Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Bimota's Superbike test · n o c By Paolo Gozzi Photos by Fab'rizio Por rozzi MISAN ITALY AUG. 3 O, , e n yea rs a ft e r its fir s t World Superbike victo ry, Bimota is back on track with hopes of a return to the World Cha mpionship in 2000. With Italian Giuse ppe Fiorillo at the controls, the SB8R mad e its first laps in a very sho rt test session at the Misano Circuit, a tes t that showed that the project has moved forward from the drawing boar d to the race track. The next step is to join the big six of Wor ld Superbike racing Honda , Yamaha , Kawasa ki , Ducati . Suzuki and Aprilia - in the series that kicks off the new Millenium. On a ho t day in the sou th of France in July of 1989, Gianca rlo Falappa gave the Bimota YB4 its final victory at Paul Ricard . Wh o knows if those a t Bimota eve n rem ember , bu t fo r m a ny yea rs Bimo ta p ro ved a wo rthy adversa ry to th e Japan ese gia nts . In 1987, Vir gin io Fer r a ri d efea ted H on d a to w in th e World TT F1 Cha mpions hip, the predecessor to the curren t Wor ld Su pe rbike Series th at w ould fo llo w a yea r lat er. When that series sta rte d, Bimota began as th e bike to beat. Da vid e Tard ozz i won five times that season and for most of the season he led the championship, th ough he w ou ld u ltima tel y los e th e titl e i n dram at ic fas h ion in N ew Zea land, with Fre d Merkel and th e RC30 Ho nda earning th e first World .Su perbike crown. In ' 1988, Bi mota facto r y rider en en en Stepha ne ¥ erten s won twice en ro ute .,.; to finis hing fou rth in the World Super'" b ike Cha m pionship, wi th Bimota finu; is h in g seco n d b eh in d H onda in th e " §' Co ns tructo rs World Cham pio ns hip. In « 1989, the Bimot a YB4 w as competitive ' 36 aga in , allowing n ewcomer Falappa to T w in th ree races - in En gla nd, Ca na d a a nd Fra nce - bu t eco no mic a nd ma nagerial crises for ced Bimota fro m the top level. Now the Italian manufacturer is back w it h th ree b usinessmen - Fra ncesco Tognon , Edoardo Miroglio and Adriano Aureli - p ro vid in g th e fin an cial help needed to bring Bimota back, bo th in the in terna tio nal marketplace and on the race track . And Bimo ta ha s made no secre t of th e fact that a re tu rn to th e World Superbike Cham pionship is on e of its main pri oriti es. After all, the image of Bimot a an d of its hypersport street bikes is 'd eep ly linked to road ra ci ng competition . The proto type that mad e its debut at Misan o is very close to the street ver sion of SB8R th at Bimota started se lling to the public last sp ring . It' s a bike with progressive techni cal innovation s, clearly see n in the mod ular aluminu m chassis with alloy bea ms and in tegra ted carbon fiber. Also of note is the rear shock absorber, mounted horizontall y und er th e fu el ta nk . Th e sw inga rm, mean whil e, is d eeply rein forced, a long the lines of the Honda RC45's. The r ear s hock ab so rb er is a HatPai oli, th e sa me It al ian fa ct ory that mad e th e bike's 46mm upsid e-down fork . Hat will be a player in next year's racing effort with Bimota and will bring fa ctory as si stance to each and e ver y race . The SB8R will use Brembo brakes. The SB8R has a short wheelbase of 1390mm, making it com pact like a 250cc G rand P rix bike. It also feature s adjustablity wi th both the steeri ng head angle and the fork ang le. . The Bimo ta SB8R w ill u se a fueli n jected fac to ry Su z u ki 1000cc, 90degr ee V-twin . The prototype that was used at Misano featu red one of the factor y eng ines th at was last used 'in th e Yoshimura Suzuki TLR1000 in the AMA Superbike Cham pio nship last year. 'Suzu k i s till b eli e ves in the V-twin p roj ect, a n engin e form a t tha t H onda will also debu t in Worl d Su perbike next year w it h the NT R. Becau se of thi s, Suzuki is behin d Bim ot a' s effo rts and will provide a tech n ica l s taff to help with the bike's d evelopmen t. The first step will be to cha nge the fuel-injection sys tem fro m Nippondenso to a Ma relli MF3S, the injection management sys tem use d by bot h Ducati and Aprilia. Arrow ma nufactured th e ex haust system us ed during the Misano test and, again, Bimota will receive technical help fr om th em. Th e u se of th e A rrow ex h a ust round s o u t what w ill b e an entire Italia n challenge. with the chassis, su spension, brakes, exhaus t system and fu el in ject io n ma d e in It al y. O nly th e eng ine wi ll come from Japa n. Bimota has yet to pu t in production th e 150 SB8R "s pecials" n ecessary to meet homo loga tion numbers to make it race-legal in 2000. Bim ota has allocated a budget of roughl y $2.5 million to make th is h a ppen a n d there w ill be som e spo nso rs coming on board to help pay for the company' s racin g activities. An indepen d ent racing structu re - Bimota Cors e - has been bu ilt and it's only interest wi ll be in managin g the racing effort. It will be based in San Marin o, just 12 mil es from Bim o ta' s headquarters in Rimini. ' It is likely that Bimo ta will field just one rid er in next year's World Su perbike Cha mpions hip. Although the factory is tight-lipped on the subject, one of th e ca n di da tes is Pe ter Go d dard , th e , Aus tralian w ho has help ed in the develop me n t of the Aprilia RSV1000. The re will be a lso a tes t ri d er an d th a t w ill likely be Giuseppe Fiorillo , th e Italian who ha nd led the testing duti es at Misano . To co ncentra te on th e ir return to World Superbi k e r a ci n g n e xt year, Bimo ta will drop its World Supersport pro gram. The YB9SRI that Bimota is curren tly u sin g in the se ries still u ses the old Yama ha YZF600 engi ne and it is no lon ger com petitive with mot orcycles like the new Yamaha R6. The company, how ever, is likely to bring ou t a new 600, though that won't be u ntil 2002 or 2003. CI/I The past has b een B imota has won World Superbike ra ces in the pa st, and th ey hope to do so agai n. Here's a breakdown of what th e Italian motorcycle company has achieved at the top level of superbike racing. . WORLD SUPERBlKE RACE WINS Manfeild. New Zealand (Race 21 1988 1989 Davide Tardozzi Davide Tardozzi Davide Tardozzi Dav ide Ta rdozzi l Step hane Mertens Step hane Me rte ns Doningto n Park . England (Race 21 Mosport. Canada (Race 21 Pau l Ricard. France (Race 21 Gia nca rlo Falappa Giancarlo Fa lappa Giancarlo Falappa Doningto n Park. Eng lan d (Race .O Hockenhei m. Germany (Rac e 1-21 Zeltweg. Austria (Race 21 Esto ril, Portugal (Race 1-21

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