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/128120
World Superbike Rules To Come • CAbo". right! World SUp rule . .ft••• w1U ..... ........"....._ _ F . - n _ CIIIII'. CIU-R7lIO 10 p..-lllr'Nll: III ...... p to 82lIoo, III ....... _ 8ab_.. Or atleMt that ...... rule ........ that _ 8Noo .,.... tI.-y _ pIaw~,.... 2001 season, World Superbike has now largely become - and thus preserve the balanced spectacle which SBK/Octagon and the FIM are eager to ensure remains in place. To this end, according to proposals originally advanced by SBK/Octagon and subsequently accepted by the FIM, from the 2002 season onward four-cylinder machines such as the Kawasaki ZX- 7R, Suzuki GSXR750, Yamaha R7 and MY Agusta F4 - which are currently restricted to a 750cc capacity limit - will be granted an extra lO percent break in engine size, bringing the maximum permitted capacity for fours up to 825cc. In addition to this, three-cylinder bikes presently limited to 900cc (of which the new Benelli Tornado is the sole example at present) will be granted an extra 6.5 percent in capacity, bringing the maximum limit on By ALAN CATHCART PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE ajor changes to the technical regulations governing the World Superbike Championship are set to be inaugurated in time for the 2002 season, according to well-informed sources close to series promoters SBK International, a wholly owned division of medi.a giant Octagon Motorsport. Although this does not yet entail the move to an across-the-board lOOOcc top limit for the class covering all motorcycles, irrespective of the number of cylinders, the new rules represent an interim step along the way to that objective. However, they're being introduced now in order to give a short-term fillip to the existing four-cylinder 750cc machines, in their efforts to remain competitive in the Battle of the Twins which, in the M 36 SEPTEMBER 5, 2001 • cue ....... rIghtIa Its for It to • e n e _ s engine size up to 958.50cc. Twins will remain at lOOOcc, as at present but the FIM reserves the right to review the comparative performances of the various types of machines under the new rules on an ongoing basis, and to fme-tune these with the aid of intake or exhaust restrictors. Exhaust strangulation is thought to be the favored mode of doing this, since this can be quickly and easily checked post-race, without dictating a properly sealed airbox, which in the car world has led to countless ructions in those classes of racing where air restrictors are stipulated. It's understood the new r~gulations were proposed to the SBK Commission by the FIM at a July 29 meeting on race-day morning at Brands Hatch, with a deadline of September 2 at the next round at Oschersleben, for a response. However, there seems little doubt that promoters SBK/Octagon are playing hardball here, with a take-it-or-Ieave-it option to the four component groups making up the SBK Commission. This comprises representatives of the teams (presently, former Belgarda Yamaha team manager GiuJio Bardi), manufacturers (the MSMA Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association, comprising the four Japanese companies, plus Ducati and Aprilia), the FIM (Belgium's Claude Danis) and the promoters SBK International themselves (Paolo Flammini) - but it's the MSMA's inability to reconcile the disparate agendas of its various members which is understood to have convinced Octagon to impose the rule change, with the FIM's approval. On the one side, the Europeans are exclusively represented by the Italian twin-cylinder faction alone Benelli, MY Agusta, Triumph, BMW etc. are not members, and neither is Harley-Davidson - and on the other the four Japanese manufacturers include one company, Yamaha, which is sitting out World Superbike for at least the time being, and another, Honda, which is interested in maintaining the status quo under which its RC51 Y ~twin is the reigning World Superbike champion. Kawasaki and Suzuki will surely welcome the forthcoming change in rules, but are thought to have been prevented from speaking out decisively in favor of them by the Japanese need for consensus that has effectively allowed Honda, and Yamaha, to stall for time. This has been underlined by the MSMA's response to the proposals presented at a July 4 meeting for a move to a 1000cc SBK formula in the 2003 season, which the six manufacturers collectively say publicly they want to defer to 2004, even if there are at least two of them itching to do it tomorrow. Ducati and Aprilia are obviously quite happy with the status quo, where twins rule, but are prepared to go the one-liter route in due course, provided the equivalency formula using differential weight limits and/or restrictors to even up twins, triples and fours to theft" satisfaction. But the attitude of the Japanese is largely conditioned by the fact that the forthcoming and, on the basis of the Sauber team's lease price for their Fl-inspired pneumatic-valved triple,