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/128110
Kennv Roberts pi ec es of some of th e othe r factories, you'd see that we'r e better. An y piec e. We'r e get ting to th e point where almost every piece tha t we make is as go o d , if not b etter th an what th ey m ak e. We m ak e all of it. We design it and m ak e it in England. W h a t happe ne d with t h e P u lse fram e th at broke? No i d ea . We man ufactu r ed it to t here specifica tions and to my knowled ge I don 't rea ll y k now. T hat was th e on e t hat w a s cras hed . T he re wa s som e dou bt whe ther that had any thi ng to do with it or not. Bu t I know th at we 've strengt he ned the shock -tower area in ours . It's fairly s i mil a r t o o u rs . It depen ds o n how mu c h mil ea g e i t h as . We w eld a Hond a 12 5 up, eve ry Grand Pr i x we weld at l e a st o ne ch a ss i s u p a t t h e track, beca use the aluminum does c rac k. E v er y b o d y g oes th ro ugh th e same problem . So you ha ve t his th ing on paper. Wha t kind of time do yo u look at? T ime isn 't a problem wh en yo u 're runni ng a rac ing team wit h' a compa ny like Aprili a, for example. Whe ther it co mes ou t in J une, July , or August, it do esn 't m ak e any difference . T o us it does , because we sell sponsorship . Now, if Proton wanted t o say w e re a lly w ant to g et int o t hi s and d o t he four stroke thi ng and tr ansfer that to a street b ik e an d bl ah, blah, blah, th en ti me wouldn' t make any difference to us. Wh ether we actually ran the three for si x month s and then w e would brin g in the fou r stroke, really doesn 't m ak e any differenc e. It's j ust fi nding th e co m pa ny th at wants th at t ype of devel opment. o n c e you decide t o g o four-stroke racin g, how soon c ou l d you get a motorcycle on t he racetrack? It wouldn 't tak es us very long to actua ll y m ak e a m otorc y cl e, probab ly two m onths d esigning , tw o m on ths in patent work , cranksh aft , y ea h t he y ' re eas ier th an a two -st rok e cran k . You ' re pro b ab ly looking at about ei ght months we could have on e running , safe ly . T hat puts y ou out of ne xt yea r, doe sn 't it? Q cha lle nge isn 't technica l, it's fi na ncial. Whether the des ign ev e r becom es more t ha n j ust a co ncep t de p ends on Roberts' abilit y t o sell h im self and his vis ion; in tod ay 's co ntrac t ed m ark et , a m o re dauntlnqtask than any he eve r fa ced on a race trac k . Tell us about you r four-stroke. By H E N NY R A Y AB RAM S P HOT OS BY G O LD £, G OOSE W e ha ve seen th e fi v e- cy li n d e r engin e t ha t Honda will run in next year' s World Champi onshi p . We ha ve seen the four -cyli nder m ot or cycle that Yam aha has built run ni ng on a rac etra ck . We ha ven't seen w hat Ke nn y Robe rts will be ra cing . For now, it' s all in hi s head. Ag a in st v a stl y impro v ed co m p et iti o n , T eam Rob erts is cu rr ently raci ng the Proton th ree -cyl inder 500 in the 50 0cc Wo rld Champion sh ip s. T he p ro j ect is under -funded and hasn't ke pt pa ce with the Ho ndas , Yam ahas , a nd Suzu k is. Th at sa id , this ye ar 's re sults have been the best in y ears, partly bec au se of the in sp ired rid in g of Du t chman Jurgen van den Goorbergh. But va n d en Goorbergh c an on ly do so much. Th e three is we ll off th e pace and , realistica ll y , ha s little ch ance of fi n is hi ng on t he podium in most circums t anc es. Aga inst the ex pec ted onsl aught of the J apa nese four -strokes ne xt yea r, it will be even m o re of an underdog , though cu rrent rul es all ow t wo-strokes to run in perpetuity. To counter this , Rob erts kn ows he has to join the f o ur - s tr ok e p ar a d e . T he concept is t h e re , t h e mon ey isn 't. Rober t s ha s p ro ve n his eng ineer ing firm c an design, m anufactu re and bu ild every part on a m ot or cycl e. His wo rks ho p builds frames for a number of teams, incl udi ng th e Derb i 125cc team and th e Puls e 500c c team . Th e firm bu ilds most every part on his own bik e, which has co me a long way since th e te ething p roblems of th e somewhatt oo -clever design he started wi th sev eral yea rs ago. Though he's won ev ery conce iva ble ch amp ion ship in an ill ustrio us riding and tea m ownership career , leav ing th e J ap an ese fo ld has pro ven m ore o f a ch all enge than expected. T here has al ways been a probl em fundin g the te am pro perl y and it' s no t get t ing an y easier . T h e J ap anese c o mpa ni es h av e d eep p o c k ets and long a rm s an d have p ro v en th ey 'll do whatever it ta k es to win . The Roberts fo ur-stroke project won't be on tr ack wh en the seaso n starts bec ause of money . It wo n 't happen at all if the funding doesn 't materialize. T he 38 .JUNE 2 7 , 200 1 • c u e I e n _ Q W ell, we have o ne desig ne d, bu t as of y et , w e don 't have a sponsor who's fi nancially backed us to bui ld it. We have a three at the m om ent. St rai ght, inline three. It' s very sma ll . Sma ller th an the Sau be r motor. A nd that ' s ava il ab le for us to do if somebody wa nted to do it . Righ t now we haven 't found anybody who 's c ome to us and said th ey want to be in tha t typ e of env ironment. Is it the (Australian ) Malloy motor? Q I can 't say w hos e motor it is. It 's all theory. So to actuall y put the th eory to test , we'd have to have a comp any t ha t wanted t o do it; then w e'd actua lly have to draw th e moto r ourselv es. The bas ic theory of power p u lse, weig ht, reli ab il ity , c ran k sh aft, all t he se th in g s co nsid ere d , and th e we ight li m it , we think the th ree - cylin der m a k es sens e. N o w w e 'd have to say, 'Okay , th e valve needs to be th is big.' These are t he things you hav e to do whe n yo u design th em . The ba sic concept of it we have of what we wo ul d b u ild if we want to bui ld on e. I don 't thi nk buildin g one is a big cost, no more than buildi ng .our two -strok e. Ma in taining it is a little more c ostl y . T he fo ur-stroke is not b lack m agic li ke the two -strokes are . Th e two -strokes a re really b l a c k art. T here aren 't many people in Eu rop e th at do tha t . T he bike th at we bu ild n ow is p robably as good as anything out there, pi ec e for p iec e. T he tota l packa ge pro babl y isn 't as good . Bu t p iec e for p iece over the last co uple of years , the eng in eering has gotten better and better and be tter to whe re we fee l tha t 's as far as we're go ing to get of ac tua lly m ak ing the pi ec es. To pu t it all togeth er d iff erently o r mak e it go aro und the rac etrack better, we 're st ill working on it . And tha t' s what Ho nd a does, actuall y . And if y ou loo k at our bik e ve rsus th e Honda , there's not a big d iff eren ce. And if you look at the p ieces of ou r bik e ver sus th e s Q Q Q I don 't see us coming in the beg inning of next ye ar with a fo ur -stro k e, no. T hat w indow's already gone . A nd when yo u d esig n th at and mak e it in eig ht m onths , you 're no t allowing yourself... see this bi ke was bu ilt in less time than that an d t he firs t time i t v irt u all y ra n w as o n t he r acetrack . W e wou ldn't do that with a fo ur -stroke . How long have y ou been lookin g fo r spo nsorship? W e look f o r spon so rsh ip ,a ll t he t ime . W e ' r e al ways looking for spo nsorsh ip. Bu t we don' t have the design co mplete d and lai d out on paper t o say "Here it is." W e have an im age of it . A detailed print is what we don 't h ave . W e' ve had th at fo r three, four m onths, fi ve months. Right now we 're not run n ing enough budg et t o m a k e t h e th ree -cyl inder co m petitive . So th e money t o make the fo ur -stroke Q