Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

heads himself, leaving the finish of the ports rough to promote turbulence and thus improve mixing of air and fuel shape is critical, he says, and so is tightening the 'squish - but the big-bore engine still only uses a single_ injecter per cylinder, and 50mm throttle bodies on the Weber/Marelli fuel injection. As Ducati discovered with its 916 Superbike in 955cc form, twin injectors and a tapered inlet rising to 60mm at the cylinder head will deliver a substantial increase in horsepower. You have to believe Castellani when he says that 135 bhp at the back wheel is a realistic objective. From a Guzzi! When that happens, all the rest of us racing BEARS and Euro BoTT bikes are going to be in even worse trouble than we already are, because even in its present form the Raceco Guzzi is a fearsomely competent piece of hardware. The engine is a gem - it has a very light, precise throttle action without much return spring, which tells you at once that you're riding a fuel-injected motorcycle. But it's the way the revs pick up so fast and so cleanly from low down that really impresses you. Amedeo has reprogrammed the EFl with an EPROM chip from Dwayne Mitchell's Fuel Injection Motorcycles in Australia, and engine acceleration is better than on any Guzzi I've ever ridden - the special Raceco crank also must have substantially reduced inertia compared to a stock bottom end, evidenced by the speed at which the Scitsu tacho's needle scoots round the dial when you gas the Guzzi up, and make the sound of thunder roll out of the carbon-canned exhausts. That's in spite of retaining the stock diaphragm clutch with its heavier steel flywheel, rather than one of the costly Swiss aluminum flywheels deemed to be the Hot Tip by Euro-Guzzi tuners. Amedeo doesn't reckon one of these would handle the extra poke from his maxi-motor without slipping. For the torque is massive, yet the power delivery completely linear. The motor pulls hard from 3000 rpm upwards and' it's strong, usable power this low down, making the Mallory hairpin or walking-pace chicane a cinch to power out of. Yet it spins effortlessly up to the 9000-rpm redline, with a noticeable extra kick around seven grand that gives you a kind of overdrive to the power curve. I noticed while battling with Lewis at Thruxton that in spite of its extra weight, the Guzzi actually out-accelerated my Saxon Triumph out of the second-gear complex after the pits, gaining a vital few yards that I could only start to peg back in fourth or fifth gear. It's this jump out of turns in spite of being such a relatively heavy bike for a twin that gives the Raceco Guzzi such an edge, especially on twisty tracks like Brands Hatch, making the maximotors once marginal bottom end reliability when revved hard a worthwhile bet. Amedeo had to fit a new crank after qualifying at Brands, and then lunched the new one in the race too, though he reckons he's since fixed the problem with a new oil pump. Guess it works-the bike finished every BoTT title round it started in, and was only once beaten in even combat, by Geoff Baines' Ducati 907SP. But the Guzzi's biggest mechanical surprise is still to come-the gearbox; even Dr. John never made one of his Guzzis shift as sweetly as this. Using the five-speed close-ratio cluster from the factory C-kit, Amedeo has produced the most un-Guzzi gearchange I've ever sampled - completely devoid of the clunks and thumps that are all part of (Left) The heart and soul of the Raceco Guzzl Is the 1162cc, fuel· Injected, eight-valve V-twin powerplant. (Below) The Guzzi uses 320mm Brembo front disc brakes and a 40mm White Power front fork. (Left) Cathcart at speed on the GuzzI. life's rich passion when shifting gear with a shaftie. Instead, you have a smooth-action, one-up race-pattern gearbox that would do credit to a Ducati Superbike, with a high bottom gear that is quite usable even. on the stock final drive ratio at the Mallory hairpin without the shock from the drive-train you usually get when you go through neutral to make a racing change on a bike like this. In fact, you can even up-shift without the' clutch, ~omething you don't normally consider doing on a shaft-driven bike if you want to make the gearbox last all day. The floating rear gear drive box and the Dr. John swingarm linkage also help do this by eliminating torque reaction from the drive-train. If the motor impresses, the Raceco Guzzi's handling astonishes. You have a hard time convincing yourself that once upon a time, this was a stock Daytona roadster. Steepening the head angle was an important move, obviously, because it not only sharpens up the steering, but also reduces the wheelbase to a respectable 144Omm, and puts more weight on the front wheel (weight distribution is now 52/48 percent fron t bias, and the bike is much more nimble as a result). However, a lot of the credit for the handling must go to the rider, says Amedeo and Lewis, never a shrinking violet, agrees. "I've always been proud of my ability to set my bikes up properly," he says unashamedly. "It comes from being so small and puny. I've always had to work hard at getting the handling right, rather than be content to muscle them around like some of the gorillas I've raced against do. I go out of my way to understand the bike's steering geometry and suspension, then spend time finetuning everything to suit my riding style. It's th.e only way." Spoken like a former works 500cc GP rider, but the amazing thing is that with yours truly weighing almost 50 percent more than the Angry Ant, the Raceco Guzzi still handles like a dream. Part of the reason is that with all shafties you must have a very stiff rear spring, to prevent the inherent pro-squat action of the shaft drive compressing the shock unduly when you get hard on the gas. The specially made WP shock on the Raceco bike has just that, so it isn't nearly as softly sprung as a normal bike would be for a flyweight rider. What's more, Lewis has the ride height set quite high on the cantilever shock, to transfer more ·weight onto the front wheel, which in turn not only makes the Guzzi steer more easily and sharply, it also delivers improved grip under acceleration, thanks to increased weight transfer. Apart from sometimes wanting to use the same piece of race track, Lewis and I have another thing in common we both like to use the rear brake in the middle of a turn to stand the bike up and use the meaty part of the tire to accelerate out. Except, he's braver than me, and goes further, stamping on the brake harder to kick the back end out and powerslide out of the turn and I've watched him try this right in front of me on a dry track, so I know he does it. The result of all this is that the Raceco bike is much more nimble and easysteering than I expected for such a heavy bike and a shaftie, at that. The big Brembos stop it well-though don't expect the same bite from them as with a 955 Ducati weighing 55 pounds lessand you can trailbrake hard into the Mallory hairpin with the bike steering easily into the apex. . The sticking out cylinders, not to mention the wedged-in riding position delivered by Lewis' compact build, discourage hanging off the bike much, but the Guzzi holds its line really well round faster turns like Gerard's, even when you hit the seven"grand superpower mark halfway around. It doesn't understeer, and neither does it dislike left-handers like some Guzzi racers do, thanks to their shaft drive and lengthwise crank. You do have an impression of bulk, which discourages flinging it around like it was a more slender V-twin, bu t maybe that would come with practicef Hey, it doesn't seem to have discouraged Lewis. The Raceco Guzzi's appearance on the factory stand at the Milan Show at least demonstrated that Moto Guzzi management is aware of Raceco's success, achieved with the backing of their British importers. But as things stand, Amede.o Castellani doesn't have the budget to contest the six-round 1996 BEARS World Series that begins at Daytona in March. Much as I'd prefer not to have the Angry Ant crawling all over me in the BEARS rounds this season, I have to say this is extremely short-sighted on the part of Guzzi bosses. Here's one of their V -twin tractors, and a hypermodified roadster, to boot, that has proved it can win races at the highest level with a topline rider aboard who draws crowds wherever he goes thanks to his dynamic style. Ducati already has shown how success on the track is reflected in the showroom. If Finprogetti is serious about relaunching Moto Guzzi, they should adopt the Raceco team as a full works effort, in the interests of sales promotion. Dr. John would approve! £N RACECO GUZZI DAYTONA SpecIcaIion E......: ... Air-cooled go.degree transverse V·twin four-stroke with beIt-driven single overhead camshaft and four '(llIves per cylinder D~.IDo'" _ 95 x 82mm Ca..-=ltYt ........................•...................................1162cc 125 bhp@8200

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