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/127567
Rainey has another big imponderable - the sometimes notorious Dunlop tires. He carries much responsibility for the surprising Team Roberts decision to give the Anglo-Japanese rubber another chance (the test team is another powerful factor), because he prefers the characteristics of the tires. They slide sooner than the grippy Michelins, but are much more predictable and controllable; and Rainey likes to ride with the bike "nice and loose". He won the title on them in 1991, but on the other hand the firm failed to shake off its reputation for erratic quality control, and all works teams deserted en masse when Michelin made a full-scale return last year. My guess is that, with Kenny Roberts nagging full-time and a continuous offtrack test program, the Dunlops will be a strong suit sooner or later. But perhaps not for 'the first few races given that the team is close to a state of panic (and the factory in one) after the debut debacle of their new bike at Eastern Creek. Rainey, however, is very tough in adversity, and if he can regain the consistency that deserted him in the early It is hard to know whether Schwantz's principle opposition will come from Honda or Yamaha, Doohan or Rainey. Each has plenty to prove, and given halfway decent machinery every chance of doing so. Trouble is, nobody really knows yet what will constitute half-way decent. Honda raised the technical stakes last year with the fortuitous discovery of Big Bang firing order; Doohan was the right man to make best use of it. The next obvious technical step is into fuel injection, which may (if really well developed) give a similar advantage to its rider. Then again, it may not. A ha tIul of rumors surrounds Rainey's secret new Yamaha. Fuel injection is just one of them; it is also possible that Yamaha have built a Honda-style single-crank engine, the better to benefit from Big Bang technology. All this in addition to what Team Roberts might add - they are working hard on a carbon-fiber frame, and have commissioned The number two riders on the top three teams. Brazilian Alex Banos (above), Italian Luca Cadalora (right) and Australian Daryl Beattie (below). Could one of them step to the front and surprise the established stars of 500cc Grand Prix racing? Fuel injection: RaCing's pride or racing's shame? uel injection is the neKt technological barrier, and it is very likely that it will be breached in 1993. . ~s revolu~on is way overdue. In every other sphere of car and bike racing, ~ncluding su~rbikes, carburetors are either forgotten antiqu.ities, or at best higllly obsolescent. . Only:ifi tfle t~~a1 pirmai:le of two-wheel spott, bike GP racing,arl! the top techni<:lans still diangmg Jets and needJes~ setting :float levels, and debating the effects of throttle-slide shape on fuel atoriUzation. . This is of course because GP bikes ate two-strokes, and as every technically minded motor~yclist knows, two-strokes have double-speed fuel requirements and also rev very high. One of several reasons why two-strokes are notoriously hard to inject. Not every four-wheel technical buff has the same opinion. Led by Australia's own Orbital Engine, two-stroke road car engines, for hatchbacks and grand tourers alike, are the flavor of the moment. Many major manufacturers have signed up with Orbital, while Toyota and Chrysler (among others) have built their own sli~tly different twostroke engines. All re.ly heavily on direct cylinder .Injection, for performance, economy and low pollution. It is easy to blame the bike manufacturers for dragging their feet, but the FIM's technical rules ate hardly encouraging. For the benighted reason of trying to keep costs d~wn, ~ese sPfolCiflcaUy forbid direct cylinder i,hjecti~ Any squit'tirig must be at the pnmaty i:!MetP9rt, reduCUlg what could ~ part qf a l;Ughly J,ntelligent electronic engiile manageIpent system to the role-of merely a better carburetor. . . ' ,"', . This yeat it is at least 90% likely that the first fuel-injected bike will be racing. They will prObably be Hondas or Yamahas, or even <:agivas, for the Italians have been testing a system for years. TIley may even be all three. And you can be sure that whoever is first will claim a major technical coup. . Instead, they should perhaps feel embarrasSed, on behaJf of all.racing, that they were not able to provide valuable two-stroIce ifijection technology to the automotive world at the time they all needed it. F a full-time Dunlop test team with rider Randy Mamola to hasten this and other developments. Honda have their secrets too. Again, fuel injection is the prime suspect, and HRC have actually raced a squirter 250 in Japan. Time has dissipated the advantage they seized last year with their Big Bang, and another big step is now due if they are to retain the technical lead. part of last year, he is a formidable championship contender. Doohan also has a pretty impressive record of fighting back when hurt - not only his brave return to Brazil last year, but also the testing times early in his GP career, when he raced with one of his fingers ground down to open bone. Mick put on a special glove, gritted his teeth, and applied himself. 7