Alex Briggs is the technician who has followed Rossi for the longest time, and he partners with another technician Bernard Ansiau. The pair have worked together since 2000, when Rossi entered competition at the highest level. Prior to this, Briggs also joined Mick Doohan's team from 1994 until his retirement in 1999. So? Briggs has helped drivers win 12 world championships. In the past 20 years, he has had countless wonderful memories with Rossi, the Italian racing superstar. The following are his ten most unforgettable events in the 20 years from 2000 to 2019.

Beat Max Biaggi in the 500c.c. class in 2000/2001

I think Rossi loved the 500c.c. era. I think 500c.c. is great, I love them. I'd love to see where 500c.c. two-strokes can go now. I really don't see the need for a four-stroke, but someone did it. One thing I know - they run much hotter than a two-stroke, so I'm always burning myself, even with gloves on. Two-strokes are cooler. I never got burned in the 500c.c. years.

The relationship between Rossi and Biaggi is actually very good. Rossi's motivation is usually not affected by his dislike of a particular driver. ?He rides fast and that's the joy of being a racer. What happened to Biaggi in 2001 had a bit of a Mick Doohan feel to it. I remember at Suzuka, Biaggi drove him to the edge of the track and then Rossi passed him and gave him the middle finger, which was really cool!

2002/2003? Riding a Honda RC211V in MotoGP

“For me, using the RC211V is easy for me as a technician. It’s difficult to know exactly what Rossi’s situation, but it was also easy for him."

"In those days, we were trying to get more inspiration from the car, so we moved the suspension parts around and changed the springs almost every session. Knocking here, typing there, making more changes, even half a millimeter, we were just trying to find something. Until the end we felt we no longer needed to look for inspiration. "

"In 2002 we didn't even change any suspension or settings for a few races. The engine power was so smooth and so good that the driver could control the distance of the suspension travel: I just It needs a little braking, but the front fork doesn’t react much."

Leaving Honda and joining Yamaha in 2003

"Looking back, we first learned about Yamaha when we were in Portugal. Then in Motegi it was like: ‘What’s going on with us? Are we moving too?’ I wanted to stay with Rossi. I wanted to stay with Jeremy Burgess. ) because I hadn't finished learning what I wanted to learn."

"I remember a secret meeting in a Phillip Island car park about salaries and how everything worked. ?It was really exciting. ?Finally, JB, Bernard Ansiau and Gary Coleman left and we went to Yamaha together with Rossi in 2004. ?Repairing the Yamaha YZR-M1

"We did have big problems, and in the first (pre-season) test at Sepang, we immediately worked on solving some of them."

"The front tires kept locking up. Riders sometimes lock up the front wheel and when they realize it, they let off the brake, but Rossi locked up the front and rear of the Yamaha and he probably felt that the more he pulled the front brake, the more the engine started. The greater the speed, so he adjusts the throttle and brakes while thinking, but it's wrong, what's going on?"

"This is how the engine braking system works. When the rear wheels lock. , the engine would try to stop it from locking up by opening the throttle and increasing the revs, so the bike wouldn't slide into the corner. However, with the Yamaha engine, the front tire locked up and that's when we realized why! The reason so many Yamaha riders crash from losing their front wheel is because when the front locks up, the rider does exactly the opposite of what he needs to do."

"The other big problem we found was that," Rossi said. : ‘I couldn’t pull the bike into corners, it really hurt my knees when turning. ‘Everything pointed to lifting the bike, so we raised the bike height by 15 millimeters, which was huge. The difference scared everyone! That changed everything. The car steers better. Moreover, the front wheels will not lock very frequently because the center of gravity is too low, so when we lift the body of the car upward, the transmission action on the brakes is smoother. ”

“We made major improvements to the bike in 2004, and the bike Rossi was riding was probably the best bike he had ever ridden.”

2006 ?The world championship was lost to Nick

“It was very hard in 2006.

We had a bad experience with Masao Yoshizawa, the Yamaha team principal, and we tried many ways to fix the bike, but nothing worked, so at Le Mans, France, we went back to the 2005 frame. Rossi's performance immediately came to his senses and he was well ahead in the race, then the engine blew. ”

“Before the race started, Rossi said his car was vibrating a little, so we changed the rear wheel. When he left the pits, we saw a big hole in the front tire. Right under the fender? "We thought, 'F–k, no!'"

"Then the car's radiator pipe burst in the U.S., but even if the pipe didn't burst, we thought it would hold up. I couldn't finish the race because it was really hot and when the fuel level was really low, it would cavitate in the pump."

"When we lost to Nick in Valencia, I was already exhausted. I remember how I felt. I never thought about the world championship, I just thought about how to win that day. We knew we were good enough to win, so we could only think about how we could win it next time.”

To be continued. ． ．

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.