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/128011
repl ace the othe r. They eac h have their ow n sepa ra te fu tu re. Does thi~ mean that, if a four-stroke exceptio n to th e curren t 500cc ru les is proposed and approved, there will be no cutoff date for two-strokes, phasing them ou t over a two- or th ree -year period? In other words, that four-strokes are not envisaged as taking over completely, but that current 500cc two-strokes will continue to co-exist with them in the long term in Fl Moto, or whatever it ends up being called - jus t as they d id in the old IT Formula 1 category? Absolutely . All that wrill happen is tha i the current rul es are main tain ed indefi nitely , bu t tha t the FlM will grant an exceptio n to them to take effect from a certain date. That's all - no time limit , no cutoff and especia lly no axe han ging over the existi ng bikes . Q A the ca i e tia . How a b We've heapacity dof itrenin g fo r fo urQ sright, andouift so, won'rdt ittalkuseffconfusioln1000cc.thIse trokes? be that ca with cu rren t Superbike rules, wh ich a llo w 1000cc twins, 900cc tripl es and 750cc fou rs? I per sonally don' t believe it will be 1000cc for GP racin g, but eve n if it is, there wo n' t be a ny 1000cc twins, as in Superbike at present. We will onl y allow a minimum of three cy linders for GP four -st rok es, with no ma ximum limit - but nor will th ere be a ny 750cc fours. The rul es the FIM wou ld accept in proposed form will not permit such a confus ion between GP racing and Superbikes, even if one embraces prot otype vers ions of such four-stroke machin es, the other prod uction-based . We will keep them quite separate. A Bu t how will you with difQcurrent numbers of equalize four-strokesother, and ferent cylinders with each the 500cc two-strokes? By weight, as in GP racing today, or by a capacity limit for each type, as in World Superbike? W e will do it by weight , but also by fuel consu mption . Each type of engi ne , depending on the number of cylinders and w hether four-stroke or tw o-stroke, will ha ve a minimum perm itt ed w eight a nd a ma ximum a llowed fuel tank ca pacity, wit h race d istances carefully det ermined . But in any case, ther e will be a distinct diff eren ce between the respective technical formulae an d the types of mot orcycles pe rmitted to comp et e in prot otype G l' ra cin g a nd produ ct ion-ba sed Superbike. A HOW abo u t noi se limits for four-stroke GP bikes? Will you take a leaf out of Formula 1 car racing. which is completely unsilenced? . Look, this is a political problem . In my own opin , ion, noise restrictions in GP racing sho uld be free - I don't mea n by that we should have b ikes w ith six or eig h t open meg aph on es, bu t certai n ly a so u nd leve l much louder tha n at pr esent. Bu t that' s a perso nal view - we have to wa it to see w hat the manufa cturers pr opose. Q ยท A O ka y - now for the mos t pressing quest ion of all : Wh en? Eve n if th e ball is in the manu facturers' court, and the FlM still ha s no concre te proposal fro m them, surely you m ust have a target date for th e introdu ction of th ese new rul es? I hones tly ca n' t answer tha t in a n official ca pacity as the Presid en t of the FIM, because I d on 't even know if, let alone u",en the GPMA will make a p roposa l to in troduce four-strokes to GP racing as an exception to the cu rren t ru les - and remember, they must reach a unani mou s ag ree me nt between them sel ves as to w hat this sho uld be. Since doin g so will expose them collect ively to hundreds of mill ions of dollars ill d evelopm ent costs, I can u nderstand their delay in coming forth with a una nimous proposal, eve n if I'm just as frustrated as all the e GP enthusiasts readi ng this that noth ing has yet be n deci ded . Q A But aren't there eq ually millions of dollars at risk in the Gra n d Pri x and Wo rld Supe rb ike paddoc s, because of the conti n ue d uncertain ty surroundin g the fut ure of bot h classes, especially GP? What's yo ur message to so meo ne like Kenny Robert s, w ho ha s to co n vi nce his s ponsors to co m m it s u bstantial b udgets to h is race operation, withou t any certai nty as to wh at th e future hol ds? I wou ld tell him to listen ag ai n to my words at the beginn ing of this inter view - I repea t, there will be no chan ge to the existing GP ru les go vern ing 500cc twos tro kes , on ly an exce p tion to th ose rules which will allow the possibility of four-stro kes to join them - a nd it may be that no com pany will choose to take up tha t opt ion . Not hing else will be different - he, his sponso rs A Frances co Zerbi and SBK International's M rizio Flammini watch the proceed ings at the Austrian round of the World au Superbike Champ ionsh ip at the A-l Ring. and others in the sa me position can plan ahead for the fut ure with every confidence. I d believe the nt p resen Quntil on'ttwo-strokeWhycoot?inuation of the rly sta t-t 500cc rules has ever been clea now, has it? n ed Look, let's fra nk. If somebod y need s to have corA rect informa tion in o rder to ma ke a n informed co m me rcia l o r s po rting decisio n, yo u d on 't ge t th at be from paddock gossi p or pressroom rumor-mongeri ng . You get it fro m the d ecision -mak ing so u rce - and tha t' s me. So now , I' m not yo ur lawyer, but a jud ge - the 'd ecision rests here . It's my job to call the sho ts. In any case, it's my responsibilit y not to put a brake on techni cal prog~ess, bu t at the sa me time not eit her to detract from exist ing su ccessful forms of racing. such as su pe rbike, and GP racing in its current form. It is my intent ion that the new exception to the rul es, if it is to happen a t all, will come into force in 2001, and wi ll ru n for four to five years at least - the normal life of any formula , befor e you review it and fine-tune it, as a ma tter of co u rse. But I will ad mit to wo ndering if, possibly, certain manu facturers were eager to consider the id ea of brin g in g four -s trokes to G P raci ng , but h a ve now thou ght bett er of it! Hence the lack of any firm proposal fro m the GPMA, wh ose pr esident, Claudio Cas tiglioni, has only eve r ad vanced a vague sugges tion to me that this might happen. Since the FIM can on ly deal in realiti e , it is now up to him and his colleagu es to ta ke the s next step. I await their next mov e w ith i nterest, _ 33