Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.W R DSUPERBIKE PREVIEW TECH: Honda's RC45 Superbike OL (Left) After a lot of hard work - and money - the Honda RC45 finally appears to have the speed and handling to top the w all-<:onque ring Ducati. ' (Below) Though it looks the same on the outside, a substantial degree of refineme nt has taken place on the V- . four 750 , including the use of two injectors per cylinder Instead of one for the electron ic fuel injection. (Above) The engine-management system for the RC45 is Incre dibly flexible - the Ignition curve can even be altered to suit each gear. By Stepha ne va n Ge lde r Photos by Go ld & Goose 30 onda is relyin g on its technologi- . ca l know-how to beat Ducati in World Superbike r acing. An d it may finall y be working. Simply put, the factory 1997 RC45 is arguably the most ad va nced four-cylinder motorcycle in the worl d . O ne thousand cubic cen timeters of thunderou s V-twin pow er seems like a lot to go up against with only a piddling little 750 ~ especially when tha t V-twin is a Duca ri, the most po tent twin-eylinder motorcycle ever built. The Italians have taken the world - and the Japanese manufac turers - by s torm with their line of eig h t-v alv e d esmo engines. When the World Su perbike Cha m pionshi p rul e b o ok w a s b eing dra wn up, n o o ne expected a V-twin - even one di splacing 1000 cc - to be com pe ti tive a gainst Japan's high- technology 750s. Ducati's engineers were grossly und erestimated, but they 've ha d th e last lau g h . For, despite the rules b eing co nsta n tly updated in an effor t to reduce Ducati's adva ntage, the Bologna man u facturer has claimed seven manufacturer's and six rid er' s World Superbike titles in the . last seven seaso ns. Even thou gh they've tak en a se vere beating, the Jap anese have been far from idle in that time. Kawasaki and Ho nda, esp ecia lly, have th ro wn considerable resources in to the fray . In 1994, Ho nda unl eashed the RC45, hailed as a worthy successor to the fam ed RC30, a machine which had set new stand ards in its day and gi ven Honda the first two World Superbike titl es in 1988 an d 1989. But success was more elusive for the RC45. Until now . Ove r th e yea rs , H RC ha s cons tantly refin ed the bike and, at last, the 1997 mod el appears to ha ve wha t it takes to beat the Ducatis. Team Cas tro l Honda' s s tart to the season says it all . Between them, H ond a factor y riders John Koci nski and Aaro n Slig h t have w on four of the first six races this year. Even if ra in d id help Kocinski's cause, such earlys eason dom ina nce is . im pressive, and whenever it's b ee n d r y , Sligh t ha s shown the true pot ential of th e Ho nd a. H e wo n a t Phillip Isl and, a nd w a s incredible in the first leg at Doning to n , ca tch ing th e Du cat;' of Ca r l Fogarty, Neil H od g son and Pi erFran cesco Chili after a ba d start to claim his second win of the year. Slight's talen t is evident, b u t it's tak en all of HRC' s might to ge t him up there. Honda has used its techn ological expe rt ise to w hitt le away at Ducati's adva ntage. Over the last fou r seasons, th e RC4 5 ha s beco m e a d auntingly complex motorcycle that relies on computers as mu ch as it does on mech anica l pa rts . Jus t on e look at the bike is enough to convince anyone of its sophistication . It has more wires and electronic sensors than a Star Wars spaceship. 'The Ho nda's always been the most advanced bike in the paddock," said Nick Goodison, n ow John Koci nski's chief mechan ic 'after h av in g wo rked with Carl Fogarty last year. "I think it's be en setting the s tand ard for a while, and it will continue to do so because Ho nda is always looki ng to imp rove what they've got." .Th is year a lone, th e RC4 5 shows marked impro vements. Honda has innovated wi th a new braking system "borrowed" from its road bikes, the Racing CBS. HRC has also implemented a double in jector on th e bike to fu r ther increase the V~fou r's clout. "There've bee n no major cha nges from last year," ex plains Goodison . "Everything's just been up grad ed . Th e only completely new system on the bike is the CBS braking." Th e sys te m s h o ws 'h ow H o nd a always explores all possibilities, no matter how insigni fica n t th ey may seem. Th e aim of Racing CBS is to make the bike more stable on comer en try, when the r id er is h ard on the brakes, a n d th er ef ore a llow hi m to b rake a li tt le later. Anyo ne w ho saw Slight ou tbra king first Chili , then Hodgson, and finally Foga rty at Doning ton's chica ne to wi n tha t first leg needs little convincing that the sys tem is useful. Slight has always bee n hard on th e brakes, a nd Racin g CBScan only bu ild on that strength. The sys tem works by li n ki n g the fron t an d rear brakes, but only when the fro nt is applied. Tha t way, a ride r can still control his bike in the turn usi ng the rea r only. "It's the same principle as the roadbike sys tem, jus t a lot more high -spec," revea ls Good iso n. "It's v e ry closely mon itored. We can change three major things: the power, how long it's on for, an d a t wha t pressure it ope ra tes. Th e system works off a pres sure se nsor on the front brake, w hich activates the rear. It works just like a standard brak ing sys- tem, except th a t u nder Racing CBS, a se rv o m otor d ri v es the r ea r bra ke instead of a pedal." There are several major steps to the Racing CBS's functio n. When the front brake is applied , the front pr essure sensor se ts the system in mo tion . It se nd s an elec trical im pu lse to a u ni t underneath th e sea t w hich co n trols a se rvo mot or that determines how much pr",,sure is applied to the rear brake. J Ano the r u nit (p laced furth er back, above th e re ar wheel) d et ermin es th e length of time for which the system will opera te. All this controls a braki ng system s eparate from the s tand ard o ne , w hi ch is o pe ra te d by the rear brake pedal. Th e rea r cali per has two sets 9,f pistons: one for pedal opera tion, an d the other for the Racing CBS. , Th e RC45' s p rogr ess ha s n ot onl y been bas ed on new technology: Work of a more tradition al nature, like that carried o u t by s u spens io n s pecialists

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