Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

meantime we have, secondly, agreed to a set of differential weight limits to come into effect for next season, which will help to improve the competitivity of the 750cc fours in 2002. But I don't want the significance of these short-term solutions to detract from the importance of the much more significant changes we are introducing at least in 2004, and maybe earlier. These represent a formula for the long-term success of Superbike racing, with full participation ensured for the long term by existing manufacturers - and also some new ones who we know are planning to join in. That's why I say to you and your readers that the future of World Superbike racing is, realistically, very bright indeed. Okay - but the FIM press release setting this out is a vague document full of Euro-platitudes, which might have been written in Brussels. It contains only a series of airy professions of interest by the various manufacturers, rather than firm promises of their participation in World Superbike with factory race teams. Point 2, which says that "The level of participation and interest of Championship Manufacturers is to be maintained" could well mean that they promise only to continue building 1000cc streetbikes, which private teams will be able to turn into Superbike racers. Where's the commitment? We have one. Our discussions with the MSMA, and especially with its President, Mr. Ivano Beggio of Aprilia, acting as the representative of all the companies who are members of the association, were very detailed and precise. We have a specific commitment from all six manufacturers each to enter factory-supported works race teams in World Superbike from 2004 onward - that is their expressed intention, which we have complete trust in. Having spoken with many of the manufacturers directly, at the highest level, we are confident that the strategiC declaration of support for World Superbike, which they have collectively made, will be honored in full. So this does not therefore predicate that World Superbike will become primarily a privateer class in the future, with the factory teams concentrating exclusively on MotoGP? Absolutely not. The new regulations will, however, make it easier for private teams to participate as well, because assuming there will be a greater choice of competitive bikes available to them than there are at present, it will be easier for them to obtain the financial support as well as suitable equipment with which to take part in the series. But, the caliber of the championship will remain at the highest level, with all six manufacturers as well as others like Benelli, who are not yet MSMA members, taking part officially in it with their own teams. Without a works team, you wiIJ not be able to win in World Superbike - just like today. Why did you wait so long to produce these alterations to the rUles?_1 can remember Massimo Bordi, who as Ducati's general manager represented the company that had most to lose from such a change, proposing a 1000cc acrossthe-board category as long ago as 1998. Why not legislate all this sooner - especially given that most manufacturers have for many years focused their sportbike street sales on 1000cc machines, whether twins, triples or fours? The last three years have been very important in terms of creating a suitable process for changing the technical rules of each branch of motorcycle racing, in conjunction with the people who must actually produce the bikes to race with, namely the manufacturers. Before, there was only the GPMA - which included a firm like Cagiva with no Superbike, but excluded Kawasaki and Ducati, so obviously had no relationship to our form of racing, only to Grand Prix. Then there was another process for altering Superbike and Supersport rules, which often resulted in different regulations from one country to another, at variance with the rules at world level. The birth of the MSMA has changed all this for the better, and I must say that much of the credit for this must go to Ivano Beggio, who is an entrepreneur and a businessman in his own right, and so understands the problems faced by other entrepreneurs like us. That's the main reason why nothing much could be decided until the end of 2000, when he became President of MSMA - after that we were able to bring about the rule changes, but with the support of all the manufacturers. But you did succeed in achieving this process once already before, back in the summer of 1998 at Zeltweg, when a meeting with all the manufacturers produced the now infamous kitbike rules which were never in fact brought into effect - and whose cancellation provided Yamaha with a convenient excuse to exit World Superbike, in favor of GPt. If you did this once, why did it take so long to get everyone around a table again, to get them to put their hands up for 1000cc Superbike racing especially if the main twin-cylinder marque, Ducati, already supported it? You know, the problem with changing the technical rules in a streetbike-derived series is the required lead time, because this influences development of the volume production models which manufacturers sell to their customers - so it takes longer to introduce changes which have an impact on what you build for the street, than if you're producing a ,limited-edition prototype exclusively for use on the race track. This means we must try to understand the concems of the manufacturers in this area, and to generate a formula which is good for the sport, and good for production bikes, also. Okay, I agree there was a problem with balance between the differ- ent types of bike - of course, this was a scary point for many of us, because after thirteen successful years with one set of circumstances where twins and fours were evenly matched, you're suddenly faced with a different situation which nobody could agree how to deal with. The solution to this question of balance has come about with the introduction of air restrictors, which are very innovative for bikes [though not in the USA, where these were used in AMA National racing more than a decade ago, with mixed results]. Their implementation has been determined in detail by the MSMA, who have invested the many months of research needed to establish the dimensions for the restrictors for each kind of bike. So, eventually, we have the agreed basis to go forward. Is that why there are no specific rules yet for triples, because without Benelli or Triumph in the MSMA, they didn't have one to test? Does this mean that, therefore, that in future the manufacturers are writing the rules for World Superbike racing, not the FIM? Well, it's true that until at least Benelli joins the MSMA, which I think will be quite soon, these tests could only be made on twins and fours. But these regulations were drafted by the MSMA as outline proposals to be submitted to the FIM and Octagon. Now that they have been agreed in principal, it will be the duty of the FIM Technical Commission to draft the detail regulations. I know that the FlM press release which sets them out to the world is not written in perfect English, because the MSMA which produced it is an Italo-Japanese organization which does not - yet! - have a British manufacturer on board to correct them! But, I repeat, this is the expression of a new agreement between all parties, which will be supported by the active participation of all six manufacturers in the 1000cc formula under which World Superbike will take place from at least 2004 onwards. cue I e n _ _ s • NOVEMBER 14. 2001 35

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