Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Championship Road Race Series Round 5: Gran Premia Cinzano O'italia BRIEFLY••• Aprilia is set to go head on against the other manufacturers in the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers Association CMSMA) over fuel tank size, according to president Ivana Beggio, The current limit is 24 liters, which had been due to decrease to 22 liters next year, This was waived by the MSMA. with an extension of the current limit for next year as well, and sources close to the MSMA revealed there is pressure to keep it for longer still. But if this goes ahead, Apriiia will exercise its power of veto, said Beggio Call decisions by the MSMA have to be unanimous), It had chosen to go with a three-cylinder engine because" it has limited fuei consumption and weight. If we keep the consumption under control and reduce weight according to the regulations. our bike will be competitive." he said. "Moreover, these rules have already been approved and will not be modified. If anybody wants to change these rules, we will be against that proposal," Beggio told a press meeting at Mugello, It is thought that some of the Japanese manufacturers are against limiting fuel capacity on safety grounds - to avoid the risk of riders running out of fuel in the closing laps. and also to avoid making the target too difficult for new manufacturers who might wish to join in. Already some races have been shortened. and at Suzuka race winner Valentino Rossi's Honda ran out of fuel on the slow- down lap. However, Siguru Kanazawa, president of HRC, said he was happy either way: while Yamahas Ichiro Yoda also said that they would be happy to have another technicai target. Beggio also suggested that their association with Cosworth, who developed their current three-cylinder engine, is to come to an end in the near future, with a new all-Aprilia three-cylinder engine from next season. "I have been asked if the choice of Cosworth as a technical partner was the right one, I am confident that in the end the choice will prove to be the right one." But he went on to say that they were to take more of the engine work back to their headquarters in Noale, Italy, "By the end of the year, 80 to gO percent of engine development will occur in Noale, Our goal is to realize independent development of our racing engine systems for next season," They had added a staff of four young engineers to the factory strength, under direction of engineer Lombardi. "This staff will provide the new Aprilia three-cylinder engine," he said. Are the new MotoGP bikes too fast? Yes, according to the muscie-flexing FIM president Francesco Zerbi. No, according to pretty much everybody else in racing, signaling another potential fight among the FIM and the MSMA. IRTA and the riders, Zerbi's opinion was voiced at a press conference before the French GP, where he said that "some adjustments may be needed concerning the power, high speed and technology of the GP prototypes in relation to safety aspects, but without holding back technical evolution," In the wake of this, the FIM announced that the commissions of GP and World Superbike will have separate meetings during June to discuss proposals for possible changes in the rules. It is thought that one proposal is to reduce maximum engine size of the MotoGP machines from g90cc, Riders all shared a similar opinion - that while the bikes and tires are certainly faster than before and likely to become much more so, it is only some old-fashioned tracks that are dangerous, Barros summed up the opinion, saying: "The machines have improved a lot just last year to this year, and they will continue to cut lap times by a second or so every year. Tires are better, and the engines are more powerful, but the tracks have stayed the same, Modem tracks like Valencia are okay, but some of the older tracks were not designed with motorcycles capable of more than 200 mph in mind." Yamaha technical boss Ichiro Yoda did have some points of agreement. "The bikes are doing 330km/)1 now, and I don't know if that speed is acceptable at some current circuits," Yoda said, "But I think they should keep the capacity and restrict the fuel - that would give us another hurdle, or another challenge." But Aprilia racing boss Jan Witteveen had a pithy opinion that summed up the general feeling of many others, "I think this is just a political move - something to do with image, after the aCCident at Suzuka with Kato, " Witteveen said. "Racing is safer now than ever - much better than 30 years ago with the two-strokes suffering piston seizures. Kato's crash was an exceptional situation. The four-strokes are generally much safer than two-strokes because the motorcycle dynamics are slower, and though they have more power, it is much easier to control. With the 125 and 250 two-strokes, you still see high sider accidents, but they are very unusual with the fourstrokes. " The first-ever motor sport Grand Prix in the Middle East is scheduled to take place next year, when the Qatar Grand Prix joins the calendar, at an as-yet unbuilt circuit outSide the principal city of Doha, An agreement was signed at Mugello between Dorna and Naser Bin Khalifa AI-Ateiah, preSident of the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation, giving Dorna the option to include the Qatar GP on next year's calendar, pending homologation of the circuit. This displaces plans for a race either in Dubai or Bahrain and is also likely to knock one of this year's events off the calendar, This is most likely to be the always-shaky Brazilian GP - but there were also strong rumors that Suzuka will not be on the calendar next year after the fatal accident of Kato this year. The maximum number of races Rossi has set the cat among the pigeons also with a supposed demand for a minimum Sign-on fee of eight million euros for next year - with Honda, or with another manufacturer if it's not willing to meet his demand. It will be interesting to see if he can command this unprecedented figure, especially considering his refusal so far to accept a ride with tobacco sponsorship - the only sort of sponsors who might have the budget for thiS sort of a fee, Ducati has Marlboro backing but already has two riders signed on for next year - Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi. If Rossi does leave Honda, it will be interesting also to see if he can achieve the same level of success without the backing of his current pit crew, headed by Australian Jerry Burgess and already successful at taking Mick Doohan to five titles: or on a machine without the obviouS superiority of the Honda. HRC boss Kanazawa laughed when the figure was suggested to him, "Too high," he said but added that he hoped to renew Rossi's contract as soon as possible. The noisy new V-five Proton had only its second full day at a racetrack when practice began at Mugello - and though Nobu Aoki had problems that kept him in last place, Jeremy McWilliams surprised himself and the team as much as anyone by placing 16th on the first day, This was in spite of a significant top-speed deficit of some 18 mph, ''I'm having trouble getting it into the comers, but once you are in, it does exactly what you want," he enthused. The speed was partly because the engine is still in a relatively low state of tune, with power-up parts expected for the Barcelona GP in one week, but also because of unsuitable gearing, Fifth was much too high, and there were no alternative gear sets available. ''I'm rewing it to 14,000," said McWilliams. I probably shouldn't be." There were just three bikes at the track, with a pair of two-strokes under cover in the pits as a backup, but they weren't needed, However, the second day of practice sawall the bikes run into fuel pump probiems in the heat. "It cuts out when you're on maximum lean then cuts back in again - it's quite frightening," said McWilliams. Aoki has had similar problems almost every time he has ridden the bike, "I've never felt what it is like when the fuel boils, but that is what it feels like," he said, "Suddenly no power, and I'm losing rpm when the straight goes uphill." All the same, the bikes made a strong impression for a first outing, not least because of the quality and the sheer volume of the noise. "It's been better than we expected," said team boss Kenny Roberts, "The main thing is they're all still running. Not running well, but running," The fuel pumps were troubled by heat. he said, "They're a proprietary item, and unfortunately we don't have any more with us," The new parts for Barcelona would give more top end power and cut midrange, to improve ridability. Suzuki's struggle to bring the all-new GSV-R to a state of being fully competitive saw a raft of new parts arrive at Mugello, including a revised fairing as well as an engine with different firing inter- vals, and another variation of the chassis, None of these addressed the problem that rider Kenny Roberts Jr. has complained off - inconsistent performance from the new engine's extensive and sophisticated electronics, including a fly-by-wire throttle and a very audible automatic throttle-blipping program for backshifting, The fairing somewhat smoothed the S-section front face of the fairing, designed to dial in downforce, and replaced the air intake in the center of the nose with one underneath, in the style of the Yamaha, "You can tell from the number of different setups we're tried today how quickly things are evolving," said team manager Garry Taylor, "The factory engineers have given us pienty of development items to keep the crew busy, and they are using every bit of technology they have to improve the GSV-R's performance, We've seen some benefits already, but we need to improve the rate of development substantially," Official MotoGP timers Tissot launched an official MotoGP watch at Mugello, with racing-style numbers and a carbon-fiber face, and a limited production run of 2003, The watch, with a steel body, is a ciassic chronograph design including a tenth-of-a-second stopwatch, and with the MotoGP logo on the back, Suggested retail price in Switzerland is 270 euros, with a premium-prize numbered limited edition, in a presentation box with medallions of all 16 circuits, costs 405 euros. Mick Doohan was presented with watch number 54, to match his number of GP wins: Doma boss Carmela Espeleta number 167, for the number of GPs he has attended as chief exec, This writer must declare an interest: Mine was the first name drawn from the hat to win one of five of the new watches pre· sented to the press at the launch. So if anyone wants to know the time, just ask me, The WCM team's nightmare continued at Mugello, with the team arriving at the race only to be disqualified again - now something of a ritual, after the first disqualification at the South African GP, In the meantime, their appeal against the original disqualification has been rejected by the FIM's appeal court, which upheld the decision of FIM technical chief Oriol Puig Bulto in South Africa, Bulto ruled that the production crankcases and cylinder head of the Yamaha R1-based Harris WCM fell foul of prototype rules, The rules reqUire "original design" and ban "industrial production": WCM's case hinges on the vagueness of these terms, Now WCM have a last-ditch recourse to the European Court of Arbitration for Sport, an independent and final authority, If they fail there, we may see the return of the two-strokes until the end of the year, said team boss Peter Clifford. "We might get a couple of V-twin Hondas to finish the season," he said. agreed with teams association IRTA is 16, or 17 if one of them is a GP in the USA - which is also expected to join the calendar next year. The new white flag with a red cross is now enshrined in revised racing regulations to signal .. drops of rain" on the surface. Used in conjunction with a yellow flag, it signifies heavy rain. The old red-andyellow striped flag to signify a slippery surface will now be reserved for substances other than rain, Dorna's on~board camera techniques took another step forward at Mugello, with imaginative new locations for the remote-lens units, One followed the right hand movements of Colin Edwards on the Aprilia, revealing the delicate braking and throttle movements: another looked down and forward past Tohru Ukawas front wheel, shOWing just how the steering shakes from side to side over bumps and under braking, and also how much time the front wheel spends off the road, These replicate techniques pioneered more than 10 years ago by Australian TV technicians, but not seen since. Mugello exhibited a strange effect in the baking heat of qualifying. Although the smaller classes all set faster times than preViously, the MotoGP class ran slower, in spite of the fastest-ever top speeds seen, While Capirossi's Ducati recorded a landmark 203,9 mph on the first day of practice, Rossi's pole time was fully seven tenths slower than his pole last year, Another comparison came from Aprilia, where Colin Edwards was slower by a similar margin than Regis Laconi last year - on a bike using supposedly superior Michelin tires rather than Dunlops, and is some 20 pounds lighter. "It's strange," said Yamaha team manager Geoff Crust. "When we came testing here, we were eas- ily running under the lap record, but we can't do it now, Usually this track is very consistent, but something is different now." Sadly, the directors use too little of the clever angles during race coverage, seeming to prefer to linger on the leaders, Is Dunlop on the way back in the top class? The ill-starred American-owned company dominates the 250cc class and is strong also in 125s but has fallen heavily o~t of favor in the top class, used only by Kawasaki (though putatively also by WCM), A defeat of rivals Michelin in the Oschersleiben World Superbike round, where James Toseland outfoxed Neil Hodgson, buoyed up its spirits: while a much stronger than usual qualifying performance by Kawasaki wild card Alex Hofmann at Mugello gave it a further boost. "Michelin took a big jump forward in the break before the start of the 2002 season, but we believe we are closing the gap again now," said racing chief Jeremy Ferguson. Chaz Davies faced a different sort of test at Mugello, On the day before 250cc practice began, the 16-year-old Welshman was sitting down in the pit buildings, writing his GCSE exams, He sat English in the morning, but things did not go quite to plan in the afternoon, when it was time for the geography paper. The examination board had sent the list of questions okay but forgot to include an essential map, "I don't know what they'll do about it. It's not my best subject anyway," said Davies, Valentino Rossi blotted his copybook on the eve of the Italian GP, when he was the oniy rider of note to turn his back on an invitation to meet the Italian president Carlo Ciampi. The affair was to celebrate Italy's pre-eminence in motorcycle racing and was attended by a galaxy of past and present stars including multichampion Giacomo Agostini and former superstar Carlo Ubbiali, as well as a full complement of current riders. Max Biaggi was quick to criticize his deadly rival. "He says he lives abroad and couldn't get here, but I live outSide Italy, and I made the time," he said, It may have been a slight to the president and to Italian motorcycle racing, but it hardly seemed to bother the hordes of fans who put on their yellow T-shirts and flocked to the Tuscan circuit to cheer on their idol. 32 JUNE 18, 2003' cue I e neVY's Kawasaki's so~far disappointing performance is mainly down to poor handling and chassis performance, according to the factory's senior manager of R&D, Shugetsu Takata, Asked what was the top of the list for targeted improvements, he first laughed and said: "Everything," then added: "Priority number one is the chassis, and secondly the total management system for engine braking control. suspenSion control and acceleration control. At this moment. compared with the competi· tors, we are having trouble in tight corners, and especially into the comers. We have already tested more than 10 different types of frame," he said, But the improvement at Mugello - where wild card Hofmann qualified 13th - came from one of the earlier chassis, taken off the back shelf it had been put on after January tests in Australia. The chassis had been tested again at the Autopolis track in Japan after the French GP, where new team recruit Hamish Jamieson (formerly crew chief to Garry McCoy at WCM Yamaha) elected to re-examine some of the earlier material using different settings, Only Hofmann had the setup, with McCoy and Pitt langUishing as usual at the back of the field, "It has made a good lap time - 1,3 seconds from Rossi, Before this race our bikes were 2,5 seconds

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