Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Anthony Gobert's Muzzy Kawasaki ZXR750 (Left) This year's frame was less st iffthan the one us ed in mid-'94, making the bike more forgiving to ride. To help with traction on comer exit, a low rear ride height was used, (Below) The Go-Show starts here. Wide bars are an Important element of Gobert's radical motocros s-derived riding style. 14 ing off it, so just as when I rode Scott's ZXR, I found the best wa y to make the Kawasaki change d irection wi th th is d istinctive setu p was to push on the footpegs and use your ins ide leg to force it to alter a line, rather than han g off it an d muscle it aro und with you r upper body like on a more conventional race setup. It' s an acquired skill tha t yo u don't learn in the space of 20 or so laps, but apa rt fro m m a kin g h im very h ard to p ass on the way in to a tu rn (since he for ces others to wash o ff th eir corner speed when he ge ts in their w ay) th e setu p su its Anthony' s ultra committ ed and very spectacul ar d irt-derived style pe rfectly - a st yle w h ich w ould h ave been ideally adap ted to 500cc GP racin g in th e p re-Big Ban g era o f lightnin gqu ick pow er d elivery, and still may be even tod ay. We ' ll see be fore long, I'm su re! Th e flip s id e o f thi s MX-based roa d race setup is that the bike feels very balanced and, well, normal to sit on and rid e. Just like a road bike, really. Rear ride height is quite low, for two good reasons: One, it m akes it more stab le under the fierce braking that's all part of th e Go-Show - a ny hi gher w ou ld increase the weight transfer and stee pen the head angle even m ore under th at heavy braking, th reat enin g in st ability on co rner en try an d riskin g th e front wheel tucking under. Two, it improves traction out of the turn un der the brutal acce leration that' s another p art of the Gobert riding package. As his shredded rear tire in the firs t ra ce at Phi llip Islan d showed, Gob ert get s on the gas hard er and earlier than any of his rivals - anothe r component of his mot ocross riding sty le, which made the hiccups in Du nlop tire development in the wa ke o f the Kobe ea rt h quake ano ther factor in the disappointing first ha lf to the sea so n. An th ony is qui te h app y p ow e r-steerin g with the back w heel when he gets ha rd on th e gas, and it see ms the Kawasaki chassis - now more responsi ve and less stiff than in mid- ' 94 wh en th e team w ent in th e wrong d irection with development - is well su ited to this, as Gobert's colleague on the Bertocchi Kawasaki, Italian Piergi o rgio Bon tempi, s h owed time a n d aga in with h is power-laid darkies th is season. "The bik es w er e reall y th e same as w e had in ' 94," says Johnson , "except w e did a lot of w ork on m akin g th e pow er delivery a little smoother and the pow erband broader, w or king with different cam combinati ons and su ch-li ke to get the power to th e grou nd better. Anth on y 's m otocross-s ourced r iding ~;~;~~~::~~~~~:~""-.l m ake s thi s imp orsty, Ibecau se he gets on the gas so tant e early that mo st of the time the bike's not pointing where he wants it to go, so the power has go t to be controllable, and it' s cr itical that it accele ra tes cleanly an d crisply." . Thou gh Joh ns on refused to confirm _it , th ere ' s no d oubt th at part o f th is development included fittin g a gear drivetrain to the twi n overhead camsha fts to replace the side-mounted cam chai n. To be sure of this, you only have to compare th e so u n d o f the e ngine o f th e Muzzy bike when they fire it up in pit la n e to a n ormal ZXR lik e Joch e n Schm id's in the next ga rage. The extra m ech an ica l whine fr om th e gears is obvious. Ju st check out the par ts list for th e new '96 Kawasa ki ZX7R race kit, and th e re you'll fin d an alterna t ive crankshaft for th e gear-drive conversio n. " I' m al most sure Ru sse ll had a gear en gine at Sugo in '9 4," says th e manager of an oth er team, specu lating tha t the reason for th e conversion wa s t h e sa me a s when H ond a made the swi tch on their V4s - cris per res ponse fro m th e e n gi n e and more accu ra te valve timing. Though Rob Mu zzy is rep uted to have tried ano the r sm art trick in U.S. Su p er b ike ra cing, in th e form of electronicall y ad ju s tab le variab le-length carb trumpets like H onda em p loys on th e works RC45s an d both Du cati and Yamaha have experime nted with in the p ast, there' s n o co nfirmati on o f that being fitted to Gobert's bike. However, such a d evice (no w co m mo n place in Formula On e car racing) would allow a high -revving engin e like the ZXR750 or the latest version of the works RC45, which re vs ju st as h igh as the 14,700rp m Kaw asa ki - to d eli ver im p roved to rqu e a t th e low er end of the powerband, wh en the carb stack w ould ex te nd for op tim u m ve lo city . This w ith ou t sacrificing topend p ow e r a t hi gh rpm, wh en they woul d fu lly con tra ct. Sorry, can' t find any men tion of this one in the ZX7R kit parts list, tho ugh! You can' t hel p but no tice when you ride th e Mu z z y b ik e h ow d efin ite ly quicker the engi ne acc e lera te s th an before. It spins up rea lly fast, perhaps a func tion of th at gea r ca mshaft drive which is ap parently reserv ed for the factory 's ,top Wor ld Superbike rider an d their Japanese wor ks team . Oth er riders confirm that Gobert's bike is no w a missile out of tu rns. This perhaps beca use his " fire- it-u p" riding style is so w ell suited to the bike, although the '95 bike doesn't have any to p-speed advan tage ove r the other bikes, unlike a yea r ago . Mind you, it was fast eno ugh for me. Rou n d in g th e last turn at Phillip Islan d flat ou t in fou rth gea r, with th e loose chassis setup flapping th e fro nt wheel as you hit the bu mp on the exit, is an unden iab le th rill - especia lly when you click into fifth with the sweet-action speed sh ifter at oyer 125 m ph , and top a t 155-plus, with th e b a rs wavi ng in yo u r h ands ye t ev ery thi ng strangely controllable. It's hard wo rk holding on, even har der to make the bike straighten up and fly righ t - yet after a few lap s of doin g this you realize that' s the w ay the bike was bo rn to behave, in Go-Show go -mode, at least. I can see no w how sti ffeni ng th e chassis too much as th e team d id in '94 w ou ld be a reci pe for disaster w ith this kind of setu p, because the b ike n e e d s to b e able to m o ve aro u nd to so rt itself ou t. It' s a fund amen tally for givin g ch assis d esign th at yo u m ust trust not to ge t the better of you - and th at' s a bi g ac t o f faith to make in 20 laps at those spee d s. Yet ou t of a slo w turn like Siberi a, Honda or MG, the Kawasaki pulls really cleanly from 8000 rpm upward. It hasn't go t the fierce transiti on into the pow erban d it u sed to have, but fro m 11,000 rp m it really pulls h ard and p icks up re vs ve ry fas t ind eed till be fore yo u kn ow it you ' re tachi ng ove r 14,000 and it's tim e to th in k abo u t shifting gears. Th ou gh th e s peed sh ifter works well and isn't oversensitive as on the Ducati, 1 ended up turning it off by means of the right of the tw o swi tches on the left clipon . Wh y? Wh en I sta rted to s lide th e b ack wheel I found I was h ittin g the leve r with my boot as I leaned on the foo tpeg to contro l the slid e - so when the en gin e chimed in again after cutting ou t, th e bike s lid even more. An thony hadto rid e this b ike in th e ra ce ne xt week, after all... Once stra ightened up out of Siberia , I got a viv id messag e abo ut how pow er ful th is engine is. With the stiff rea r su spension to stop the back end bottoming out, yo u get great pow er wh eelies in the botto m three gears: fun, fun, fun. Bu t a w ee k later, after winnin g its final race, this fast, fearsome, four-stroke factory racer wa s head ed for the Mu zzy museum - pensioned off, its w orking ca reer ove r. Som e vi n tage racer. The Muzzy Kawasaki team won the first big Superbike race of 1995, a n d th e las t. Wh at happened in between is the stu ff they write H oll y w o od screenpla ys abo u t. Bu t th e bottom line is th at in 1995, Anth ony Go bert g re w up from be in g a p romis in g ki d to a m an h is rivals must respect - and thi s was the bike that hel ped h im d o th at . In 1996, with its new sho rt-stro ke successor, the bets must be stro n g that the Go-Sh ow will go all the wa y to the top of the table in World Superbike racing . l~ Kawasaki ZXR750 Specnications Engine , .. , . Liquid-coo led. DOHC, in-line four-cyl inder four-str oke with four valves per cylinder and'offset gear camshaft drive Bo.. x stroke , , , . . ,. 7 1 x 47 .3mm Capacity 749cc Output Over 155 bhp aI.1 4.000 rpm (at gearb ox) Compression ratio 13.5:1 Carburetion . . (4) 39mm Keihin flat-slide Ignition Digital programmab le electronic CDI Gearbox ._ 6· speed Clutch M ultiplate wet Chassis Aluminum twin-spar Suspension Front 46 mm Ohlins inverted telescopic fork s Rear. . . . Fabricated aluminum swingarm w ith adjustable pivot. rising-rate linkage and single O hlins shock Rake/trail _ 24,SO 100m m / W lbase , 54.8 in. Weight .. 360 .8 Ibs. wrth oil/ water no fuel Weight distribution, fir . .. . . 54/ 46% Brakes Front • 320 mm A P cast-iron diSCS with six-pist on AP calipers Rear . .... 200mm Nissin steel disc wit h two-piston Nissin caliper W....ls/ti..s · Front 130170- 17 Dun lop radial on 3.50-in. Ma rche sini wheel 190/55-17 Dunlop radial on 6.25·in . Marchesini wheel Top speed . .. . . 183 mph (Salzburgring ) Vear of manufactu 1995 Owner Team Muzzy Kawasaki. Bend . Oregon. Rear

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