The Motor Sports Life of Takuma Aoki Vol.23 [MotoGP Thoughts] Fabio Cuartararo and the Yamaha V4 engine, the race against time has begun!

Photo: motoGP / Yamaha Motor

Takuma Aoki is the second son of the three Aoki brothers, who made a name for themselves in domestic and international road racing in the 1990s. After winning the All-Japan championship, he moved up to the 500cc class of the World Grand Prix, and just when he was starting to make his mark, a testing accident in 1998 left him unable to use the lower half of his body. He is now a four-wheeled wheelchair racer and won the overall victory in the 2023 Asian Cross Country Rally. In this interview, he will talk about that change as he prepares for the 2027 season of the FIM MotoGP™ World Championship! For the previous installment of "Takuma Aoki's Life in Motorsports," click here!

The True Meaning of the Yamaha V4 Project: Breaking Free from "Lack of Power

As the 2025 season comes to a close with the final race in Valencia (November 14-16), the focus of MotoGP is on the new regulations that will come into effect in 2027, and the conversation has already shifted to the next era. Among these, Yamaha is facing the biggest wave of change. After many years of competing with inline-4 engines, Yamaha will finally be steering towards V4 engines. This is not just a technological change, but the biggest gamble in the history of Yamaha MotoGP and a "turning point" in Fabio Cuartararo's career.

The reason why Yamaha decided to develop the V4 is obvious. The V4 is a fundamental solution to the "lack of power" that the Yamaha M1 has been suffering from in recent years. While the smooth and easy-to-use characteristics of the inline-4 made it easy for riders to ride, it was clearly disadvantageous in terms of the absolute acceleration and straight speed required in recent MotoGP races. While rival manufacturers were quickly widening the gap with advances in aerodynamics and electronic control, Yamaha was completely left behind. The frustration experienced by Fabio Quartararo is immeasurable, especially since he had not won a race since the 2021 championship, which ended with the 2022 German GP. He has to have a car that can win in order to stay in the race. That is what drives Cuartararo so hard.

Venturing into uncharted territory: The V4 engine, which delivers power but "doesn't move forward

While Honda has been using V4 engines since the 1980s, Yamaha has always believed that the inline-4 engine is the key to victory. Even Honda spent a long time and a huge amount of resources to perfect its V4 engine. It would be no easy task for Yamaha to achieve such a feat in such a short period of time. Yamaha's V4 development is truly a "race against time. Increasing power itself is technically possible. However, it is very difficult to "transmit" this power to the road surface. This problem is the deepest quagmire of V4 engine development. I understand this painfully from my own experience of being involved in machine development during my time at Honda. Although power was clearly being generated, the car kept spinning the wheels and would not move forward at all. As a result, the tires wear out unnecessarily, and even if the car is fast in the early stages, it quickly stalls in the latter half of the race. We can assume that Yamaha's V4 is also facing this very traction problem at this stage. It probably has more power than the current inline-4. However, it is not able to maintain traction, and power is "escaping" to the side. Furthermore, with the current Marelli unified ECU (electronic control), it is difficult for the manufacturer to ideally extract that sense of power and torque. In particular, it is difficult to control the rise in torque characteristic of the V4, and as a result, it seems to be transmitted to the rider as "power that does not connect. In other words, unless the engine characteristics, handling, and traction are perfectly matched, it is impossible to win a race. Unless this symptom is resolved, the V4 engine is nothing more than an "experimental test that is only fast.

Quartararo's impatience and Yamaha's resolve

Yamaha is calmly moving forward with its long-term plan, but time is running out for Fabio Quartararo. He will be 28 years old in 2027, when he will enter his golden years as a rider, and every year counts. I don't have much time left," he says, his words tinged with impatience. The rider market is moving faster than usual, with the major teams deciding on their departures as early as spring, and most contracts being finalized before summer. For Cuartararo, it doesn't matter which manufacturer, getting a "winning machine" is what it is all about. For the winter test immediately after the final round in Valencia, Yamaha must show solid progress and give Fabio "a reason to stay. But if the results are not there ... then he will have to explore other options. That move itself will put the greatest pressure on Yamaha.

It will take a lot of testing time and development techniques before Yamaha's V4 engine has real combat power. But MotoGP will not wait. The discrepancy between the "machine that can win now" demanded by Quartararo and the "long-term rebuilding plan" envisioned by Yamaha--this discrepancy between the two time frames is the greatest risk and the greatest drama. Can Yamaha really aim for the crown again with the V4 engine?　Will Fabio Quartararo remain with Yamaha until that moment?　The future is still foggy, but one thing is certain - Yamaha is now taking the biggest gamble in the history of the MotoGP challenge. <Reference URL> Takuma Aoki's Motorsports Channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6tlPEn5s0OrMCCch-4UCRQ ) takuma-gp ( http://rentai.takuma-gp.com/ ) Go to [/gallery_btn3]