The term holeshot originates in motocross and describes the lead position taken through the first corner of a race. A holeshot device addresses the fundamental physics of launching a high-powered motorcycle: under hard acceleration the front wheel lifts, shifting weight to the rear and reducing steering control and aerodynamic stability. By mechanically compressing and temporarily locking the front suspension at a lower ride height before the start, the device pre-loads the fork geometry so that the front end is held down during initial acceleration without requiring the rider to modulate throttle aggressively. The result is a more controlled, stable launch that carries the rider through the first metres of a race with better drive and less wasted time.
Rear holeshot devices operate on a similar principle but act on the swingarm or rear suspension, lowering the rear of the motorcycle and altering the chassis attitude to optimise traction and aerodynamic posture at low speeds. As the rider accelerates past a certain speed threshold, the device releases and the suspension returns to its normal operating range.
Mechanical holeshot devices had existed in motocross for many years, where they were used to compress front suspension before the gate drop and then release automatically as the bike accelerated. In MotoGP the technology was adapted to front forks and later to rear suspension linkages as teams sought every possible advantage at race starts, a phase of the race in which electronics such as launch control had already been banned following the 2009 cost-cutting measures.
Factory teams began deploying front holeshot devices in MotoGP in the late 2010s. The devices were mechanical rather than electronic, placing them outside the scope of the rules that governed electronic rider aids. Their adoption spread quickly once their effectiveness in start performance became apparent, and they became standard equipment on competitive factory machines.
Front holeshot devices, also referred to in regulations as front ride height devices, were banned from MotoGP competition beginning with the 2023 season. A broader blanket ban on both front and rear ride height and holeshot devices was subsequently set for implementation from 2027, as part of a wider regulatory overhaul that also reduced maximum engine displacement to 850cc, cut the number of engines permitted per rider, reduced fuel tank capacity, and trimmed aerodynamic surfaces.
In MotoGP the holeshot device is closely related to, and is sometimes treated as a subset of, the broader category of ride height devices — systems that alter the motorcycle's chassis attitude not just at race starts but at other points during a lap, including braking zones. Front ride height devices in particular blur the line between a start-specific holeshot device and a lap-time device, a distinction that informed the decision to treat both categories under the same regulatory framework from 2023 onward.
The holeshot device represented one iteration of a broader trend in MotoGP engineering in the 2010s and 2020s in which teams moved mechanical ingenuity into suspension geometry and chassis dynamics as electronic rider aids were successively curtailed by regulation. The arc from unrestricted electronics to electronic bans to the proliferation of mechanical workarounds, and then to mechanical bans in turn, characterised the technical arms race of the era and informed how MotoGP's governing bodies approached the 2027 regulatory overhaul.