Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Del Monte Ducati? TPG has followed up the addition of Ducati to its corporate portfolio - currently ranging from Californian vineyards to Continental Airlines - by purchasing a large chunk of the giant Del Monte Foods Co., America's largest supplier of canned fruits L - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - l and vegetables. ' . With a turnover of more than $1.2 billion in 1996, and a year-round workforce of 2100 employees which rises to over • 12,000 on a seasonal basis come ~ Boomin' Katoom ctop-gathering time, Del Monte is a '" t As exclusively re- :I: household name around the world Q.~ ) vealed in this col- § that makes it ripe for promotional ~ umn last November, ~ exposure. KTM has now con- Q Perhaps, then, there might be §Q. , firmed the existence ~ enough in the Del Monte petty-cash of its twin-cylinder z box to sponsor its new sister in the TPG family's defense of its World i project, whose de- ~ velopment is under- ::; Superbike title this season, which written by the suc- 3_ began in Australia with the sides of cessful cash Offer of the red Team Ferrari works Ducatis Ducatl's race team has in years past been 46 percen t of the unadorned by the Kremlyovskaya partially sponsored by vodka maker shares in the flourVodka decals which have graced Kremlyovskaya, though the team has yet to ishing Austrian comthem for the past two seasons. run the company's graphics on its bike this pany, which has That's because the holding compa- year. Does TPG's recent purchase of Del I made a miracle reny controlling the vodka manufacMonte Foods point to a possible future covery from its lateturer is understood to have gone sponsorship? '91 bankruptcy. bust, reportedly still owing Ducati With production (or perhaps just the Castiglioni topping 18,000 bikes brothers?) the best part of the 2 billion lire (about $750,000) they were supposed to in 1996 - compared have paid up to cover 1996 season sponsorship. to just 5600 units in Will Carl Fogarty be riding the Del Monte Ducati when the Superbike circus. 1992 - KTM's stock Could KTM's LC8 V-twin prototype engine end up in Ii Dukereturns to Europe? By the time you read this, if he is - you'll know why! stood at 590 Austri- like machine for the next millenlum? Count on it. The engine '. an schillings when should make its public debut at the Cologne show in October needed to conduct a valid assessment of Honda, Michelin tired the flota tion was 1998. And finally - an interesting tidbit of the merits of each diameter, probably announced on only Honda could have done this - and December 12, clospaddock gossip. Seems from an whether the benefits will filter through ing several times oversubscribed on January 23, at the tender price of AS 640. But extremely reliable source indirectly conto its rivals in due course is an interest• less than a month later, on February 18, it stood at AS 778.90 - representing a 32-pernected to the parties concerned, that ) cent increase in less than three months - a nice profit for speculators, as well as ing question. Michelin and Honda jointly conducted Whether either the works Castrol those who had enough faith in the company's future to back its revival with hard some intensive tests over the last six cash. months of 1996 to determine the viabiliHonda World Superbike or Repsol KTM's cash-rich position had an immediate effect, enabling the current World ty of various tire diameters for road racHonda 500cc GP teams begin using anything more unusual than 16-inch rears Open MX champions to purchase a controlling interest in Dutch suspension specialing use - starting as small as 15 inches this season will be a moot point and one ists WP. Born out of the old White Power company after tl1e founding partners split and running through half-inch increvery hard to discern, given that Micheup some time back, WP has been KTM's principal suspension supplier for many ments up to a 17-inch diameter, trying lin doesn't stamp its trick tires with anyyears, so this is a strategic acquisition which makes sense. WP's successful involveboth front and rear in different combinathing more than a reference code. Still, it tions. Considering the cost of specially ment in car racing - where they suspended Michael Schumacher to an F-1 World manufacturing just the wheels needed gives the World Superbike/GP press I Championship with Benetton - will continue, but expect WP products to appear on circus a challenging detective task to more rather than less competing European marques in future. KTM is a prime to mount this range of sizes, let alone perform.' l"N mover of the informal agreement among European manufacturers to hold costs the track time and machine mileage ... down by consolidated joint purchasing with suppliers - and now they own one of the most important ones. The prototype KTM LC8 V-twin has now been revealed to have been in existence Monster mash for the past four years - only up until now, it's been called a Folan! Designer Lars One of the more successful one-make classes to have been run at International level Nilsson was one of the group of Husqvarna engineers who declined the move south in recent years was the Ducati 900SS Supercup series organized by Rome-based ) to Bologna when the Swedish off-road specialist was acquired by Cagiva back in Techna Racing at the European rounds of the 1995 World Superbike series. For a 1986. Five' of them founded Husaberg, to make lightweight off-road four-strokes, fixed cost payable up front, with no additional charges - even for crash damage while Nilsson began his own engine R&D house, Folan, and played a large part in participants could take part in a six-race series on bikes owned and prepared by the design of the compact Husaberg SOHC engine, production of which began in Techna, with the keys drawn 1989 using cylinders and other parts supplied by Folan. Nilsson then developed a out of a hat before qualifying liquid-cooled eight-valve 60-degree V-twin motor using the same cylinders and for each round. It made for a chain-driven SOHC heads as the Husaberg, 20 of which have been built to date for great spectacle, with close racuse in Sidecar MX and BEARS/BoTT racing. ing and some nail-biting finishThe fact that the engine is small and light enough (under 90 pounds in race form, es - like in the Assen round, with six-speed gearbox) to be fitted to the Tigcraft twin-spar alloy frames used by where just one second covered Folan for its supermono racers, indicates ·how ideal it could be for off-road use - at the first five riders at the fIag. least with some development. The steeply increased entry Since KTM's purchase of fIusaberg in 1994, its engineers have been working on fee demanded by World Superrefining the Folan V-twin for production, adding an electric start, a proper oil pump bike organizers Flammini ruled and a balance shaft to the dry-sump engine, as well as experimenting with both ou t a repeat version last year, twin-cam and single-cam four-valve cylinder heads. ilsson himself started work so Techna boss Gaudio Pacifici on the twin-cam head design as a consultant for Husaberg back in '94, a project lent went back to running a similar added urgency by FIM moves to restrict the 250cc Enduro class to four-strokes only. series only in Italy, just as he's Cough up about $10,000 and you can race one of Husaberg see this as a natural market for its existing, compact, light engine, but done with success for most of these identical Ducati Monsters in a six-round its single-cam head wouldn't be able to cope with the five-figure revs a 250cc fourItalian series - most everything is included, even the past decade. stroke will require, hence the twin-cam project - which has now been adapted to the But now for 1997, with the crash damage. Ducati plans to offer a street KTMLC8. cooperation of the Ducati facto- version of the bike for 1998, to be launched at the But even in this up-rated guise, the KTM V-twin prototype engine is understood ry, Techna has come up with Milan Show in September. to weigh well under 132 pounds, making around 80 bhp. in the hard-enduro form in what promises be the most which KTM plans to debut its V-twin engine in October 1998 at the Cologne Show. spectacular series yet: the Ducati Monster Cup. And for sure, after the success of the Duke four-stroi

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