The CRAZY TALENT that tuners and crew chiefs have in top-level racing

Kevin Cameron and Mark Hoyer talk about the incredibly important role of the tuner/crew chief in top-level racing and how the job has changed over the years. Organizer, mechanic, prototyper, psychologist and so much more-and how the great crew chiefs achieve an almost wizard-like ability to get the most out of the rider, the motorcycle, and the team amidst the infinite variables and incredible pressure faced in top-level motorcycle racing.
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[@fwg1961]

Always great to hear Kevin tell stories

[@gordonborsboom7460]

I was watching a recent David Vizard vlog and they had a guest comment about Kevin’s motorcycling engineering exploits. I whole heartedly agreed.

[@joycedall]

All of these conversations are absolute GEMS! Thanks Mark and Kevin 25:02

[@one-of-us9939]

It was good to hear the name Aprilia. Much respect I have. My current bike is 2018 RSV4 RF LE. The first with GP wings. I've got 55 years of experience and have come to find 1/10 second priceless. I love the frame, so when someone I know (who is a salesman) said "it just came in" I said "$old!" I got the first one ever sold. May not mean anything to anyone else, but it means i had the first wheelie, the first on a track... etc. Sure would be nice for an all Aprilia show. Thanks guys, this was a brilliant video.

[@donaldhipple4921]

Thanks guys, always fun listening to your musings. I remember the first year of the TZ250 aluminum frame, when the handling fix was sawing out the cross brace above the swingarm pivot I believe. But I must share my favorite story from my ARMA dirt track engine building days. Saturday evening at Weedsport NY. Sitting around a table with Dave Aldana, Jimmy Weinart, Gary Nixon and other less famous but great guys all. A young racer comes up to the table to say that he couldn't make his bike turn. Q the never PC Gary Nixon. You go to MFing Sears, get a MFing torch, heat the MFing steering head and run the MFer into a wall until the MFer goes into MFen turns. Now pale the young man retreated. But Gary was right as he normally was, just no sugar coating. I still miss him, one of a kind.

[@dukecraig2402]

I'd give anything to be able to go back in time and be a fly on the wall so I could listen to a conversation between Gary Nixon and Dick O'Brien. I have no doubt that even at 58 years old, being an Army veteran and having spent years as a structural ironworker I'd still learn a few new words.

[@bretloyd8097]

Yep you are right, they were too stiff. .

[@davidbryant6779]

Nice episode guys! You guys are great…nobody explains complex engineering concepts to normal humans better than Kevin

[@gregsidel3557]

Thank you guys for your input you're great

[@JohnNewton-ev8ch]

Kevin, will you give us an overview of MotoGP fuel? I would like to hear an oral history on your background, including your early life, education, and career. I've read bits and pieces over the years, but I'd like to hear it from you in your own words. Thank you for 50 years of articles starting in Cycle Magazine for me back in the day. My wife of 20 years wants to know who this Kevin guy might be!

[@turbosteve84]

Whoa. I pity those (I was almost one) who didn't have the patience to listen to this through until the end. Never heard such an insight into brains of riders and crew. Almost too much to comprehend in one sitting (I'm listening to it again!) I just entered into a new understanding of what it takes to be truly excellent -- not just in motorcycle racing but life in general.

[@brakinggnus5229]

You were the guys that mounted lawnmower engines to bicycles. I was the guy that watched in amazement. Best podcast on the interwebs!

[@davidciesielski8251]

Thanks, I met a few great tuners, it's kind of working around one mainer problem with a bunch of compromises.

[@YouCantSawSawdust]

Kel Curruthers is a living LEGEND!

[@BikeStandByMe]

I remember a guy with a can of toluene at the drag strip, put it in his turbo Volvo.

[@johnculbreth4543]

Very interesting and informative! The larger an organization gets the more institutional it gets, less fluid.

[@jameshisself9324]

Nice! Back in the day Kevin's musings inspired me a lot in this area. I wasn't half bad but didn't have the ambition to be US top 5 which you pretty much have to be to make a good career of it. For me it was a glorified student job that I loved but in the end I moved on to software engineering.

[@daniels.2720]

Kevin Cameron = the motorcycle racing "Alpha Thinker". Would love to hear Kel Carruthers join you both for a chat.

[@brakinggnus5229]

Would love to hear a conversation about heat mitigation on an air-cooled MC! Do coatings (like Jet-Hot) really help?

[@coarsegoldkid]

Future topic. If you would address the mechanism, distribution and damage to parts caused by dust past the air filter into a modern FI engine. And secondly would it chew up cams? Please. Thanks.

[@billmanty3636]

These two define the perimeters of reality

[@RaptorG999]

Amazing stories from the paddocks. Can you please do an episode about the bolt-on engine mounts of different flex on the Suzuki GSXRR MotoGP bikes?

[@metlmuncher]

John Owens book? Off to find it

[@micyclesport]

These shows have all been excellent! It would be cool if you guys checked in with Mr. Rickey Gadson as a possible guest, his latest video starts with building a ZX14 out of the box for drag racing, seems like that would be a fun video with lots of good topics.

[@thetomfrederick]

Hey Hoyer, could you please do something about those gleaming distractions projecting from your ears? 😮 Paint them black, wrap them in black duct tape, or just get rid of them but my god I can’t believe you’re wearing them. What would your motorcycle stylist friends say about them? 😂 Ray Guns, they look like fricking Ray Guns‼️🤣

[@alanwarner8489]

He's sooo smug with his sportbikes in his office!

[@rider65]

Load transfer.

[@perhage338]

KTM and Aprilia thinks their Ducati- guys can tell them" how to it"

[@alanwarner8489]

The sad tale of pilots (cars & bikes) who lost their engineers and then seemingly their God given talent. We only get out of this life one way and for racers it's with their engineers.

[@blipco5]

I wonder if Kevin ever rode a motorcycle?

[@jasonhowcroft8331]

Yep if you read his books he mentions Racing a Yamaha TD2 Or something similar for a while

[@blipco5]

@@jasonhowcroft8331 Yes, I think he said it didn’t work out for him. Great guy.

[@BallaCorra]

@@blipco5 Actually, he was a pretty good racer. But realized he was an even better tuner.