Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RACER TEST 00 0\ 0\ ...... Even thou gh I'm taller than bo th riders, I ins tantly felt a part of Chili's bike w he reas I was mo re perched on top of Carl's. But th is surely reflects their contra st in g ri d ing s ty les . Chi li u ses h is 125/ 25Occ GP heritage to stay tu cked in a n d ca rry more co r n e r s peed fo r a smoo ther , more flowing style, w he reas Fogarty is m ore fierce and aggressive with the bike, braking ha rder and turnin g m ore sha rply - hen ce th e need for more levera ge and th e use of wider bars . But mu ch to my su rp rise, th is con tra s t was transla ted to o n-track m anners . For a start, th e Chili bike defini tely didn't accelera te so brutally, and it also was much smoothe r off the bottom end so you co uld crack th e throttl e w id e o p en ex it ing th e chicane a t 6000 rp m and feel it pick up strongly and progressively, flatt ening out th e power curve at aro u nd 12,000 rpm - m or e like the '96 , bik e, in fact. Fabulously fast, but mo re contro llab le. Nice! Not only was it not so ag gressiv e in terms of power delivery, there wasn' t the same ru sh of revs as on Fogarty's bike. It all felt mor e measured and ridable. But th e real su rp rise wa s the handling . Apart from o ne lap exit in g th e fla t-out-in-fifth -gear 5-be nd be h ind the pits, where I briefly sa id hello again to th e sh im my-s hi m my-sha ke, the C hili Ducati was sta ble and pred ictable in its s tee ri ng, a nd ce rtai n ly m o ved arou nd less tha n the Fogar ty bike. I fo u nd I co u ld hit the gas hard er cra nked o ver, w ith out panicking abou t tra ction , because of the less abrupt picku p. But it still pa id to pull th e Gattolone bike fairly upright to use the fat part of th e ti re before wi nd ing it w ide o pen, beca u se th ere' s st ill pretty a wesome mid ran ge torq u e, and yo u can feel th e rear Mic helin s ta r t to lose g ri p o therwi se . That was reasonably easy to d o, mostly by using one's body weight, but flip-flopping from side to sid e in the chicane wa s still hard work, just as it was o n Carl 's, an d it seemed hard er to lay it into a tum tha n the Fogarty bike. But the Chili Du cat i's big advantag e was the wa y it held a line better - a cru cial factor in Assen's ban ked , sweeping bend s, w her e keeping up corner speed is so critical. Back at base after a much m ore enjoyable 20 laps, it was time to learn some trad e secrets. Th is feels like a d ifferent motorcycle less p ot ent, p erh aps, tha n Fogarty' s, w hich seemed to have less engine inertia and to pick up rev s faster, bu t d efi- Carl Fogarty's and Pier-Francesco Chili's Ducati 996 superbikes Further inves mo ve about so muc h a t the en d of the ba ck straigh t o r s to p p ing fo r the chitigation un covers ca ne, wh ere I co uld also use th e sprag th e fac t tha t th e '95 triple cla m ps clutch to max out engine braking for a Chili favo rs a re hard stop. Chili's brak es ha d more ini25mm (J in ch ) tial bite, too, probably bec ause he u ses n arro w e r than bigger calipers with all th e piston s the th e la ter o nes, same s ize, an d s in te red p a d s w hich which have been w o rk w ell .strai g h t away but tend to s paced o ut tha t fade sooner, w hereas Ca rl p refers pad s much to a llo w w ith a higher carbo n content, which do th e cas t stai nless the op pos ite. brake discs (1 mm Fogarty has tried th e Chili chassis thicker for '97) to se tup and says he d idn't like it, prefersit furth er ou t in ring to live with the sha kes rather than the slipstrea m, so make th e s teeri ng so m u ch h ea v ie r. t ha t t hey are Teamm a te Hodgson tried it in Sugo and coo le d b e tter. w a s a t on ce mu ch fa s ter, p roba bl y Eve r si nce ca rbecause his ex- J25cc GP style is simila r bo n brakes we re to Chili's. (Above) The IIquid-crystal display supplies all you need to know. In banned in Su perBut both riders wanted the adju stable addition to using different bike setups, Chill and Fogarty have bike raci ng, hea t off se ts of the ' 98 tr iple cla mps, which buildup has bee n contrasting riding pos itions as well. wou ld allow 'them to fine-tune the chasa fac to r; hence (Left) In the se ach for more power, giant 60mm throttle bod ies were sis geo metry and reduce the trail withBrem bo 's plea for fitted to the new, stronger engine. Despite the increas e in ou t sacrificing stability: I'll bet that' s at performance, Fogarty didn't s uffer one eng ine failure during a race all Du ca ti to s tic k the top of Ducati's list for winter develeach di sc 12.5mm . season . o p men t, w h ic h n o d oubt includ es a fu rther out in the w hol e ho st o f o the r fa ct o rs , chi e f of bree ze . Per haps w hich is t o r edi s cover th e V-twin nitely better-handling and more refined no w we can figu re o ut why C hili kep t mo tor' s legenda ry flexibilit y and userin feel, adding up to a be tter pa ckage, a suffering brake problems this season - as friendly res ponse. fact confi rm ed by m y lapping a w hole Sim on C ra fa r (a t Z el tweg ) a nd N eil But let's not get thi s ou t of proportwo secon ds fas te r o n th e Gattolo ne Hodgson (at Sentu l) will confirm, afte r tion . Th anks to Ca rl Foga rty's ten acity Ducati tha n on Carl's. he T-boned them bo th in tu rns! and bri lliant riding, this motorcycle was How come? Th e narrower tr iple clamps a re not lea ding the World Ch ampionship un til Engine firs t: It turns o u t that a fte r only responsible for makin g th e b ike just four ro u nds fro m the finish - so it Lagu na Seca, Chili complained so vociffeel m ore compact, th ey a lso d eliver can' t exactly be a lem on , can it? A nd ero us ly abou t the Ducati's po wer deliv im p ro ve d s ta bil ity in fas t, sw ee p ing Du cat i d id ac hieve its reli abil ity goal, ery that, for Brands Hatch, the factory bends - like at Assen, says Gattolone wi th spectacular success. Th ere wasn ' t engineers coo ked him u p a new EPROM chief engineer Massimilian o Zani - but on e engine fa ilure in a race all season, ch ip th at lets th e engi ne sta rt ma kin g the d ownsid e a t present is th at th ey're sa ys Bass. power 1000 rpm lo we r, is les s aggr esonly availa b le in tw o fixe d o ff s e ts, Bu t ju st as all th e w et ra ces in ' 97 sive in its delivery, and rides the torque 30.5mm and 27.5mm, the latt er as used helped Kocinski , it can' t have made it eascurve and increases revs in a more meab y Chili at Asse n a n d d eli vering a ier for Foga rty to be on a bike w hose w ho ppi ng 108mm of trail. sured way. aggressive power delivery must make it a Th is is w hy the bike is much harder Result? The firs t time ou t with th e handful to ride in the rain. Still, the comto change d irection wit h in a chica ne or new ch ip , Chili w on th e firs t ra ce a t posed handling I experienced on Chili's S-be nd , as w ell as la ying in to a turn, tw isty Bra n d s o n a tra ck he does n' t bike, and the easier po wer delivery of its especially w hen combined with the less mu ch like. And , er, he cou ld well have revised EPROM chip, showed Ducati has s te e p 24.S -degree h ea d a n g le C hili doubled up if Fogarty hadn't taken him a valid basis on which to wo rk on gra ba lways uses for ad d ed sta bili ty u nder out in the seco nd (for w hich the Brit was bing the title back from Hond a in '98, and braking - even w ith a 2mm-high er rear properly rem orseful , it must be said) . I roll back the march of time. ride height to try to compen sa te. guess it works, th en. It' s going to be fu n watc hin g them I mus t say his bike braked be tter for "Yes - the eng ine feels less (po we rl~ try ! m e at Ass en tha n Foga rty's . It didn' t ful), but in fac t it' s s tro ng er, beca u se you' re stay ing longer in the tru e zo ne of coppia (torque), " says Chili. " Also, it pays to cha nge gea r at abo ut 11,900 rpm ins tead of lettin g it rev ou t, to keep in Specifications th e stro ng par t of the engine." One reaso n for this maybe that FogaEngine Liquid-coo led. DOH C . 90 ° V-twin fou r-stroke w / four valves per cylinder and toot hed-belt des modromic cams haft drive rty's mo tor ap pare ntly runs bell mouths Bore" s troke 98 x 66mm that a re 30mm s horter th an those o n Displacement _..996cc Chili's bike, and Ducat i eng ineers insist Compression ratio 12.0: 1 that, contrary to no rmal expecta tio ns, Output _ 168 hp @ 11.300 rpm the shorter intake stacks improve bot Fuel/ignition Weber/ Mare lli electronic fue l inject ion tom-end an d midran ge power , as well and engine-managem ent sy stem , wi tw o injec tors as top-end , w here you 'd expect th e and separate EPROM per cyl inder: two 60 mm thro ttle bodies longer o nes to suffer. Transmission 6-speed w / gear primary drive Clutch M ultiplate dry . slipper. 10 steel/nine sintered bronze -Okay, now w ha t about the chassis? Frame Chrome-moly tubular-st eel spaceframe Why is C hili's bike is so s ta ble co mRake/trail 23 .5°/102mm (Fogarty); 24 .5°/108mm (Chili) pared to Carl's? Wheelbase 56 .2 in. "The difference is in the fork yo kes ," Suspension ad mits C hili. "Last year I h ad a ' 95 Front .46mm Ohlins inverted telescopiC fork fra me becau se we w ere a p riva te team, Rear Ca st-meqne sium sw ingarm pivo ting in crankcase and frame. so I try the new '97 chas sis for the first w / riding-ral e linkage and single O hlins shoc k ti me in Phillip Island , a nd in th e firs t Tires/wheels Front 12/ 6 1-17 Mi chelin radial on tu rn it sta rts boun cing the front end - so , 3.50·in.-wide Marcheslnl wheel I fit th e ' 9S tripl e cla m ps off m y o id Rear 18/ 67-17 Mi che lin radial on chassis, and th e handling is much better, 5.75-in.-wide M arche sini wheel so I keep them all season. We still have a Brakes prob le m w ith th e re ar su s pe n si o n , Front Dual 320mm Brembo cast-stainless -stee l diSCS which is eit he r th e linkage or else the w / four-pist on Brembo calipers shoc k ca nno t react to so much bo ttom R_r .single 200mm Brembo steel disc po wer - I th ink prob abl y th e power is w / two-pisto n Bremb o caliper. Weight 352 Ibs .. no fuel too stro ng . But Corser an d I hav e similar Weight distribution, fir ,53/47% riding styles, so I th ink for next year we Top speed 187 .7 mph (Hoc kenheim) build on this se tting, and try to make th e Owner D uce ti Motor SpA. Bologna. Italy p ower d eli ve ry m o re s moo ther, li ke Year of manufecture : 1997 before. But _Ducati kn ow s what to d o I'm sure they will fix it." DUCATI996sUPERBIKE

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