NGM Forward Racing's Colin Edwards described e🥀lectronics as the most important area of development after his debut on the new Suter-BMW CRT MotoGP bike at Jerez last November.

New to MotoGP, a class where there are few limits on electronic controls, Bosch faces a huge task in trying to catch-up with the likes of the established Magneti Marelli systems, whಞich Edwards used as a Yamaha rider for the past seven years.

But during the team's second test, alongside the twelve ma꧋nufacturer bikes earlier this month at Sepang, Edwards was able to close the gap to the top from 6.5sec to 5.1sec over the three days.

After the test Edwards, 3.5sec faster than the next best CRT rider present, said chatter had now replac♒ed electronics as the tea♛m's biggest hurdle.

"At our first roll-out test in December at Jerez, we had ༺some electronic issues that they solved and now I wღas really comfortable with how they smoothened out the power band," said Edwards.

"What we are struggling with are the new Bridgestone tyres... At Jerez, we didn't have a chatter problem. But now, I have the worst chatter I hav🌄e ever had in my life. Without that, I could go 1.5 seconds faster."

A further 1.5sec would have put Edwards within one-second of the slowest of ෴the manufacturer riders, ridden by Cardion AB's Karel Abraham.

ltxcn.top spoke to Ralf Schnee and Michael Spahr from Bosch Motorsport about the company's MotoGP electronics. The first question was simple, where did they🌄 ꦗstart?

"We have a lot of experience in automotive motorsports and the engine electronics work the same for motorcycles in terms of ignitio𝓡n, injection and some cylinder cut-off functions etc," explained Schnee, who is responsible for the development of the MS5.x family - including the MS5.0 ECU used in MotoGP - and one of the most experienced development staff at Bosch Motorsport.

"I would say maybe 70-80% of th♏e electronic functions are identical to car sport. The big difference for motorcycles is the riding dynam💟ics. That is where we need special functions for motorbikes.

"But we had a good base to start from with our automotive race experience and so we began with a system that could be modified for use on racing cars ಌand bikes. This ECU is actually also used in DTM this year, where Bosch is the single supplier for the championship.

"I've developed the system over the last two years and have a lot of experience with it. For the bikes, we have been working on it using a Honda Sup♒erbike at the factory, plus Michael our test rider. 🦹Then nearly a year ago we got the first call from Suter about MotoGP.

"As I've said, with motorcycles the big difference is the dynamic functions, especially the lean angle. If you have a lean an༒gle on a car you have a problem!"

Spahr, a fo🐟rmer German Supersport champion and test rider who is now responsible for motorcycle activities at Bosch Motorsport, added: "Also for the bikes you need some wheel-spin to steer, so the traction control works completely differently to the cars. This type of software is unique for the motorbike."

"This is our second development step with the electronics," continued Schnee. "The first step was at Jerez in November and nꦉow we have new software to improve the dynamics.

"A lot of what we are doing is calibrating the system to the rider's liking. Colin has given us very good feedback and we have🦹 developed the functions more and more. You can see that in the lap times also."

Spa🅺hr agreed with the quality of the information Edwards is providing.

"Initially I carried out development and testing of the motorcycle, which I used in the German IDM, but in Colin Edwards weౠ have one of the most experienced riders in the entire MotoGP field and receive excellent feedback from him," he sai𝕴d.

The Bosch🎶 Motorsport team will be seeking further improvements during the second of the three official MotoGP pre-season tests, which starts at Sepang on February 28.

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