Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MotoGP Tech: Kawasaki's New Toy The 2006 Kawasaki MataGP bike made its testing debut at Valencia. means he has to get the weight closer to the center of the bike. The test bike you can see the bike's ability to roll over. If you were to change anything, you would definitely in these pictures has a 200S fairing fitted to a completely new bike, and you can see that the new frame lifts higher in the middle of its spars and now partially goes over the cylinder head (a bit like the ZX·I 0 road bike). To allow this to happen, the cylinder head has rolled forward slightly. put the alternator somewhere on the top of the crankcases and make it turn back- The new Kawasaki is still an across-the- frame four-cylinder, but it seems to have ence to the bike's grip levels, but it had to be done by modifying the firing order of the been moved around a bit to make it more normal crank. This meant that at least two compact and to allow Kawasaki to make better use of the space around the engine than pistons were fired simultaneously. The bigger bang damaged gears and made slipperclutch setup very difficult because of the necessity for the clutch to deal with two on the previous version. The motor will still have double overhead cams, but likely has a more vertically stacked gearbox to allow the whole chassis to be slightly shorter. soon change. The new four-cylinder motor has clear- sis, but it's now one made completely in- house by Kawasaki. The old SRT-designed bike was made to make a small package out of a relatively big "super-superbike" style motor. All design is a compromise. and Kawasaki has clearly been able to improve several aspects of the chassis by redesigning the motor layout. Kawasaki has a second problem to solve. as this year they brought in an "irregular firing" engine, which made a massive differ- cylinders going over the compression stroke simultaneously - something that mount that the cylinders tilt forward more than on the previous engine - by about 15 really jerks the clutch around and isn't easy for it to control. Kawasaki will therefore have added a balance shaft to allow them freedom in designing in a long-bang (or "big-bang," if you insist) firing order that has degrees. By tilting the motor forward slightly, Kawasaki was able to get the inlet ports at least two pistons firing quite close together, but not simultaneously. closer to vertical. You can see the new tank Kawasaki has confirmed that the 2006 bike is completely new. Oliver Jacque was really happy with the changes on his first set Looking at the exhaust pipe that runs through the aperture in the side of the fairing and the casting, you can see by the engine Vawasaki debuted its new 990cc l'MotoGP bike at Valencia in the test session that followed the season-ending Grand Prix. The bike is all new, including the powerplant, and only the fairing on the test bike is from the 2005 model - but even that will ward - again, just like Kawasaki's ZX-I 0 street bike. and airbox quite clearly in this picture - and they have been able to bring some of the fuel load in from under the seat. Bringing all that weight closer to the center of the bike will allow the bike to turn quicker. of runs at Valencia, confirming that the new design has resolved most of the problems ly been laid out differently, but it does Kawasaki's senior Moto GP engineer, share some technical details in that it appears to have cams driven by gears from Ichiro Yoda (who previously ran the Yamaha M-I project), has been critical of the 2005 ZX-RR. He says it's too stable, and he wants Kawasaki's old engine was a very simple design. It even had the alternator on the There is still a lot of testing to be done, but end of the crank, putting weight a long way changed at Kawasaki. a bike that is easier to flick into corners. That out from the bike's centerline and slowing the right-hand side of the crankshaft. The bike still has a twin-beam aluminum chas- Buckmaster To Attack The game of musical road·racing chairs is nearly complete after Kawasaki announced that Damon Buckmaster will team with fel- low Australian Ben Attard on the Attack Kawasaki team to contest the 2006 Supersport and Superstock Championships. "I just think that Kawasaki has their act together on their production bikes," said Buckmaster, 32, in a phone call from his home in Australia. "They've obviously brought out some great bikes in the last few years. I'm just excited to get on something like that - a proven race winner." Buckmaster and Attard are scheduled to test the new Kawasakis at California Speedway in Fontana, California, November 22-23. After that, Buckmaster will remain in the United States to take part in the Daytona tire test before returning home for the holidays. For the past five years, Buckmaster raced for the Yamaha factory, first in Formula Xtreme and Supersport and later in Superstock and Supersport. His best season was 2003, when he finished runner-up in both the FX and Supersport Championships. Buckmaster was told he wouldn't be retained just prior to Laguna Seca. He started making phone calls, but it was too early for teams to commit for 2006. He also made contact with the race bosses in Australia, where he had solid offers. "I could have taken up a couple of posi- tions in Australia, but, really, that wasn't where I think I want to be," he said. "I'm still in the good part of my career. I don't think going back to Australia would be good move for me because I think I could be competitive in the U.S." He was encouraged Kawasaki showed interest. when Attack "It's my understanding that Kawasaki and [Attack team owner] Richard Stanboli wanted both a young rider and a senior rider - I won't say 'old' - a senior rider to perhaps to give some feedback to the team that would benefit both Ben [Attard] and myself instead of just myself," he said. "I think it's more just experience more than any- thing. I am somewhat renowned for giving accurate feedback for what's going on with the motorcycle. That's one thing Yamaha always gave me credit for, is explaining what the bike was doing on the racetrack, which does eliminate a lot of testing time if you know what's happening Buckmaster said he never felt comfortable on the RI; nor was the R6 a good fit. "I'd have to admit that the Yamaha definitely has some geometry numbers to it that really 10 NOVEMBER 30, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS doesn't suit my style," he said. "Just the rakeand-trail numbers of that bike, it's not really what I prefer in a motorcycle. Let's remember that my career with Yamaha started on a Formula Xtreme bike, but then it led to production-based racing, when it was supposed to have led to Superbike racing. On a Formula Xtreme bike, Iwas able to adjust the motorbike the way Iwanted it. Yamaha's plan for racing, or where they ended up going, was production racing, where you can't change anything. If you look at the geometry numbers of the Kawasaki, it should suit my style a lot better. It's something I looked at quite closely." Buckmaster said that the that gave the team difficulties this year. it is noticeable that something big has Neil Spalding the stress of the wrist injury produced carpaltunnel syndrome, which he had corrected at the end of the 2005 season. "That scaphoid injury was a lot worse than what was originally thought," he said. "Basically, I just put up with it for as much as I could. After that problem didn't really bother me too much anymore, I started to notice I was getting a lot of numbness in my hand. After a few extensive tests, we realized it was carpal tunnel. I couldn't hang on to the bike after half-distance. The surgery showed the wrist needed relief. Everything's great now. I'm doing a few little tests that I can do at home and a little bit of mountain-bike riding. I think it's going to be great, no problem. You can never duplicate riding a motorcycle at home. I'm doing the best I can. All indications reveal that it should be okay." majority of his crashes were related to the front end of the Yamaha. "That was one thing that I had a lot of difficult explain- coming for Buckmaster. He rode for the Kawasaki factory Australia in 1993, '95, '97, and '98. Peter Doyle, now Mat Mladin's crew ing - unless we can get some chief, was the team manager. Buckmaster's front-end feel from the bike, I'm never going to be able to ride the bike," he said. "Even Mick Doohan, many years ago, when I was teammate was Marty Craggill, who won the Australian Superbike title in 1998, the same year Buckmaster won the 600 title. "That championship got me the position in the U.s. in '99," Buckmaster said. "That championship got me the position in the U.S. in '99," Buckmaster said. Henny Ray Abrams just trying to make it in the industry, that's one thing he said to me and I'll never forget it." The crashes led to injuries, the worst of which was a broken left wrist suffered at Barber Motorsports Park in 2004. Eventually In a way, the move to Attack is a home-

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