Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,A t the recent FIM Congress in Holland, the Japanese rep resenta tive on the Commission Technique (CT) reopened an issue that has periodically bede! villed those who control G P rac ing: how to restructure the premier 500cc class to reduce speeds and cost of construction in the future? The question is one that has been addressed before, and the resultant legislation has invariably resulted in a dramatic loss of spectacle and technical allure. ' Immediately af ter the last war, the FIM ba n ned supercharging in or der to reduce what was then perceived as terrifying performance, Resu lt : the Velocette Roarer twin, -G uzzi triple and Benelli four were all stillborn, while other thrilling designs like the AJS V4, Gilera Rond ine, BMW twin , NSU four and so forth had their development stultified - all so that GP road racing could tie dominated for many years by a procession of worthy but unspectacular British singles, the AJS Porcupine twin shorn of the blower it was designed to accommodate, and an unwieldy revamped Gilera four and its MV c;op y, It took GP racing a decade to recover from this technically backward step. , Fast forward a quarter century from 1946 to 1969, and what have we but another attempt by the FIM bureaucrats to rein in tech nical progress after the most exciting and memorable decades in GP racing, which some would regard as its .halcyon era. A decade which had produced such mechanical marvels as Honda's five-cylinder 125 and 250 six, Yamaha's 125 V4, Suzuki's 50cc triple and its 125 stepped-four ended with draconian new regulations being imposed which limited , the 500s to a maximurn of four cylinders, the 50s to one, and all other classes to just two - with a maximum of six speeds in the gearbox. That killed off not only the Benelli four which won the 250 title that year, but also its proposed V8 stablemate, the V4 Villa and a host of other exciting ' m u lti-cylinder European designs and ensured we had to suffer an unrelieved diet of Yamaha production racers for the best part of the next decade and a half in the smaller classes, and the customary MV procession in the 500 GPs till Yamaha and Suzuki gradually got interested in developing works bikes again. This time the reason had been the need to reduce costs and complication after the Japanese factories . pulled out of racing - but the hamfisted decision meant that the ones who suffered were the small European teams around whom GP . racing ought to- have been restructured after 1967, and it killed off the , four-stroke for good when coupled with the noise regulations introduced in 1976, in spite of Honda's quixotic attempt to prove otherwise with the NR5oo. Even that wasn't enough for the FIM's Luddites: at the Berlin Congress in 1975, the CT's German chairman Dr. Helmut Bonsch, formerly of BMW, proposed a new differential formula on the grounds that, :'We must reduce the power and speed of our bikes. There can be no doubt that in the last two or three years, speeds have increased beyond most riders' capabilities both psychological and physical." His solution? A mixed formula ' combining 500cc four-stroke singles with 250cc four-stroke fours and twostroke twins. This time even the FIM had enough common sense to throw out this half-baked scheme - but it shows that even in the' days when a good works four-cylinder two- stroke made a maximum of 120 bhp, there were those in a position of authority who branded these machines as uncontrollable devices which had to be banned. Of course, as intervening history has proved, they were nothing of the kind, but instead we are currently enjoying another golden era of GP racing which for some reason those in charge of it wish to abort! This time around though, it's significant that the leaked Holland proposals should have· come not from the FIM's in -house or co-opted bureaucrats, but from one of the Japanese manufacturers - the leading one, in fact: Honda. It's doubly iron ic that the man who laid these proposals before the FIM should be HRC director Mitsuhiko Aika, for in former times Aika-san was the chief comply with this provision - or V4s? It might be a nice way of stiffening HRC's balance sheet, but .on ly recognized manufacturers like as a significant means of reducing Bimota and Cagiva? Oh - yo u mean the cost of GP racing to those at the Japanese manufacturers? What consharp end, I'm not alone in believing stitutes a 'reasonable' cost, and who this proposal to be a non-starter. decides on it? Can you comply by Since Aika-san presented them on building works bikes and selling behalf of the Japanese Federation them to your sponsor's race team? (MFJ), one has to assume that they I won't bore you with any more of have the blessing of the other three the obvious angles: all this p roves is that encouragement, not compulmanufacturers - or do they? Yamaha's CT representative Paul Butler sion, is the key to reso lving this was distinctly unenthusiastic about problem. 'them , while since Aika's position as And it is a problem, one which MFJ delegate to the CT is being HRC bosses Fukui and Oguma assumed by Suzuki's Itoh, it'll be , implicitly recognized as long ago as interesting to see how hard he pushes 1986 when they used an interview I the HRC/MFJ proposal at future did with them , to launch Honda's meetings! proposed 500cc differential formula But there was one aspect of the based on minimum weights related HRC proposal which touches on the to the number of cylinders. That only real problem presently facing initiative has reached partial fruition with the introduction of a 209 lb. limit for 500 twins for next season, with the existing 220 lb. class barrier raised to 253 lb. for triples and fours. But in a short-term alternative also proposed by Aika at Maastricht, in the event that HRD's 375cc formula was not acceptable, the four-cylinder limit would be raised to 297 lb. for 1991 (with triples possibly to 275 lb.) with twins remaining at 209 lb. At the same time, restrictions would be imposed on carburetor (or injector) diameter and wheel widths/tire sizes, to futher discourage the horsepower race. This is more like it, as anybody who's watched CART's Indy car series on TV will affirm: this makes F llook even more processional than it usually is, with cars that have , restricted wings and narrower tires which are extremely evenly matched because there's a finite limit to the amount of power you can get down on the road. This in tu rn means that the engines are under-stressed (they could produce more power, but what's the point if you can't use it), 500 GP racing: the lack of availaextending mechanical life, improvbility of a competitive, reliable V4 ing reliabili ty, and reducing costs the engine for privateer use - not even smart way . Higher weight limits a lso a complete bi ke, just a sort of tworeduce the dependance on exotic wheeled Cosworth DFV that Harris materials - though not always as or Fior or Moriwaki or Cobas can much in practice as on paperl wrap a chassis round and go racing Though only proposed as a shortwith, if not on eq ual terms with the term solution, this secondary H RC/ Japanese works bikes; at least with the expectation of getting in the top MFJ formula is a m uch more realistic basis on which .to base a 10. revamped 500cc category for the GP racing's malaise stems not 1990s, and indeed I wonder if the very from excessive cost; there are teams fact of its being proposed does not with sponsors desperately trying to indicate some kind of a power get hold of 500 V4s who can't, and struggle within H R C itself between compared with Fl car racing, GP those like Fukui and Ogu ma who motorcycle raci n g is dirt cheap, favor this kind of solution, based on especially in relation to the amount differential weights, and another of (increasing) TV exposure in key faction represented by Aika who countries around the world. Cost is favor a reduction in capacity? We not a factor, and nor is the ability shall probably never know, though of riders to control ever more powthe assiduity with which HR C erful machines: there will always be pursue the 375cc route after Aika only a small handful of really topretires next year will perhaps tell us. class riders capable of winning races , But su rely the 500cc class must be just as there always has been, and retained as the blue ribbon of GP in fact next season it appears that racing; in . which case ' the weight , it 's a shortage of bikes which will differential formula is the only cause a reduction in V5 500 GP rational route to ensuring the p resranks, no t anything else. If the bikes ervation and expansion of thestatus were available, Mackenzie, Cadalora, quo. Making the twin-cylinder Falappa, Campbell, Linden, . Buckoption attractive is a key solution to mas ter and 'severa l others of proven the dearth of privateer equipment ability would be swelling the 500 GP . by which I mean not on ly a bike for ranks instead of being otherwise the Niggi Schmassmans of this employed - or not, as may be. We're world, but also for the Niall Macknot short of good riders, that's for enzies - but the real answer as usua l sure: only bikes. has been identified by Kenny Honda 's proposal to address that R oberts: bui ld a proper V4 race shortage is to req uire all manufacengine at affordab le cost with full ' turers running a works team to also spares back-up and sell it to the , market a production racer, and/or to lead ing non-works teams. A higher sell or lease their previous year's four-cylinder weight limit wou ld machines to private teams, at reasma ke such an engine pretty competonable cost. This , recognizes the itive with the works V4s - or would problem, but as a solution it's about the factories be running fuel-injected as good as a chair with no legs. Does 500 twins by then? Or maybe twin that mean Paton and Fior have to . ro tor Wankels . . , ? • GP Road Racing Proposals CaD less be ...C».... ~? By Alan Cathcart , mechanic for Honda 's legendary 1960s G P team, five-cylinder 125s and all. In his last congress before retiring as Japan's CT delegate, Aika presented a study prepared by Honda's Motor Sports Division, proposing a complete overhaul of GP racing based not only on the present structure's experience, but on Honda's own findings based on prototype work they've already - hardly .surprisingly - undertaken. , Starting in 1992, the 500c( class would be killed off and replaced by GPI, for 375cc triples and 500cc twins " with proposed respective weight limits of 2651220 lb., with GP2 for 213 lb . 250cc twins and G P3 for 165 lb. I25cc singles, This would permit a manufacturer to work on modu lar engines based on 125cc cylinders, with increased weight limits to reduce costs (aluminium is cheaper than titanium, fiberglass less expensive than carbon fiber), and the elimination of the 500 V4s in order to reduce both speed and costs. Sounds fami liar, does it? It's hard to see what this set of proposals could possibly achieve, apart from ~iving Honda's established lead In three-cylinder twostroke race technology a chance to assert itself. I cannot be lieve that it would be very long before a fuelinjected 375cc triple would be developing the more than 160 bhp output of the current V4s - albeit at the cost of significant expense in junking the existing V4 technology, and machinery. And as for saving costs - who are they trying to kid? Given that GP racing by the works teams is conducted these days on an exclusively rental rather than p urchase basis, does that mean that the cost of leasi ng a pair of NSR375 Hondas for a season wi ll be any less dian it presen tly is for a brace of NSR500

• Cover