Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

IRTA Test (Above) The surprise of the test had to be Proton's lformerly Modenas} Jurgen van den Goorbergh. The new Team Roberts rider put the revised Mk3 version of the bike In seventh place overall ahead of several other factory bikes. BRIEFLY••• compact possible dimensions. The new version has a bigger crankcase, to make room for larger reed valves and different transfer port shapes. However, at this stage the expected higher potential remained potential, with the engine in the same tune as last year's. Riders Roberts and Gibernau were anxiously awaiting the fully updated version. The chassis is also new, but almost identical to the last one, according to Willing, maintaining the same geometry and stiffness ratios. "We didn't have a chassis problem." Like all the factory machines, Suzuki runs Ohlins suspension, with continuous experiments both front and rear. These are mainly concerned with gas damping control, with almost all bikes running a mysterious little bolt-on chamber at the bottom of the fork. HONDA NSR500V !Above} World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. put the updated Suzuki RGv500 through Its paces at Jerez. The motor has been revised In an effort to Improve midrange po_r and throtUe response. Both Roberts and his teammate Sete Glbemau left the test disappointed after only posting the 11 th and 12th fastest times. change to the exhaust shapes, which posed some tuning problems at first according to Rossi's crew chief Jerry Burgess, and has changed the appearance of the wigglier lower exhausts on the right-hand side. That is under the skin. The bike has changed outwardly as well, in line with changes seen to the prototype that appeared briefly at the last GP of last year at Phillip Island, and incorporating a new air-flow system. Uke the earlier NSR250, it has an air-intake in the nose, feeding directly via passages in the fairing (not through the tank, as with the 250) (Left) Former British Superl»lke contender Chris Walker improved throughout the weekend, slicing two seconds off his times in only his second outing on the bike. (Above) Kaija Poensgen, the sole female rider In Grand Prix racing was the subject of many conversations at Jerez. Not only was she riding a 250Cc two-stroke for the first time, but she had to bOrTOW a bIke from a private Aprilla team after her team collapsed tust prior to the test. FEBRUARY 28,2001 • cue Gilera is back in GP racing, 28 years after the Italian name's last GP win, But the latest machine to bear the famous badge - six-lime winners of the 500cc title in the '50s - represents badge engineering of the most blatant kind, It is in fact a Derbi, identical in every respect except the name, Young Italian Manuel Poggiali. who raced for Derbi last year. will ride the Gilera. His former teammates Youichi Ui and Pablo Nieto continue on the Derbi. Gilera made an abortive return to the 250cc class in the '90s. The famous name now belongs to scooter giant Piaggio, which recently bought the Spanish Derbi company. A big·budget team launch marked the anrival of tobacco sponsors West in GP racing. to sighs of relief among team managers and racing bigwigs. A loss of sponsors in recent years means that money men cannot afford to tum their noses up at tobacco money, even though It is somewihat tainted in the public eye. and also under threat of ban in some countries. West is backing the Honda Pons satellite team. with riders AJex Barros and Loris Capiross!, and launched a severe wihite-on-black livery. with the riders in predominantly black leathers, The 125s practiced for two days before the 250s and 500s - and came up with a surprise. Fastest time was set by sensational GP rookie Gaspare Caffiero CAprilial, who not only displaced earlier leader Nobble Ueda rrSR Honda), but even beat champion Roberto Locatelli's pole time from last year. Ueda was second. and his former teammate Lucio Cecchinello third, in his first outing upon switching from Honda to Aprilia. Gino Borsoi CAprilia) was fourth, then Youichl Ui (Derbil, heading Poggiali (Gilera) and Pablo Nieto (Derbil. Spanish 125cc rookie Raul Jara had a lucky escape from very serious injury after dislocating two vertebrae upon crashing his Aprilia. According to GP medico Dr. Claudio Costa, the youngster was very lucky to evade paralysis, and will instead be back in action within two months or less, Is Yamaha's new four-stroke GP racer an Rl motor in a GP chassis? Not exactly, but then again that is apparently not too far from the mark, after Yamaha confirmed broad details of their four-stroke GP bike for the new regulations in 2002. Code-named the OW-M 1 (an official name will be announced later), the machine Is already undergoing track testing - and though the new motor is notably smaller than production engines, its basic configuration is similar, and (as will all the forthcoming four-strokes) it has great relevance to future sports road bikes. News that it is an in·line four quashed rumors of a V-four design. but the announcement confirmed rumors that both Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa, Yamaha's factory-team GP riders. had ridden the new machine. Furthermore, both riders will test it again before the start of this year's season. The four-cylinder machine will have Yamaha's trademark five-valves-per-cyllnder design. Other engine details are still secret. but it is understood that like Honda's V-five, the machine will be smaller than the ggocc capaCity allowed. The test version has been installed in a VZR chassis, and Yamaha has promised further details, as well as photographs. before the first GP of this year in April. The riders were also guarded in their comments. at a Saturday moming press conference. 'It's too early to say if it can beat a two·stroke, and the first few laps were quite difficult - but I can see some advantages with the new bike, and if Yamaha work hard th~ can make it better,· said Biaggi, adding: 'One thing is for sure - the noise in the pits is like Formula One. It should be good for bike racing.· Chace said: "The feeling was very different. but I had a good impression of the bike. Many points are good - with more traction. The main difference is the engine braking. But lots of development is needed, and the two-strokes have had many years of development already with different riders.' Yamaha planned face-to-face tests between two-stroke and fourstroke in the near future. and have not yet decided whether they will race only four-strokes in 2002, or whether they will enter both types of machine. '1 expect it will be the same as in motocross, where the factory races both types of machine.' said project leader Shuji Sakurada. The HRC riders - Rossi, Criville and Ukawa - have the 2001 bike, while satellite team riders stick with the 2000 machine. The new bike looks different, and incorporates a raft of minor changes. The most important is the altered weight distribution, with the engine position changed to put more weight on the rear. This in turn obliged a 40 The mix of 250s and 500s on the same race-track provided some entertaining viewing, with the better 250 riders hounding the 500s through the comers, only to lose tens of yards the second they opened the throttle. One amusing encounter came when 250 Apriria tester Marcellino Lucchi dived undemeath Max Biagg;'s 500 into one tum, and was observed ostentatiously shaking his head at his fellow-Italian. •• n • _ s Four-strokes were a major topic at Jerez. after Yamaha's announcement and the earlier release of photographs of Honda's new V-five motor. Of the big three, only Suzuki has now not made any announcement of four-stroke racing plans. Engineers observed that Honda's motor appeared not to have variable-length inlet systems, which are universally used in Fl car racing to boost power. At the sama time, neither Honda nor Yamaha have gone to the full g90cc capaCity allowed by the regulations. The message i.s clear. Horsepower is not the mission - it will be relatively easy to have more than enough. The limiting factor will be tires, which must comply with the same maximum six-inch rear rim width as the current two-strokes. Tires are already the greatest limiting factor with the existing machines, though there have been significant advances In endurance, grip and slide control over the past decade, Michelin currently has total domination in the 500cc class, but with Bridgestone planning to move into the class next year and Dunlop also considering a retum, development is likely to accelerate to meet the new demands, "We are going to need some major improvements - a big step forward, to allow a tire to transmit significantly more power than at present, - said Jeremy Ferguson. Dunlop's racing chief. Ferguson also confirmed that the company, now owned by Goodyear. is keenly interested in the challenge posed by the four-strokes.

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