Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) pointing at 10,500 rpm or m ore when MacPherson's ·yo u get hard on the th ro tt le o u t of a bike uses a turn, th e Gopp-tuned Kawasaki will combination deliver a stro ng punch en route to the of Ohlins and co nserva tive 14,100 rpm re v-limiter, Kawasak i with no steps o r di ps in the powerband. internals on its Th e m otor d oe sn ' t fee l q u i te as 46mm fork. strong as the Belgarda Yamaha I test ed , The team uses nor as nimble a nd ag ile in steering, bu t stock it' s arg ua bly an even better all-a ro und Kawasak i package motor-wise that is more forgiv300mmdiscs ing to rid e than th e class be nchma rk R6 with s ix-piston - a crucial fact or in a hectic clas s lik e Tokico Super sport. In World Supersport, yo u calipers. need a bik e that 's a flexible friend - and that' s what Ma cPh er son ' s Kawasa ki, wate r ra diat or tha t Go p p says is "just rather surp rising ly, is. for sho w - I run th e stock thermosta t, Pickup fro m a closed th rottle is quite fierce , th ou gh - a fac t yo u es pecia lly a nd th e temperatur e is al wa ys 70-75 d e gree s , eve n in La g u na Se ca o r notice on an initiall y damp track in the A-1 Ring's trio of slow turns. But it isn 't Bra nds ," a nd th e A k ra povic exha us t a bi g fac tor be cause of th e nic ely balw ith its titanium-wrap silencer and 1-2 and 3-4 ba lan ce pip es are the sum tota l anced suspens ion pa ckage - which th e of changes to what is a remarkably stan. on- board telemetry helps the team dial in quickly for eac h track - allows you to da rd engin e . Add in th e Ohlin s cuskeep up corner speed pretty well, espetomer rear shock and the combination of cially wi th the good grip of the Dunlop Ohlins and Kawasaki in ternals to th e 0207 tires. 'm o d ified 46mm forks - by some way, "Sp end ing $5000 on a proper comthe sturdiest in the class - and it' s po ssiputerized m oni toring sy stem is a costble to believe Martin ' s claim that the effective move which actually benefits Kawasaki is not only the closest of th e an y privateer team just as m uch as a facchampionship contenders to the bikes tory-supported operation like ours," that race spectators rod e to th e track, insists Gopp. "Fitting telemetry cuts out but also represents the most cos t-effecthe need fo r costly pre-race testing to tive route to victory lane in th e World find the right suspension setup, which is Supersport paddock. the key to Supersport success. Instead , "The o n ly re al problem is carbureyou can ge t the bi ke dialed in quickly tion," he says. "The bike is very sensi and easily at a race, as well as moni tor tive to temperature changes, so between its beh a vior at all tim es on the tra ck. 'a morning warm up and the afternoon Also, at first Harald (Eckl) wanted m e to race, it can be difficult to get th e jetting remo ve it for races in case it got crashright. But apart from that, it's a good damaged - but I convinced him it was bike to work on , which is also very reliable, once you know the precautions to cheaper to know why we crashed, so it take to overcome didn' t ha p pen again. So now it stay s on all th e compromises of volume prothe time." d u cti o n on the To p roduce th is assembly lin e willing, punchy like the b ig-e nd e ngine whose bolt s stretching if na tu re not o nly goes agains t t h e fourno t correc tly tig htened, or the cy li nder Su pers por t co r rect in stallagra in, but also belies th e ZX -6 R's al l-o rtio n of the va lve sea ts. We've honnot hi n g 're p u tatio n e s t ly only had Gopp has only ra ised two m echanica l the compression from problem s a ll t h e s tock 11.8:1 to 12 :1, p referring to year, e it h e r on concentra te in s tead the d yno o r th e race track, and it o n resh apin g the 'co mbu stio n chamber was great misfortune tha t th es e and wid ening the both ca me in va lve seats for better races, when lain precision in sea ting and an improved was challenging for the lead." fl ow. He 's al s o In spite of him wo rked at ge tting the squish b and ju st being both sho rtMacPherson (left) gives some riding advice e r a n d li ghter right, which he sa ys to Cathcart. Crew ch ief Martin Gopp than me, I found is the ke y to tunin g (center) listens in. MacPh er s on ' s the Kawasaki engine chassis se t u p to its best advantage. And when po rnn!> " ...d.,f1owing the really easy to go fast with. He runs both cylinder head, he's taken care to avoic dutch and brake levers "ery short, close opening th e po rts up too big, to av oid to the clip-Oil, nnd the handlebars are foc us ing on · to p -e n d power at t he quite wide-spread, to load up the front expense of midrange zap. w heel with you r body weigh t. Bu t In Gopp also uses the less rad ical 1998 spite of his compact buil d , the 1415m mKawasaki race kit camshafts, rather tha n wheelbase b ike is n' t cra mpe d 'a n d the '99 ve rsions w hic h he thinks affect the re's lots of space to move abou t, p lus reli ability because the ca ms o pen the the screen is quite tall and shape d we ll va lves too fast. H e al so uses sti ffe r kit enough for him a nd eve n m e to tu ck s p rings o n th e s tock va lv es, kit cam w ell behind at speed. sp rocke ts to vary the va lve tim in g a litMacPherson doesn't rely o n the tach tl e, a ki t igniter b ox, strang er clutch to change gear, but ins tead on th e d ashspring s and the kit gearbox , with longer m ounted , junior sea rch li g h t p ointing bottom and sho rter top gears than stock, straight at yo u, w hich flash es bri ghtly at to close every thing up. the tru e 13,800 rpm mark (14,700 on th e Slightly sh or te r bellmouths on the tach ), remindin g yo u to hit the crisp, 36mm Mikuni carbs, th e hu ge ZX-6R kit precise, street-pattern gearshift. (Above) Naked Kawasa ki. The team uses on-board telemetry to help with chassis setup, thou gh it's a chassis that will likely be shortened for next year. (Above left) The 36mm carbs on the factory Kawasaki are s horter than on stock ZX-6Rs. The bike will likely reta in its carburetors for next year and won 't feat ure fuel-injection. (Above right) Since' the inaccu racy of the tach makes it fairly usel ess, MacPherson's Kawasak i uses a light that flas hes brightly when it' s time to grab another gear. Suspension is good, with tho se meaty forks eat ing up the Fl-induced ripples on the A-1 Rin g's downhill sweepers with eas e , though the ZX -6R d oe s understeer a littl e under power, and you ha ve . to pull it back on lin e to cou n te r th is. Fork setu p is cru cial, though, with th e t eam playing around a lot w ith spring rat es and oil level to find a good s etup with the Dunl ops, wh ich MacPherSon says are very pr one to chattering problems if the oil level es pe cially isn' t just right. There's a choice of th ree com po und s each, fro nt and rear, for the D207s, by the wa y, and tw o each for the wet , though MacPherson only uses the harder of these two. The Ka wasaki' s steering could be qu icker in tighter turns, but the bike is stable in fast corners - perhaps because the team hasn ' t raised the rear end .to s top washing o u t th e front, and to sharp en the steering. "Do that, and the handling is worse," says MacPherson. "Plus you have to run th e w hee lbase as long as possible o n th e cha in to ge t the rear s h ock working properly. But it's a nice overall pa cka ge th at d oes no o n e th in g ex ce p tio n ally w ell, but has no we ak points either." Well, mayb e just on e. Gopp doesn't bother to cha nge th e Kawasaki' s sto ck 300mm brake discs as mo st World Superspo rt teams do, but with their six-piston Tokico calipe rs these work really well by Su persport standards. They ha ve lots of bite - at least as good as the R6 Yamaha's o ne- piece Sumitom o four-pot ca lipers . Perhaps too good, in fact: Braking hard into any of the d ownhill turns in Austria . made the Ka wasaki repeatedly wriggle and weav e, moving around as the weight transfer made its elf felt on the brakes . Trial and err or with various alt ernative se ttings proved it 's not tin" su~pfmsion that's at fau lt,"no r th e front tire deforming, but what seem s to be an inherent chassis weakness, pe rhaps ca used by the holes in the frame for air d ucts and controlcab les reducin g the stiffness of th e al umin u m twin-sp ar st r uctu re around the crucial steering-hea d area . This w asn' t such a factor braking from flat out in top fo r th e slow uphill turn two, only for the d ownhill turns where weight transfer wou ld be em phasized. But it made it hard to judge entry speed and line for these bends, so next tim e yo u see a Kawasaki rider missing an apex in a Su persport race, you'll know why. A stiffer chassis w ill su rely be top of the agenda for th e new ZX-6R due fo r 20 00 - a b ik e wh ich Ma cPh erso n 's underdog season this year on the existing bike ha s ensured will now be taken seriously by the compe titio n. 'W inning in South Africa was maybe too good a thing," admits Eckl. "We weren't ready to win the World Championship, so it aroused false hopes that put extra pressur~ on lain. But now we know w hat it takes to run at th e front of the World Supersport field , and we have a solid learning season behind us. We'll be making a very serious challenge on the world title next season - and I'm sure our bikes won't be the only Kawasakis at the front of the field a year from now." . Sou nds lik e a prediction that coul d bear fruit. eN Kawasaki ZX-SR Specifications Engine . . .water-cooled. DOHC. 16-valve transverse in-line four W off-set chain camshaft dnve ith Dimension s 66 x 43.8mm Capacity 599cc Horsepo wer 108 at 13.800 rpm Compression ratio 12:1 earburetion (4l 36mm Mikuni Igniti on Kawasaki COl T ransmission Clutch Chas sis six-spe ed Kawasaki close-ratio multi-plate wet alum inum twin -spar S uspension Front . . _. .46mm Kawasaki telescopic forks with Ohlins internals Rear aluminum swingarm with Qhlins shock and nsing-rate linkage RakelTraii 23.5 °/9 1mm Wheelbase 1415mm Weight 367 pounds with oil and water (no fuel) Weight dlSlrllaution . ...52/48 percent static Brakes Front 2 x 300mm Kawasaki discs • with six-pls ton Tokico calipers Rear 1 x 220mm Kawasaki disc with two-piston caliper Wheels /tires Front ' 120170ZR17 Dunlop 0 207 on 3.5-inch Kawasaki wheel Rear 180/55ZR17 Dunlop 0 207 on 5.5-inch Kawasaki wheel Top speed . _ 168 mph (at Monzal Owner Kawasaki Racing Team. Vohenstrauss. Gennany 31

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