Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Paolo Flammini But if the manufacturers were able to conduct such detailed, real-world research into the exact dimensions of the restrictors needed to ensure equivalency between twins and fours, if not yet triples as well, why was it necessary to add the further complication of a set of differential weight limits as well? Is this so that they can be easily altered if it turns out the manufacturers got the restrictor dimensions wrong? I think this was a solution adopted in recognition of the different physical nature of each kind of bike. Of course, a four-cylinder 1000cc machine is heavier than a twin, so I think it was to take account of this that the manufacturers proposed differential weight limits - and we naturally trust that they got their calculations right. They are the experts in the technical sector, so if they jointly recommend a given set of technical rules, then we are happy to abide by that. Wh Y insist on treaded tires in future, from 2004 - is it the intention to turn World Superbike into 1000cc Supersport racing? Or is this a means of putting a brake on engine performance, by restricting the amount of horsepower than can be put to the ground? And why restrict the number of tires that each bike can use per meeting? Is this intended as a cost-saving measure, even with all the extra bureaucratic control this will require? The use of treaded tires is a concept which reflects the fact that these motorcycles are derived from streetbikes. So the more we are able to visually link the machines that are seen out on the race track with production ones, the more effective we believe will be the commercial appeal of Superbike racing. We have not stipulated in the outline regulations that these must be homologated street tires, but we have specifically left it to the tire manufacturers themselves to collectively draft this aspect of the regulations after due discussion. So it might not necessarily even be required that these tires should have molded treads they could be hand-cut slicks which only give the illusion of being treaded tires? And wouldn't it have been better in any case to get the tire manufacturers on board before proposing this rule? One of the two major tire companies involved in World Superbike and Supersport today has declared there has been no consultation as y~t with them about this. I can only say that this point about the tires is a strategic concept which has been put in place to enhance the attraction of the Superbike class but its viability and implementation will be thoroughly discussed with the tire companies involved in the coming months, before being adopted. However, we do think it is important to maintain this idea, if at all possible. I would distinguish between the air restrictors, which for sure are something you need to keep the power under control, and to balance out the different kinds of bike - and the treaded tires, which are an option being considered that could bring different advantages of a commercial nature, or from the point of view of improving the spectacle, because it reduces grip and makes the bikes easier to slide - there are many things to be considered. But the strategic nature of this treaded tire concept raises a question-mark over Octagon's long-term objective for the development of World Superbike. Is it still to be a leading-edge four-stroke silhouette race category, as at present, based on performance streetbikes that have often been specifically created in order to go racing, but which can still be sold in street-legal form Q 36 NOVEMBER 14, 2001 • DUD I e to the customer - or is it to become a 1000cc Supersport class catering for volume-production streetbikes modified for racing, with restrictions on engine tuning and using street tires? I can answer that quite emphatically. We absolutely do not intend to take off in the Supersport direction for World Superbike, and in this respect the first clause in the FIM press release confirms this: "Performance levels of the competing motorcycles are not to be lowered." That's quite specific, isn't it? Superbike will remain a technologically sophisticated class, just at the same level as it is now - but of course, in creating what amounts to a new set of rules, we can investigate other ways of creating an even better spectacle, and the treaded tire rule is one such door we may decide to go through. Okay , but with the advent of the MotoGP fourstroke class next season, World Superbike and Octagon find themselves in competition with Grand Prix racing and Dorna to provide the showpiece for leading-edge four-stroke motorcycle technology. Imposing such technical constraints on performance as treaded tires and intake restrictors risks relegating World Superbike to junior status compared to MotoGP. Is this something Octagon is happy to live with? By increasing the potential performance, especially of the four-cylinder machines - or five, or six-cylinder bikes, in future: I'm sure Superbike will become even more varied than it already is - by allowing them a 33 percent increase in capacity to 1000cc, you run the risk of producing unrideable rockets on the race track. It's interesting that the prototypes of four-stroke GP machines which we have seen to date do not use the maximum capacity they could employ, because otherwise their performance would be too much. So I think you will find that 1000cc Superbikes will still be very potent although I must say that, in order to succeed as a competition and a spectacle, I don't think it's necessary for our bikes to be faster than the GP bikes. On average, Superbikes are not currently as fast as a 500cc GP racer, which is usually quicker - though not always. But in spite of that, in many countries we have more success and support than GP, and our races are, on average, more spectacular than Grands Prix. Why? Because we have a balanced perfor- Q A ne"",s mance level which allows many different riders from many different countries, and many different teams using different kinds of motorcycles, to be competitive, mounted on more different brands of bike than in GP - and this is a factor which I believe will only strengthen in the future. The wide variety of the spectacle is one of Superbike racing's greatest strengths. This brings me back to a point about the 2002 and 2003 seasons which many people keep raising, which I should like to address. Today in World Superbike we have Honda, Aprilia, Ducati, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Benelli. Of course, three of these are presently more successful than the other three but, still, there is a balance which gives these others the right to expect they can be successful as well in 2002/2003. But if we look at what's happening in GP, we see we have a fantastic No.46 Honda which nearly always wins, some very good Yamahas but with a big gap against that Honda and even some of the other secondary Hondas which dominate the results tables, and then a Suzuki which this year didn't perform well. Yet nobody in GP racing is worried about this situation - so I would make a comparison and say that, in the worst possible scenario in 2002, in World Superbike we will have three manufacturers fighting tooth and nail for the championship, we will have Kawasaki capable of springing a surprise, and we'll have Benelli stiJl developing and bringing a different sound of music to the grid as they do so. And we may even have at least one Suzuki still on the grid. I think this worst scenario is a pretty good package, certain to provide the level of excitement and variety that Superbike racing is known for - and that's in the knowledge that, in one or two years, this scenario will change again and will then entail seven, eight or even nine different manufacturers all contesting our unique and spectacular form of racing. But those three manufacturers with realistic title hopes are all competing with the same kind of bike - so that in 2001 World Superbike became the Battle of the Twins, just as 500 GP racing has for so long been contested by nearidentikit V-four two-strokes. Don't you think this detracts from the spectacle - especially given that this was surely one reason why Dorna took the

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