Michele Trapani, known as Mitch, is one of the world's leading experts in electronics for racing motorcycles. With thirty years of experience, he teaches courses to world championship technicians and has written two fundamental publications on a subject that until recently was shrouded in mystery.

The Ride by Wire revolution ‘Everything changed when Ride by Wire arrived,’ explains Trapani. The system decouples the throttle opening from the throttle movement, allowing intelligent torque management. ‘Many people think that more throttle means more power, but that's not the case. In certain ranges, it's better to keep it more closed.’

Two books to understand electronics In 2020, he published ‘Guida pratica all'elettronica delle moto da pista’ (A Practical Guide to Motorcycle Electronics), the first accessible text on the subject, followed by ‘Torque Management.’ ‘The difficulty is that technicians have different backgrounds: there are engineers and those who have 40 years of track experience and don't want to hear about numbers.’

Strategies and inertial platforms Inertial platforms have revolutionised everything. ‘Now it's the strategies that make the difference: traction control, anti-wheelie, engine braking. The modern map is the combination of all these strategies.’ Every manufacturer has its own secret approach.

The future lies in AI Trapani sees artificial intelligence as the future of data analysis, even if ‘50% of our work still involves acting as psychologists with drivers and technicians.’