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/128161
air restrictor control procedure. At that stage, we have also to define the time interval within which it is possible to modify the size of the restrictor. This brings us on to the application and enforcement of the air-restrictor rule. How will they be fitted to the motorcycle - inside the intake ducts, on the outside of the bodywork, or why not behind the throttle bodies or carburetor chokes? Must they be round, oval, or any shape you like? Unless fitted behind the chokes, how can you be sure the airbox and/or ducts are fully sealed? What's to stop the engine-management system being programmed to shut down when airbox pressure drops below a certain level, even if there's still air entering the engine after you've blocked the external restrictors? This will all be specified in the technical regulations which will be published soon, but which we are developing in close consultation with the MSMA and FIM. As usual, the rules are determined by the Superbike Commission, but the FIM will be responsible for enforcing the regulations, through their permanent SBK scrutineer Steve Whitelock, who will develop a procedure for enforcing the airrestrictor requirement. Why did you not also bring forward by one year the introduction of three-cylinder bikes over 900cc, with a different-size restrictor to the fours as provided for by the 2004 regulations? Next season teams will be allowed to run 1000cc twins or fours, but only 900cc triples, which seems pretty silly. While I realize there is already one manufacturer with such a motorcycle, there was no indication that such a machine would be ready to race in 2003. But in any case, this is not a rule, but an exception to the existing regulations made as a short-term solution to the problem of making the four-cylinders remain competitive with the twins. And triples, under 900cc - meaning both Benelli and the forthcoming Foggy Petronas. Yes, but in terms of numbers, you have a very limited quantity of such bikes. The fours were our main concern. Though the agreement came collectively from the MSMA, presumably you spoke beforehand to each manufacturer individually. What's Yamaha's position in all this, given that they pulled out of World Superbike two years ago, and were set to return only in 2004 with the introduction of the 1000cc rules. Is bringing this forward by one year aimed at encouraging them to come back sooner? And how about Honda - will they now run both V-twin and four-cylinder bikes next season? I can't comment on the plans of specific manufacturers, but I think this whole process has happened so quickly that several companies are still considering what they should do next season. Let's say that I expect more news will come in July about the detailed intentions of certain manufacturers for 2003, now that this new avenue has been opened up for them. Finally, could you respond to the conspiracy theory being discussed here in the Silverstone paddock, that certain manufacturers have agreed to the introduction of 1000cc fours fitted with restrictors being advanced by 12 months so that it can be proved in an interim year that restrictors don't work and/or can't be policed properly. That way, they'll be scrapped altogether for 2004 and a different means of equalizing performance between the various types of bikes can be adopted instead, such as weight limits? To be honest, this has surprised me quite a bit, and I don't believe there's any truth in it. As I said before, in 2004 we will find ourselves in the position where all engines must be fitted with air restrictors, and to have the chance to test one type of engine for one year before that is a very good thing, which will prove the viability of the restrictor policy. But I also think the air restrictor works, because it's not a new idea with four-stroke engines - in car racing you have them in smaller classes like Formula 3, but with big engines as well. I don't see a reason why it won't work in motorcycle sport, also. Does this mean, therefore, that advancing the introduction of the air restrictors will, in your opinion, mean a fresh start for Superbike racing, in its struggle for two-wheeled World Championship supremacy with MotoGP? For us, World Superbike was never the Battle of the Twins it has now become, over the past two years when the twins have become alI-dominant. Having this in mind, we proposed to advance the introduction of the 1000cc four-cylinder bikes, and by doing so I hope we shall come back to the situation we had in the 1990s, when twin and fourcylinder bikes competed together for victory on an equal level. If this, as I hope, increases public satisfaction with Superbike racing still further, which even in this twin-cylinder era is at record levels, then I believe all of us in World Superbike - teams, riders, manufacturers and we, the promoters - will ION be very satisfied. And I believe it will. Q A SPRINGFIELD SHORT TRACK cue. e n e _ s • JULv3,2002 21