Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127995
Eurofi Ie . Dakar Rally pyramid scheme The 2001 Dakar Rally on which the KTM LC8 is scheduled to make its debut is set to cover a very different route from the Paris-Dakar and Granada-Dakar events held over the past 20 years. According to an interview with the French magazine Moto Journal, rally organizer Hubert Auriol has gone on record as stating that, from the new mi1lenium onward, the direction of the rally will change from north-south to west-east - while at the same time returning to its Paris starting point, instead of Granada in the south of Spain, where the '99 event was flagged off. This means that, from next January, Dakar will merely be the gateway to Africa, where all competitors will land on. arrival (presumably by air) from France before crossing the Sahara into Libya and thence to Egypt, with the rally finishing in Cairo after a tour of the Pyramids. The exact route won't be finalized, says Auriol, until after a detailed reconnaissance of the countries entailed, once the hot desert season is over in October. But the main interest is in the inclusion of Libya as a focal part of the rally route. This has only been made possible by the country's recent readmission to the international community, after the Gaddafi government handed over the two suspects implicated in the Lockerbie air tragedy for trial under Scottish jurisdiction in the Netherlands. "Libya is in fact a safe country where you can move about freely, without concern for personal security or the safety of both race and support vehicles," Auriol is quoted as saying. This is a factor of increasing concern Benelli's 900-3 coming soon As the universa:lly admired and eagerly awaited MY Agusta F4 finally achieves takeoff in production form, another of Italy's historic bike marques is taxiing into position at the head of the comeback runway: Bene!li. Currently owned by youthful tycoon and ex600cc Supersport racer Andrea Merloni, whose family Indesit/ Ariston industrial empire is the largest European manufacturer of white goods (fridges, washing machines, etc.), Pesaro-based Benelli's revival began three years ago, when local resident Merloni acquired the rights to the name and set about launching a lineup of Minarelli-powered scooters, ,in order to provide the cash flow needed to underpin the development of a range of motorcycles equipped with Benelli's own engines. Merloni, who currently splits his lime between rebuilding Benelli and running his Team Gattolone World Superbike squad, hired former Ferrari/Cagiva race engineer RiccardI' Rosa to create a range of BeneUi-badged bikes. As exclusively revealed in these columns over two years ago, Rosa's team has been working since then on a fuel-injected OOHC 12-valve three-cylinder 900cc Benelli Superbike - first in V-three guise, but now in its final configuration a transverse inline triple. This engine has been running on the dyno since the start of the year, and earlier this Benelli's re-entry into the big-bike market is set for fall. with a 900cc In-line-trIpIemonth construction was completed of the com- powered sUperblke that should look something like this. plete prototype motorcycle, with dramatic styling by a team which includes several former employees of the nearby Bimota and Tamburini/CRC In that year, too, the historic Benelli name will take to the race operations, prior to starting road testing in June. track once again for the first lime in a quarter-century, with the On July 20, the new Benelli 900-3 will be revealed to the Gattolone World Superbike team swapping its customer Yamaworld's press in a high-profile launch at the company's new ha R7 for a works Benelli-3. Pesaro fac:lIory (currernly cranking out the good-selling range of Ra.cing this will also provide the basis for development of an BesIeIli SO!125/25Occ sport scooters), prior tei the bike's public SP Corsa customer racer, to take full advantage of the new debut at the Milan Show opening on September 15. World Superbike kit-bike regulations scheduled to come into A&er that. Merloni plans an extensive test program before effect in '01. And when this happens, ironica:lly, Benelli will find *''1 :g prtdrdon in spriDg of 2600 - possibly with a limited- itself sharing the track with superbike racing's other comeback IjIja..J.~1IliIt WlSiOD first, as with the MV Agusta - before kid - its traditional MY Agusta rival with which the Pesaro firm of Gtt1eI' models powered by the same family 'shared a decade of Grand Prix rivalry in the 19605! . for 2001 and beyond. KTII's SUper twin With KTM's increasingly street-oriented new Duke II now in production as part of an expanded '99 range of bikes powered by the existing LC4 motor, and development of the Austrian company's new Rl four-stroke motocross engine off to a good start in the hands of Kiwi Shayne King, whose 520SX works prototype is running at the front of the World Open MX series, company boss Stefan Pierer is now focusing on the firm's future expansion headlined by the move into the twin-cylinder off-road and sportbike market that KTM has been planning for some time. . Initially, this was projected to happen with a production version of the Folan 6O-degree V-twin motor deve!oped in Sweden as a spinoff from the Husaberg single but after encountering many problems (of both a technical and human nature) with the project, KTM left it to Highland to acquire exclusive use of the engine, while starting work on its own a:ll-new V-twin motor. "We have everything on schedule now," says Pierer. "The first KTM motorcycle powered by the 75-degree V-twin engine we're developing in-house will be a 'Hard Enduro' that will appear early in 2001 (in prototype form in January's Dakar Rally, with the customer version set to appear at the Milan Show later that year... Editor). "To begin with, well restrict capacity to 800cc and power to 85 to 90 bhp inore than that is inappropriate for off-road riding - but in succeeding years we'll produce bigger-bore versions aimed at street use, naturally fitted with electronic fuel injection. I can promise you a very nice family of motorcycles based on this V-twin engine design, which is the product of the outstanding 58-man R&D team working UDder OUT chief engineer, Wolfgang Felber." And, yes, this will include an Le8 V-twin street rod based on the Duke concept, for which designer Gerald IGske admits to having already doodled a few preliminary designs. "The Duke ill will come in the 2003 lTlodel year, he says, "and will be a slightly taller but leaner versicm of the Ducati Monster. It'll be great in traffic - the ultimalle street scooter! There's nothing else in the market at :I: § ~ Q iD ~ ;:: ~ ~ L t::- , Folan engine but soon realized it's not the basis for a production motorcycle: The fact there was some dispute about the rights to use it provided a convenient opportunity for us to exit the project. We briefly considered doing a deal with Aprilia to develop an off-road version of the RSVl000 motor, bur even though this is a quite compact 6O-degree V-twin, it's too heavy for dirt use - so we went full speed ahead on building our own engine, and .are honestly very pleased with the way it's turning out. But you'd expect me to say that, wouldn't you? Except it's true!" But that's not all, for Felber and his team are also working on launching a replacement for the current LC4 engine in 2002, based on one-half of the V-twin motor and aimed at street and enduro use. In addition, KTM is also planning a ;range of lightweight competition dirt bikes, based on the new 520cc motor in King's prototype racer. aBlikeit." To provide the space needed to expand annual producChief engineer Wolfgang Felber agrees. tion within the next five years from the current 27,000 "KTM"s four-stroke reputation has grown to the point bikes in 1998 to a projected 40,000 twins and singles, work we must be seen to do things right, and to do it our . is well advanced on KTM's new 237,OOO-square-foot facto- eo we are!" Felber says. "We started out with the U ----J ry housing the new assembly lines - on schedule to begin operation in August, and the product of a $15 million investment. The collapse of KTM's proposed marriage with Harley-Davidson is well-documented - but Pierer admits to having explored other avenues with the.intent of·forming a strategic alliance aimed at competing successfully on botha commercial and sporting level with the Japanese. "We've had to put the idea on ice for the lime being," he says, "though it's a pity things didn't work out with Harley, because there was a strong synergy between the two companies. Ivano Beggio, the boss of Aprilia, wants to do things his own way, which we have to respect, and while we've had very good contacts with Triumph, there's been nothing more. Little came out of our discussions about linking with Ducati, either - except for the fact that the Italians have chosen our 75-degree V-twin engine configuration for their new motor! We'll bide our lime until another opportunity arises for meaningful discussion." Hmmm - the idea of an off-road Triumph or Ducati built in Austria does have a certain appeal...