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No, we haven't used this, and I don't think we'll need to - we're far enough along the way not to have to. We haven't really teamed up with anyone else to do this - not Sauber, not Harris, not Roberts, not even Proton. The race bike is leading the road bike, in terms of overall design parameters - but we're doing it all ourselves, with our chief engineer Steve Thompson in charge of the project, and deciding the overall format as well as detail design aspects, like the chassis. The engine is broadly based on the Sauber concept, but after talking with SPE, it became obvious we'd essentially have to go back to the drawing board, so that's what we've got Suter Engineering to do - he hasn't simply sleeved it down or short-stroked it, but instead he's taken a lot of care in redesigning the whole thing. They're very busy in Switzerland working on the engine, and if anything we're slightly ahead of schedule on a lot of it - I speak to the people involved almost every day, and the dates Eskil Suter has given me for the engine to be brought over to England to be fitted in the chassis are still to our timetable. We should have a bike to start testing with early in May, as planned. How about the chassis - who's producing that for you? It's a beam frame that's been designed for us by Steve Thompson, and we're employing proper people to build it - Fabrication Techniques, who won the GP World Championship with Gilera, and have been building the frames for Derbi and Team Roberts and various others for years - they're right at the top of their game. Then Piper Design are doing the styling - very distinctive that will be, too, even if we gave them the race bike and then told them to clothe it, rather than the other way around. Why not save time and use the Harris frame that was built to house the Sauber engine, given that you've said you're retaining its general architecture? Because we want to do it properly. That's not to put anyone down, but if you have a choice between a Fiat Punto and a Ferrari, you choose the Ferrari, don't you? They're both cars, they've each got four wheels and an engine - but you want the best one, and I believe we're using the best people possible to build the FP1 chassis. Same as the hardware - we're using Ohlins suspension, Brembo brakes, Michelin tires, all the best stuff you can use, which is all proven and comes with top backup. We've got a new bike and a new engine - why do we want to go playing around with anything else rather than the proven best? So without compromising standards, do you think you can meet your objectives - however tough they are - and get on the grid for Laguna 5eca? Yes, I do - and while I know it's going to be difficult, I honestly believe we'll be there. I monitor Suter's program and MSX's every day, and I know we're on target. To be quite blunt, when you've got the money to get things done, everything happens faster - and Petronas have given us the budget to do that. If you build four preproduction prototypes instead of just one, so that you can speed up all the homologation testing, then it all happens that much quicker still - and that's all down to budget, and having experts like MSX involved to smooth things along. Then, on top of that, England must be the best place in the world to fast-forward a prototype car or bike design, because of all the Formula One racing industry suppliers, who are used to working very fast and to a tight deadline on all sorts of high-tech engineering projects - but without compromising quality. And then I also must admit that having my name attached to it opens a lot of doors and speeds things up even more - people are eager to help make the Foggy bike a reality, and go out of their way to help. What are the specific target deadlines? a great team of mechanics that Boz has recruited some from Team Roberts, some from Red Bull, some he'd known for a while and wanted to work with on the right project. In fact, he had a good training year running Red Bull Ducati last season and taking them to the British Superbike title good running-in year, that! How about riders? Are you satisfied with getting Troy and James? I think we've got the best two riders I could ever have wished to hope for - and there are other team managers here in the Superbike paddock who've said the same thing to me. I've got Troy, who's one of the four fastest in the world, and one of the best at setting bikes up, and then James who's got the age thing on his side a little bit, but is experienced as well as fast - plus he's British, which was important for me: I wanted to have a British rider in the team to wave the flag a little bit. He's fast, and confident without being cocky, which is a good attitude - and he's prepared to learn, which is an asset, while Troy wants to prove he's still the fastest guy in the world. I've got two riders I didn't expect to have - plus, that brings other advantages, so that having Troy will make sure we get the best tires from Michelin, for example - things like that. Massive bonus, really. So, at the end of the day, why is this all happening? What's Petronas' interest in becoming a bike manufacturer and going racing with the result, even with someone as illustrious as yourself heading it all up? What's in it for them? Marketing and corporate positioning, basically - they want to show the West they've arrived on the world stage, and have to be taken seriously. They've got the world's tallest building, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur; they've got the Sepang circuit, which hosts Formula One and the bike GPs; they've got Proton, which is a world-class car manufacturer; they've got Sauber, who are one of the top four Formula One car teams; they've got the Team Roberts Proton operation in bike GPs; and now they're going to be running their own World Superbike team and building a high-tech Malaysian street bike for sale to the public. Because of the shortage of time, MSX will fully build the first 75 bikes for homologation, but after that, production of the next 75 will be transfeW~s;lQW,,Malaysia, using kits put together by MSX and then shipped there for local assembly. But that's not all - the Foggy Petronas motorcycle is part of Malaysia's push to identify itself as a world center of excellence for high-technology products, and as part of our contract with Petronas, we have to employ a minimum of three Malaysian university graduates at each of our sites. So we'll have three in the race team, Suter will have three more, and so on. It's a method of grooming their next generation of engineers, and I think that's another reason they're sinking the budget into this. How much budget? What's it all costing? we're planning to launch the racer in Britain right at the beginning of May, so we can then go and start testing all through May and June without people leaning over the fence trying to snatch photos and getting in the way. MSX have told us they'll deliver the first street bike to us at the end of May, and I'm sure they'll live up to that. This gives them the whole of June to build the 75 bikes for Superbike homologation at their base at the Milbrook proving ground near Bedford, which they have to do by June 30. Then, on July 12, we'll start qualifying at Laguna Seca - we'll do it, wait and see! Only by that stage, we're just worried about being there and qualifying - it'll take time to get up towards the front of the field, but that's obviously our objective by 2003. How can customers sign up to buy one - and how much will they have to pay? That's Petronas' responsibility, and one idea is to do it through the internet - but it's going to be expensive, there's no doubt about that. Ultimately, it'll be sold at a loss once you"take development costs into account - but I wouldn't expect any change out of £20,000 [$29,0001. That's before I sign the fuel tank, of course - that'll be the only optional extra! Seriously, though - it will be costly, but also very much a racer with lights. Yes, but given that you'I1 have an engine that presumably can be adapted to other uses, just like an Aprilia or Ducati, can we expect other models in the Foggy Petronas future family of bikes? That's still to be decided - but I agree, it's logical. Like a Monster version of the bike would make a lot of sense, or maybe a sports tourer. But that's all in the future, and it's for Petronas to decide, not me. I don't want to be distracted from the most important thing of all, which is to get the production streetbikes built and the FP-1 Superbike out on the race track, so we can start winning races with it. And that's what we're aiming to do - I'm not interested in making up the numbers, only in winning. That's all I ever wanted as a rider, and it'll be no different as a team owner. Assuming you make Laguna 5eca with it, you'll then have just one and a half seasons to make the bike into a winner in 900cc form, before the 5uperbike rules change in 2004, and you'I1 have to convert it back again to a 990 for the new 1000cc 5BK formula! Has the engine been designed with that in mind? We've got two options there, in fact - either we convert this one up into a 1000cc version, or we build a new engine. I think we'll almost certainly choose the second one. MSX are already evaluating that - but I think in all probability we'll opt for an FP-2. But that's a long way ahead - we're just focusing on what we've got in-hand at the moment. Is the race team structure all set up? A I'd rather not reveal that - but let's just say that we have a five-year contract, and that budget is not a concern. It's like Ferrari's always saying, they have "enough" horsepower, without admitting exactly how much power they do produce. We have "enough." So, finaIly, any message you'd like to send to potential customers out there, as well as the thousands of Foggy fans around the world? I want them to know they'll not be disappointed j, - and they should know that, because it's me that's involved in it. They were never disappointed when I was a rider - and they'll not be now. CN We've got 20 race mechanics just doing the gardening at the moment, waiting to start testing. Everything's in place - workshops, equipment, transportation, people: it's like a big spring all coiled up waiting to explode into action. We've got c U co I e n e vv S • MAY 1, 2002 47