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/128630
"My proposal: Let's bring the dustbin fairing back to GP racing." High Wattage I want to commend Pau l Clipper on h is article with Shane Watts (Is s ue #33 , Aug ust 23 ) . Nowhere else has a ny one been a ble to get as close to "How do yo u do it?" than Clipper did wit h th is article . For those wh o missed the article , or m issed th e p o int o f th e arti cl e , h ere 's a s um mary : Watts is so fast because he is o ut to pr ov e th at he is th e ve ry be st rider in the wo rld ; Watts does not c ons tra in himself to merel y winning c ha m p io ns hips , his world is IS D E , Nat ional wi de ope n Mot ocr oss, World En duro . GNCC ; he takes on all c ha llenges . Ju st like in th e movies , th e smallto wn tea m with soul be ats the corpora te giants - e ve ry time . Good o n ya, mates Charlie Williams Via the Internet M echanic Thanks During th e Millville Motocross Nation al, I was amaz ed at the honesty of o ne fan and I would like to thank him . During the second m oto, I was pitting for Ro bb ie Re y n a rd a nd I left my mec h a n ic 's bag in the m e c h an ic ' s area. Aft e r re t u rn in g t o the pi t s, I realized it wa s missing a nd went ba c k for it with the feel ing that it woul d no longer be there . After aski ng a fe w p e o p le if they had seen it, I was to ld th e b a g h a d e nde d up in the hands of Frank Ge race (of t he Na tiona l Promo ter s Group). Fran k to ld me that a fa n ha d tu rned in m y ba g to the m, but did not leave h is n ame . Whoever it was, please , if you are ever at a no the r Nationa l or a Supercross , sto p by a nd let me thank yo u in person. You have proven that there are still ho nest peop le in the world and that m oto cr o ss fans ar e t h e greatest. Tony Berlun Via the Internet Blasting 101 After readi ng in bo th the print an d e le c t ro n ic versions o f Cycle News t h a t m eta llic pa rt icl es found in th e e ngine ca ses of th e Suzu kis (a fte r the Czech Republi c Gr and Prix in Brn o ) are be ing attributed to the blasting process used to remove the non -grip py wh ite lines from th e tra ck, I must admit I'm somewhat perplexed. The re was som e quest ion a s to why it was just the Suzukis tha t found debris in their eng ines , and th e e a sy , a nswer is that th e debris didn't come off the track . Media b lasting is very , very ra rely done with meta llic media , a nd then us ua lly o nly in co ntrolled c irc u m s t a nc e s with specia l equipment. You move a n awfu l lot of m a te ria l whe n do ing a la rge s ca le bla st ing o pera tion (like remo ving painted line s from a n e ntire ra cetrack), and genera lly speaking , yo u don 't want several h un dred p o u n d s of metal partic les sca tte re d arou nd yo ur p roperty lat e r where it can turn into a na sty , o ra nge rust haze over everyth ing it touches. "Be a d blasting " typica lly refers to the m edi a used; gene rall y glass o r silica beads. (S hot peening is pr obably the cl o s e s t y o u' d get t o this p ro cess us ing metallic med ia , and I'm pr ett y s ure th e y wer en 't stres s re liev ing the whit e line s .) Gla ss a nd s ilica are easy to clean up , plu s if yo u don 't get it all , it's no big deal - its ju st s a nd , a fte r a ll. Other typ ical m edi a include ga rn et , vari ou s o t her typ e s / grad e s of sand , p last ic , c rus he d nu tsh e lls , a nd occ as io n ally e ngi n e e re d c e ra m ic po wders . Judg ing from the size of th e job, th e y 'd m o st lik el y use sa nd o r g lass to keep co sts do wn. Anyw a y , I ju st th ou ght it was a stra nge concl usion to dr aw to ex p la in the presence of m etal pa rticles in one particul a r br an d of engi ne , seeing as it' s un lik e ly a ny so rt o f m et al wa s us ed in th e process at a ll. Scott Rsher Via the Inmm et Burning M an vs. B-ro-V On August 28 , the Los Angeles Times published an article about the Burning Man Festival. In the article a Mr. Ha rve y, who organizes the Fe st ival , answere d h is c rit ic s about his tre a tment of the desert (Black Rock Dry La ke in Nevada) b y re pl y in g , "The big gest thr e at to the desert a re off -roa d m ot o rc y c lis t s an d o ther unreg ulated groups. " This year's weeklong fe stiva l is to draw 30,000 peop le at $200 a pop to a t empo ra ry c ity set up o n the dry lak e. T h e BLM g ets $500 ,000 for oversig ht costs . Two ques tions come to mind ; How many d irt bike riders would it take to c re a t e t he mess made by 30 ,000 p e op le; and would we still hav e a Ba rstow to Vegas if th e BLM got half a m illion e a c h time it was held? DeWayne Stark Lake Forest CA Dustbins? Wh ile th e talk of rei ntrod uci ng fo urs tro ke m ot ors into Grand Prix ra cin g is "o n aga in o ff again," one th ing is c erta in : It' s n ot a question o f if "d ie s e ls " will ma ke a comeba ck in GP s , it ' s a qu e st ion of wh en . The d ec is ion , wh en final, will be mark e t driven (a n d m ar ket ing d riven ) s o th ere 's reall y n o p o int in debat ing wh ether o r n ot th e c ha n ge will b e "good for rac ing ." Rac ing , however , would inarguably ben efit from th e con tinued relevance of both GP and Su perbike racing . GP orga nize rs ' vague promise that GP fo ur-s trok es will be prototype s a nd dis tinct fro m street-based S u perbike ra c ers , ha s a lot of peop le worried . He rewith is a modest proposal th at prom ises to a llev iate Super b ikers' fea rs t hat four -stroke GP bikes will e rod e Superbike audien ces; create a c le a r dis tinc tion betwee n GP and Su p erbi k e s ra c ers ; and h elp build stron g aud ien c es for bo th homologate d Superb ike racing and cos t-is- no object GP prototypes. My pr oposa l: Let's bring the dustb in fa iring back to GP racing . If yo u think this is an idea best left in h istory's dus tbin , please g ive m e the benefit of th e doubt and read on. Dus tb in fai ri n g s became p opu la r aro un d WWII. "O u r" side ma y ha ve won th e wa r, but we were disma yed to find that (in th e late '40 s and ea rly '5 0s) th e s uperc ha rged and/ or m ult icy linde r mac h ines p ro d uced in the former "Axis " co untries wer e ac tua lly be atin g us at th e cla ssic road rac e s . A number of rule s were intro duced in the postwar period, banning for ced ind uctio n , a nd a mo ng ot her thing s th e dustbi n fair ing . This may not have been a NASCAR -sty le effort to lev el the GP play ing fie ld , tho ug h it did serve to ex te nd th e life s pa n of com paratively prim it ive British ma ch ines . At the time , the FIM c ited th e following reasons for th e d ustb in ban : Ov erly re strict ed steering lock, brake heat buildup , and c ros swind insta bility. S o w hy br ing them ba ck no w? Non e o f the ' in it ia l a rguments are va lid an y more. Modern GP b ikes hav e very restricted steering lock an ywa y , but it's a moot point; the design of the fa iring either allo ws adequate steering lock or it doesn 't. Bra ke -he a t buildup is hardly a problem now, ei ther ; carbo n bra k e s are shrouded to h e lp them reach suffi c iently el evated tem p e ra ture s . And with modern wind tunn el simulations and CA D design, du s tb ins should be aerodynamically stable . More im p o rt a n t ly , d ustbins will help GP ra cing in several ne w ways, especi a lly vis -a-vis S uperbike racing . Th e ir shape will immediate ly c rea te a vis ible difference between GP bik e s and Superb ikes. This will reinforce GP bik es ' "prot o ty p e" n at ur e with the casua l vie we r. Milli ons of c a s u a l fans alr e ady un d erstand th e differen c e b etw e en th e so-call e d pr odu cti on-b a s ed ( NAS CAR, BTCC ) series a nd p roto t y p e s like FI o r Ind ycars. F I and Indyca rs are faster , m ore exp ensiv e , more technolog ica lly advanc ed , a n d th ey don't look like regu lar cars. It's pre cisel y beca use they loo k so d iffe rent that F I a nd Ind yc ars ca n coexis t with NAS CAR and touring -car ra cing . Presumably, dustbins would all ow GP bikes to rega in a slight advantage in to p s peeds, at le ast o n th e faster tra c ks . It's possibl e th e designs would also e ncou rage cl oser ra cing , si nce th e c onseque nc es of incidental (e s pe ci a lly front wheel ) conta ct would be le s s disa strou s . Low-side c ra s hwo rthine s s (a d mittedl y, perhap s not much o f a co nce rn for m od ern GP t eam owne rs) would likel y be far s upe rior to c urre nt designs. Perhaps most im por ta nt ly , the surfa ce o f a full , dustbi n -style fa iri ng pro vid e s a vastly superior ( pardon th is pun) a d ve rtising vehicle . Cons ide ring th e higher development c osts of four -stroke prototype engi nes, anything that makes GP spon so rshi p c ue I e n more marketable is like ly to be wel comed . Th e origi na l dustbin e ra was c ha racte rize d by incredible innov ation in ra cin g m otor c ycl e e ngi ne d esign . Bike s like Mon d ia ls , which introduced the a cross-the -frame four- cylinder c onc ept , and the legendary Moto Guzz i V-eight, are th e spiritual ances tors of the n e xt generation of four s tro ke GP prototypes . It wo uldn 't hurt t o hearken back to that era ; we should be so lucky as to witness s uc h creativity aga in. Let's bring t h e dust bi n b a c k t o GPs , and leave Superbikes - the ones that look like c ro t c h rockets - wit h the well -d efined a nd well -u nderstood market pos itio n th e y alrea dy have . Vive la difference! M ark Gardiner Via the Inmmet Thanks From The W ildmans We would lik e t o thank Ra lph and Carolyn Huffm an, as well as a ll of our ext e n de d moto cross fam ily , for th e overwhe lm ing support and co m fo rt at Wash ouga l Motocross Park after t he trag ic los s of o ur son, Judd Wildman , We ha v e a lways e njo ye d th e Na tio na ls and m an y ot her series ra c e s over th e ye ars . Th is yea r was difficult, to s a y the le a st, but with the Huffma ns all owing th e memorial lap and h a ving J u d d 's b ike m ake that fligh t o ve r th e Chuc k Sun jum p aga in helped us in the he a ling pro c ess . There was also one special note I would li ke to add . I would like to th a nk Travis Pa strana for tak ing the t im e t o talk t o yo u r yo u n g e s t son , J esse. T ra vis wore a Judd Wildman Mem orial stick er on the ba ck of his c he st protector during his motos an d he made s uc h a n im p ressio n with his pol ite and gen erous nature th at it will never be forgotten. He e ve n we nt as fa r as to autograph and give J e sse a c hes t protector. If t h e s aying is "O n ly t im e ca n heal : th en we should add tha t hav ing sp ecial peop le , fami ly and fr ie nds definitely h elp s that process as we ll. Judd and KrtstrJ Wildman Stanwood,. WA e uv s S EP T EM B E R 1 3 , 200 0 5