Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) The number plate says it all about thi s GSX-R600. (Above) In World Supersport trim, the 600cc powerplant pumps out 118 hp at the wheel. (Bel ow left) The team switched to a Paioli rear shock this season . (Below right) Extra radiat or capacity was added . in cr ea s ed p o w er a t hig her re v s was 'd elivered by Al star e' s own ca ms hafts, which, w hile retaining the same lift as p er Supersport r ules, offer di ff er en t va lve tim in g , match ed by th e team's extensive work on po rti~g and flowing , th e cy lin der hea d (s k im m ed to ra is e com pression to 13.5:1) and w ith special sp rings fitted to the stock va lves (themselve s waisted for '98 to improve flow from the 5-p ercen t-bigger airbox and 36.5mm M ikuni carbs fitted th is yea r, amo ng the several detail im pro vem ents Suzuki wrought to the sta ndard GSXR600 for '98). A lo t of work went in to varying bellmou th lengths on the carbs, says Batta, wi th differe nt-length trumpe ts fi tted d epending on th e tra ck )o nger to give m ore midra nge torqu e, sho rter for more top end . And the team took full advantage of the cho ice of three alternative ratios for each gea r afforded by the Yosh imura kit gearbox, eve n changing intern al ratios after pra ctice, thanks to Suzuki's unique thr ee-w ay split to th e bottom end of the eng ine, w hich allows access to the gearbox without splitting the motor. Result: This is a bike that is quantifiably better than the on e ( rode a year ago, com pletely addressing the problem a re as I wrote abou t then . The Corona Su zuki pulls w ell from as low as , 6000 rpm out of the uphill exit from the awkward bottom-gear turn two at th e A-1 Ring, with clean, crisp pickup at low revs bef ore com ing o n strong at 8000 revs, before it starts singing like an onl y sligh tly muffled version of a ' 60s fourcyli n der GP ra cer at 10 g ra nd . From there on, it builds revs very fas t to that 12,8 00 p eak and be yond - but from 12,000 r pm up, there 's mea ty top-end pow er that the sweet-shifting rac e-pattern gearbo x (bu t still no speed-shifter, per the short-sig ht ed su pers port restrictio n - so flap tha t w ristl) allows you to access at almos t all times. . Th is equates to riding it like a tw ostroke - but one with a power val ve fitted , w hic h mea ns you d o n' t h a ve to worry about th e revs dropping in to the four-figure zone in tigh t tu rns. You d on' t even need to hit the soft-action rev limite r in every gea r, Piro-style, to keep the Suzuki revving up hig h - but tap pi ng the gear lever any time the tac h needle ~ts close r to the figures 14 than 13 will easily keep this gem of a motor on song, thanks to th e well-chosen ratios th at Su zuki's accessible gear clust er allows the team to op tim ize for eac h trac k. It definitely feels like a more progressive ye t po tent power delivery th an before, with no ho les or h iccups lef t to g rapp le wi th - ju s t a strong, sweet d ri v e all the way fro m dow n low to up high . Fu nny, that: H ere' s Suz uki, s truggling for three years to ge t on the pace in World Superbike with th ei r GSX-R750 th at' s st ill sea rching for missin g za p out of turns - and its 600cc spino ff kid sister has shown how, in terms of w inning titles as well as engine R&D. So now it's u p to you to take advantage of all th is, an d that's when you rea lize that the GSX-600's race-derived twi nspar alloy frame was a proven chassis package wa iti ng for the engine to catch u p w ith it. Well, now it has - and the two compliment eac h other really w ell, with the hand ling fu rther refined by Alstare, even over and a bove th e im p ressive package I sa mpled a yea r ago . The tea m ta k es p a ins to r u n th e wheelbase as long as possible, cho pping an d chan gin g gearing and cham lengths to gain even a pr ecious 5-6mm over the stock 1385mm length by ha ving the rear wheel set as far back as possible. That's not only in se arch of ad ded stability on w hat is for some twitchybut for othe rs m er ely a qu ick -s teering bike in street gu ise, but also to throw as mu ch of the '374-pound half-dry weight (including oil and on-board telemetry) as possible onto the front wheel fo r added grip . After , testing hal f a d ozen of Pirovano's bik es down through the years, I was expecting th e Su zuki 's s ta nc e to be typi call y cramped and close-coupled for a "norma l" (okay, taller - much taller!) rider but actually, that's not th e case here. The fairing feels pr et ty wide and allenco m pa ss ing by 600-class sta nda rds, which - considering this is reall y a clone of th e 750cc Superbik e, bu t with an engine four-fifths of the size - is only to be ex p ected . Still, combined w it h the shape of the seat pad , it makes you feel as if you' re sitting in th e Suzuki ra ther than o n it , in turn a pa r t of what is a com pact but nimble pa ckage. It' s tight, but tau t. That sense of confidence is translated to the tra ck, where the Corona Su zuki seems ve ry resp o nsive to rider in p u t, wi thout feeling nervous or u nst able: It's a rea lly we ll-ba lan ced motorcycle, wh ich is, howeve r, very agile - you have a ha rd time convincing you rself at first that this is reall y a four-cylinder bik e rather than a twin , we re it not for the glorious howl from the Termignoni carbon can. Th e fo ur- pot T o kico calipers and 320m m floati ng d iscs - J.3m m thicker this yea r, to avoid wa rping - have a lot more feel than I expected from Japanese production brakes, bu t a lot of thi s may be d ue to the exce llen t EBC pad s used by th e tea m , as well as to the fact that th er e' s a su rp rising a mo u nt of engine rak in g from that fou r-cylinder engine. Re sult : s to p ping p o w er a t leas t the eq ui va lent of a V-twin Ducati (a nd far better than the CBR600 H onda .- just ask Cas tro l's Kirk McCa rth y !), th ough it' s better to co mple te' you r bra king in a stra ig h t li ne, a n d to n o t be af raid to sta mp har d on the 220mm rear disc to d o so. Th is a llows you to max im ize th e Suzuki's confident tum-in to advantage, whereas if yo u trail- brake into the apex, a it s ta rts to m o ve a ro u n d m or e an d delays th e m om ent you can get bac k hard on the gas ag ain. That poi sed han dling means the Alstare Suzuki doesn 't tip int o an apex or fold th e front wheel as yo u crank it ov er hard on its side to try to keep u p m omentum, lik e in th e long left-bander coming down the hill ar the A-1 Ring, o ~ any of Assen's b anked turns, and it also steers reall y w ell as you kick it up throu gh the gears on th e exit, wi th an unbelievabl e amou nt of grip by m olded-street-tire stand ards from Dunlop's exce llent D207 rubber . These play a big part in the excellent handling, as well as simply gi vin S yo u confidence. Wh en they do start to m ove around , they s lide pro gressivel y and . controllably, bu t yo u have to abuse them to do so, and the only reason I man aged to w as that the set I w as riding o n at Ze ltwe g w as pre-ow ne d in pra ctice by Piro. There's a choice of th ree differ ent dry compounds front and rear, plus two more in we ts, all in street-lega l mold edtread patterns available to any custom er, says Dunlop. But the key to it all is Als tare's work on the stock 45rnm cartridge forks, comprehensively reworked internally w ith tri ck multi-rate Paletti springs and ne w pistons, and the spe cial HA T-Paioli rea r shock, which of course retains the stock link pe r supersport regulations. "Suspens ion is the absolu te nu mberone element in Supersport," says Batra, "It' s the key to eve rything, beca use you can have the bes t chas s is, th e fastes t engine and the best tires , bu t if you can't rework the stock suspension to take fu ll advantage of th is, it's worthless. We've made ra cin g forks ou t o f s treet o nes, using ou r own resources - bu t th e key ing re d ie n t in this is ri de r fee d back . That's why we swap pe d to Paioli after starting out wi th Showa: There were too many comm unication p ro blems w hic h impeded de velopment. " I guess it makes sense w ith an Italian lead rider,to use an Italian shock house but w ha tever the reason, th e decision paid off. Th e Corona Suzuki not on ly p uts the p ow er down so well ou t of a tu rn (in spite of running th e unbrac ed stock swingarm, as they must ), it rides bumps really w ell, too - like in Assen's Na tiona l Curve, or if yo u run wide in the approv ed fash ion onto the curbs exiting the A-1 Ring's two tight first turns hard on the power, to keep up com er speed on the uphill exits. Interestingly, though , it was less surefoot ed if I tri ed to bu z z th e motor through a fast sw eeper like the last turn in A ustria or th e on e a t th e end of the straight at Assen . Th ere, a combination of a too -s oft r ea r sp r in g for Piros ( m u ch l) redu ced bod y weig ht, a nd weight transfer under load set the ba rs flapping in my hands and the bike into a weave. . Watching both races on TV , I saw Pirovano had to co pe with the sa m e thing ther e a few times, so it wasn' t just all those free lunches that did it for me. But th en , when I tri ed using a hig her gea r and 1000 revs less , the bike w as mu ch mo re settled and I sa w more revs at the end of the A-1 sta r t st raigh t, all because the suspension w asn't so wo und up. Ye t th e enhan ced midrange of th e Alst ar e engi ne packag e mean t I wasn't penalized by not revving it out in this key tum. Guess I'm a believer, then - no t only in the effectiveness of the Alstare ope ra tion (which has earned them Suzu ki's nod to take ove r the operation of the works Superbike team as we ll next seaso n , with th e ' 98 WSC's wi n ningest r ider, Pi er-Fr ancesco Chili, a nd 50 0cc refugee Norih iko Fujiwara as rid ers) bu t in the worth o f th e GSX - R600 in it s refined fo rm a fte r a fu rther season of intelligent d evelopmen t. The new CBR600 Honda and Yamah a R6 are being touted as top contende rs for Wo rld Su per sport honors next se ason, but th e fact is th at th e A ls ta re Coron a GSX-R600 is the one they have to beat , and with Piro vano and Chambon teaming up fo r ano th er sea son together in d efense of Suz u ki's titl e, the new bik es w ill have the ir w ork cut ou t for the m . Th is is a very fi ne p a ck a g e - a n d a deserved title-winner. a 00 0'\ 0'\ ,..... C't l-< Q) ,.D 8 Q) u Q) a 25

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