Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ava ilable to inde pende nt operators from a cu rrently shri nking pool of sponsors. " As a team owner, I th ink about budget, finding spo nso rs, and being competit ive. Some thi ng needs to be do ne from the standpo int of cost alo ne. There are very few sponsors aro und, bu t if cos ts cou ld be cut and the bi kes were easier for more people to ride, maybe spo nsorshi p wo uld be easier to find," Kanemoto said. " My feeling wo u ld not be to take o ut the fo urs, but to give the twi ns some incentive, possibly by weig ht restrictions. People talk about carbu retor in let restr ictio ns an d o ther mechan ical ways of reducing pow er, 'but I'd ha te to see that. Wh at is th e nex t step o n th e road? Would we ne ed to p hysi cally han dicap riders who go too fast? . " I truly beli eve that twin-cylinder bikes could be chea per, in sp ite of th e development cost. T h is year; "] am leasing a 250 Honda twi n. It is a third of the cost of a 500, bu t that 's no t because it is sma ller. It 's because H o nd a h a s mad e a mu ch la rger number of them ." Kanernoto al so sees a benefit in making the bik es easier to ride from the poi nt of ' view of riders. " At the moment, you can 't take a rider straight out o f the 250cc class, and if you can't afford o ne .of th e top fi ve riders, you can' t prom ise a spo nso r the cha nce of winning. " I don ' t think the top riders don 't deserve th e fees they are paid, but we would be able to find good riders who cost less if the bik es were eas ier to ride. " I don't say we have to go to twin s, but I'd like to see som ething like that to ma ke the raci ng closer. It cou ld a lso attract some inte rest from people like Ro ta x .:.... and Birnota a re already workin g o n a twin. It 's a lot less com p lex an engi ne to make than a fo ur, wh ich needs to put so man y parts into a sma ll package. " But there are ma ny p itfa lls , and tha t's wh y it's difficu lt to say wh at sho uld be done. This year, Yam a ha mad e wo rks bi kes avai lab le for a twoyear lease of o n ly $ 150,000 - bu t yo u don 't see the bik es. There was o nly one tak er (Irish rider Edd ie La ycock)." Suzu ki , wi th th e sma llest racing commitme nt, has less to say than the o thers, but racing director Mit suo Itoh said in J apan: " We are not so inte rested in the idea of twins. We have n ' t decided yet whethe r we wou ld withd raw if the p lan goes ahea d. It wo uld take two or three years to develop a twin-cy linder 500, and would cost the sam e as a four. " We would prefer ca rb ure tor restrictors o r somethi ng similar to allow twin-cyli nder bi kes to race agains t V4s. " Outside the team s, the twin-cyl inder idea has found mor e support. Former World Champion and now TV commen tat or Barry Sheene is o ne wh o beli eves they wou ld work. " Whe n I raced, people cou ld bu y production Suzukis a nd win C Ps o n them . Twins would br in g th at situa tio n back." Bu t th ere a re ma ny othe rs wh o d isagree - po int ing o u t th at the techn ica l difficu lti es posed by suc h large cylinders would inevitably favor those with the grea test financial and techn ica l reso urces. T h is co u ld be solved by req uiring a mi ni mum produ ction run . . . but th is might scare off sma ller manufacturers li ke Birnota and Ro tax. There are o n ly two certaint ies.. One is th at th ere is n o simple solutio n to a defi ni te problem. The seco nd is tha t whatever you or any ot he r race fan th ink sho u ld be done, the FIM wo n' t pay a bli nd bit of attention to you. Dl June 7-8-9, 1991 r-:--,............... 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