MotoGP: Should Zarco’s Top Speed Record Count?

Out of the final corner in 2nd gear, feeding in the power as early as the rear tyre will allow, and on to the home straight. Smooth clicks up into 3rd, 4th, 5th and then 6th, the bike still accelerating hard even with the speedometer now well into the 300s. Damn! 362kph! Hard on the brakes now, gotta make that first corner. Crap! Not gonna make it. The gravel’s getting closer, closer, closer still. Bam! You’re in it now.

This was Ducati rider Johann Zarco’s journey into the gravel trap and indeed into the record books on Saturday in Qatar, as he nudged 362.4kph, becoming the fastest man in MotoGP.

But did Zarco out-brake himself because he reached 362kph? Or did he reach 362kph because he out-braked himself?

Sure, he got a little helping hand from fellow Ducati rider Enea Bastianini, the Italian punching a hole in the air in front of him. That slipstream aided the earth-moving horsepower of Zarco’s Ducati and helped propel him to ludicrous speeds. But a MotoGP bike is still accelerating pretty hard, even at 355 or 360kph, so if you just hold off your braking for that extra split second, you’re probably going to break the record. Should a top speed record count if you don’t make the corner at the end of the straight?

Heck, you could probably do 370kph at Mugello if your only plan is to mow the grass on the outside of turn 1. I’m not implying that Zarco intentionally left his braking too late so that he could secure himself a spot in the record books. But in my opinion, a top speed record shouldn’t count unless you manage to keep it within track limits at the next corner. A gravel trap cannot be treated like the far-end of a drag-strip, and if top speed records are all you’re after, then there’s a lakebed in Utah with your name on it.