MotoGP fuel: journey to the heart of the Honda RC213V

To make the Honda RC213V cross the MotoGP finish line faster, it doesn’t just have a chassis and engine -and, of course, riders-. There is one element that achieves more than a decisive thousandth. It also points the way to future mobility. We are talking firewood, a unique and improved composition where there is nothing casual, less than competition. In fact, although in this article we will discuss how it was created, go ahead and, like Coca-Cola, its formula is “secret”.

It is, as indicated Maria Dolores Cardenas, Product Design Advisor in Repsol’s Mobility and Energy Transition area, an optimized recipe of components and proportions with one goal: “Achieve maximum performance from the engine designed by Honda in demanding race conditions”. A combination designed, tested and manufactured in Repsol Technology Labthe innovation center where MotoGP fuels are created for the Repsol-Honda team.

In particular, fuel is sent from the Móstoles facilities to all MotoGP championship circuits (a total of 21 circuits in 2022) and to Honda’s research facilities in Saitama. “That means we take care of the entire process until the fuel reaches the engine,” he added. Cardenas. In reality, the journey begins much earlier, as the design process of the fuel competition takes a year in advance. “Now we are finalizing the fuel design for the 2023 season,” he specified.

First, Honda delivered on Repsol Technology Lab new engine requirements, design changes or electronic control adjustments. A kind of ‘technical wishlist’. This way they can design the fuel that is optimized for the engine and the conditions that the race demands. “This information is the starting point for, using our knowledge of fuels and engines, our experience and advanced tools such as computational chemistry, develop new fuel formulations”, points Cardenas.

The next step is to verify that all the parameters established in the demanding FIM quality specification (with almost 40 regulated parameters) are met. Once verified, the formulas will be checked on the main piece: Honda’s single-cylinder research engine (this represents one cylinder out of four in the motorcycle engine). As Cárdenas announced, “there are only two units of this engine in the world, the one we have at the Repsol Technology Lab and the one Honda has at its research facilities in Saitama.”

Best in class

Just because it’s the latest design doesn’t mean it’s the best, you need to upload a ‘note’. For this reason, the innovation center evaluates the new fuels and compares them with the reference fuel: the best design developed by Repsol last season. That is, “the version approved by Honda last season.” Explains who is also responsible for the line of low carbon footprint products at the Repsol Technology Lab: “Candidates that pass the engine tests, showing the necessary improvement in performance, are produced in small batches and sent to Saitama” .

There Honda will finish testing the four-cylinder engine and complete motorcycle on the circuit. In this way, the Honda-Repsol team finds or designs the best ‘candidate’. The fuel that passes all the tests and is validated by Honda becomes the fuel for the Repsol-Honda team for the next season. At that time, the fuel production process will begin at the Repsol Tech Lab facilities, homologation at the laboratory recognized by the FIM and storage at the Repsol modification facilities in Móstoles, where they will wait until it is sent to each circuit .

Custom fuel

That not all fuel is the same sounds like a hackneyed phrase, but is true, both on the road and in competition. In fact, the design of the fuel for the Honda RC213V describes everything hidden in a creative process close to alchemy. “The special feature of this fuel is that it is developed to measure for the Honda engine, where its design characteristics and electronic adjustments are taken into account. With this, we get the best engine-fuel tandem”, details Cardenas.

We know how the best fuel is created, but what makes it different? Maria Dolores Cardenas It is clear: “At the Repsol Technology Lab we take care of each of the stages of the fuel competition development process until it reaches the circuit”. Without forgetting another great variable: “Working with a leading company in the automotive sector, like Honda, and the close technical relationship we maintain, allowing us to design a differential competition fuel”.

Nothing in the fuel of the Honda RC213V is accidental, nor is it accidental that the Dorna roadmap establishes that by 2024 the fuel in all MotoGP categories will have a minimum non-fossil origin of 40% and 100% by 2027. sustainable mobility has found in the competition in general, and in the Repsol Technology Lab in particular, the main allies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach new levels of sustainability. “The world of competition allows us to speed up development cycles to get the best product,” recalls Cárdenas.