Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

besides publishing is missile and weapons manufacture, is set to sell off Matra off via a public flotation, as a precur or to becoming the main private shareholder in Aerospatiale, the biggest French aerospace and defense company. Maybe EMAP better not get too aggressive in its U.s. market expansion drive - or else it'll be howitzers at high Hunwick Hallam alive? Australia's first volume-production motorcycle marque is right on course to enter production later this year, as this scoop photo of the first of the three road models planned by the Hunwick Hallam company in prototype form confirms. Spotted undergoing road-testing in Sydney for Australian homologation purposes, this is the prototype of the Rage sports roadster scheduled to be the first of the three to enter production in June, fitted with an 1150cc version of the company's 100-percent locally produced and extremely avant-garde, fuel-injected, eight-valve, 9O-degree, V-twin engine. The Hunwick Hallam marque will be launched on the world stage at the Milan Show in September, by which time deliveries of the Rage will already have begun: Partners Rod Hunwick and Paul Hallam confirm that all necessary outside invest- Hunwick Hallam, all quiet on the production front for some time now, has broken cover ment is in place for series production to with its Rage model. The Rage is set to enter production in June. start later this year, with a purpose-built factory already completed and in process of being equipped for manufacture close to lhe Sydney 2000 ting all the business bricks in place, and developing the road models, before raising our heads above the wall again," says Olympic Stadium. Set to follow in due course are tlle 1350cc Power Cruiser and Rod Tingate. "The fact you've captured the bike on film is a litthe street version of the 1000cc Xl R Superbike, which has tle frustrating, because it's not fitted with the final styling. But already seen race-winning competition in prototype form in the it shows we're very mucll alive and kicking, and I assure tlle hands of former works Honda star Mal Campbell, as part of the many potential cu tomers from around the world who've registered their interest in buying from us that the Rage looks pretty ongoing R&D process. neat and aggressive ill production-ready form. I think we'll get "A lot of people seem to have assumed that the project wa dead and buried, but we've kept quiet and concentrated on get- noticed when we launch it later tlus year!" noon! Pirelli turns 100 This year marks the 100th birthday of two of the oldest product uppliers in the world of motorcycling. In Italy, pneumatic-tire pioneer Giovanni Battista Pirelli made his first motorcycle tires in Milan in 1899, laying the foundation for the basis of a company which has since grown to world prominence on both two and - especially - four wheels. Pirelli tires helped MV Agusta and Gilera to win countless Grand Prix races and World Championships in the 1950s, then took a back seat in motorcycle competition for three decade in the face of the growing supremacy of their British and then French rivals, before bouncing back to win the 1989 World Superbike title with America's Fred Merkel on the factory Honda ROO. This kick-started an ongoing revival in Pirelli's two-wheeled fortunes, underlined by the introduction in 1992 of the world's fir t zero-degree steel-belt tires, under the Dragon name. These immediately.proved their worth by dominating top-level Supersport racing in Europe for the next half-decade, winning the European title four times in succession from 1993-96, a well as the Isle of Man IT and the World Supersport series in 1998. With the purchase of Germany's Metzeler tire company by the Italian firm a decade ago, Pirelli became a world player in motorcycle-tire products of every type, crowned by the intro- duction this month in Las Vegas of the company's new EVO Supersport and GTS sport-touring product range, again using zero-degree technology. BrHain's Duckhams oil company, also establi hed in 1899 but by Alexander Duckham with a 200-pound loan and a rented yard in London's Docklands, has played an equally significant specialist role in engine lubrication over the past century, introducing Europe's first multigrade oil in 1951, thus relieving motorcycle and car drivers of the Bimota tuning up for World Supers After its near-terminal brush with bankruptcy, when the company closed down for five months in the middle of last year, Binlota is on its way back under new owner Francesco Tognon's control, with the Ducati 900 engined DB4 now in production, and the Suzuki TLI000R-engined SB8R due to come on str am in March - but with WeoerIMarelli EFI to replace the engine's original Japanese fuel-injection package, used for the first time ever on a Bimota, rather than the products of the company' traditional TDD engine-management sy tem suppliers. One reason i that Tognon is targeting the SB8R full on at World Superbike contention in 2000, and plans to take advantage of the ongoing presence of Marelli technician in the WSC paddock to help get the bike on the pace. Less certain is the company's ongoing participation in the World Supersport class, where the Bimota factory's presence in the '99 series with a two-man team mounted on TDD injected-YB95Ri machines powered by Yamaha's now-superceded YZF600 engine is likely to be the company's 600cc-class swan song, jettisoned in favor of concentrating 100 percent on the Superbike class in 2000. "TIle problem is tile new World Supersport homologation regulations," says the company's race boss, Davide Genghini. "These now require a minimum of 1000 units to be constructed for Supersport eligibility by any manufacturer, with no lower limit for smaller compan.ies like us, as was the case before. This means firstly that we cannot upgrade tile performance of tile existing YB9 by fitting Marelli EFI, and secondly that the viability of a new need to change to a different-visco ity oil each winter and summer. Duckhams also produced the first 20w lSD-visco ity oil in 1955, thus helping resolve the lubrication problems caused by the growing trend in motorcycle design toward unit-construction engines, where engine and transm.ission share a common oil supply, instead of the separate gearboxes with chain primary drive used hitherto. The Mini car engine, incorporating the same principle, also benefited great- ly from Duckharns lubrication technology at the same time. After the plethora of marque milestones in 199 , this year sees no landmark bike-company birthday, apart from Gilera's 90th year in existence - sadly, no longer as a manufacturer of anything more xciting than a souped-up cooter. But apart from heralding tile dawn of a new millen.ium, the year 2000 will see the 50th birthday of two hi toric sporting Italian marques: Laverda, and World Trials champions Beta. eN model to replace it, using Yamaha's new R6 engine but fitted with fuel injection, is hopelessly comprom.ised - because our production run for each Bimota model is measured in hundreds; never tIlousands." 50 tllere will be no new YB12 contender for Bilnota to compete with in tlle 600cc Supersport class - unless the company succeeds in its efforts to persuade tile FIM to change the homologation rules at some future stage. More likely, though, is ilie next-generation B9RR maxi-bike projected by Tognon and Bimota's newly-appointed chief engineer, Francesco Med.ici: an ultrasports version of the new Suzuki Hayabusa speedster ju t entering production, witll its 172-bhp GSXR1300 engine fitted with Weber-Marelli fuel injection and slotted into an uprated version of Bimota's signature SLC (Straight Line Concept) twin-spar aluminum chas is, as used on the Italian firm's best-selling S86. Fitted with Paioli u pen ion and Brembo brakes, the result would be a better-handling, much lighter and perhaps even faster sportbike than the volume-production Japanese model, firmly regaining Bimota's place at the to!, of the performance pyram.id. Though no work has yet been done on any aspect of the design - and Suzuki has not even comm.itted to supplying engines for the project, according to factory sources· Tognon believes this is a logical replacement for the now 6-year-old SB6 design, as Bimota's new four-cylinder lead model for the next millenium. Could the Hayabusa's 1300cc superpowerplant find its way Into a Blmota frame? We can only hope so. 7

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