Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Most people will recall the 1992 arrival of Honda ' s "Big Bang" close firi ng order twostroke V-four NSR engine. With a dronin g exhaust. it transform ed the whole characte r of the m achine' s power, mak ing it mu ch less snappish on the throttle and much easier to ride, especially in the wet. Within a few races all the oth er manufacturers had copied Honda, and it wasn't until a couple of years later that Mick Doohan discarded the engine in favor of the old evenly spaced "Screamer: having the ski ll not only to cop e with its sharper responses but to use them to his advantage. These engines needed changed crankshafts, with the positions and thence timing of the big-end journa ls moved to suit. Four -strok es only fire every other revolution , so they offer the chance to experiment with changed firing order with out having to make a new crankshaft . You need only change the camshafts, and a cy linder can be made to fire a full revolution later. This is one experiment that Proton is engaged in - and that (insiders believe) Honda had already completed, in between the bike' s first showing and its appearance as a racer. There are two imp licatio ns, acco rding to Proton Team KR technical guru Tom O'K ane. "The first is loads on the-engine and transmi ssion. We found this when we changed intervals with the two -stroke - yo u tend to chase weaknesses down the line, with the prim ary gear and through the transmission, beefing it up as you go." On the other hand, a change m ight solve problems in these areas. "The other implica tio n is tract ion," he said. And possibly also engine braking, though their experiments were still at too early a stage to know. The Proton has anoth er possibility denied to the Honda. With out a balance shaft, the Honda can onl y run smoothl y with a 72-degr ee vee angle and a particular crank timing. The 50 -degree Proton does have a balance shaft, freeing the designers to time the crank shaft pretty much any way they wantf This is lik ely to be a major area of futur e development, and the details rem ain to be discovered by the classic empiric al method - suck it and see. G FIANO E PFIEM IO MARLBORO OE PeR Ca lios Ch eca (71 hounds Ale" Ba rros (4 1 In th e ir battle for eighth. Checa w oul d get the spot with Barros slowing _ _ _ -".:wit h tire 1:"""..11 20 0 3 problems. but m y b ike w a s v e r y fas t o n th e f irst fin ish , o ne lap down ; te amm ate st ra ig h t," he sa id . B oth o f th e A p ri lias ha d go t ten past the troubl e d Suzu kis , bu t th e b iggest bl ow t o Rob erts was when rookie K iy ona ri' s fa ctory Hond a also go t b y . Robert s sta yed right wit h h im , but th e Suzu k i di dn ' t h av e the w herew it ha l to o ve rt ake . " I w as hopin g to g et in th e p o in t s, bu t I n eed ed so m e he lp fro m th e peop le in fr ont of me , but sin c e eve ry body f i n i s h e d , I d idn't mak e it, " Roberts sa id . T e a m m a t e H op k in s had b e en clo se , losin g g ro u n d a li t tl e toward the finish. " B u sine ss as usual , but I'm ha ppy with m y o wn perform a n c e . I gave 100 per cent and r ode t o t he machine's limit," he said. Pitt, fig htin g a bad c o ld a ll w eek en d , h ad be e n rig ht w it h the Suzu kis b efo re lo s i n g t ou c h a t th e end , his tires u n a b l e t o s tand t h e pa c e . M cWill iams ha d bee n be tw een t h em u n t il " m y engi ne sta rted to m a k e st ra nge n o i s e s , " and he dro p ped back . B ut it kept going , and Proton t e a m m a t e N obu Aok i tagged o n behind, battlin g his o w n p r obl ems w ith handling and fad in g power. Th ey wer e still t og eth er a t th e fin ish , th e first t im e both four-stroke V-fives had m ad e it a ll t he way , in th e ma c h in e ' s fifth ra ce . T h e team w as d elighted . "I' v e n ev er seen so ma ny p eo p le , so happy to f in ish fo ur pla ces o ut of t h e p oints , " quipp ed a c h e e r f u l McW illia ms . Da v i d d e G e a pus he d h ar d a ll w ee k end t o give th e H a rris WCM a Chr is Burn s di d n 't st art a ft er his en gi ne bl ew a hea d ga sket in m orn in g warm -up, sp ra y in g th e rea r ti re w ith water a nd sending h im tumbl ing. "It carried o n runn in g w h en it w as o n its side, and it w as wrecked ," he sa id . W ith on ly o ne eng ine eac h fo r b oth r ide rs, h is w eek end was over. M c Co y h ad been a head o f de Gea when h e fe lt water sprayi ng insi de h is fairing. "The temperature wa s okay , but I sto p pe d as a pre cau t i on. " he sa id. "T h is is a hu g e differen ce fro m wh en I won here three ye a rs ag o ." Rossi now ha s 23 7 points to G ib er nau 's 19 1, wi t h Bi a g gi a not he r 3 0 adrift o n 16 1. Ca prioss i (1 13 ) i s fo urth, and Bay li ss ( 10 6) fifth . (Fro m left to right) The 250cc podium: Manuel Pogglall, Toni Elias and Randy de Puniet. 250cc GRANO PRIX Po rto too k o ff in t h e lea d , b ut Elias too k ove r at th e e nd o f th e first la p , w ith Rolfo third , th en de Pu niet , Po g g iali , F r a n c o B att a in i a nd f re q u ent fast starter Alex D ebo n . Katje Po en sgen c ras h ed heavily at the c h ic a ne on De Pun iet a ls o passi n g Eli as , with Rolfo ah ead o f Poggiali , un t il a m aj or o u t -of - t he- seat m omen t swapped th em a round. It wa s now when Poggia li broke t he la p reco rd . There was p l enty o f t o -and -fro , with De Pun iet ta k in g a sp ell up fr ont the first lap, landing in th e middl e of th e t rack , but it was q ui ckl y cleare d, and th er e was no red fl ag th is time. D ebon wa s soo n droppi ng awa y qu ickl y a n d Batta ini a littl e sl ow er , o n l a p s eight and n in e . Next tim e aro und , howe ver , he ra n wide , and Elias ni p p ed ahead ag ain a nd rea ll y le a v i n g a five -rider gang up f r o n t. Po rt o grabbed the lea d o n lap four , This was how close the race for th ird was in the MotoGP class, the Ducatl of Capirossi barely beating the Honda of Glbemau across the line. c ue I e n e _ S • S EPTEMBE R 17.2003 13

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