Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

his previous all-action Superbike style. He even suffered a second-day crash, which did not do his progress a whole deal of good. "I came out of the slow MG comer and accelerated as normal," Walker said. "Just at the point where I am about to flick over to the left, the back end stepped out and up I went. I landed on my left leg, but I got up, ran over to the bike and found I had started a small fire, which I had to put out with my hands! At least I didn't crash by losing the front. The only problem with the bike at the moment is me, and I am building myself back up to full confidence." THE BRITISH ARE COMING All new Testastrettas and awards for the tidiest presentation already. Neil Hodgson plainly struggled on his Dunlop selections, although he was extremely pleased with the perfor' mance of his new bike, limiting himself to the comment about the factory machines. "They certainly sound a good bit different," Hodgson said. "Dunno BRIEFLY••• Noriyuki Haga. the lone Aprilia ranger. found a much·modified RSV his main weapon for the 2002 season. with the most noticeable difference being the highly angular rear swingarm. The previous swooping banana·shaped model has been superseded by the tall box·section unit. which has been designed to provide more stiffness and. equally importantly to Aprilia. allow the big twin exhausts to be tucked out of the breeze more. increasing the bike's already impressive aerodynamic efficiency. The full factory team is. however. no longer a direct factory effort. being run by Fabrizio Guidotti. and his two sons Giacomo (effectively the team coordinator> and Francesco. Haga's contract may be with Aprilia. but to all intents and purposes. the Japanese Superbike prodigal World Superbike son IS under the control and management of the FGF team at the racetracks. A complicated team setup means that. as in previous years. the Aprilia team was run by the Guidotti family. but all expenses, development and other aspects of the operation are done by Aprilia. The same has happened this year, therefore it is a factory team in all but name. Another major off-season change is that the eng~ neer most closely aligned with the RSV project. GiUseppe Bemicch'a. has been removed from the setup, and is replaced by Belgian engineer Didier Lambert. The antipathy between Aprilia'S director of racing Jan Wltteveen and Bemicchia has been an obviOUS if unspoken part of the Aprilia's politIcal racing dynamic since day one of the RSV project. The formation of FGF in its 2002 format is another way for the two camps of the Aprilia racing effort· GP and World Superbike ' to be kept separate. Ducati'. new factory machines once again made a sonorous departure from the previous version. With most agreeing that the shorter·stroke engine had a harsher, more urgent engIne note. not so much a bellow as a shrieking boom. The 2002 engine, now a whopping 104mm x 5g.8mm. 998cc oversquare behemoth. has peak revs up to 13.000 rpm. and another 7 or 8 bhp over the 2001 version. Said horsepower is 185 at the crank. and according to Ruben Xaus (and to some extent Troy Bayliss) the throttle response and control to rider inputs is much improved. Ben Bostrom stated that last year's was so good already that he hadn't noticed any difference. Another change was the use of all new Brembo braking rotors and pads. Fully metallic pads now adom the calipers. replacing the semi-metallic/semi-carbon pads of the previous years. The metallic pad materiai Is much more aggressive. and has greater friction properties. The main philosophy behind the new peds is to aliow a uniform 2g0mm disc.brake rotor to be fitted at all tracks. rather than only those with less stringent braking demands. It is hoped by Ducati that this will be their one soiullon to the braking quandary they had last year. when Xaus frequently used different brakes at each round to help his aggressive late·braklng style. The Honda VTR SP,2 that appeared at Phillip Island differed from the one that appeared at Kyalami ,n several respects. The main one at Kyalaml was in the engine room. with a Suzuka 8-Hour motor fitted instead of the full 2002 SBK engine. The frame at PI was a 2002 model. with a 2000 sWlngarm. The 2002 swingarm IS still expected to be a close replica of the 2000 ,tem, but the frame has had the cast center sections, used as engine hangers on the old model. removed. These have been replaced by fabricated sections, designed to allow the chaSSIS to Aex a bit more In the middle. aiding rear tire grip and longevity - and without compromIsing the st,ffness of the steering head or the swingarm pivot points. The baSIC geometry of the machIne is the same as the SP1, but the Showa foOO. externally Identical to the 2002 models. feature all new intemals. Much of the Phill,p Island test was used to check the performance of the new Shows fork internals. and a lack of familiarity with the feel and feedback of them was at least part of the reason Edwards crashed out on day two. The rear engine mounts are also no longer shimmed in, but feature sliding sleeve bolts to hold the motor, a deSign which allows the rear section to move In one plane. helping prevent the chasSiS from being twisted out of true by over-tightening. The top radiator. a feature of the SP-l from day one. IS now curved to allow greater airfloy;. The Honda engine also now breathes through 62mm throttle bodies on the street. but 64mm orifices on the 2002 race engine. The definitive 2002 VTR will appear in its entirety for the First time at the offiCial World Superbike Valencia tests. on February 23·25 The renamed HM plant Ducati team (the GSE Racing team by a new name) was the most com· pletely presented package at Phillip Island. With most riders. even the factory teams. shOWlng up with only one exclUSIVe bike per rider. Neil Hodgson and James Toseland had two machines each, in com· pletely Finished form Once more In the HM Plant Pit garage was Ducati engineer Roberto 6008221. who was the same semi·permanent team member who helped the World Superblke rookies In the first half of the 2001 season. Bonalli has been brought in to aid the tranSition to the Testastretta engine, but only at race meetings. In the normal workIng week, BonaZ2i IS the engineer responsible for working WIth Magneti Marelli on developing engine maps for many Ducatl Corse projects. The new weight limits for the 2002 season. 349.8 pounds for fours. 356.4 pounds for triples. and 360.8 pounds for tWins. meant some extra work for all the teams thiS close season, with some attempting to lose weight and others having to gain. According to Steve Martin. even his humble customer 998 had to be ballasted to reach the limit. thanks to good old· fashioned lead weights. On the factory machine. a more scientific approach had the Ducati designers attempting to lose weight from all points of the machine to keep the Ducati's delicate baiance In check. For Aprilia. the extra weight meant ballasting, while the Honda has always been approximately SIX to nine pounds over· weight. contred,cting the claims thattheir origInal VTR SP·l was right on the Iimll. The weight limits are not expected to have any great effect on the raca results. the difference between the old bike and the new bike, but now I can't. It just feels like my bike and it has a much more linear throttle response than last year's." CN why, because they said that they would not be changing the engine again this year. I really wanted to do two full distance runs on my new bike and I'm glad I did that right at the end. I never did it before the race season started last year, and I wish I had then. I did over 20 laps each time and the track temperature hit 50 0 C (122 0 F] today, so I am happier now. I just hope Dunlop can come up with a better tire to take on Michelin at this track. I know they will be working hard, as they always do. On the first day of this test, I could have told you P11lnl, Islud, AustnJia Ju.-y 3O-Febnwy 1, 2DD2 SUPERBIKE: I. Troy Boyliss (1:32.944): 2. Ruben Xous (1:33.136): 3. Colin Edwords (1:33.143); 4. Ben Bostrom (1:33.377); 5. Neil Hodgson (1:33.443); 6. Noriyukl H090 (1:33.456); 7. Hitoyasu Izutsu (1 :33.650); 8. Steve Marlin (1:33.818); 9. Jomes Toselond (1:34.201): 10. Alessondro Antonello (I :35.179): 11. Chris Wolker (1:35.694). SUPERSPORT: I. Pere Ribo (1:35.778); 2. Fobien Foret (1 :36.290); 3. Andrew Pitt (1 :36.528); 4. Chris Vermeulen (1:37.056); 5. James Ellison (1:37.233); 6. Korl MU9geridge (1:37.757): 7. John McGuinness (1:38.596). Ruben Xau. was surprised to hear that the IRTA tests at Barcelona had been moved to the same weekend as the World Superbike race at ValenCia. and acknowiedged that it may not help the profile of the First race of the season in the 'consumer market' that has traditionally been most resistant to World Superbikes. 'The good thing is that this year all Superbike races will be shown on live TV in Spain. This is the nrst time this has happened. so I think we will see how the popularity of superbike racing is in Spain only at the end of this year. especially with Pere Riba. Gregorio Lavilla and myself all with factory bikes." The change of dates was firmly blamed on skullduggery on behalf of some in the GP Firmament. but was also explained another way. The closure of Jerez for nnal building work has seen Barcelona take up the slack. and a two-day F1 test has been moved to March 11·1 2. the dates that the IRTA tests were supposed to originally take piace. The Barcelona iRTA tests are especially important for the GP world because they are believed to be the only time that all the new clutch of MotoGP four-strokes will be on track at one time In Europe. A day of flag waving for the Phillip Island race weekend on March 22·24 took place on Thursday, January 31, with a press conference attended by a local government minister. The Press conference was especially important for the Phillip Island organizers. who are keen to build up the attendance after suffering the great misfortune of having a rainstorm Aood out the second World Superbike and sidecar races in 2001. The Phillip Island race has been brought forward. closer to Aussie high summer. to prevent a repeat of the biblical Aooding of 200 1. Harald Eckl's Kawasaki _m has been put in the frame to contest the Final three GPs of the 2002 MotoGP season with their old Superbike nder Akira Yanagawa in the p,lot's seat. There is also a possibility that the Kawasaki prototype will compete at the Suzuka GP race, ,n a morale·boosting display of unity with all the other Japanese factories and the organizers of the MotoGP champi· onship. A test of the new machine has been penciled in at Sepang for the week following the Phillip Island Superbike tests - to be held ,n conjunction with Suzuki's lirst extra-homeland test of the XREO GP bike. Rumors that the Kawasaki GP bike would use the Suzuki XREO V-four engine. at least to begin with. were unofficially quashed by a source close to the team. The real MotoGP machine. still currently more Superbike than GP bike. is a conventional across the frame 990cc four. most closely resembling the design philosophy of Yamaha's Rl. Phillip Island was proving once more to be a Michelin track. with the Ducati Infostrada and Castrol Honda teams almost monopoliZing the time sheets from day one. Neil Hodgson was one who found it hard to get any of his Dunlops to work properly around the Island. and Ben Bostrom was continually on the back foot somewhat and stated during the second day "Just look at the timing screens. man" through a rueful smile. Michelin has been helped somewhat by the relocation for their motorcycle racing effort to a single manufacturing plant, plus a relatively new way of making tires when compared to the manufacturing techniques of yesteryear. Some tires in the rear of the pit garages betrayed the new manufacturing technique. WIth a solid central ring mark on the outside of the center of the tire crown, but With the edges of the tread formed by a selies of small blocks which compress the outside of the tire tread Into shape. The riders refer to the new tires as "beaded.' Some pit-lane witnesses claimed that all the Michelins that had done serious long runs in the 45-50· C track temperature came back blistered to some extent. possibly offering a lifeline to the Dunlop run· ners ,f the race day weather is hoI. Michelin expects to take over 3000 front and 9000 rear trres to World Superbike races in 2002. and beheve that they have already found the nght solutions for their traditional bogey tracks hke Laguna. and especially Su9o. Andrew Pitt. the reigning World Supersport Champion, had a very high-speed crash on day one. Entering Lukey Heights, he lost the front end, rode It on his knee for a time and finally admitted defeat before slamming Into the tire wall. "I lost the front. slid into the trre wall. bruised my arse and Just about broke my bike in half" Insult was added to injUry when rumors suggested that that machine was his champlOnshlp,wlnnlng one. and was thus destined to be a museum piece. James Toseland had the ignominY of running out of gas at Phillip Island on the Final day. and then a commUnications mlx·up between the marshal's post and the Pit lane put him down as a crasher Davide Tardozzi received a strange piece of paper at Phillip Island. Apparently the Ducatl team boss had fallen over while exiting his car Within sight of one of the marshalls' posts, and for purely COmediC value. they sent over an accident report. complete WIth drawIng of TardoZZl lying on track· side In matchstick man form. His number-one rlder Troy BayliSS handed the report to a bemused TardOlll. The final dey of testing at Phillip Island was not a happy one for the DFX Ducatl team. when First Alessandro Antonello and then Steve Martin suffered fast crashes, destroying significant parts of their Ducatis. Antonello, who fell at the fast nght hander of the Hayshed, was unhult. but Martin. who highsided at tum two. the Southern Loop, suffered a mild concussion. and lost skin from his shoulder and eibow. "The only thing I can think that happened was that because I had a new front on I was concentrating too much on being careful with that. rather than Just riding the bike." said Maltin afterward Hitoyasu Izutsu, a veteran of many tests at Phillip Island, was qUietly ImpreSSive on his ZX-7RR, but provoked the ire of team manager Eckl by buming out the clutch on one machine after practicing a large amount of starts. au al • n _ VII S FEBRUARY 20. 2002 19

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