Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

24 Hours of Le Mans (Left) Terry Rymer (11) rldes the Kawasak i France entry aro und the outside 01the team that featured 1993 World Champio n Doug Toland (1); Rymer 's team took the victory In the La Mans 24 Hour while Toland's team failed to finish. (Bel ow) The Honda RC45- . mounted team of Alex Vierra/Jose KuhnlRachel Nlco tt e finished a surprlslng second in the 24-hou r race . over the bikes Troy Corser and Pascal Picotte had used at Da ytona: a very brave thing to say, as th ese b ikes are equipped with the 950-0r-so cc capacity engine, based upon the 916 pow er source - which means that these bikes wo uld be completely illegal! There was some worry when the infamous "Fast by Ferracci" lettering was on the gas tanks of the bikes that showed up, but an Ita lian Ducati engineer put our pi, who had set that record time last year at one-minute, 45.57 seconds. Rymer finally went around in 1.44.534. "Pole position is not so important in an endurance race," the Lond oner said. "It is mainly good for the morale of the team. I feel! could have gone even faster, but I don' t want to do anything stupid here. My main concern is the World Superbike Championship, which gets under way within two weeks' time." Homeboy Dominique Melland, manag er of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team , on the other hand, started with a handicap. Un til last year, Suzuki had opted to enter a special TT Formula I-version of the GSXR in the endurance champ ionship; now they had to make do with the reinforced standard frame, and they had had to replace their magnesium carburetors with standard ones. Most of the work had been done on the air box. Thirty-nine-year-old veteran Herve Moineau rode the bike to second position on the grid, albeit a fu ll seco n d down on the Kawasaki at 1:45.54. ., Ducati is the third factory which will be officially involved in endurance racing th is year. Young Frenchmen Philippe Mouchet, Stephane Chambon and Florian Ferracci took the Ducati 888 to the third position on the grid with a 1:45.60. The French press had been full of rumors about the two Ducatis that were entered in the weeks that preceded the event At first, Raymond Roche was said to be the one to lead (as a manager) the tearns to big successes on the tracks, but at the last moment, the Frenchman did not reach a financial agreement with Ducati. Finally, no real team manager was appointed, and then the French turned their attention to the b ikes. According to some, the French Ducati-irnporter was going to fly The second Kawasaki o f Bonoris/ Coutelle/ Haquin took the fourth starting position with a 1:45.65, just in front of the guys most of the crowd of 70,000 had come to see. National hero Christian Sarron had decided to make his comeback at Le Mans, and - depending on the resu lt was also considering participating in the Bol d'Or at the end of the year. 'This does not mean that you will see me back in the seat of a Grand Prix racer," the Yamaha France team manager said, crushing the hopes of many French race fans. "I have just accepted this offer from my brother Dominique, who always wanted to run in a team with me. At first, we were going to make an appearance at the Bol d'Or last year, but there was not enough time to get everything settled. For Le Mans, a deal was put together in two months' time. The Japanese provided us with two engines, and Serg e Rosset (ROC ) built two chassis. (These bikes will be used in the World Superbike Championship by Jean-Marc Deletang, the third rider on the endurance team..Editor) I must say that I was a bit worried to know if I would remember how to ride a bike fast - I rode my last Grand Prix in 1990 - bu t fortunately a big Superbike is a little bit easier to ride than a 500cc rocket:' Sarron had not forgotten much, including how to crash a race bike. In addition to Sarron (injured hand), Deletang (injured foot) also started the 24hour race in less than perfect physical condition. Sarron ended up being the fastest of the three, clicking off a 1:45.&5, which earned his team the fifth starting position. The 'YZF Yamaha - the first official Yamaha to be entered in a European endurance race since 1987 - was producing some 148 hp. The sixth fastest time went to the minds at ease. "Th e onl y things we have had corne over from the States are the (bigger) reservoirs that were used on the Da yton a b ikes, a nd th e rea r swinga rm, which allo ws our mech ani cs to cha nge w heels more rapidly." Kawasaki wins; Honda surprises By Johan Vandekerckhove I.EMANS, FRANCE. APR !7 he Kawasaki Motors France team was the only squad at Le Mans tha t had usable superbike experience which could be applied directly to the new endurance racing rules - and it showed. For the first time ever, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team had to do without their trick TT Formula One parts - and it showed. But the most impressive showing was turned in by the Honda RC45s. Four out of five not only finished the race, bub -ended up inside the top 10. The Honda crew of Alex Vieira, Jose Kuhn and Rachel Nicotte was definitely the biggest surprise on the rostrum; along with Kawasaki's winning trio of Terry Rymer, Adrien Morillas and Jean-Louis Battistini; and Suzuki's fortunate thirdplace team of Bruno Bonhuil, Philippe Monneret and Juan-Eric Gomez. "To be quite honest, we had not dared to expect this result, ourselves," admitted Jean-Louis Guillou after the race around the clock. The man who used to manage the infamous Honda w orks endurance team in the '80s, and who now has a consultancy function within Honda Europe, reminded everyone that the official name of the RC45 is actually Honda RVF750R, referring unambiguously to the famous RVF racers that dominated the endurance scene until onl y a few years ago. "The five bikes were identical, equipped only with the basic kit parts which are available to everybo dy," Guillou re ve aled. "Th e results show tha t the bike (has) a pretty solid basis. Perhaps Honda migh t now consider developing a specia l endurance kit, as they did a couple of years ago with the RC30. It may well be so that the engine still lacks some horsepower, but we are here at the beginning of a new development. The reliability is there already, and - given the righ t suspension parts • the chassis performs pretty well under these gruelling circumstances..." T QUAUFYlNG This 17th edition of the 24-hour race at Le Mans was most definitely gruelling not so much for the weather conditions (which were close to ideal and much bet- ter than can be expected from an average spring day in the center of France), but for the stiff competition that entered this first race of a four-event World Championship. No less than five different makes had entered official or semi-official bikes (counting the "standard," but very closely followed RC45s). St ill, Kawasaki rema in ed the b ig favorite. Even though the y had logged their last Victory at Anderstorp in Sweden at the beginning of last season, Kawasaki Motors France was, once again, the team to beat at the Bugatti circuit. They had won the two previous editions of the race, and they had a bike on hand which had already proven its efficiency in some national and international races around the globe in the early stages of the season. "The Japanese are now working full steam again on the bikes we are using this year," said team manager Christian Bourgeois. "Last season, they concentrated fully on the World Superbike Championship, with the result we all know now. This yea r - the first tim e th e World Endurance Championship is open only to motorcycles which comply with the technical Superbike-regula tions - we have exactly the same bikes at our disposal as Scott Russell and Terry Rymer in th e superbike series. This means tha t we have received a new radiator, the sam e chassis as them (the short one and the long one), and the Japanese have sent enough information to set the bikes up properly on every circuit. Furthermore, the problem that ca used our retir em ent at the Bol (water circulation) has been taken care of, and now the water and oil pumps are d riven by gears, not by a chain. Finally, new cylinder heads, camsha fts and p istons have allowed us to gain 10 mo re horsepower compared to last year:' Apart from the official bike for Terry Rymer/ Adrien Morillas/Jean-Louis Battistini, the Moto Shop 35 team of Denis Bonoris/Stephane Cou telle and Christian Haquin disposed of an identical bike (356 pounds, 160 hpj. Given the success of Scott Russell at Daytona and Morillas in the Fren ch Championship, these bikes were the big favorites at Le Mans. Rymer confirmed this during th e first officia l practice session when he steamrolled the pole position time of Piergiorgio Bontem-

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