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/128325
McBride Sets New Quarter-Mile Marks he silver lining in the rain The r un came in the semifinals of clouds that washed away the final rounds of the AMN Pro star Lucas O il Spr ing Nationals at VIrginia Motorsports Park near Richmond, Virginia, on May 2, was cool conditions that yielded t he quickest and fastest motorcycle quarter-mile run in history by Larry "Spiderman" McBride . VPM has been kind to McBride , Prostar's reigning five-time Top Fuel champion. With his shop an hour away in Newport New s, Virginia, the facility is home base for McBride, who has remained unbea ten here since it was adde d back onto the Pro star tour in 200 2. Last season McBride set the all-time pe rfo rmance marks fo r drag bikes at 5.89 seconds and 243 mph in front of scores o f friends and family. At this year's event McBride nudged the marks just a bit, running 5.876 at 244.74 mph - the first ever over 243. eliminations. Prior to that Mc8ride qualified on the pole at 5.96/230 three-tenths quicker then the next bike in the eight-bike field. In round one McBride ran 5 .99/238 against the Nitro Harley 01 lay Turner and the aforementioned S.87 against Ziggy Stewart. "I don' t know what it is, but this motorcycle likes this racetrack," said McBride. "We have a lo t o f frie nds and family here, and they get us pretty keyed up . I don't know. 1 wish we could have all the races here." When racing resumes at the PR Factory Store St. Louis Nationals at Gateway Int e rnational Raceway in St. Lo uis, Missouri, June 5- 6, McBride's final round opponent will be the W inneb ago fuele r 01 Chris Hand , who qualifie d nu mber two at 6.3 1/2 30 and recorded a 6.23 in the semi finals against Tommy Sloan. T Malt Palita larry " Spiderma n" McBride bettered his own e.t. and speed records with a 5.87/244.74 mph blast aboard his Top Fuel dragbike at Virginia Matorsports Park on May 2. Piaggio w Zong§hen Form ...Joint Venture In a move similar to the RataxlHero partnership mentioned in last week's issue, Roberto Colaninno has cemented a deal in Ch ina lor Piaggio, the previously heavily indebted scooter specialist he took over last October via his IMMSI holding company and has since restructured. Under a joint -venture deal signed on April IS in Chongquin, China , with the Zongshen Group, the country's largest nongovernmental motorcycle company, Piaggio's trou bled current lactory in Foshan, in southern China's Guangdong province, will manufacture a targeted 300,000 scooters yearly by 2007. This is expected to yield a projected annual turnover 01 up to $240 million spread among nine different Piaggio models, which lor Chinese customers will be sold via Zongshen's 4000 retail outlets thoughout the country, with Piaggio taking care 01 overseas sales . The Piaggio Foshan Motorcycle Co. (PFM) was founded in 1994 as a joint venture supplying local manufacturers with engines, with Piaggio holding 7S percent 01 the equity in partnership with a local government-owned company in Guangdong, but it has in fact lost upward of $60 million since it was formed , Resolving this drain on the Italian company's finances was a key priority for Piaggio's previous owner, MGPE, which opened negotiations in 200 I with Zongshen with the aim 01 restructuring its China project, a deal which Colaninno has now successlully concluded. Under the con tract signed with S I-year-old Zuo Zongshen, ranked number 67 on Forbes Magazine's Chinese Rich Ust with an estimated net wealth of $1SOmillion and thus one 01 the country's lead ing private entrepreneurs, Piaggio will reduce its stake in PFM to 4S percent, the same amount as held by Zongshen, with the municipality 01 Foshan holding the remaining 10 percent 10 MAY 26, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS in the renewed operation. In return, Zongshen will guarantee repayment 01 an undisclosed proportion 01 the existing PFM's accumulated debt, as well as underwriting any further loans the new joint venture company may require in the future to fund expansion. Piaggio on the other hand will license advanced engine technology to the Zongshen subsidiary that will manufacture motors to sell to PFM lor installation in the range of scooters to be manufactured in the Foshan plant , whose day-to-day operations will be managed by Zongshen Group. Piaggio is also preparing to outsource many components for its European scooter production kern Zongshen in order to reduce its cost base and thus compete head-to-head with the Asian manufacturers, especially Taiwan's Kymco, which is giving its market leadership a hard time, even at home in Italy. Privately owned Zongshen Group's 18,ooo-strong workforce manufactured I. 7 million two -wheelers and three million engines in 2003 , generating sales 01 more than $1 billion (Euro 830 million) together with the company's range of speedboats and other mechanical products. By contrast, Piaggio sold 430 ,000 vehicles (with either two or three wheels) in the 5S countries it traded in last year, manulactured in its three factories in lealy, Spain and India, and generating $1.19 billion (Euro 987.2 million) in turnover, up 4 percent over 2002 . "Th e new joint venture between us represents for Piaggio a basis for further development in commercial activi- ties in internatio nal markets," said Roberto Colaninno on signing the contract. "Tod ay, alter just fIVe months, we can say that it should be possible to achieve a break-even point for Piaggio by the end of 2004, which is to say a year earlier than our projections at the time we entered the business." 40th Anniversary Although price competition in China's booming motorcycle market is very keen - while more than 13 million powered two wheelers were sold in China in 2003 , representing 42 percent 01 the total 01 32 million sold worldwide, low average prices slashed total revenues to $44 .9 billion, just 15 percent 01 the worldwide total - Piaggio executives admit also to look ing at developing special vehicles for the booming Chinese market, especially inexpensive small cars . Piaggio already makes minivans in ltay and is exploring the introduction of a four -wheeler in India: The Italian firm's new China project may bring this closer. For Zongshen, though. the future lies in increasing rev enues by accelerating manufacture of full-size motorcycles for export sale, and the Ch inese company's successful participation in the World Endurance Championship with a two-bike team employing Suzuki GSX-R I000 machinery has given it a vital window on the world outside China - as well as a deserved World title victory in 2002, the first in any form 01 motorcycle competition by a team from the People's Republic of China . In 2004, Zongshen has moved up to the World Superbike series with a two -rider team of Warwick Nowland and Piergiorgio Bontempi running new-generation GSXRIooos, rather than the older models they won the World Endurance tide with - and the response 01 the Suzuki factory to their doing so has been illustrative 01 the fear Japanese manulacturers no doubt understandably have of the growing threat from across the Sea 01 China. "We needed some help to get the new bikes handling properly, because the geometry is quite different frorn the older models we're used to ," says Zongshen's French team