Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Part 3: Muzzy Kawasaki ZXR750 Superbike (Above) Team owner Rob Muzzy and his famous handlebar moustache. (Below) Russell's cockpit. . '<:t' 0\ 0\ rl ~ rl l-< OJ ..0 E OJ u OJ c 16 see it without the cover, is incredibly thin , the six-pis ton calipers ma ximi zin g braking potential while delivering lots of feel. Too bad in some wa ys these soeffective but ultra-costl y. "black brakes" are being banned for next seaso n, saving a team like Mu zzy's around $100,000 of race budget per season: that's a lot of cash . Expect lap times to go up as people grap ple to make the se now so powerful, fast and heavy four- stroke GP racers sto p properly with ferrou s brake sys tems. A pa ge in su perb ike technical d evelopment is turning, and I'm glad I was th e one to flip it for th e Muz zy team . Russell ha s the 46mm Ohlins fork set up a littl e stiffer than last year, but the bike still tums in we ll on the br akes, like on the d ownhill approach to MG Hair pin. The forks were altered interna lly for this seaso n, and fitted with stouter tr iple cla m ps w ith th e lower one inc re ased 35 m m in h ei gh t. T ho ug h th e te am doesn't vary the rear rid e height mor e than 5m m or so from one race to ano ther, an d they never change the location of the adjus table swi ngarm pivot after ge tting the sus pension dialed in to suit the new !ires Dunlop produced for this season (the rear a 190-section , up from the 185 u sed in '93), th e rear en d d oes sit low er tha n last yea r's bike, combining with the sho rter swingarm and altered link ratios in pursuit of that all-im po rtant extra traction . Well, when yo u have. that mu ch power, and 11 pounds less to mov e around, th at's an inevit abl e concern. On the engine, a new fully sealed airbox d esign , th e same 39m m flat-sli de Ke ih ins but w ith im proved n eed le shapes conjured u p by Kaw asaki engi-. neers, re vised cylinder-head porting, those new inlet cams, diffe ren t weights of cranks ha ft depend ing on the circui t, a compress ion ratio that went as high as 14 .0: 1 for the abortive Mexico City round at the end of '93, but which this (Above left) Russell's bike uses ari Ohlins rear s us pension unit and comes equip ped with a speedshifter. (Above right) The Nis sin carbon-fiber brakes are top-notc h, acco rding to Cathca rt. sea son is u suall y aro u nd 13.5:1, again depending o n th e n ature of th e rac e track (high er for s lo we r o nes for improved acc el eration , lower for fast ones to increase top speed), and an ign ition syste m th at is n ow va riab le b y means of a pre-programmed EPROM chip (though in pr acti ce the team have used the same curve all year long) wer e the main areas of developm ent for 1994. For next season? More of the sa me , be cause thi s is a refined ye t powerful mot or cycle which, thou gh it's the oldest design in the World Superbike pad dock, is still a true co nten der fo r to p honors . Th e ne w bike Ka w as aki a re rumored to be wo rking on for the 1996 season will h ave to be qui te something, becau se the cu rre nt ZXR750 Superbike is a hard act to follow - es pecially in the hand s o f as talented a rider tea m as Russell and Gobe rt. With engi neers and mark eting sta ff in Kawasaki rep or tedly at od ds wh ether the new bike shou ld feature Du cati-style fuel injectio n - one wants it because of the improved perform ance it would offer, eve n if there's a stee p learni ng cu rve to ge t it d ialed in pr op erly and the firs t year of com pe tition might be d ifficult, the ot he r is w orried ab out the cos t may well see carbs fitted to the gree n bikes for a cou ple more yea rs, even if Kawasaki were the first Japa nese com pany to offer fuel injection in thei r road ran ge, mo re than 10 years ago . In th a t case , expec t Muzzy to experiment with Ferrari-type va ria ble-length in let trumpets, like the Bel g ard a te am a re doi ng on th e ir Yam ahas. "It's a nice idea, and it cou ld work," he says, "bu t we've been so busy playing catch -u p in other areas, I h aven 't we had time yet to experiment with it. But I hope to soon." Meanwhile, the Muzzy ZXR750 is a rolling testbed for the next generation of Kawa saki superbikes, with more special parts used in the eng ine than last season, to com pl im ent th e customer race-kit parts used like valves (inlet is 1mm oversize ), forg ed two-ring p istons and 2.5mm-lon ger rods to ad d so me extra midran ge, and th e close-ra tio gearbox with Kawasaki-developed speed-shi fter which, though firm and positive to use, isn 't sti ff or notchy like so me sys te ms . Bu t th e two biggest ingre dien ts in the increased number of race wins the team not ched up th is se ason were the engineering wizardry to develop this motorcycle into th e faste st , most p owerful piece in the superbike paddock, and the rid ing skills needed to extract its ultimate po tentia l on the race track. Just as there is only a sma ll handful of ride rs in GP racing capa ble of riding a works 500cc bike to the ut most, so there are just as few ca pable of ex trac ting th e most from a tricked -out mod em wo rks four-cylinder superbike like the Muzzy Kawasaki. Only the third ingredient needed to a llow Ru ssell to re tai n h is world titl e was missin g th rou gh out th e 1994 season: the dependable qu ality of handling need ed to transl at e th e ZXR engine 's phen om enal performance to the track. J udgi ng by m y seaso n-e n d rid e.at Phillip Island, those problem s are history - especially with a pair of me n with the kind of rid ing sty le need ed to get the be st .o u t of this fast but individu al motorcycle. Green was the color in th e 1993 Wo rld Supe rb ike Cha mpio ns hi p - it l~ might be again in 1995.

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