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Driving report Rossi NSR 500
Sharp as a scalpel
If you play with the doctor’s tools, you shouldn’t forget the swab to wipe the sweat from your forehead. In Jerez, MOTORRAD experienced the limits.
When it lifts your front wheel off the ground at 180 km / h and you flip over the box almost in a somersault with just one finger when you lightly tap the carbon brake, then you can guess what Valentino Rossi, il dottore, means when he says that these machines separate the wheat from the chaff. That there are many very good racing drivers, but only very few who can master such a beast.
However, why everybody so naturally claims that the Honda NSR is more good-natured and easier to drive than the 500s from Yamaha or Suzuki remains incomprehensible to me. Despite the clearly too fat »journalists« jets? that should cost the V4 two-stroke around ten horses? the yellow Honda pulls the chain so much when accelerating that even driving straight ahead requires full concentration. The balancing act between propulsion on the rear wheel and buoyancy on the front wheel while simultaneously observing the rev counter and upshifting at lightning speed demands a high degree of sensitivity in the right hand. This monster turns 12500 rpm easily despite the heavy jets.
At the end of the slightly uphill straight from Jerez then the other side of the coin. I’ve never come here so quickly, despite many, many test laps on production bikes. At least that is how it seems to me, because the extremely crouched, stretched seat position and the aggressive sound of the screaming two-stroke engine convey an unusually direct, very dynamic driving experience. And then this brake. In contrast, the most toxic production line feels as if hard cheese toppings were built in. Impossible to even come close to making out anything like controllability. Although only one finger pulls the lever, the carbon pads and discs bite into each other according to the “all or nothing” principle. And the material-friendly double-declutching practice that has been practiced for years when downshifting only means that the aggressive brake is opened and closed with every sugar of the gas hand like an ABS in slow motion. Now I understand why the superstars take the brakes out of the gears ?? quickly quickly Quickly ?? just like that.
There is no need to worry about excessive engine braking. That goes to zero. And therefore does not make the search for the right braking point much easier. It is extremely difficult to correctly assess the speed on this rocket, which weighs only 135 kilograms. In return, the NSR falls into an inclined position by itself. So violent that on the first few laps I run the risk of rumbling over the inside curbs. Only when I manage to increase the speed at the corner entrance does the line fit. But only up to the apex, because from there the 500 starts to describe a wide arc rather stubbornly. The solution to the problem is similar to turning in: speed. The harder I pull the gas out of the corners, the cleaner the NSR stays on course.
The speed should not drop below 7000 rpm, as the two-stroke engine is reluctant to provide power below that. The range over 9000 / min should also be avoided, because otherwise the performance is reversed and a careless sugar on the throttle can trigger fatal consequences. Speed generally turns out to be a panacea for the 500s. If the NSR hops so insensitively in the first laps through the super-fast right bend before the start and finish that my view blurs with the shaking, it lies a little later with correspondingly more pull on the bike like a board. Only now does the Showa chassis begin to reveal its qualities and to provide crystal-clear feedback. The washboard-like bumps seem to have been ironed flat.
E.t is just beginning to be fun when the men around Gerry Burgess signal the end of my test session. Much too early to be completely used to this type of motorcycling and to really enjoy the incredible dynamics that go into such a 200 hp lightweight. Late enough, however, to know that Rossi and Co. may only cook with water – but with very, very hot.
SSP-600er: pure fun
In the course of the HRC test drives in Jerez, MOTORRAD had the opportunity to ride the supersport machines of the two top drivers Pere Ribe and Fabian Foret. The bikes used by the Dutch Ten Kate team in the World Cup caused a real surprise. Because in contrast to the very comfortable, but unfortunately quite indirect driving behavior of the series CBR 600 FS, the two racers inspire with sensationally firm and precise chassis. Their spring elements are new developments by White Power and should go into series production as early as 2002. The 600 series conveyed such a secure and direct feeling when it comes to finding lines or the limit of grip of the super sticky Pirelli tires from the first corner like hardly any other bike. The small four-cylinder also has a lot more to offer than its series colleague. However, the mechanics of the Ten Kate team also have a slight smile on their faces when they speak of a peak performance of between 127 and 130 hp. In any case, the fact is that the CBR engine goes like crazy. And over such a broad and effective band that Riba and Foret even do without a rev counter. Only five small light emitting diodes provide information as to whether you are in the usable range between 8000 and 16000 rpm. The four-cylinder, which is fed via the injection system, hangs cleanly, spontaneously and extremely powerfully on the gas at all times. The brakes with the strange-looking brake discs from Galfer, on the other hand, take a bit of getting used to. Fabien Foret in particular, who is feared as an absolute late brake, prefers a system that shows extremely little bite at first. The rather doughy feeling gives way when you grab it hard, then the system convinces with a decent effect and excellent dosability. “With brakes that are too poisonous, I can’t brake so far into the curve,” says Foret. “The risk of falling over the front wheel is simply too great.” He should know, after all, the likeable Frenchman has two race wins in the Show Supersport World Championship.
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