Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127383
a t relativelv lill ie cos t. Sti ll , as it sta nds, n eith er Piro vano ' s or R ym er ' s machines a re wh at yo u wo u ld exac tly ca ll works bikes, a n d so lo ng a s th ey'r e so deepl y in vo lved in 500 GP racing , Yam aha 's co m m it m e n t to World Su perbi ke is un likel y 10 be as strong as th e o the r facto ries invo lved . Mind yo u, if Kenn y Rob ert s had hi s wa y, it'd be nonexi stent I HONDA: Fighting Back fter th fir st Su perWorld es in su AbikeywinningedtitleMerkeltw occessioan' s, co u rt es o f Fr , H o nd fort u nes took a turn for th e wo rse last sea so n , when they were eclip sed by Ducari a nd, in the seco nd h alf of the sea so n , Yama ha , wi th Pirovano pipping lead ing Honda rid er Steph a ne Merten s for th e ru n ner-u p slot in th e po in ts ta bl e. Mertens' def ection to Dur a ti over th e wi nt er was a n a stu te move for the lan ky, elega n t Belgian , but left hi s bikes free for H o n da Br i tain ' s re ignin g Wor ld TT F I Ch ampi on Ca rl Fogart y to pi ck up th e Su perb ike trail wi th works machi ner y, with teammat e Ni a ll Mackenzi e on a more humble kit bi ke. T eam Ru m is duo o f Merk el a nd Sarre Monti both have full works machines, th ough , using P irelli tires as befor e - th e Bri tish lea rn ru ns o n Michel in . H o nda 's sta rt to th e sea so n co u ld hardl y ha ve been more disastrous, wi th Fogart y well off th e pace, a t lea st pa rt ly tha nks to sus pe ns io n prob lem s, th e Rum i h ikes h itt in g mec ha n ical pro blem s a t Do ni ngt on a nd crash in g o u t o f co n ten tio n at j ara ma , w ith a solita ry sixth pl ace by Mon ti in the first race H onda h as made an effort to improve air flow to th e carburetors - but fuelinjection ma y be the Honda answer to Du cari's dominance in the fu ture. th e so le fru its o f th eir Sp ani sh sojourn. " I thi n k H o nd a rea lize now they' ve mad e a hi g m istak e in leu in g the R C30 ru n o n 100 lon g - i i 's ba s icall y u nco m perit ive now," said one lea rn member wh o decli ned to be id enti fied . " T he p ro b lem is tha t th ey don 't have its repl acem en t a ny whe re nea r read y, because th ey wailed 100 lo ng to sta rt desig n work. It 'll be a no the r ro u nd pi sto n V'I but with fuel inj ectio n , because even if th ey wa n ted to rac e the N Ri 50 wh en it reach es p rod uction , it 'd be wav too hea vv - aro u nd 484 lb. in strt'ei form a nd 440 lb. as a racer. But th e injected RC30 successor sho u ld have been readv for thi s season bu t wa sn 't , a nd p robabl y won 't even ma ke th e Mar ch homol ogat ion da te for 1992 - proba b ly th e earl iest we 'll be a b le to have it will be th e seco nd Jul y signa ture dat e. T ill then, we'r e just ma iuta ini ng a presen ce and runnin g a h olding ope ra tio n, wh ich is p ret ty Iru stra ting for th e riders." A f u e l- i nj ect ed version of t he Gard ner /Ooo ban R VFi50 R wo u ld be a prett y p ot ent device, a nd it's no ticeab le thaI neither o f th e works Ho n da team s is co m p la in ing a bo u t Du ru ris c u r re n t d omin a n... ' ! But t i l l t ha t a rri ves, th e 1991 wo rks versio n o f th e RC30, wh ich arr ived la te o n ly Ihe week before Oon in g ton , sti ll requ ires so me devel opm ent to be co m pe t itive , a s Tea m R u m is ch id en g ineer No rri s Fa rr ow exp la ins . " H o nda ha s mad e hi g effort s to im prove a irflo w to Ihe ra rbs , cu t dow n o n int erna l Iricr io n . an d im prove pick u p o ut o f turn s," says Farrow . " We're r u n n ing tw o -rin g pi st on s w it h a slig h tly low er 12.4:1 co m p ress io n 10 tak e accou m o f a va ila b le fuel - we run normal p um p gas - but the cra n k and th e igniti on roto r h a ve been dow n sized for red uced flywh eel effect, a nd we're even ru n n ing a sma lle r genera tor for th e same reason. But th e b ig prob lem has been with the new a irbox, wh ich is m uch b igger than befor e a nd req u ires us 10 usc a fue l p um p for the fir st tim e becau se th e a ltered tank sha pe pu ts th e feed ta p below the level of th e flo at s. Honda ha s p icked up o n a n idea we expe rirnerued wi th last yea r a t Hockenheirn bu t co u ld n ' t get to work , wh ich is a ram-a ir system th at we ca lle d ' R u m(i)a i r " Ba si call y, it ' s en ta i led th eir sp litt ing the mai n wa ter radia tor int o two hal ves wh ich are now mou nt ed o n th e side o f the b ike, with a thi rd ch in fa irin g lik e befor e. T h is o pens up th e front to o ffer a clea ne r flow of a ir 10 the ca rbs , but the p rob lem is th at yo u ca n ' t reg u la te it. a nd we ha ve to do that by a lteri ng the sha pe a nd size o f th e a irbox , wh ich is a hi t and m iss a ffa ir. H on da cla im 117 bhp at the cra n k th is yea r ( 1'12 h h p a t th e start o f 1990 ), bUI that 's the fig ure we'd de veloped the b ike 10 pr od uce o ursel ves by th e end o f last season , at 14,300 rpm , we we've still got a lo t of wor k to do to up the pow er , a nd to sta rt with a t leas t, w( ,'re runnin g a hybrid 90/ 91 version ." Surprisi ng ly, in view o f the lact th a t :\Ioriwak i mark et a n a p pa ren tly successfu l co n vers io n for th e RC30 moto r, th ere's no sig n o f a dr y clu tch yet on th e wor ks RC30s, per haps because o f th e p roblem s a ssocia ted with the sp rag design . " Jea n D'H o lla n der reckon s th ere's 3 bh p al o ne in the dry clutch ," sa ys Fa rr ow , "so we'r e def ini tel y goi ng 10 try a Mori wa ki quite soon - Sa rre 's e env uonrnent For Informal Ion regard ing an MSr nd er course. p lease ca ll 1·800 ·44 7·4 700 Do nor d rrnk and rid e II is illeg al and d ang erou s Spec rtrcauons sub jec t to c hange wnnou t nonce