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/128132
The Future of World Superbike Like a kid reaching puberty, the entire global motorcycle-racing scene is about to undergo some major changes in structure and makeup· and not only in the MotoGP series. The most recent traditional four-stroke class, World Superbike, has had its own regulatory changes announced recently. and they could not have been more wide-ranging or contentious. Gordon Ritchie attempts to plot where it's all going for World Superbike racing. dramatic and all encompassing and are outlined, in brief, below. 1. Set engine size of 1000cc regardless of numbers of cylinders. 2. Fitment of engine air-flow restrictors (to limit peak power). The Sizes are: For Twins: 30mm for a single intake, or 21.5mm for two intakes. For Fours: 26.3mm for a single intake, or 18.7mm for two intakes. (Triples or fives yet to be decided, and modifications to any of the eligible machines' air-inlets are only to be allowed if they are necessary in order to fit the restrictor plates.) 3. Treaded tires are to be introduced, with the regulations drawn up by the tire manufacturers themselves. Only 15 sets of tires can be used over a race weekend, except for wet conditions. Bar codes on the tires will be used to police the regulations. 4. Weight limits will be different depending on the engine configuration. Singles to triples will be 158 kg (347.6 pounds), 168 kg (369.6 pounds) for fours or fives, 178 kg (391.6 pounds) for six or more cylinders. By GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE R eldom in the 14-year history of Superbike racing, short though that may be, had there been more dejection in the atmosphere than there was at Imola during the final meeting of the 2001 season. There was nothing wrong with the racing of course, which was probably the most dramatic and encouraging we had seen all year, with three fullseason rookie riders slugging it out. It was the future that appeared shrouded by gloom even before the last privateer Kawasaki had been slotted into the race transporters after another year of fruitless toil. The long-awaited new World Superbike technical regulations especially important due to the change of Grand Prix mach.ines from fierce two-stroke irrelevancies to fierce four-strokes with similar basic engine configurations to World Superbike - were slipped out to a disbelieving world mid race afternoon at Imola. The list of changes, to be instigated in time for the 2004 season, were t=.J World 16 NOVEMBER 28,2001 • cue • e nevws 5. All other rules to be unchanged from current FIM rules. After the initial hubbub had subsided, the immediate facts were stark in most observers' views - and potentially disastrous· argued some. Production racing was what we were looking at, nothing less, seemed to be the viewpoint of the hardcore cynics. Where was that going to leave World Superbike after the increasing numbers of MotoGP exotica had established themselves in the consciousness of the world at large? Treaded tires! How were they going to handle the power of even tuned big twins or 1000cc stockers? The biggest surprise, of course, after the first apoplectic reactions had subsided to mere bewilderment, wasn't so much the 2004 rules, it was the declaration that the status quo was to be maintained for two years. The same status quo that had brought the whole series to the brink of losing another couple of Japanese factories and their direct works involvement. Two more years of uncompetitive 750cc four-cylinder machines from Kawasaki, Suzuki (and not forgetting the already departed Yamaha) awaited like a malevolent vacuum, sucking the very life force from the series. Two years with no prospect of new machinery joining in the fray, two years of nothing much new at all while GP racing would have superqUick and exotic big-capacity fourstrokes aII of its own, from all the major bike manufacturers and the big, bad F -1 world moving in to boot. Some even doubted if the Superbike class would survive these two yea rs as a viable entity, with 14 years of increasing credibility bombed back to the Stone Age by simple inaction. With Suzuki expected to leave the championship immediately after Imola, Kawasaki out at the end of the 2002 seaion, and rumors about all the other big factory teams either dropping to one rider and/or eventually moving out all together before the 2004 season, it looked that by the time the new rules came into force we would be watching the Ducati International Trophy. Or it felt that way at Imola, at least.