Those of us who had the privilege of attending the last MotoGP Grand Prix held in Cheste, Valencia, last weekend, were able to see first-hand how a team like Ducati works with Lenovo’s ‘smart’ hardware the large amounts of data that They provide the high-demand two-wheeled machines, to improve the performance of their bikes and riders. But we also saw, by surprise and first in Spain, the renewed RAZR smartphone from Motorola (a mobile brand acquired a few years ago by Lenovo), with a form factor and flexible screen that, in my opinion, will give a lot to talk about when will be launched in Spain next January 2020.
Casey Stoner, Australian rider twice world champion of MotoGP, had a strong discussion with his Ducati technical team back in 2007, the year in which he would get his first world title in the highest category. He argued with his team because, in training prior to one of the championship events that year, he crashed on one of the laps and believed that he had not done anything different than the previous ones to fall. But the telemetry of his motorcycle, the data of his mount, said otherwise . Casey had braked, yes, in the same place as the previous lap, but had put more pressure on the brake, and so he fell.
This example, which Gabriele Conti, current director of the electronic systems that the Ducati motorcycles carry, told us -and that by 2007 he was the electronic engineer of Casey Stoner and in 2011 and 2012 it was also of Valentino Rossi in his stage at the Italian motorcycle firm – this is just a sample of the relevance that data analytics has taken today in high-level competitions. A data analysis that in the case of Ducati is carried out with equipment, hardware, from Lenovo, and also with the latest artificial intelligence techniques to be able to develop solutions to the problems of both the rider and the motorcycle and to improve the efficiency of the motorcycle. machine and who rides it.
Gabriele Conti, and also Davide Tardozzi, Ducati’s Team Manager, point out how each race works with a data volume of around 20GB, which analyzes the information provided by the 60 sensors on each red frame . This data is not only used to improve performance in the race, but to analyze more carefully throughout the season, and for the bikes of the following season, where to act.
Then, of course, there are pilots with more or less permeability to the information provided by the sensors. Andrea Dovizioso, runner-up this year in MotoGP, is more of his own sensations. “He has a privileged head,” says Conti, and it is not necessary to give him excessive information. On the other hand, Jorge Lorenzo, with whom they worked the previous season, “believed more in the information that was provided to him”.
Once we checked how Ducati works with the data, Lenovo almost accidentally showed in Cheste what its premium or flagship smartphone is (it has already begun to be marketed in the United States). In Spain until now we have seen it in photos, and the truth is that it is more spectacular live, above all, having it in your hand. Those of us who almost 20 years ago had the opportunity to test the original Motorola RAZR, we live this reissue with greater anticipation.
Especially since it is the first time I have seen a mobile device with a flexible screen that really makes sense , not like others in which a large part of the screen is later wasted, for example, when watching videos. The new Motorola RAZR will not have the best camera, or the best processor, and not the highest quality screen, but the best style, the best ergonomics and the best thought flexible screen , not to make it bigger than others , but smaller and more manageable. And also it will not cost more than 2,000 euros, but around 1,500. We hope to see you in a few weeks in Spain.
