Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

• (Left) The Belgarda R6 produces a claimed 130 horsepower at 15,000 rpm. (Right) The team can change the length and . shape of the bellrnouths from30mmto SOmm, depending on the track, on its 37mm Keihin semi·flat·slide carbs. The carbs also have a TPS throttle· position sensor. (Above) Casoli uses Braking's margarita-wave discs on the front of his R6. cam timing, ignition curves and the length and shape of the bellmouths (there are three different types, varying between 30mm and 50mm in length, depending on the track) for the 37mm Keihin semi-flat-slide carbs, which are fitted with a TPS throttle-position sensor that further sharpens engine response. And the fat radiator sourced from the R7 Superbike parts bin keeps water temp down to 82 degrees centigrede on a hot, 90degree, Italian summer afternoon. The result is an engine that really likes to rev, all the way to the 15,600 rpm redline forewarned by the bright red light flashing on the dash at 15 grand, to remind you to change up on the so-crisp race-pattern' gearbox (no powershifter, though, nor a double killswitch like the Alstare Corona team uses on its Suzukis!) before you start fluttering the soft-action cutout. But with 3,000 rpm of top-end power, coupled with a very flat torque curve for a 600 four, that's no hardship, even if the R6's slant-block motor would go on making power all the way to over 16,000 rpm, if you ran it that high, says Belgarda team manager Massimo Meregalli, himself a top World Supersport contender until he stepped aside and gave his seat to Casoli for this season, taking over the reins of the team by way of compensation. Yet the Yamaha also has impressive amounts of torque, allowing you to shortshift at the last two of the three left-handers leading onto the Misano main straight. Here, you can change up early at around 12,000 rpm and grab fifth (the team gear to use the lower five ratios only at a track like Misano - itself a pretty impressive indication of how supple and potent a 600cc Supersport race motor this is) before cranking over into the final turn, settling the bike as you drive through the fast sweeper hard on the gas. The R6 engine is potent yet torquey: It pulls strongly from as low as 7000 rpm out of the tight Misano hairpins, but the closely matched ratios of the race gearbox, with the middle four ratios only 600 to 800 rpm apart, make it easy to keep the R6 revving above the 10,500-rpm power threshold, for extra drive accompanied by the muted howl of the Arrow pipe. The result is explosive acceleration by 600cc Supersport standards, with vivid pickup from a closed throttle worthy of Yamaha's fuel-injected R7 Superbike contender, but without its snatchy response. Magic. Yet all this comes in a good-handling, sweet-steering chassis package - the R6 feels much lighter than a Superbike even if, after being ballasted with lead to meet the 367-pound class limit, it isn't! It has great drive out of turns, with just a quick flick of its head as the front wheel lifts under acceleration, before settling down quickly and resuming normal service. Suspension is the key to Supersport supremacy, and the 43mm conventional forks (chosen by R6 creator Kunihiko Miwa for their reduced unsprung weight compared to upsidedown ones) have been modified with a selection of Ohlins and Belgarda internals to deliver loads of front-end feel by Supersport-c1ass standards. This enables you to carry lots of corner speed, helped by the Yamaha's trademark architecture, with its triplestack gearbox layout, short engine and long swingarm, delivering lots of weight on the front wheel (52/48%), for extra grip in turns, as well as improved drive out of turns. And as the tires got worn toward the end of my race-distance test and started to slide around under power exiting any of Misano's many second and third-gear turns, the R6 was comparatively easy to muscle back into line, thanks to the user-friendly response of the D208 Dunlops. The only trick I couldn't master was how to stop it from wobbling occasionally at top speed down the Misano main straight, when it started weaving around hard on the gas, presumably as the front end lightened a little under ously works well for Gazolio, so what do I know? However, it's a credit to the Braking/Sumitomo brake package that the Yamaha stops as well as it does, as hard as it does, without nearly as much pressure needed on the lever as on the equivalent Brembos, or indeed the stock R6 setup. Howeverthere's an added advantage that I noted the first time I tested the wavedisc Braking "margarita" brakes a year ago on Stephane Chambon's number-one-plated Corona Suzuki, which Alstare was careful to get the exclusive from for a year. The considerably reduced mass of the petalshaped discs saves a crucial 1.5 pounds in unsprung weight in the 298mm guise that World Supersport rules say must be used on the Yamaha, and while the Italian brakes' stopping power is already noteworthy, the real advantage comes in flicking from side to side in the two Misano chicanes, when their reduced gyroscopic mass as well as lesser weight makes the already quick-steering Yamaha change direction like a GP racer. These are seriously good brakes, in more ways than one - they're sensitive without being snatchy, and definitely one of the strong points of an already impressive bike, which will have you thanking Belgarda for the soft pad on the back of the fuel tank "for added protection" when stopping hard. Ah - such relief. We knew three years ago when Yamaha unveiled the R6 that this had all the makings of one of the great bikes of our time in any class - on road as well as track. Its performance in World Supersport has cemented that impression: The Belgarda Yamaha R6 is a responsive, powerful and good-steering motorcycle refined from an already outstanding streetbike, with a great engine that has strong midrange as well as an appetite for revs. It's the likely contender to retain its World Supersport Championship title in 2001 - only, with which rider? eN power. Standing on the footrests was a partial cure, but only at the cost of worsening the R6's already far-fromideal aerodynamics, which allow the domed screen fitted by Belgarda to protect your helmet but leave your shoulders exposed in the breeze. "Oh, that happens to me, tool" said Casoli. "But I found the trick is to stick your knee out from behind the fairing, and it stops the weaving don't ask me why, it just does!" Now he tells me. Really, only one thing was wrong with the Casali Yamaha: the, er, idiosyncratiC riding position. I've ridden lots of Paolo's bikes down the years, so I know that from his 250cc GP days he prefers the footrests to be high up and tucked away, so as to prevent any ground-clearance problems from arising when he cranks the bike hard over to use lots of angle at tracks like Donington or Misano. However on his Ducatis, that's always been accompanied by a high-rise seat to allow the 748/996's twin silencers to exit out back - but on the lower-set Yamaha, that's not an issue. Result: Sticking the Belgarda bike's footrests 25mm higher and 20mm further back than on the stock R6, while maintaining about the same seat height but with wide-spread handlebars that give good leverage in tight turns, is a recipe for cumulative purgatory for a taller rider. The main problem is that the resultant stance is so confined, you can't move your feet once you've levered your toes on the footrests - but, since you also have to change gear with the left foot, that means riding along with the footrest parked underneath your instep, which in turn means you physically can't crank it as hard over that side as you can on the right. On top of this, the front-brake lever is steeply rotated do~nwards on the c1ipon, which means single-finger braking for anyone with a short hand, whether tarmac-induced or otherwise - this is quite the weirdest riding position I've sampled for a long time, but it obvicucle n e _ S • SEPTEMBER 26, 2001 31

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