Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Francesco Zerbi By Alan Cat hc art Pho tos by Kel Edg e · N "'I 0 two-wh ee led issu e is m ore topical th an th e qu estion mark hovering over the fut ure of Gra nd Prix m otorcycle racin g. Whe n, if ever, will fourstrokes take over in the SOOcc class? For the best portion of the past year, ever since the four-stroke op tio n wa s first floa ted , both GP en thus ias ts an d th ose wit h vested in ter ests ins id e the spo rt have been waiting for an announcement about the expected ru le changes fro m the FIM - in vain. For, after an initial spa te of com me nt from various mem bers of the Grand Prix Manufacturers Association (GPMA) - still headed so me years after Cagiva's retirement from the GP scene by Claudio Castiglioni (as a neu tr~1 party at the be hest of the four Japan ese facto ries and Ap rilia w ho com prise th e GPMA' s membersh ip) - the four -stroke sha do w has co n ti n ued to han g suspended over th e cu rren t G P sce ne. There still hasn ' t been a ny clea r indica tio n of w hen o r eve n if such a formu la will ever be adop ted . Uncertain ty is rife, given the potential impac t a move to four-s tro kes would ha ve o n th e Wo rl d Su pe rb ike Cha mpio nshi p, a mo ve w hich many GP insiders profess to disdain, but of which they are secre tly fearful. On e cons pi racy theory propagated of late is tha t the w hole four-stroke fairy ta le was ge ne ra ted from insid e th e GP com mand st ru ctu re, as a me an s of countering the ine xorable rise of the su perbike ca tegory . This sus p icion has led to vivid protests, with the implied 'threat of rFI etaliati o~, fro m World Superbike p romo ter Maurizio arnrruru, Just one man is in a position to so rt all of th is out and !II tell us wh at's really go ing on, becau se he's the one w ho II holds all th e strings . Th at man is Fran cesco Zerbi, the III presid ent of the FIM, and arguabl y the most powerful .. man in worl d motorcycling . He's th e bo ss o f bosses Q' w ho ultima tely heads up th e decision -making pr ocess ia f or all b ran ch es of moto rcycl e s po rt. The sua ve , 60Q so me thi ng Ita lian lawyer is th e silver fox w ho keeps • 8l a> ~ on ~ 1l E 'Ei. '" '" en 32 o rder in the cor ridors of two-wheeled power, an d wh en he sp ea ks, th e bike wo rld tak es no te. An interview with Zerbi at the Au strian rou nd of the Wor ld Su pe rbike Cha mpions hip at the end of Aug ust pro vid ed th e cha nce to qui z h im abo u t w ha t's really goi ng on behind the sce nes , in relation to the future of GP raci ng . Th e Italian spoke in his native ton gu e and the tape was then translated into Englis h. Q Wh Y has it taken so long for th e FIM to reach a decision about the supposed four-stroke future of GP ra cing, a nd wh en will an y d ecis ion finall y b e announce d? . There is " pa rticu lar indecision on the part of the . no FIM, but a problem of time sca le. The momen t has not ye t come when the ma nufacturers and the FlM are in a positi on to an nounce any mod ifica tion to the rul es but I under sta nd th e confusion of the public at large, and that is w hy I have decid ed to speak to you today abou t this. 50 I want to state publicly here and now tha t there will definitel y be /10 new regulations for GP racing for the foreseeable fu ture. Th is is ver y important: I repea t, ther e will be no cha nge to the ex isting techn ical ru les covering the 500cc GP class - o nly an excep tio n to them in a form wh ich has s till to be d et ermin ed . Thus, th e p resent 500cc reg ulations concern ing tw o-strokes, with the d ifferent ial we ight lim its coveri ng two-, three- and fo u r-cy linder mach ines, will rema in in. force. But, in ad dition, th ere will be a sup plementary clause pe rm itting fou r-s troke mo torcycles of more than 500cc, on a basis yet to be es tab lished. However , the man ufacturers have not ye t deci ded among them sel ves w ha t form this excep tio n to the ex isting ru les shou ld tak e, and u ntil the y make a specific, d etailed proposal to us, the FIM ca n no t apprai se it , assess its. va li d ity , o r mak e a ny announcement abou t the future. The ball is in the man ufactu rers' cou rt, not in ou rs. A Assu min g su ch a proposa l is forthcom in g, will Q there b e a n equ iva lency fo rm u la betw een the existing two-stro kes and future fo ur -stro kes, in whatev er for m they ma y ta ke, presu m a bly b a s ed o n weight? We' re sea rching for the rig ht form ula, because if it w as so easy to d eterm in e, w e'd a lrea dy ha ve ag reed a nd anno unced it! But I want to underline that I'm still waiting for a specific proposal from the manufac turers. Contrary to w hat ha s been written in th e press in Italy and elsewhere, no specific concrete recommen dati on has ye t been laid a t the FIM's d oor by the man ufactu rers, and since th ey ar e the ones wh o hav e to d es ign and co ns truc t a ny fo u r-s tro ke motorcycl es acce pted un d er such an exception to the current ru les, it's obviously they w ho must make the initial pro posal not the FIM' s Technical Co mmi tte e, whose fu nc tion is onl y to exa mine such a propo sa l, and ac t on it. I want to clearly state through your column that all the FlM has rece ived so far is a vague expression of an idea, no t a specific proposal. A Bu t in th at case, w ho was it tha t fir st proposed th at id ea, of bringing four-s tro kes back to G P racing eithe r through an ext ensi o n to the curr en t rules, or else - as has been w idely conjectured - as a rep lacemen t for the existing 500cc two-st rokes? Was it Dorna, th e GPMA, IRTA, th e FIM or even th e ind ivid ual race promot ers ? There has been no pro posal, me rely in forma l di scussion s between the industry and the FlM . In any case, Dorna has no power to im pose o r influence G P technical regu lations, an y more tha n Flammini has in Superbikes. They are merely th e promoter s of th e GP World Cha mpions hip Serie s. Q A g Yes, M r. President, bu t if I ma y say so, that's an answer worthy of yo ur d ay job as a lawyer! O kay, no 'irrn proposal ha s yet been ad vanced - but where di d the fou r-st ro ke id ea come from in the first place? Who firs t expressed it? lt came from the GP MA,'to me personally. The FIM has an ag reemen t wi th the GP MA, w hich a fter all is composed of the companies that bu ild the race bikes. If subsequently th e manu facturer s u nanimou sly recom mend to the FIM a chan ge or excep tion to the current ru les govern ing GP racing, then th e FIM, as the final arbiter, must co nsider this and reach a d ecision . A But these are th e sam e ma nu factu rers in vo lved in . Superbike racing. Therefore, is it correct that these com pani es who mu st decide what th eir objecti ve s are in GP racing mu st at the same time al so de cide what the y want out o f World Superbike, then make a spe cific proposal to yo u what th e ru les coverin g each of the se two distin ct forms of racin g must be? Is it effectiv ely up to the manu facturers to d ecide how to sep ara te them, th en fo r th e FIM to rubber- stamp that dec ision? Bo th the manufactu rers and the FIM ha ve decided tha t the two cham pionships must continue to coexist together - and not only tha t, bu t that it is extremely importan t the y do so o n the same level, neither o ne more import ant than the ot he r, only followi ng dif fer ent techn ical routes. This is the d ifficult y in es tablishing an y new reg ulations for either of them , becau se it's vita l that th e two cha m pionships sho uld con tinue to lead se parat e lives, wit ho u t o ne d et racting from th e success o r via bili ty of the othe r. The re is no doubt that Supe rbi ke will continue to be, pe rha ps even more so in the future, a production-based class, w hile GP w ill remain a pro totype category. Let there be no misunder standing abou t th is: th er e w ill be /10 union o f th e two, nor will o ne Q A

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