AI Is Now Controlling Factory Race Bikes

[00:00:00]So, we're in the Shrek racing and I'm going to take you through some of the data, the AI, and talk to the guy that's winning the championship right now.

[00:00:08]Enjoy.

[00:00:15]So, I got the boss man, the venture capitalist, the guy that is putting a bunch of money into road racing, Peter. He's going to show us a little bit of the data. He's using AI to help map. I mean, am I saying that correctly?

[00:00:30]>> Yeah, a little bit. I mean, there's there's AI behind we have a application called track stance. So, what you're looking at here is just a very simplistic dashboard of what any team would see in the paddock, but we've broken it down into thin slices and simple information. So, when the rider comes in, immediately what it will tell him is that, okay, where's Matthew at in sector one? Well, he's overall first.

[00:00:54]He's overall third in the second sector.

[00:00:56]He's second in the third sector and he's fifth in the fourth sector on his fastest lap. So this is just a quick way for me to to click on this and say, "Hey, this is where you're at, right? JD Beach is doing really well in that sector. So let's analyze that sector."

[00:01:12]Right? So then we don't even have to tell Matt any of this information because what happens is I've already programmed it behind the scenes to where this information goes to the back end of an AI and then spits out analysis based on tire management, you know, what's the competitors doing, what will be our race strategy, so on and so forth. So, we're leveraging all of AI and the Morelli software and all the data gets automatically injected into this system.

[00:01:42]The data straight from the bike and then we're essentially able >> Is it wireless or do you have to plug it in?

[00:01:47]>> Well, so our server is off location, but there's a little harness on the right side of the motorcycle. You see this wire that comes through here and it goes direct directly to Arturo's computer.

[00:01:59]Um, and Art Turo uploads the information and then Track Stance does everything.

[00:02:05]So, we're trying to get to a point where when Go ahead.

[00:02:08]>> Are you the only team doing this?

[00:02:10]>> Yeah, this is all proprietary for us.

[00:02:12]>> Wow.

[00:02:13]>> Yeah.

[00:02:13]>> Are you ever going to sell this program to the other teams or >> 100%. I mean, the technical director of the series, Teague, is is collabing with me. He's utilizing it. Um, because we have a pit wall here. So, if I said, "How does Matt compare to the last 5 years he's been riding today?" It'll give me the answer. Wow.

[00:02:33]>> Right. And then if you scroll down here more, it starts to give you a little bit more information. You can look at the track. You can do some analysis. You can compare the riders. You can pull multiple people up, right? And it goes much more granular than that. But on a surface level, to give the rider instant information that he has not had before is very gratifying to them. So when they come in, they're like, "Where am I at in sector three?" We can't do that if we're just looking at basic timing and scoring.

[00:03:00]>> Yeah. What when I was at Moto GP, a lot of like the Carlax guys, they had all the data for just their guys, but if it was another team, they weren't sharing that data. But this almost looks like it could be everybody on the grid that you could be comparing to. Well, if another team would want their own instance of the application, we would silo that in the server so that data stays proprietary to them.

[00:03:25]>> Okay.

[00:03:25]>> Now, fine. Yeah. If we want to share the this data with the other Yamaha teams, we have the ability to export and do that, right?

[00:03:33]>> But you see the use user interface.

[00:03:36]We don't actually want to look at the user interface. What we want to get to is that we get a text message from track stance to tell us exactly what to do.

[00:03:44]without us even opening this. Now, if we want to dig in and look at all the analytics and kind of geek out on that, we have the ability to do that, right?

[00:03:53]But listen, how do we know how Matt did 3 years ago without pulling up data and being inefficient? Well, we have all that information right there, right? So, it's all right here at the fingertips. And I'm giving you just a very, very high level surface of what this thing can do.

[00:04:11]>> Thousand foot view of Yeah. Yeah. And then you start to get granular. But one of the things that people don't realize is that we're looking at tire wear every single day. How was the tire wearing?

[00:04:20]Right. You got to snap a picture of the tire. [music] You know, what were the conditions? What was the ambient temperature? Right?

[00:04:26]>> And this AI will remember that >> that and and so what's happening is that every single piece of data that's been written on a piece of paper is being uploaded. It's learning. So it's it's starting to become very dangerous because it will be able to give us predictive analysis of exactly what to change in the Morelli and Matt in his riding style.

[00:04:47]>> Is this the the first year you've been using this?

[00:04:50]>> Yeah, so I've been developing this on and this is just a passion for me.

[00:04:53]>> I enjoy this. We have large tech infrastructure and a lot of brilliant guys behind the scenes. Uh >> well, mostly a lot of guys that have a lot of money, they don't go racing to make more money. they go racing just because it's a big passion, you know, >> that's not at all what I'm here. I'm here. I'm here >> to [music] I wanted to infiltrate the sport to catapult it to the next level.

[00:05:16]Not that Moto America needs my help, but they may need some assistance to augment the sport. So, just this this weekend, I have people flying in from all around the world that have massive connections with big sponsors. So, why not utilize my Rolodex to try to help the sport in other teams?

[00:05:32]>> Influence.

[00:05:33]>> Influence. So, we have another cool initiative that's happening. It's called Seat Time. So, Seat Time is a nonprofit and what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to go out to all these sponsors and I'm it's not just this sport. It's any motorcycle or any motor racing, right?

[00:05:45]To get young kids seat time to if we can give them immediate cash infusion to give these kids a chance, >> right?

[00:05:52]>> This this sport is largely untapped.

[00:05:55]It's very popular.

[00:05:56]>> Agreed. Agreed.

[00:05:57]>> It's very popular and the sponsors just kind of bypass it, >> you know? Well, and honestly, dude, this this sounds like a cash cow for could be monetarily for for your corporation.

[00:06:09]>> Well, cuz I've never seen AI be integrated into the data. It's always been controlled by humans to then talk with the rider to try to change it. But if you have a priary system that's sort of telling you, hey, maybe eventually we need to go a little bit stiffer in sector 2 or whatever.

[00:06:27]>> Have you seen the the user interface in the Melli software?

[00:06:30]>> I have not. So you have to be so in tune. I mean literally it looks like a bunch of sine waves going like this and you have to look at the anomalies to look for tire chatter or something like that.

[00:06:41]>> AI can just that has binary information now that goes straight up to the AI and that will tell you right away. Are you piggybacking off of like Claude or >> so >> Chad GBT or Brock or or is this >> the easiest way I can explain this is so we have supercomputers that are local and what that means is they don't actually connect to the internet. I have a local computer right over here in a big warehouse full of computers. We've built our own AI engine and aggregation.

[00:07:14]>> Very expensive.

[00:07:15]>> It's it's not cheap. Well, it's the the invidity of 5090 cards and you have to have like 15 of them >> and those cards are six grand a piece, >> right? But the cool thing about it is is that look, Claude, Chad, GBT, those are corporations and there's limitations on what it can and cannot tell you, right?

[00:07:34]>> But with us, what we've done is we've learned from all those models. We've created our own model, stored it in a local warehouse, and then we can pull from that and we can use multiple things. So, Meer, sidebar, with you being the team owner, you seem way more ingrained than what I've seen normal team owners is just a passion or what got you started into road racing?

[00:08:00]>> So, what got me started? It's It's funny. This track right here is why I got into road racing. So, my wife and I I didn't own a motorcycle until I was 39 years old.

[00:08:11]>> We come here and >> You look like you're >> I'm 50. Well, 49. So, we come here. This is an incredible story. So, we come in here for Moto GP race in 2009.

[00:08:22]So, there's a KTM superbike school that my wife signed me up for. So, she goes back to my hotel room and says, "Hey, look, you're not leaving. I'm going to fly home. You're going to stay here and you're going to be on the track with all these professional riders."

[00:08:34]>> Sounds like a keeper.

[00:08:36]>> It was incredible. Right. So, I I I rode a KTM RC8. Never been on the track before.

[00:08:44]and my instructors who are now my friends, Hawk Mazad and a couple other guys, I did well. My geometry was decent. So, I went home and won a bunch of national championships and regional titles on the amateur level, >> right? But >> you're being humble, but I I get it.

[00:09:00]>> Yeah. But, I mean, amateur, so it's nothing like what these guys can do, right? Um, so I go back and I parlay that into let's do some Daytona 200s.

[00:09:09]Let's dip our toe in the water, right?

[00:09:12]So then we enter our first Moto America race in 2022.

[00:09:16]We win with Josh Hayes. Obviously Josh Hayes is a stud. He goes out and does his thing. And >> he's got to have a good bike.

[00:09:24]>> So the first four races that we've ever entered as pro, we won three of them with Josh Hayes. So right now based on the analytics, we have a 91% podium rate. It was funny. We have a couple new team members this year. We have a couple new team members this year. And we were we were not on the podium one weekend and he's like, "Well, what's wrong?"

[00:09:46]He's like, "You're expecting to be on the p like we've never not been on the podium on a weekend."

[00:09:50]>> Yeah.

[00:09:50]>> This is the first year >> mind. And I see the track. But if I was a fifth grader, >> how would I interpret this and use this to make my rider go faster?

[00:10:00]>> Okay. So now we are compared two laps from the from Matt. Okay. Because he asking me, he didn't know why he improved half second. He don't see the difference. Okay. So, we have a lot of lines here. And the most important one for sure is this one. These two here because it's the speed. Okay. This is the speed. So, we can check where he's faster and why.

[00:10:27]>> But that says wheelie or just is that just wheel speed? Is that >> wheel speed? The front wheel speed.

[00:10:32]>> Okay. So, here we can compare what is faster and why. So for example here if you check this is to number three.

[00:10:40]Okay here the red is above >> the green one here. So that tell us that the apex the speed in the apex is faster and looks little but is 5 km/h faster than maybe makes one/10th or 110 and a half.

[00:11:01]>> Wow.

[00:11:01]>> Okay. That just this little.

[00:11:04]Are you guys using part of the AI program as well?

[00:11:08]>> For the moment, we are like developing and we are still doing like in the old fashioned way, but the plan is like put everything together. So instead of looking lines, just ask to the AI what we need, you know.

[00:11:21]>> Oh, so you just ask the AI and it would it would kind of make it faster for you to come to a conclusion >> like what do you think or especially like temperatures or voltage or all this kind of stuff.

[00:11:33]>> Wow. like not related to the rider, just related to the bike, just to know that everything is working properly. You know what I mean?

[00:11:39]>> So, what is the most important thing that you look at when you're looking at this data? Cuz you probably see these lines and they make perfect sense all the time. But if you were to just pick one, what is the first thing that you look at?

[00:11:51]>> The speed for sure. I mean, it's the most important I think.

[00:11:54]>> Okay.

[00:11:54]>> For sure. I mean, where we are winning and why we have >> this lean angle too.

[00:11:59]>> Yeah.

[00:11:59]>> So, the lean angle is this.

[00:12:02]Wow.

[00:12:03]>> This is the L angle. And also one thing that is quite important is here that is the throttle position >> and the braking points. You know the pressure of the brake and the and the throttle position like the grip position of the rider. The blue one is where is the throttle body really going?

[00:12:24]You know, because with electronics you can make that in some points make it softer so the bike feels better for the rider. Not that aggressive. Okay. The orange one is the bra the the the the brake the front brake. So we can see if he's braking in the same point or not.

[00:12:42]Lean angle, rear brake point, RPM.

[00:12:46]>> Dumb question is I was told that you guys Matt was saying that it's a different motorcycle in every corner because it'll make more power here and come down here. Is that based off of this data or >> I mean we have >> Okay. So, >> so if you want to make it a little bit more lean or hit a little harder >> from America. Yeah. But it's the same. I mean if he ask me like I need more torque in to number three or I don't like the engine brake in turn number one. I can do it only in that corner.

[00:13:18]>> And he doesn't have to change anything.

[00:13:20]He just rides the bike and the bike does it automatically. He has like different levels of each stuff just to try things like engine break one zero minus one or minus two. So if he want more, go more.

[00:13:30]And he want less, go less.

[00:13:32]>> Wow. Incredible.

[00:13:36]>> All right. So I've got Matthew Schultz [music] here who is the leading rider for Superbike.

[00:13:43]>> Yes, sir.

[00:13:44]>> Super sport. Now [music] Super Sports was 600.

[00:13:46]>> Yes. Yes. Um, I ended up winning the championship on the Super Sport bike in 24 and 25 and stepped back up into the super bike class now and busy leading the championship.

[00:13:55]>> So, you've basically been on the podium every race this year. Is there like a secret to your success or is it just confidence?

[00:14:04]>> No, I mean I think it's just basically stepping up into the superbike with a team that spent the last two years in the super sport class. We kind of understand what we want with the setup of of the bike. they know what I want to feel comfortable and yeah, you know, I'm still shocked sometimes with how well we kind of have been doing, but yeah, I kind of want to keep this form going. I was with a previous team in the superbike class from 2017 till the end of 23. Uh that team folded, lost my superbike ride. These guys picked me up, you know, um the beginning of the 24 season very, very late. I think it was about 6 weeks prior to the first race of the season. Surprisingly, won the championship on the R six. Um, and then the second generation Super Sport R9 came out last year and then it ended up winning on that and now stepping up to the R1 super bike and leading the championship. So, >> Matthew, are you 63 6'2?

[00:14:57]>> 6'2. Yeah, >> 6'2.

[00:14:59]>> A little bit taller than that say most of the jockeyies around here.

[00:15:03]>> Yeah. And uh if if you don't mind me asking a personal question of like how much do you weigh? Are you a buck 70, buck 80? Um, I'm about roughly now between 170 and 175. You know, kind of trying to keep myself within that range, you know, don't want to put on too much weight. Don't want to to kind of lose too much between the races cuz kind of want to keep that ballpark weight for the setup of the motorcycle.

[00:15:26]>> Cuz when I was at Moto GP, man, those guys, it looked like you could >> they are tiny.

[00:15:33]Very tiny. Like I'm small and I was surprised at how how tiny they were. I'm sure that that translates to being able to push your way around the track. Maybe like this corks through where you've got a lot of inertia in G's left and right.

[00:15:45]Being a little bit heavier and stronger probably helps, but then maybe it's a little bit harder down the straightaways.

[00:15:52]>> Yeah, I mean, you know, you have your ups and downs. Um, you know, definitely have the power breaking into the corners, but I kind of lose pulling out, you know. So, you just got to make up time where you can, you know. I can't get shorter. So, I have to try to try to make up time where I can, you know, but there are certain circuits that don't suit the taller, bigger guys. And then they're, you know, some of the more twistier tire tracks where your like, you know, strength and your power kind of helps you.

[00:16:19]>> Do you guys run whole shot devices?

[00:16:22]>> Uh, no. But we do have um these software packages that kind of help your starts where you kind of hold your throttle flat out and it keeps at 10,000 RPM and once it goes over a certain speed, it kind of, you know, lets the bike rear through the gears, you know, a little bit more.

[00:16:37]>> Okay. So, just like a start map.

[00:16:40]>> Yes. Yes. Yeah. you know, but you know, sitting on the bike, we've got different settings for traction control, engine brake, torque, you know, management, and we basically have a sophisticated software that it changes for every corner on the track, you know. So, the torque map for second gear in corner two would would be completely different to corner five, you know, so you kind of have to figure it out.

[00:17:00]>> The bike is aware of where it's at on the track and the ignition timing changes. a GPS sitting on the bike and you know um they make up um you know the like sectors on the track. So there might be you know 10 corners over here but we've got 15 sectors on the bike cuz you might want wheelie control going going up to the corkcrew but you don't want too much coming out of corner four cuz you like really want the maximum power there you know. So you basically have a different bike in every corner.

[00:17:31]So that's why some of the the teams that have had the software um you know a little bit longer tend to be better because they've just had more time you know um kind of like fixing each corner better for that mo motorcycle and for that rider.

[00:17:46]>> So with practice this morning have you guys changed up where you want power to be on the on the track?

[00:17:52]>> Yes. Yeah. So we added wheelie control in over the first corner. We we like taken to tour guide in corner three, four, five, added in in corner 7, you know what I mean? So, I don't really know to the point, but these guys over here looking at the screen are busy calculating how much, you know, like rear wheel slip we've got in certain certain corners. And you want to keep it within the ballpark of 8 to 12% slip spin. So, they can see that you're not spinning enough in in this corner, that will give you power in. And if you're spinning too much in that corner, they will take the power out.

[00:18:25]Uh, a little bit of a technical personal question. Uh, I've been told that you ride dirt bikes.

[00:18:31]>> Yes. Yes. Um, very, you know, very avid fan of the motocross community. I started racing motocross when I was about 6 years old and moved to road racing at about 13, 14, you know. But I love sitting down whenever those guys race watching, you know, Jed, Hunter, Degan, P, all those guys are insane, man. And you know, I know that I'm currently leading the Super Bike Points, you know, championship, but to watch with those guys is insane, man. I'm in absolute awe of what those guys do.

[00:19:01]>> Okay, put you a little bit on the spot.

[00:19:04]You've got a Yamaha rider, fellow Yamaha rider, Degan.

[00:19:07]>> Yes.

[00:19:08]>> Do you think he's going to win a race this year?

[00:19:11]>> It's only a matter of time, man.

[00:19:14]>> Okay.

[00:19:14]>> He's right there. Um, but you know, I don't really care who wins. I I just want to see them battling out there.

[00:19:20]Cool. When it comes to your training, how often are you on a dirt bike versus a road race bike for for training?

[00:19:29]>> You know, unfortunately, we don't get out too much on the superb bike during the season because you obviously have to transport these semiis and then, you know, renting out the the tracks cost quite a bit more, but I'm on the motocross bike maybe two times a week, I would say.

[00:19:42]>> Wow.

[00:19:42]>> You know, and then mountain bike riding, running, you know, the usual you know, same as what the motocross guys do.

[00:19:49]>> Okay. You guys are on the track a cons considerable amount of time. How how long are you running? Like are you running in zone two? Are you doing sprints? What are you doing? Are you road bike cycling? I mean, you said you're mountain biking, >> but what does that training look like?

[00:20:04]>> You know, depending on what kind of zone you'll be training in. If it's a zone 5, you know, 25 minutes, half an hour flat off, you know, sprinting. And then otherwise as a a zone 2 mountain bike ride will be between you know 2 to 3 hours kind of thing.

[00:20:20]>> Wow. Do you mind sharing what your V2 max is?

[00:20:24]>> I don't know that.

[00:20:26]>> Okay.

[00:20:26]>> Yeah.

[00:20:27]>> Uh because of road racing, do you do a lot of strength training or is it >> Yeah, I mean I I think I do a little bit more than what most of the guys do, you know. I'm definitely into, you know, doing push-ups, pull-ups, you know, dips, a little bit of squats, you know, um lifting, um, you know, but >> more calesthetics or >> Yeah, more calisthetics. Um, you know, the Olympic lifting kind of lifestyle as well, but you know, you also want to try to build muscle um, you know, according to your racing. You know, you don't want to go to the gym and try to bodybuild and put on weight, you know what I mean?

[00:21:02]So, it's kind of, you know, similar to what the motor guys motocross guys do, you know, do kettle bell swings, whatever.

[00:21:08]>> Yeah. Okay. This is a dumb question from from a moto head >> because you're a little bit heavier.

[00:21:15]>> Yeah.

[00:21:15]>> And it seems like if the weights are the same on the bikes, it's a little bit of a disadvantage to you.

[00:21:21]>> Can you have less weight on the motorcycle per the rules to make it more fair? Um, you know, depending on what the weight of the motorcycle is, they do have a minimum combined weight. Um, and you know, that might vary from the Yamaha to the to the Ducatti, Suzuki, whatever out. Um, but I think that we always trying to find ways to try to minimize weight on the motorbike because I am about, you know, 20 lbs more than than most of the other riders.

[00:21:50]>> And and that's no disrespect. I just from a general knowledge, >> I couldn't get any skinnier, bro. I'm going to buy four own.

[00:21:58]>> Just in being repetitive, if I was racing against you, you're quite a bit faster than I am, but for hypothetical reasons, we would still have the same minimum weight for the motorcycle with me on it.

[00:22:10]>> Yes. Yeah. So, so, so, so the bike definitely has its own minimum weight that they have to meet and then is a combined weight. So, I think it roughly works out that if a guy is less than 145 lbs that they do start to add on weight to it. Uh, but yeah, I mean, I'm not too sure about the other manufacturers, but for us, we don't have to worry about putting putting on on weight in the motorbike.

[00:22:34]>> Cool.

[00:22:35]>> Any personal affirmations that you tell yourself for the the race weekend?

[00:22:41]>> No, just go out there and ride that thing hard, man. Um then I think we go to every single track is our first year back on the super bike. So we just really trying to figure out what the motorbike likes per per each track what the cuz you know there's obviously different compound tires too that we race each track you know so >> you're just trying to at this stage of the game for us first year with this program it's just trying to figure out what the bike likes at certain spots you know what I mean and what works better.

[00:23:08]Since you were the champion on the 600 versus the 1000, did you enjoy riding the 600 more or is the thousand?

[00:23:15]>> Definitely the thousand and I think the super sport bike I was a little bit bigger. So I definitely suffered suffered more on that motorbike. But overall, you know, I just like the sophistication of the software and the power of the motorbike. You know, I know that a 250 is fun, but a 450 is better, right?

[00:23:32]>> Yeah. I I like it. Well, I I look forward to asking you some questions on the podium. Hope so, man. Thank you so much, guys.