The second race of the World Superbike championship at the Losail International Circuit on Sunday was red-flagged because of oil spillage resulting from a bike’s engine blowing out. It took just 15 minutes for the marshals to get the track cleaned and ready for racing.
And during that short time, mechanics were furiously working on the bikes in the pits, making the necessary set-up corrections.
Eventual race winner, Chaz Davies’ Ducati had all of its gear sprockets removed and reassembled. World champion Jonathan’s Rea’s Kawasaki too had 3-4 crew members working at a frenetic pace. And then as the pit lane green signal came on, all of these bikes were out and primed to race.
The riders are the ones standing on the podium and taking in the adulation from the masses but the mammoth effort that is done by the engineers is what puts the rider up there. The garage crew works for 16-18 hours during race weekends and then they head back to their workshops and work for crazy hours there too. All of that, to see their rider on that top step of the podium.
“Competition level in the world championships is really high. But every one of us here wants to win. All our energy and effort goes in making the bike as best as we can.
“When we are here, we push ourselves as hard as we can because when you see your bike and your rider do well then it makes all the hard times worthwhile,” says Mick Shanley,
Coordinator and Race Engineer for the Milwaukee BMW team, while speaking to Gulf Times during the WSBK round in Qatar.
Race weekends are a flurry of activity for the crew, working hard hours in the daylight. And which is why all of them love coming to Qatar for the night round. “We really enjoy coming here. It’s such a special place because of the atmosphere. Racing in the evening is completely different. Everybody enjoys it because they get some time by the swimming pool in the morning. And they come to race later,” added Shanley.
The Losail Circuit, with its free-flowing fast corners, is also well-appreciated by the riders and the crew alike. “The character of the track makes it one of the best facilities in the world. The surface is incredible. It’s a fast-flowing, connected circuit. The riders like to ride it once they can understand. It’s difficult for the rider initially because there isn’t so much elevation change so it’s difficult to get a reference to be committed through the fast corners. But once you get that it’s a good circuit,” he said.
“And then there’s the top speed. Losail has a really long straight and everybody likes to see it and I am sure the riders enjoy it a lot,” he added.
From the old days of ‘get on the bike and race’ to today’s beasts that are technological marvels, race bikes have come a long way. And race engineer Shanley is only too happy with the possibilities that technology brings.
“Now it’s incredible with these modern bikes and their capability with the electronics. We can change so many things — it’s almost a countless number. The traction control, the anti-wheelie, the throttle response, the power level – we have so many different things that we can change that it’s incredible,” said Shanley.
The engineers can tweak the minutest of details on the bike. From changing the damping of the suspension to modifying the geometry of the bike, the entire character can be changed.
One of the interesting features is that the bike knows which corner it is on a particular circuit and accordingly modifies the settings.
“We have GPS tracking so we can tell exactly where the bike is on the circuit. But we use this alongside the distance from the start and finish and also the intermediate points. So the bike knows all the time whether it is at Corner 1 or 2 or 4. It changes its settings as we go depending on what we have programmed it based on practice,” said Shanley.
When you see those race engineers roaming around the track, almost all of them with tattooed limbs, there is a sense of glamour to the job. There could be many who want to take up this career. And the best way to become one is to start with the local races, insists Shanley.
“Start with the local races. Learn the background. Some of us here went to university and have engineering degrees. But it’s important to support your local races and get involved there. And then step by step you can grow and climb and get to this level and then you can travel the world,” he signed off, as the rider arrived. Never a dull moment in this career.