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The parts that go back are<br />
the ones that will not work for<br />
next season’s bike and that’s<br />
basically everything! HRC are<br />
always making improvements<br />
but you do have basic things<br />
like bolts, nuts, clips, rings<br />
that we keep. The universal<br />
and basic stuff; the service<br />
stuff. If the seat foam is the<br />
same shape or material then<br />
we’ll keep it. All electronics<br />
and engine parts must<br />
go back and everything is<br />
marked and well organised.”<br />
“This takes place after the<br />
Jerez test at the beginning of<br />
December. At that moment I<br />
will have received the parts<br />
list for the following year’s<br />
bike and they’ll ask me to<br />
make a pre-order of maintenance<br />
parts, things like<br />
exhausts, fairings and thisand-that.<br />
So a general order<br />
is made in December and in<br />
January when we go to Japan<br />
for the ‘schooling’ - what we<br />
call the bike assembly – then<br />
we see the physical order!<br />
Sometimes you might ask<br />
for an electric harness but it<br />
could be something that is<br />
30m long! At that moment I<br />
readjust the order and perhaps<br />
add some things or take<br />
some away.”<br />
“With each bike HRC also<br />
organise a set of parts that<br />
is independent to my order.<br />
It’s own ‘kit’ that will at least<br />
cover the first tests. The level<br />
of organisation is such that if<br />
there is a change to one part<br />
and I don’t already have it in<br />
my order then it will be place<br />
in the kit.”<br />
Presumably you pack everything<br />
into special cases?<br />
We have some of those big<br />
wooden crates that you see<br />
around and we keep the original<br />
packaging for everything.<br />
We have stickers from Japan<br />
with the parts numbers ready<br />
to go and if some are missing<br />
then we have to write a comment<br />
where they have gone<br />
because some parts will go<br />
back to Japan even during<br />
the season for an update. It<br />
is all well organised with list<br />
of parts, stickers and notifications<br />
about parts that we can<br />
keep. We pack and dissemble<br />
engine parts, chassis parts<br />
and put them in boxes along<br />
with the bike. The bike returns<br />
as well but if we keep it then<br />
it’s on a carnet so it has to go<br />
back to Japan anyway to have<br />
a new carnet for the following<br />
year.<br />
It sounds like quite an undertaking…<br />
It is a nightmare! The names<br />
of the parts as well! They<br />
mean nothing at first; there is<br />
no relation to what the part<br />
actually is but the people in<br />
HRC are so used to it. They<br />
know that a ‘plate’ means a<br />
set of aerodynamic wings. It<br />
is tricky at first but now we<br />
know - even by looking at the<br />
part number – what is related<br />
DELIVERING A MotoGP BIKE
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