Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

very costly GP1 category's main justification for existence in the corporate mind - especially in the eyes of the accountants signing the checks is as a test bed for the next generation of street-legal ultrabikes, and therefore ultimately as a proving ground for World Superbike. That's evidently why Yamaha wants to hold out for 2004, because that's the earliest its new MT-1 fourstroke GP racer can be brought to the street, while Honda on the other hand can't - yet? - use its V-five GP1 racer for Superbike racing when it eventually comes to the showroom: the maximum number of cylinders allowed under present SBK rules is four, but this could be modified by the FIM in response to an official request from the MSMA! But Honda does have an all-new full-capacity 1000cc FireBlade scheduled for introduction in the 2004 model year, so they want to wait for that. Suzuki is hot to trot with the GSXR1000, but suffers from a) the consensus problem in making the case for a change in the rules sooner rather than later, and b) from the fact that the marketing promotions department within the company is responsible for streetbike-related classes like World Supersport, and would probably like to get its hands on World Superbike to help fatten up streetbike sales, but that SBK presently comes under the aegis of the racing department, which has an alternative agenda in going fourstroke GP1 racing with the newlyannounced V-four project - the ultimate destination for which is almost certainly a streetlegal Superbike-eligible 990cc motorcycle which in due course they hope to bring to SBK. And that's the main reason for their being given the budget to go GP1 with a four-stroke by the Suzuki board in the first place. And Kawasaki? They're just waiting for the chance to come out fighting with the lX-lOR they've had up their corporate sleeves for the past two years or more, but again for consensus reasons the smallest of the Big Four in motorcycle terms can't come out alone in favor of 'One-liter Superbike' now without the support of the others. Faced with this political morass, and conscious of the fact that the indecision being forced on them by the manufacturers' inability to come up with a coherent package quickly places the whole World Superbike package at risk, SBK/Octagon has pushed through the capacity breaks as a means of kick-starting the category's comeback as a varied spectacle, starting next year. "This is exactly the kind of strong leadership I've been telling Flammini for the past two years is needed to save World Superbike as a spectacle, and to preserve its unique appeal," says Alstare Corona boss Francis Batta. "We've made a computer simulation of a lap of Monza with an 820cc version of our GSX-R750 Suzuki,ln which the net improvement was in torque rather than outright horsepower, and we calculate we save 40 meters [132 feet] per lap with the bigger engine, on a circuit measuring 5.77 kms [3.57 miles). That restores the balance between the different types of bikes, without creating a corresponding imbalance - and it also means that tire life will be improved, which will make the races more exciting right to the end." Kawasaki has gone one better, with a comparison in the metal rather than on the computer screen between a lX- 7R 750cc Superbike and an 835cc version developed by Stateside tuning guru Rob Muzzy, in the form of the limited edition Muzzy Raptor originally developed for open-class Formula USA racing, in which guise the tuned engine delivered a claimed 178 hp at the crank - comparable with today's 750cc works Superbikes. Doug Chandler raced a Raptor to FUSA success, before Muzzy launched a street version measuring 75 x 47.3 mm, compared to the stock ZX-7R's 75 x 47.3mm - note that the new SBK International rules will allow teams to obtain the extra capacity by increasing both bore and stroke of the stock engine - the class requirement for a stock stroke will be jettisoned. In SB850 form, Muzzys claims the street Raptor delivers 69 ft./lbs. at 10,500 rpm, compared to an already impressive 55.9 ft/lbs. at 10,250 rpm for the smaller SB750 with a similar level of tune. The extra cubes of the 835cc engine don't give a lot more top-end power, but do offer substantial extra torque, endowing the highrevving four-cylinder engine with the same kind of tractability and grunt out of turns which in Superbike racing at present is the exclusive preserve of the twin-cylinder bikes. "These new rules will be good for everyone in balancing out the World Superbike conditions, which were for the past five years unbalanced," says Team Eckl Kawasaki boss Harald Eckl at Brands. "That's why Honda gave up racing a V-four and built instead a twin, because they knew they could not win otherwise. We'll be looking for a maximum of one or two more top-end horsepower only from our engines, but a lot more maximum torque and a very flat torque curve. This will make the four-cylinder machines drive out of turns much better and be easier to ride - the smoother power delivery will help improve tire response and allow our bikes to accelerate stronger out of slow turns. This is the biggest handi- cap we have at the moment against the twins, which in return have no equivalent handicap against us - it's a one-way street, which these new rules will help put right." That imbalance was seemingly illustrated later that day in the second race at Brands Hatch, in the battle for third place between the lone flag bearer of the four-cylinder brigade, Frankie Chili on his Corona Suzuki, and Troy Bayliss' works Ducati, who'd again carved his way through from the fourth row to the front of the pursuing pack, and repeatedly - six times in all - accelerated past the Japanese four exiting the tight lefthander turn three at the bottom of Druids Hill. Chili kept repassing him elsewhere on the track, but in the end the Suzuki's tires cried enough under the pressure of doing so, and the Italian V-twin motored past for good. But that's not the only advantage of the new capacity rules, says Harald Eckl. "I see this as a way of evening out the imbalance in rider strength between the teams, too," he states. "People tell me my riders are no good, so that's why the Kawasaki isn't winning races. Well, I think in fact they're pretty good, and that the reason is something else, which these new rules let us address. But I don't deny I've spoken to some of the top six riders - we have the budget to hire them, and I'd like one of them on a Kawasaki. But in every case they've turned me down because they only want to race a twin - they see riding a four as being in the second division. Well, that may change now - and I think it's time this happened." "Furthermore," continues Eckl, "I think this will strengthen the teams right down the starting grid, because it will give privateers a much less costly but still competitive option, to race an 820cc four rather than a Ducati, which is extremely expensive and anyway depends on who you know, so you can get the good parts. Aprilia don't make customer bikes, and Honda's are completely uncompetitive - so it's a Ducati or else be resigned to making up the numbers, like Bertocchi's team with his lX7Rs. But the 1O-percent rule will help Bertocchi and people like him a lot so I think the whole idea is very positive, and good for the future of the class. I also think it will remove the pressure for a change to a full 1000cc in 2003, because this way the class will survive and prosper in its present form - even if for us now the problem is time. We need to start R&D now to be ready in time for next season - but at Kawasaki, we already had some practice in building this kind of bike!" Yes, indeed - even if Muzzy no longer runs Kawasaki USA's AMA Superbike team. cycle n The three-cylinder Superbike option is one so far only trodden by Benelli - but that may well change in 2002, if plans which are already well advanced come to fruition for one of Britain's most experienced Superbike teams to join in next season with a two-rider Triumph squad, with two household names - one BritiSh, the other Japanese - racing the British firm's 955cc Daytona. That 6.5-percent capacity increase for the triples was obviously carefully chosen - and the chance that it will attract one of the most famous marques in the history of the sport back into racing, in the Superbike arena, must have been another factor in persuading SBK/Octagon to stipulate the rule change. But as might be expected, Benelli fully supports the new rules - especially as it already has the basis for a big-bore engine under development for its streetbike range, says chief engineer Riccardo Rosa. "We already have 90mm and 92mm-bore pistons in stock, and our engine was designed to be increased in capacity on a modular basis for a larger capacity sport-touring model," he says. "The extra capacity won't give us much more power, but it will make us competitive against the better twins out of turns, where we're losing out badly at the moment though much of that comes from the Tornado being 10 kg. [22 pounds) overweight, at present. So, now we will have to worry about the fours under acceleration! But this is one of the beautiful things about the Superbike category, which Grand Prix racing realized, and copied. I mean the variety of different technical solutions - triple, in-line four, narrow-angle Vtwin, wide-angle desmo V-twin, even a V-four in the past. All this is what makes the Superbike class interesting even to the unknowledgeable spectator - the varied sounds of the different bikes fighting for victory. We must preserve this - so that is why I support this idea, not only because it may help Benelli, but for the good of the future of the category." Well, they all would say this, wouldn't they? How about a view from the opposing twin-cylinder camp? Well, getting anyone wearing a Ducati shirt at Brands to say anything meaningful about the new proposals proved rather difficult - perhaps because they're in a cleft stick, with their recently announced decision to go GP racing as well. Perhaps, however, their reluctance to go on the record is because SBK/Octagon and the FIM are understood to have an inducement up their collective sleeves with which to sweeten Ducati's viewpoint on the changes in the form of a corresponding increase in the twin-cylinder capacity e vv S • SEPTEMBER 5.2001 37

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