Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(l eft ) Grand Prix rider Jean-Michel Bayle (left) stands next to Phil Read's 1964 RDS6 2S0cc championship winner, while loris Caplrossl Is beside the 1968 RA31 12Scc road racer. (Below) Caplrossi and Bayle vis it the Yamaha assembly line. (Right) Mr. OneHundred-and-Ten : Toshlmitsu 110, general manager of the First Engineering Division where rac ing Yamahas are designed and built. with prog ress SO far, while a big noticeboard displays suggestions for improved practices. Th e m ost ex ci ti ng m ome n t co mes whe n the fully assembled mot orcycle is started for the first lime. This usually happens at the third stab of the button. Then a worker (all wear the sa me blue un iforms as management staff) stra ddl es the bike an d rides it a few yards down the line to a rolling road. Ther e it is run up through the gears, and has power ou tput and other functions checked before it is drained of fuel, rust -proofed and packed for del ivery. MEET MR. ONE-HUNDRED-AND-TEN Toshimitsi lio is known to Yamaha's international racing community as "Mister One-Hundred-And-Ten." Spell his surname out in capitals and you can see why" but the tag is appropriate also for the General Manager of the Firs t Engi neering Division, for th is is the department responsible for racing design and development, where 11o-percent effort is a watchword for riders and designers alike. Formerly head of the Yam aha su bsidiary OhIins sus pension in Scandi navia, Mr. lio speaks excellent English and is a staunch defender of two-stroke racing in spite of apparent engineering irrelevance. "Why do car factories continue wi th F-1 racing, wh ich is not related to production cars? Partl y it is because of the status . They are the fastest. It is the same wi th the SOOcc class. "But GP racing ha s contributed a lot to han d li ng te ch n ol ogy, to suspen sion , brakes, and all chassis components. We also use racing to test an d develop new materials, like carbon an d so on. "It is har d to know the futu re of the tw o-stroke engine in production terms bu t it is important to remember that it is still a cheaper, smaller and lighter type of en gine than a four-stroke." Wh at did he see as the next big breakthrou gh in racing? "A t the momen t, the biggest key on a 500 is traction - how to manage tire performance for the who le race. At present, by the halfway point the grip has gone. We cannot blame the tire manufacturers. It is a combination of engine character and tire performance." lio hin ted at electronic means of solving the problem. "Traction control is one possibility, but we have some difficulties here, because the rider needs to have complete control over the power. But if we can manage to develop the concept... The other thing is engine-throttle relationship." lio was gua rded on the matter of controlled chassis flex, another area of current development after Yamaha's own u ltras tiff chassis of 1993 was a failure rider Wayne Rainey was only happy once the extruded- beam ch assis was shelved an d an ol der- type ROC -b u ilt chassis brought back. "Th is was a kin d of aberrati on ," lio said . "From the handling point of view, the degree of chassis rigidi ty, suspens ion an d tires all work together." You coul d not chan ge the val ues in one area alone, w hile motorcycles rem ained dynamically very complex. " It is ve ry difficu lt to optimize the specifications. That is wh y many GP riders make wrong choices in setting up or of tires. If it was easy to get it righ t, tha t wou ld not happen." He w as more forthco m ing on th e new-ge nera tion lig htweig ht tw in s, w ith the arr ival of the new Hon d a and the improving perfo rmances of the April ia. "Everyone in racing knows the potential of a twin-cylinder 500cc motorcycle becau se the 250s an d 500s h ave become so close, and because of the we ight regulations - 95 kilograms (209 pounds) min imum for 250s and 100 kilogra ms (220 pou nds) for SOOs." (And a whoppi ng 130 kilograms - 286 po un ds - for four-cylinder 5OOs.) "At Yamaha, we knew the Honda was coming in 1996 and that it would show well. At that time (during 1995) we considered making our own twin-cylinder 500, but we decided to wait u ntil we could analyze all the data - not just practice lap times b ut also racing performance. I wonder why Shin ichi Itoh has not been as fast as Oka da or Romboni. Is it because he is no t a 250-style rider? Perhaps the V-twin will not suit everybody." He was also wary of th e lon g-term implications of the less-spect acular twins. "As our managing di rector said, winning is ou r first priority, entertaining mot orsport fans is a close second. If the 500cc class was all twins - is it fun? For fans this is ano ther matter." There was also th e qu estion of th e imbalance in weight regu lations, though he did not favor cutting the weigh t of the V-fours. "Whe n the FIM increased weight limits for 1991, it was for safety reaso ns. W hy shou ld we go b ack t o low er weights? At that time the tw in-cylinder 500s d id no t exist, safety or not. If their lao-kilogram (nO-pound) limit is reaso nable, okay. But if it com promises safety or leads to extra expense, it shou ld be ch ange d. At present, I believe both the Hon da and the Aprilia are over the minimum weight limit." Yamaha's own dilemma - whe the r to su ppo rt Roberts or Rainey in the futu re remained an open question. "Ou r basic policy is to contin ue wit h fou r factorylev el rid ers. Th is matter h as to be d iscussed also with Marlboro. We respect them very much." Yam aha's own big policy chan ge this yea r had been to bring GP bike development di rec tly back into factory h ands. Yamaha technician s are now d ir ectl y involved in both Rainey and Rob erts teams, w he reas p revious ly m u ch midseason d evelopme nt h a d been left to Team Roberts. This move was welcomed by Roberts. l io was inte rested in one o f this w riter's pet ideas - of racing to a much free r form ula, based on "ru n what you brung" wi th the only restriction being to the amount of fuel used. "If this implies an increase in the number of World Championship classes, this would be rather a heavy load," lio said. "We alrea dy have 125, 250, 500 and Su perbikes, with Thunderbikes also for next year. "Some wily of combining Superbikes and GP 500s may be interesting. If Superbike regulations were more free, I am sure we cou ld. im pro ve lap times and make them mo re competitive with GP bikes." As to racing in general, Tio felt the re was an upturn coming, with increased sponsorshi p ava ilable du e to im proving internat ional economic conditio ns. GP racing needed ' to get more publi c att ention, which wou ld be genera ted by good raci ng and attractive stars: "I was very p leased yesterday morning to see th a t Abe's victory was front page new s in all th e newspapers, not only th ose abou t spo rt. That is the 'Barry Sheene effect' in actio n." C"X CIl ~ 21

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