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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128179
Kork Ballingtons 1981 Kawasaki KR500 Grand Prix Racer much. Certainly, what front-wheel push there is can be easily corrected, though you wouldn't exactly call this a nimble bike: It needed work to make it change djrection quickly at the Assen chicane, though the quick flick of the handlebars I got every lap as the front end lightened under power on the exit was immediately ironed out by the stiff chassis and long wheelbase. Troy Corser's high, wide and handsome cornering technique would have been well-suited to the Kawasaki's architecture, and in addition it's got a very balanced feel to the handling, and holds a line pretty well under power. Having raced so many bikes over the years with alternative front ends offering inbuilt anti-djve, I was ready for the fact that, thanks to its mechanical linkage, the Kawasaki stops very flat when you squeeze hard on those great period brakes but it does have some front-end dive still left dialed in, which helps you retain a sense of feel as you lay it into one of Assen's sweeping turns while still trail-braking, as that compliant suspension will allow you to do. But I don't kid myself I was riding this rare piece of Japanese racing history hard enough to uncover the front-end problems Kork Ballington averred would suddenly present themselves out of the blue: "It seems you can't be certain the bike will behave the same way at the same corner two laps in succession - and we don't know why that is," he stated back in '81. Still, I liked it better on the brakes than the 1980 Roberts OW48R Yamaha I .was riding the same day - which, however, was a good deal more agile and felt a much smaller package than the rangier Kawasaki. But not nearly so nice in the engine department, where the rotaryvalve Kawasaki feels stronger and is indeed around 10 percent more powerful than the piston-port Yamaha, producing 110 bhp at the back wheel at 11,400 rpm. The KR500 starts very easily - no wonder Ballington was often among the early leaders in the push-start GP races of the era and is also very quiet: Those silencers are effective, but even the trademark rattle of the rotary valves is restrained compared to a comparable Suzuki. Indeed, the only clue that this is a 20-year-old two-stroke engine comes from the abrupt entry into the true powerband around 8000 rpm. Without benefit of any kind of power-valve mechanism, the KR500 kicks in hard when it comes on song, building strongly above 10,000 rpm to its 11,500-rpm power peak, with very little overrev by modern standards - 11,800 rpm, and it's all done. Thjs means you end up using what is a clean if rather slow one-up street- 20 NOVEMBER 6, 2002' .. U .. pattern left-foot gear change quite hard to keep the engine singing strongly, and the ability to change internal ratios to suit each given circuit - a feature then in its infancy, without benefit of telemetry or laptops to help you calculate what was ideal for each corner - must have been a prized asset. Geared perfectly for Assen (Chris Wilson has several factory sets of alternative ratios), the KR500's gearbox was out of sorts at Snetterton, where second was too high for the Esses and Russells, and bottom too low on the treaded tires, which started spinning when I gassed the engine up in the fat part of the powerband while leaned over on the angle. After nearly high-sidjng one lap, I figured the only choice was to use second gear, let the revs drop to 6000 rpm as I accelerated out of Russells, watch the tacho needle struggle uphill again until, suddenly - go! No use trying to clutch it to bring it back on on the pipe, because that much power would unhook those tires hence the need to change internal ratios, if we'd been racing at the circujt instead of showboating. And use grippier rubber! People are always holding Honda up as the mechanical maestros of two-wheeled technology, who dare to be different because it's the Honda Way. But in GP racing 20 years ago, it was Kawasaki that deserved that plaudit, thanks to their unique titlewinning tandem twins (which Rotax later copied), and the marvellous example of motorcycling original thought that the KR500 represents. Without a fraction of the available resources that Honda spent in prov- ing the NR500 project was a dead end, the Kawasaki KR500 may not have become the race-winning design that it surely deserved to be, but it's definitely the most enjoyable to ride of the several classic-era 500cc GP fours I've now been privileged to sample - and, I think, one of the most effective. While Kork Ballington's record as a 250/350cc World Champion speaks for itself, you can't help but wonder, after riding the KR500 and comparing it to its rivals of the era, how it might have performed in the hands of a 500cc-class Expert like Roberts or Mamola - especially after revamping the chassis geometry to make it turn quicker, and putting it on an effective diet. Because this is one of those happy bikes that was born well, which everyone honored to be allowed to ride it falls in love with: Ask Team Wilson guest riders as selective and expert as Chas Mortimer, or Jean-Francois Balde, and they'll confirm that. "I never rode the KR500 when I was racing for Kawasaki," says Balde, "so doing so today is like meeting a beautiful woman you knew 20 years ago as a young girl, and discovering that not only has she aged very well, but that you really wish you'd got to know her a whole lot better when you were both much younger! Normally, I don't care to take part in these Historic bike demos: because the bikes they ask me to ride are usually fresh out of a museum or private collection, where they place more emphasis on the paint job than on mechanical preparation. But as soon as I sat on the Wilson Kawasaki for the first time two years ago, I realized this was something different - this bike is prepared to a raceworthy condition, and that makes me sad and pleased at the same time. Happy, because I can spend a few laps enjoyilig her company - but sad, because of a missed opportunity. I honestly regret not being able to join Ballington in racing this bike 20 years ago, because I believe that with greater commitment from Kawasaki and a two-rider team, this could have been a race-winning motorcycle that might even have challenged for the World Championship. It's one of the best-kept secrets of modern-day Grand Prix racing - and I'm glad to have been able to help unlock it for today's enthusiasts to appreciate and see in action." Not much to add to that, is there? KAWASAKI KRSOO HISTORY: ALONE AGAINST THE WORLO As the smallest of the four Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, Kawasaki's GP involvement has always been peripheral to its main corporate objective of selling more street bikes. Yet, improbable as it may seem today, 30 years ago it was these champions of four-stroke Superbike-derived road racing who were the first to challenge for 500cc honors with a two-stroke GP racer, in the form of the customer air-cooled Kawasaki H 1R inline triple, which Kiwi Ginger Molloy took to a runnerup slot behind Agostini's inevitable MV Agusta in the 1970 World Championship. After concocting a considerably