Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

In the season wh en the four-cylin der w ei g ht limit was d ropped 11 p ounds and the Kawasaki too k full advantage of that so as to w ei gh in a t 354 p ounds without th e need to keep non-functioning items like the starte r mot or as balla st any more, and a 1:1 bhp /kg . power-tow ei ght rat io was all but attai ned by a four -cylind er s u per b ike fo r th e fi rst time, the ZXR actu ally became mo re ridable - in sp ite of it s increased p erformance . That ' s som e tri ck , p erh ap s accounting for the fact that , in winning the Wo rld Superbike titl e in 1993, Russell only won five races (and then-teammate Aaron Slight one), agains t a tot al of 19 victories by Ducati rid ers. Thi s seaso n, in fini shing se co nd, Ru ssel took nine race v icto ries (a nd Gobert o ne), w hereas Du cati 's race tally was 10. Wh o sa id racing was fair , an yway? 'T he bik e you rode in '93 wa s quite a bit different from th e wa y it was by th e e n d o f the se aso n, " Muzz y exp la in s . " Fro m Japan in ' 93, w e ch anged our direction, beca use we found there we 'd been going down the wrong road. What Ducati had on us at th at tim e w as really accel erati on, the dri ve o u t of co rners, whereas we had for years w o rked o n mak in g the motorcycl e fas t - we' d worked on drive as well, but not nearly as mu ch a s to p speed. 50 we started rethinking the per forman ce part of th e engine package fro m th e middle of '93 on, and th is yea r we've ju st carried rig ht on the sa me lines - ther e's no m agic to it, just a question of solid developme nt till y o u h it the right co mbi nation of mechanical elemen ts that mak e the bike work the way yo u want it to - mostl y working on the combustion chamber but also the intake cam is d ifferent and '. it took us tw o m onths to d eve lop the pipe we have o n it now. It's an ongoing thing - b ut no w we h ave a bett er allarou nd engine, thoug h to get th e more linear, more drivabl e po w er cu rve, we suffere d a d rop in peak pow er to sta rt with. But we kept on working at it, and no w we ha ve more top-end power than eve r befor e, plus it's str onger all the way th ro ug h. See what you think!" Well, let's just say th at, having now ridden evert one of the different makes an d mod el s co n testi n g th e ' 94 World Su perb ike se ries, I ha ve to ad m it that the Kaw a s ak i is definit el y th e m o st imp ressive p a ck a g e .- Im pres si ve, beca use w h ile th e 955 Du cati m ay be more ni mb le and q uicker handling, it doesn't hav e the awesome engine package of the Gree n Meanie. And while yo u wouldn't call anythi ng built by a Japan ese factory's race shop exactly amateur ho ur, the o ther two four-cylinder bikes in contention last season were a step down from the ZXR750 in terms of performance . But, having said that, the Muzzy Kawasaki requires a very particular riding style that by no means every top rider is capable of developing - Gobert obvious ly can, Terry Rym er cou ldn't, and Russell doesn't ride ' em any other way. Bu t firs t things first - that engine. When Ru sse ll's chief mechanic, Gary Medley, told me the rev limiter was set at 14,700 rp m, I thought I'd misheard him. No waya n engine ca n re v tha t high in roun d -p iston 750cc fo rm an d live, right? Wron g. Th oug h Kawasaki may have detuned th eir ZXR m ot or fro m World Su p e r b ike gui se for th e Suzu ka 8-H ou r - which w ould ex plain how come H onda's otherwise lackluster RC45 managed to beat it in to second p lace with the help of so me inspired riding by Aaron Slight - the fact is th at in sp ri nt form the Mu zzy Kawasaki tak es no prisoners in a straight line. Nothing I have ever ridden, short of a top factory (Left) Scott Russell 's Kawasaki, shown here sans silence r, is arg uab ly the fastest of the superblkes. (Below) Cathcart at speed at Phillip Isla nd , th e site of the final round of the World Superblke Championship . 500cc GP bike, has th e same ability to fast -forward the su rro und ing scene ry to mak e a long s tr a ig h t like Phillip Island's blast past the pits into a tunnel o f s peed. If it w asn't for th e musical exhaust note from the Muzzy pipe, and th e se nse of extra . bulk co m pa red to a GP bike, that's what yo u could imagine yo u were ri di ng as yo u kick th e ne w speed shifter fitted for thi s seaso n into top gear jus t past the finish lin e. But no 500cc GP racer has the ta ch needle flirt ing with the fifteen-grand mark as yo u change up, the engine pullin g unbe lievably strongly at high rpm. Yet much lower down the rev range, it ca r b urets swee tly from 8500 rpm upw ard, pulling smoothly and strong ly o u t of a slow turn like Siberia before co ming o n s tro ng a t just over 10,000 rpm fo r a long. linear power drive u p to peak rev s. Th is is quite a contrast wi th th e Rob Phill is ZXR of two seasons ago, w hich h ad a m u ch sna p pie r and less usabl e power d elivery, wi th a nar rower p owerband to boot . Ru ssell ' s '93 bike was a lre ady m ore torquey, but if yo u can imagine Big Ban g GP technology in a four-stroke co n tex t, that' s what th e Muzzy team have done to this yea r's Green Meanie: it uses an other 500 revs and the power doesn 't fall off Over th e 14,000 rpm pea k, so it ' s w orth u sin g them - yet has improved punch an d rid ability in mi d range, ma kin g it easier for th e rear w heel to hook u p out of slow tu rn s. ' I can see now how Russell w as able to d om inat e the two wet-weather races at Don ing to n Park, even fendi ng off Troy Co rser's supposedly more rid able Ducati in the downpour: you'd never think a four-cy linder superbike cou ld be so tractable while at the same time being so potent. Yet it is incredibly powerful, making this a bi ke ' that must pose a constant challenge in terms of suspension setup and tire choice 'fo r each track. Choices of five different lin ks fo r th e rea r shock ratio, the sho rter swingarrn used this season in search of improved traction, and the same trick Dunl ops I wa s using - a British-made fro nt and Japanese rear - that Gobert h ad ridden to victory on the day before, are all the m ore necessary to plant that trem endou s punch of p ower to th e gro und, ye t let yo u d rift the back end controllably - well, more or less, in my case - under hard acceleration . But th ere ' s 'so mu ch p o w er th at w he n it hits a bump, like coming o n to the front stra ight cranked over in fourth gear und er h ard acce le ra tio n , th e Kawasaki becom es a real cha lle nge to mast er : Th e front wheel pops in the air, th e bars start w avi ng in your hands, yo u' re fighting to han g on and keep it pointing more or less in the right di rection w ithout ba ckin g off the throttle one millimeter - it's a real test of ph ysique 'and determination, a true muscle bike in every se nse. Excep t - th e muscl es yo u need to use are no t the ones yo u might expect. It too k me m ore than a dozen laps of st ruggling to contro l this green-pa inted buckin g-bronco th oroughbred before I learned w ha t I was doing wrong . Pitting for a rest, I got some words of advice from Medley: "I can see you're having problems coming onto the front straight here," he sa id. "You might like to try riding it like Scott does - he uses the inside of hi s legs to make it change direction, without hariging off the side a whole lot like most people do ." You know what? It's true - loo k at any photo of M r. Russell in a turn and observe how he sits mostl y in the seat, leans his body with the bike and sticks one of those long legs groundward to judge his angle of lea n wi th his knee, all the while sitting qu ite u pri g ht and relaxed, rather tha n wi th his arms d raped ro und the ta nk w hile he h an gs off the seat. In other words, rid e it like a h o rse ? W ell , yes . Fo r ci ng m y self to move around less inthe sea t paid off in terms of lap times. You hav e to hold on tight w it h yo u r lower body, gras p ing th e bike between yo u r thighs and stee rin g as much w ith th e foo trests as th e w ide-sprea d handleb ars (which do offer goo d levera g e ), forcing the b ik e to change d irecti on by ex erting pressure with yo u r knees as much asyour hands. You ride th e b ik e loo ser tha n , sa y, a more tightly-strung GP chassis, letting it find its o wn wa y over bumps w hile concen trating on u sing sm all a mo u n ts of force with yo ur arms and legs to m ake it steer . It turns very easily in to co rners and ch an ges d irection we ll - es pecially for an in-line fou r - even witho ut shifting yo ur body weight a lot. Ju st pull easily on the bar s and press wi th yo ur legs, an d it'll stee r - no wonder Gobert w ith hi s su perc ross ex perience adapte d so quickly to the Muzzy ZXR. You need a similar riding style to an off-road racer to ge t the best out of it, especially the delicacy of throttle control, and his powerful motocrosse r's ph ysique is ideally suited to the bike. Yet it doesn't understeer und er power, even if yo u don 't han g off: you just need to hold on tight and shake the reins. Do they have cowboys in Georgia? . Just like last year, the Nissin carbon brakes on the Muzzy Kawasaki are absolutely phenomenal, th ough I gave myself a fright on my first lap riding round with my fing er on the trigger to warm them up; they came on so strongly and so suddenly tha t I almost locked ' u p the cold fro nt tire . But in normal use th ey are with out do ubt s till th e best brakes I have ever used on a m otorcycle: they have th e sensitiv ity of met al discs, allow ing you to stro ke th e lev er lightly to cra m off a littl e speed aro und a fast turn, but th ey also ha ve mi nd- boggling stoppin g power from hi gh speeds, - all this with ou t the servo effect or tim e lag inoperation, especially wi th the shrouds fitted for a fast track like Phillip Island. The swe pt area of the di sc, when you A ~ ~ ~ '::I" 0\ 0\ rl -.:i rl l-< (1) ..!::l E ~ (1) o 15

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