Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

a second faster than last year. Scott Russell finished 14th in that race, and he was some two seconds slower than when he won the year before. And at Monza I went 1.7 seconds faster than six weeks before during private tests. The competition has definitely heated up and now we just have to fight off more Ducatis than last year." RULES Aaron Slight might be a nice fellow, but he is very outspoken when it comes to the rules applied in World Superbike racing. And he's in a position to voice his opinion. After all, he is on the receiving end of a 250cc·and 33-pound difference between the Ducatis and the fourcylinder machines. FIM's decision to bring the weight difference down to 11 pounds hasn't made a big impression on the New Zealander. "They (the FIM) shouldn't have bothered," Slight says. "Adding five kilograms (11 pounds) to Carl's bike (which wasn't at the minimum weight to start with) doesn't change a thing. If you change rules, you make them the same for everybody. I mean, how many races do Ducati have to win before something really changes? They've already won at least 90 percent of all the superbike races ever run, and they've won every race this year (before the Albacete round). The current situation still creates room for another weight change, and then a cylinder-capacity change if the Japanese knock on the table hard enough. And the decision to ban carbonfiber brakes is an extra problem for us. "Carbon-fiber brakes make braking easier and keep it a lot more controllable. If you're in the corner very deep now and you brake very hard, and then someone comes across, you're going to crash. With carbon-fiber brakes you could control everything more and the extra weight of the bike didn't really make such a big difference. Even though everybody considers me to be a braking specialist, I have' a rough time now. At the same time I've come to realize that in some circumstances it may be better to brake a little earlier and to carry a higher cornering speed." Tires are another area where Honda has been struggling the last couple of races. The official Honda Superbike team made a somewhat surprising move at the end of 1992 when they opted to run Dunlop tires on their RC45s - despite the long-standing ass0ciation with Michelin. Doug Polen's excellent relationship and long experience with Dunlop might have had an influence on that decision. For Slight, the switch to the English-Japanese rubber was quite a change. But now that the RC45 is on Michelins again, some problems still exist. 'The bike steers better this year and follows the road a lot better, but now the tires seem to be the biggest cause of a headache as far as the chassis is con·cerned. Michelin have worked so many years with Ducati, and everything is developed around Ducati. "But Ducati's tires don't work on my bike, and GP 500cc tires don't work on my bike. So we have to work in several directions. That's what we're concentrating on now. The problem is also that it's so unpredictable - at one track we can use the same rubber (but a different construction) as Ducati, and at.the other track it's a completely different ballgame." UNDERSTEER Slight's riding style - with a lot of the rider's weight on the front of the bike seemed to suit the Honda RC45 better than Polen's style, who complained the whole year about the tendency of the Honda to understeer. "For me, it wasn't such a big problem as for Doug," Slight says. 'The Japanese have worked hard on that and it's definitely better now. However, I have to admit that the inherent problem is still there. On some slower circuits the front is still being pushed a lot. "But then again, all machines are compromises. There's not one bike that is perfect everywhere." Even so, Honda is working hard to reach that goal. An impressive crew of mechanics and engineers, and lots of computers help the team develop the bike as quickly and efficiently as possible. For Slight, working in such a big team is quite a change from what he knew before. But he enjoys every minute of it. 'The good thing is that you can see the progress. Sometimes the pressure is too much, and you get sick of it. Especially with Doug gone, the HRC people are depending a lot on me. "But as long as there is light at the end of the tunnel, it is all right. It's when you do this stuff and the next week nothing changes that you start to figure to give up. In our case, every week something is better on the bike. It may not be faster, but easier to ride or whatever. The computer helps also, even though the data from the computer isn't so comprehensive as in some other systems. From the readout you can't learn what the suspension is doing, but it tells you what the gearbox is like, how much rpm you are doing at a certain point, and how much the bike is accelerating. I spend a lot of time every day on computer analyzing." The communication between the racing team and the HRC crew in Japan is intense. In addition to the information learned on the World Superbike circuit, a team of test riders is also looking for solutions in Japan. "It takes some six to eight weeks before you can get something radically changed; for basic things - like a different offset or a different handlebar - we might get a new piece one or two weeks later. I know that the Japanese test riders use different testing settings (concerning brakes and chassis stiffness), but we've been using our own equipment for most of the races. Only at Misa.I)o did the Japanese insist that I try some solutions that seemed to work on the testing circuits in Japan (new parts in the Showa forks), but that cost us dearly. Last year, we'd made exactly the same mistake at Donington, when we tried too many different things. We can't afford to lose many championship points now. Last year, the pressure to win was already huge, but this year we just have to win the title." This predicament wasn't made any easier when Polen was let go at the beginning of the season, and when Honda failed to come up with a good alternative - despite the fine efforts put forward by "temp" Team Rumi rider Simon Crafar. Slight admits that a world-elass rider is what the team really needs, one who can provide backup on the track. Still, he's not too unhappy about HRC's provisional choice Satoshi Tsujimoto. "I was quite pleased to find out that Satoshi had the same comments on the bike's setup as me. When he goes back to Japan he might be able to translate precisely what I am saying into development of the bike." CHANCES Despite the 95--point lead that Fogarty now has in the standings, Slight still believes he has a chance to win his first World Championship. 'The main problem up to now has been power for accelera tion. Since Monza we have received engine parts that have helped a lot. So [ feel quite confident for the rest of the season. There are still a lot of circuits on the calendar which will be good for the Honda. If we can put pressure on the Ducati, the engine might not last as long. When Carl (Fogarty) has got a 10second lead, there's no pressure and it's . easy to finish first. But if we can stay close enough to him, maybe he'll get nervous and the engine might snap. Unfortunately, up to now this is the only way we can hope to get back to him in the point standings. At Monza, the Ducati was only two kilometers per hour (1.2 mph) slower than the Honda and the Yamahas. And nothing accelerates better than a Ducati...whatever Carl might say about that. So tell me, how can we beat the Ducatis if we don't benefit from an acceleration or top-speed advantage?" (J\" It) Cl\ Cl\ ...... N ...... i 29

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