Fastest to fail: Learning at 300 kph
Crashing motorcycles is probably not everyone’s idea of an education. But in a sport where difference is often measured in hundredths of a second, Marc Marquez uses being fast-to-fail to gain a championship winning edge.
Design thinking, sped up
One element of design thinking is to prototype early so that you can be ‘fast-to-fail’ and adjust your approach. In many contexts, this means finding out if you’re on the right path by exposing your product to learners, users and/or consumers before it’s totally ‘ready’.
In a sport where hundredths of a second can separate failure from success, Marc Marquez is turning a willingness to be fast to fail into a championship winning advantage. In recent seasons, he’s even turned it into a learning habit that helps him to achieve the seemingly impossible.
Fast learner
In 2013, Marquez became the youngest rider to ever win a World Championship in the premier MotoGP class of motorcycle road racing. This was in addition to the championships he had already won in 2010 in the 125cc class and in 2012 in the Moto2 class. He has since added three more MotoGP World Championships to his spectacular resume.
Timing is everything
Riders have a limited amount of track time to prepare for MotoGP races. On a race weekend, they have four practice sessions to perfect their setup. This is followed by 1 or 2 qualifying sessions to set their grid position.
In qualifying, less than a second can separate a front row start from a spot in the middle or back of the grid. This is despite the many different settings and variations between the riders’ machinery. Choices made in practice also shape a rider’s performance in the race. For example, a tyre that’s fast in a 3 lap qualifying ‘time-attack’ might not be durable enough to provide traction for the full race distance.
At speeds of more than 300 kilometres per hour, the consequences of failure go beyond grid position. Over-estimating the grip of a tyre can lead to crashes that destroy machinery and/or injure the rider.
Fast failures
Marc Marquez has a reputation for crashing in testing, practice and qualifying. He claims that it’s a part of his strategy. In practice, he aims to push the bike, and himself, to the absolute limit. Sometimes, he goes past it. 27 times in 2017! He then aims to ride the race just within this limit. During the race, competitors who haven’t done this must choose. Either push into the unknown and risk crashing, or ride within the known and risk losing.
Learning, learning, learning
Marquez argues that his daring approach helps him to learn more about his equipment. He even advocates the approach to other riders. But in recent seasons, he’s demonstrated another habit that he’s learned from his willingness to crash. Basically, by crashing more than twenty times in a season, Marquez seems to have found ways to ‘un-crash’. That is, he reaches a point where most riders have effectively crashed, then picks up the motorcycle mid-crash and resumes racing. These 'saves' have left spectators, commentators and competitors astounded.
Many label these achievements as ‘miraculous’ or ‘magical’. In isolation, it can be hard to argue. But as the miracles mount up and the pattern emerges, it seems more likely to be a case of learning than simply wishing or hoping.
Learning or miracles? See for yourself: