MotoGP | The white circle changes color with nanotechnology!
The Marchesini, Brembo group company that manufactures wheels for MotoGP, supplied to Ducati, Aprilia and Suzuki rims with a special paint that turns purple on the track. Two results are obtained thanks to a treatment with nanotechnologies: it saves weight and, mostly, 80 percent infrared rays are neutralized. Thanks to refraction, indeed, the temperature of the front tire is also better controlled, preserving it from wear and tear in competition runs.
Very curious things happen in MotoGP: if you look at a motorcycle (Ducati, Aprilia or Suzuki) that comes out of the pits with a white front circle, we should not be surprised if it turns purplish when it is engaged on the track at full speed.
At the Sachsenring we have revisited this phenomenon, after noticing it briefly already in Barcelona: We should not be surprised at all because it is the result of the great work that Marchesini's technicians have done on the wheels of the MotoGP.
Jack Miller, Ducati Team Photographer: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
What it is? The application of new nanotechnologies in the paint of the rims that allows to achieve two important objectives: first - reduce the weight of the 70 percent, compared to a traditional treatment; second - generate a refraction of 80 percent of infrared rays and the 30 percent of those generated by the disk.
Marchesini MotoGP rim that turns purple with nanotechnologies that refract infrared rays
Result? That the surface of the rim changes color and turns from white to shades of purple or blue when the nanotechnologies come into action thanks to which it is possible to protect the wheel and, then, the rubber that will be helped to be preserved from possible overheating.
It is clear that this solution can be particularly useful in racing to reduce tire degradation in particularly hot events such as those of the summer season..
And since the Sachsenring is the most demanding track for Michelin tires, with the left side shoulder being super-worked with very low grip, it should not be surprising if all the solutions useful to limit wear problems are tested.
We can be proud that innovations like this are being proposed by Italian companies such as Marchesini, the rim manufacturer that is part of the Brembo galaxy, a sign that research remains one of the aspects that lead to investing important figures in motorsport.
