It is now less than a month until the WSB championship will debut on March 1st and the factory Aprilia World Superbike team makes the final optimizing of their all new Aprilia RSV4 basing on the wind tunnel results.
Aprilia race technicians are trying to find ways of improving both bike and rider aerodynamics in the 2009 racing season and, obviously, they needed a rider. So who better (for the moment) to tuck into RSV4’s fairing than Shinya Nakano? The Japanese rider spend a day in the wind tunnel at the Department of Industrial engineering at the University of Perugia, Italy and has shared his impressions.
Nakano said: "It has been a very positive and interesting experience and I was impressed by the ability of engineers and the staff at the University of Perugia.
"We conducted several tests on my riding position, making the last little adjustments to obtain the best possible aerodynamics. The data that we collected will work to bring new solutions during the course of the season.
"I have to say that the current aerodynamics of the RSV4 are already good and did not need any immediate action.”
Max Biaggi will follow on February 10th.