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
F IM World Endurance C h a m p io n s h ip Round 1 : Le Mans 24 H our (Above) The Le Mans 24 Hour gets underway way with - you guessed It a Le Mans-style start. (Left) Christophe Guyo t led a French team to victory on a Suzuki GSXRl000 in the new Superproduction cl a ss. S T O RY A N D P HOT OS BY MARK W ERN HAM LEMANS, FRANCE, APR. 14·15 @ new era in endura nce raci ng was 1JiJ. ush ered i n a t L e Mans a s th e GMT Suzuk i GSX -R 1000 of the new Su p erpr od u c t i on c lass beat th e Honda Elf VTR I OOOSP1 for th e overall vi ct ory after a long da y 's wor k at the Bug atti Circui t . In front of a crowd 9 5 ,000, a produ ct ion -based m otorc y cl e u sing a n essent ially st a n dard 1000cc four-cylinder in a Superbik egrade chassis - wha t many say is the blu ep rint of things to co me in World Sup erb ike r acin g - beat a works Superbik e after 759 laps and 20 25.8 m iles of rac ing . Indeed, the strength of the new formula wa s un derlined as the similar Superproduct ion GS X R 10 0 0 of Suzuki Franc e 's S E RT squad was third on the day, making it an all -Fre nch -team podium , delighting the hi ghl y partisan crowd . Ten GSX-R Superproduction bikes were on the grid, incl uding reigning World Champ ionship team Whirley Phase One Suzuk i, based in England. T eam owner Russell Benny , a 15 year vete ran of th e series , thi nks the class is the future of en durance rac in g and indee d th e World Superbike C h amp i o n sh ip . Wh en asked i f his GSX -R 1000 and similarly de veloped 1000 s from ot her ma nufacturers were a bl ueprint of the futu re of p rodu c t i on -b a sed ra cin g , his an swer was 36 MAY 2 .200 1 • cu e I e unequivoca l: "It is. T he factories need a showcase cl ass for their products, and Supe rbik e has been that for the last 10 years with the 750s. But as th e 750cc cla ss ha s be en dy in g, the 100 0s have been taking over, so ye s, th is will b e World Sup erb ik e eith er next year or th e year after. I said th is morning to several people t hat you cou ld buy a GSX - R 1000 , b r i n g i t absolutely stock standard to Le Ma ns, an d g et top 15 . It 's an amaz i ng machine. " The onl y ques tion l e f t i s wh at altera tions will have to be made to the rulebook to ensure tha t 10 0 0 cc twin-cylinder machines can be corn petitive . As far as cost to build the bike was con cern ed , Benny sai d th at at th is early st age it w as so m ew ha t more ex pensi ve for h is t eam t o bu ild the Superproduction bik e. "We aren 't allowed t o do anything t o th e eng ine really , essentially no meta l remova l, no o verbore , st ock camshafts, sto ck everything. Bu t we also can 't weight -match pistons or con rods [ by machi ni ng ], which means we have to bu y a whole load DeVIlS