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/128102
(Left) This year's model. Jurgen van den Goorbergh Is racing th e current m od e l Proto n in this ye a r's 500cc World Championship. (Below left) Wa nt to get something built quic kly - then build it yours elf. Fa brication goes on da ily at the Rob erts shop. By GORDON RITCH IE PHOTO S BY D O U BLE RED PH OT O S y o u m ig ht have noticed that the wo rld of GP racing ha s be en in a b it of turmoil re c ently . Radi c al new propos als to all ow b ig-bo re four strokes , the formati on of a new power structure which give s the Grand Prix a nd Wo rld Superbike manufacturers (b ig and smallish ) m o re clo ut than e ve r b efor e , p lus the wel c om e rea p pe a r a nc e o f s om e of th e best 500cc racing ever seen by man (iro n ically on the very V-four two -strokes the power -brokers want t o move away from - but that' s another story) have thrown the GP world into Iimbo lan d; puttin g it into an uncharacteristic a lly o ptimistic a nd m otivated state of an t icip at ion . Sp ic ed up b y t he unce rta inty inh er ent in any ne w ve ntu re , of co urse. Wel l th e m a in peleton o f the GP wor ld is wa y b e h in d the t imes in te rms o f b ol d a nd u n c on ve n ti o n al think ing , if you look at the re ce nt history of Team Roberts at least. Arguably the most maverick 500cc GP World Cha mpion and title-winn ing team owner ever, Kenny Roberts took h is unilateral decision to change the face of GP racing for good over five years ago , t u rn in g h is the ory that there was an eq ua lly good a lternative th e Ja pa nese dominated V-four 500 ide ntikit bik es (o r stick er bik es as he called th em ) into actua l rolling metal a nd plastic in record time . And all with the help of some of the ve ry Britbased F-l teams and component sup p liers th e rest of the GP teams are now appar ently co urting to he lp with their ne w generation of four-s trokes. The loc ation of th e factory s ite wa s obv ious , acc ord ing t o boss man Chuck Aksland . "The reason we 're her e in Oxfor d sh ire , E n gl a nd , is t he m en t a lit y of wha t has been bu ilt up b y Formula 1," said Aksland . "We started this project in a very small amount of time; we d idn ' t hav e the supp ly chain , the netwo rk of e ng ineering . It ha s ta ke n us four years to bu ild that up. When we came here at first , thi s building was e mpty, we had no parts - we had an idea . T hen we to ok that id e a , and said, ' let 's get tha t idea m ade .' In do ing tha t , we w er e hel p e d because of the Formu la On e c o nne ction. When you go to a m a ch ine s ho p here a nd say, ' I ne ed o ne or two of a p art icul a r co mpone n t,' th e y 're not laugh ing a t you . T h ey und er stand wh at y ou 're do ing . So it' s very uniqu e . I ima g ine in Italy th er e are pockets like thi s , be c au s e o f the ir pass ion fo r th e s p o rt, but with the language barriers and s o on , we decided here wa s best. " Ahead o f his t im e as al way s , Robe rts ' aggressi ve quest to brea k t h e dom ination o f Japan Inc . , by making a lighter, 500c c tw o -stroke tripl e to su it GP ra c ing 's increas ing predil ection for s lower circu its , may ha ve a ctu all y been a bit prev io us and ha s not rewarded him or h is Ban bury fact o ry 's pers onn e l wit h a GP win , so far. But th e y m a y just have a realistic chance of one this s e a s on . With pr ov en 500cc g iant-k iller Jurgen va n den Goorbe rg at the controls, this coul d b e the t urning poin t in T eam Ro b e rt s ' on -t rack fo rt unes , be cause, as we d iscovered o n a vis it to their Ba nbury headquarters be fo re th e turn of the yea r, everything else ha s fitted into place nic el y. Or s ho uld that be fina lly? Put simply , Team Robe rts is uniqu e in mot orcycling terms , b ecause th ey c o n ce iv e, design, m a ke , test and race virtually eve ry- thing fitt ed to th eir would -be mouldbreaking machine in house , and are thus in the outwa rd ly enviable pos ition of having the ability to m ake (or ha ve made for them nearby) n ew components in a way tha t some other , more beauroc ratica lly c um berso me fa ct o ry t eams s imply dream a bo ut. Budgets a nd log ist ics pe rmitting , of course. In day -to -day co ntrol of a ll th is is one of the Co sa California who ma ke u p t he mai n tr ium v irate of T e am Roberts' collective effo rts , Aks la nd who just happe ns to be the son of th e team's m a in development e ngi neer in America , Bud Aksland , who jus t ha p pens to be the first-ever sponsor of a certa in 14 -year-old dirt -track sensa tion named Kenny Rob e rts . You get the ide a? As close knit as a Kevlar vest , the bombproof co re of th e Roberts team ha s been scyth e d back to basica lly a famil y un it, ha ving shed a lot of ke y personnel since its firs t inception . Per sonnel like cr ew c hie fs and tech gu rus Wa rren Willing a nd Mike Sin clair, for ex am ple . Oc ca si on all y di sillu sioned a n d feeli ng so m e wh a t ost rac ize d of late , King Kenny ha s not been as hands on at Ba nbu ry as he once was , but still keeps t abs, accordi ng to Aksland . "He does n't spend his time here, but he's in my ea r on the te le phone eve ry day. Sometimes, trying to un de rstand what w e ' re doing a n d some ti me s screa ming at m e to do s omet hing he wa n ts l But he e njoys th e tec h nic a l s ide . I thin k you 'll see him parti cipate a lot more next year because, in J urgen , he 's got a rider who will rea lly benefit from his experience. " The m ore cl os e ly you exa mi ne T eam Rob ert s - e a s il y forgotten A designer works t h ro ugh a CAD d e sign in the offices at the shop.