News 26 Especial
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I + D Innovation repsol news 9 10 1 7 2 11 3 4 12 13 5 8 14 6 15 Winning innovation with Marc Márquez 1 Grips: polyurethane Around 20,000 liters to travel 2 Seat filling: polyurethane foam 9,000 kilometers 3 Lubricant Today, 24-year-old Marc Márquez was named World Champion for the sixth time, and for the fourth time in the premier class of motorcycle racing. His success 4 Petrol is a result of his talent, athletic abilities and determination, but also the teamwork, innovation and technology that’s needed for a competition as demanding as Adhesive glue: 5 MotoGP. EVA hotmelt The rider is the one who gets on the bike, but he doesn’t race alone. He’s surrounded 6 Wheel rim Paint: by a large team, a group of professionals from various disciplines that allow him to acrylics base reach more than 300 kilometers per hour on straights, and nearly impossible angles 7 Oil tank cap: on curves (up to 68 degrees). Among this team are the 20 engineers from Honda polypropylene and Repsol, who have worked side by side for more than 20 years to find the best combination of engine, fuel, lubricant and all the other elements—many of them 8 Cable housing: derived from petroleum—that make up a motorcycle. polyethylene Around 10,000 hours of work 9 Helmet: polyurethane foam + carbon fibre During the season, and in the months of preparation leading up to it, hundreds of tests and adjustments were needed. Between training and races, Marc Márquez 10 Windscreen: traveled about 9,000 kilometers on his Honda RC213V, the approximate distance methyl methacrylate between Madrid and Beijing, before claiming victory once again. 11 Adhesives: The researchers at the Repsol Technology Center in Móstoles, Madrid, with more polyethylene film than 56,000 square meters of facilities and laboratories, have been working since the mid-1990s to manufacture the best custom fuels and lubricants using the most 12 Fairing: cutting-edge technology. This year they’ve dedicated around 10,000 hours to the carbon fibre competition program. 13 Gloves: “The engine, the gasoline and the oil have to be developed together in order to carbon fibre make them the best they can be,” says Santiago Maroto, a researcher at the Repsol Technology Center. “It’s the best way to achieve maximum performance and 14 Mudguards: maximum efficiency. Without this joint work it would be impossible to win a World PP + carbon fibre Championship,” he adds. 15 Tyres: synthetic rubber Chemistry on wheels Many of the materials used to manufacture the unique motorcycle that Marc Márquez rides are chemical products. From the fairing to the tires, the seat to the fenders, and even the sponsor stickers. That polypropylene, polyethylene, polyurethane foam and synthetic rubber that make up the different components of the Honda RC213V make it lighter, and its elements more durable and comfortable. Marc Márquez 4 5 2 7 6 3 8 1 Repsol gasoline and lubricants: the race to the MotoGP circuit Ricardo Tormo Circuit. Valencia. 1 Fuel and For example, technological innovation has made the tires safer, and allows them to lubricant last 400 times longer than they did in the past. The same thing is true of the rider’s formulation helmet, which now offers greater protection thanks to the use of polyurethane foam. 2 Verification of the properties and performance in the Plastics also play a very important role. Because they’re extremely malleable, they engine lab at the Repsol help improve the motorcycle’s aerodynamics, above all in the fairing, the windshield Technology Center and the and the tail piece. This is a key aspect of racing, shaving off thousandths of a Honda Research Institute second to edge out competitors. facilities in Saitama, Japan In terms of aesthetics, polyol-based paints allow the motorcycle to maintain a 3 Fuel and lubricant perfect appearance all season long, while also improving resistance to external, manufacture at the climatological and even mechanical forces. Repsol Technology Center Pushing the limits 4 Fuel homologation. A 5-liter sample (1.3-gallon) is sent In a world where the major motorcycle manufacturers and energy companies are to a laboratory designated working hard to be the best, competing is a challenge in and of itself. On top of by the Fédération that, the work of these researchers gets more complicated every year, as the rules Internationale that govern championships become increasingly demanding. The underlying goal is de Motorcyclisme to improve fairness and security, as well as to limit costs. In this context, lubricants are also fundamental to ensure reliability and optimal 5 A certificate is issued after homologation, which allows tuning for engines that reach up to 18,000 revolutions per minute— even more so us to identity each batch as MotoGP continues to the reduce the number of motorcycles that can be used of gasoline manufactured each season (seven this year). In a competition in which a few thousandths of a second can make all the difference, 6 Drums sent to the area the small variations introduced to gasoline and lubricants are subtle enough manager on the Repsol that not all riders can detect them. According to Santiago Maroto, “the rider is Honda Team a fundamental part of development, as he must be able to perceive, calibrate 7 Gasoline checked to and transmit the changes made to the engine, fuel and oil.” ensure it has not been adulterated About 4,800 liters of oil per year Each season, the design of new lubricants starts on a computer, with around 200 Competition-level gasoline 8 simulations and several formulas that are manufactured on a small scale. and lubricants in the Afterward, using the process of elimination, between 40 and 60 gasoline types are motorcycles of champions tested in the engines at the Repsol Technology Center. Two or three formulas are then sent to the Honda R&D testing ground in Saitama, Japan. Once the team gives the go-ahead, the chosen oil is mass produced back at the Repsol Technology Center. For the MotoGP Repsol Honda motorcycles ridden by Marc Márquez and Dani Pedrosa, 4,800 liters are manufactured each year—both for the World Championship and for engine development at the Honda facilities in Japan. The same thing happens with gasoline, of which 40,000 liters are produced annually. From the racetrack to the streets Repsol’s work is closely linked to competition, and above all to MotoGP, which offers the world’s most demanding testing grounds. It allows the company to test their products under extreme conditions—the same products that will be offered to customers a few years down the road. “When it comes to technology, the most important thing is to be able to transfer all the knowledge developed in competition to the products that are sold at our service stations,” says Dolores Cárdenas, a researcher at the Repsol Technology Center.In fact, the team of people that works for top-level competitions is the same one that designs the fuels and lubricants Repsol sells. That’s why the knowledge gained from competition is so important. In 2016, Repsol invested a total of 78 million euros in project research and development, and applied for 13 patents. Download Since 1995, teamwork and shared knowledge between the researchers and all the images technicians of Honda and Repsol, season after season, has led to the best record in this News of any motorcycle team in history: 13 individual titles, more than 150 victories ZIP. 3,2 Mb and 400 podium appearances in 500cc and MotoGP. Download the complete articles in this News PDF. 2,8 Mb Dirección de Comunicación Campus Repsol · C/ Méndez Álvaro, 44 [email protected] 28045. Madrid · Tlf: 917538787 - 917537189.