Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Valencia World S u p e r b ik e T e s t least t he blu ep rint for w hat will surely be a Du cat i Gr and Prix contende r in the nea r future . Th e most v i si ble chang e o n th e Wor l d S uperb ik e mac h ine i s th at m o st o f t h e bod y work du c t i n g h as b een fi lled in t o su c c essfu ll y reduc e th e m ach ine's drag co-effici en t, w ith c l o se r i n s p e c ti o n s h owing w ha t ap pear ed t o be a Magneti M arell i F On e style semi -automat ic gearshift in evide nce on th e left han d side of the b ik e . Alth ough a ll t e am mem bers were ter sely refusing to com m ent o n eve n the presence of t he devi c e on the ma chine at firs t, D uc at i is thou ght to ha v e made a fai rly fa ithfu l c opy of the ca r- raci ng sy st em . T wo paddle switches, m ounted top and bo ttom o f the l ef t hand leba r , form t h e firs t pa r t o f t h e c ontro l m ec h an ism , w ith t he help o f a ki ll s h i f te r. Pr e s s i n g one paddl e is a demand for an upshift, press ing the other is a signa l for a do wns h ift. It is th ought tha t a sma ll microproc essor ul timate l y c ontro ls t h e exact po int wh en the gear is changed , sendin g an electric al signal to a so len oid va lve , but o nly when t h e m ic r op r o c essor h a s d e em ed the r e v s t o be lo w eno ug h . Hence it is now th eor et icall y impossib le fo r th e D uc ati to c ha nge d own t o o m a n y gears too ea r ly (re ducing the risk of over-rev on the ove r r u n), al t ho ug h t h e p o in t was ma de t hat a n ina dverten t downs h ift w he n leaned over m ay be less t han desirabl e. The so l en o id , wh ich uses a hydra u lic sy st em to sen d a pressu r - B y GORDON R IT CHIE PH OT OS BY A LEX P HOTO VALENCIA, SPAIN, NOV. 16-17 s public d ebuts go , the 2001 Ducati World Superbike cha l lenger had an impress iv e fi rst curtain ca ll , vindicating th e obviou s fa ith t he Italian factory ha s in its new Testastretta (narro w -head ) 998c V-twin . The help of qualify ing t i re s ma y have b een n e ed ed to propel Troy Bay lis s into th e I :3 5. 8 barrier (co m pa r ed to T r o y C or se r ' s 1: 3 6. 18 5 Superpol e time fro m 2000 ) , b ut , b y any standards , the ap pe arance of the new est Du c at i is an ominous sig n for th e oth er World Superbike entrant s in 200 1. Hi s ti me w as the best of the tests, wh ich also feat ured the fac to ry Kawa sa k i and April ia outfit s, al be it w it h o ut so me o f th e key p la y ers i n attendan c e. Al m os t identical in o utward shape, the newest int erp retati o n of t he famil iar 9 16 t heme is no netheless almost co m p letel y a lt ered from the 2 0 0 0 m od e l , esp ec ially i n t he engin e departmen t - to th e ex te nt tha t tech n ic al d i r ec t o r Ca rrado C ec c h i ne ll o re c kons that, " t here are v irtua ll y no p art s w h ic h are in t e rc ha ngeabl e betw een th is m ac h ine and th e 2000 m od el. " At a non -h orsepow er c i rc u it li k e V al en ci a , t h e f a st ti mes a r e eve n m ore im p res si ve , and a back-to -beck te st alongside t he factory 20 00 bike at Mon za woul d offer m o re of a test of th e new engine 's t rue power. The new m a chi n e is fu lly ex pec te d t o b e at A 14 NOVEMB ER 29 , 2000· c u e I e neVU's Troy Bayliss came away from the twoday Wortd Superbike test In Valencia , Spain , with the quickest lap times. The Australian rode the 2 0 0 1-m o d el Ducatl Testastretta 9 9 8. ize d burst o f fluid ( su p pl ie d vi a a pump) to one of tw o ends of a cy li ndric al ac tua to r, eithe r pu sh es o r pulls a p ist on and thus changes eit her up o r down a gea r. A m anua l gea rsh ift is still in pl ac e o n th e m achin e sho uld any faul t occur. B ay lis s , f astest man o f th e t est , finall y acknow ledged th e presen ce o f t he shif te r o n th e ma ch in e , b ut h i s u nd er s tat eme nt that , " I t ' s a lazy man's gearchang e, like pla ying w ith a Pla ystation !" seemed to sum up h is thoughts on the new system . Wh eth er o r not the new gea r sh ift m ech an ism is a sig nifi c an t improve ment o r no t is o pen to d e ba te , b it there is no question t ha t th e m ach in e does not su ffe r an y weig h t pena lt y du e i ts addi t io na l a ncillary eq ui p m ent , w ith t he new engi ne weig h ing in someth ing approach ing 11 pounds less t ha n t he pr ev ious model. T h e my r ia d o f ot h er t e chn ic al ch anges o n th e m ach in e in clud e a valve ang le wh ich is now a ver y nar ro w 25° plus a massi vel y over -square 100mm bo re and 63 .5 mm st ro ke fig ure, both of wh ic h a lter t he fa m iliar staccato bark o f th e Du c at i engi ne into a mo re h ig h - p it ch ed , so norous bell ow . Both Ben Bost rom and Ba yli ss were ebullient abo ut the new bik e, loving its enhanced pow er, and also the way it w as de li ve re d, even from zero rev s, which is a d iffi cul t trick to pull off using the sing le injector system . " I w a s su rpr ised that the bike offers m uch better throttle response at low revs ," sa id Bo strom. "I th ought th e 2000 bik e I jumped on after rid ing the 199 9 factory b ik es for m ost of the ye ar was a m issil e, bu t th e 200 1 bike is eve n better than that. M ore power and nicer to ri de ." B o s t r o m , wi t h a n undi s cl o s ed Ph il lip Morris cigarette bran d still to be pa in ted on his 2001 machi ne , has c o n fi r m ed r u mo rs that he would re t u rn to Dun lops after a n abo rtive seaso n on Michelins, and post ed similar t i mes to Ba yl i ss , s ti ll runni ng M ichelins alo ng with Xa us. Cr ashing af t er what appe ared to be landing his fro nt wh eel off t he tr ack w hen ex iti ng turn four early o n th e fi rst day of th e te sts , Xaus exa cerbat ed a two-week old m otocross inj ury and elect ed not to rid e ag ain , allowing Bost rom and Bayli ss o ne ma ch ine ap iece o n the second day - but only after the Du c at i m echan ics rebu ilt th e b ik e , wh ich lost th e lower section of t he fo rk legs during th e crash. A p u n ctu r ed oi l p ip e c o u ld also h a ve ca u s ed a n asty m oment fo r Ba y liss, who was wa ve d off th e t rack by new Belga rd a team manager Mas s i m o M e r eg a ll i after h i s ma c h i n e started to blow smoke down the ma in straigh t - unbeknow n to Ba yliss. Kawasaki 's test in volve d th e presence of their very own Supersub Peter Goddard , deputiz ing for the in jured Ak ira Yanagawa , who re -broke h is collarbone in th e final All Japan ra ce of the season recently. His team boss Haral d Eckl expects h im t o be present at th e next t ests in Dec ember. " It is a c le an brea k so I hope he c a n b e ba c k in tim e for th e ne xt tests ," Eck l said. The exp e ct e d n ew K aw a sa k i engine was not on d is p lay at Val en cia , and neither were Dunlop qu al ifyi ng t ires , none of w hich pre vented The following times are from the twoday test at the Ricardo Torma Circuit in Valencia, Spain: World Superbike Troy Bayliss - 1:35.76 Ben Bostrom - 1:35,90 Ruben Xau s - No ti me gi ve n due to early crash. Gregorio !..avilla - I :37. I Peter Goddard - 1:37.3 Marty Craggill - 1:37.8 Giovanni Bussei - 1:37.35 Riccardo Chiarello - 1:39.33 Daniel Oliver- 1:4 1.40 Alessandro Antonello . 1:36.90 World Supersport Jam es Whitham - 1: 40.8 Paolo Casali - 1:40.1 Massimo Meregalli . 1:41.7 lain MacPherson - 1.40.8 Andrew Pitt - 1:40.7 Vitto Guareschi - 1:40.2 Dean Thomas - 1:4 1.4

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