From that point on, the factories in the MSMA will concentrate their attention on the collaborative effort to develop the standard software to be used by all of the MotoGP bikes from 2016 onwards. Development is to be done via a common portal under the control of Dorna, with all of the factories contributing functionality and code for everyone to review and use.

The one detail missing from the electronics freeze is how that will be enforced, as GPOne.com points out. It is hard to see how a development freeze is to be enforced without each of the factories handing over their software to Dorna, but that seems like an inconceivable option for the factories.

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.