Superbike World Championship: technology of the Aprilia and Ducati factory machines

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Superbike World Championship: Technology of the Aprilia and Ducati factory machines

Superbike World Championship: Technology of the Aprilia and Ducati factory machines
Italian roulette

The Superbike World Championship title has to be brought back to Italy, the technicians from Aprilia and Ducati agree. The paths to this great national goal do not only differ in black or red, however.

Michael Rohrer

08/30/2001

Green-white-red ?? the Italian national colors can be found on the 2000 Superbike World Champion machine. But unfortunately only because of the paintwork in the style of the main sponsor Castrol. The loss of the world title to Colin Edwards and Honda hits Ducatisti and Aprilia fans to the core. So only one thing was clear before the 2001 season: The new world champion would have to ride an Italian superbike again. And this is the goal that both the development teams at Aprilia how Ducati with all possible force, i.e. with significantly increased engine power.
The ways to get there differed fundamentally. Aprilia chief engineer Giuseppe Bernicchia relied on the further development of the 60-degree V-twin concept, which is basically only two years old. “We were able to increase performance between five and eight percent over the entire engine speed range compared to the previous year,” says the technician happily, “although improved peak performance is no longer the main goal. The punch in the middle is decisive. “
The twin, prepared by the British racing forge Cosworth and designed with a bore-to-stroke ratio of 100 to 63.4 millimeters, has mainly been revised in the combustion chambers and ducts for the current World Championship season. But the moving parts such as the forged pistons, connecting rods and titanium valves have also been subjected to the finest development work. As a result, Signor Bernicchia noticed, in addition to a significantly improved acceleration from slow corners, a significantly increased nominal speed: “Instead of around 12400 tours as in the 2000 version, we now turn up to almost 13000.”
The Aprilia racing department in Noale is particularly proud of the crankshaft with interchangeable counterweights. Depending on the characteristics of the racetrack, the technicians influence the engine properties of their baby by using different flywheels. “In this way, we can provide our drivers with engines that are just as perfectly suited to winding roads like Misano or Valencia as we do on the high-speed railways Phillip Island or Monza.”
On the other hand, there is a certain risk in this variability. Aprilia hero Troy Corser in particular amazed in the course of the 2001 season with very different performances that were not always easy to understand. At the season opener in Valencia in March he was simply unbeatable and blatantly described his enthusiasm: “The bike is perfect and the engine is simply incredible.” Aprilia’s number two rider, Regis Laconi, also shone with top results. Corser’s superior training performance in his home country Phillip Island before the flood hit was also impressive. Despite a tough headwind, the 1996 world champion achieved an almost unbelievable 310 km / h in addition to the pole position on the straight. These gala performances are contrasted with crashes well into the midfield, such as in the last races at Brands Hatch, where Corser and the blacks somewhat embarrassed themselves with ranks eight and 13.
“The results from Brands Hatch are a mystery to us,” says boss Bernicchia, “so we have obviously messed up with the engines.” At times, pilot Corser had a very original explanation for weaker Aprilia ideas: “Sometimes I have the impression the engine is so brutal that the landing gear can no longer keep up. “
The Aprilia RSV mille SP is obviously a highly talented, but at the same time very capricious racer, which sometimes withholds some secrets even from its creators. However, if the set-up is perfect, the competition will find it very difficult to put a stop to the black front.
The diverse tuning options, which are already indicated by the different crankshafts, are continued in the chassis. The installation position of the motor in the aluminum bridge frame can be changed in several ways. Three special mountings in the front part of the frame and a large hole just above the swing arm create an area of ​​plus / minus five millimeters horizontally and ten millimeters vertically. To do this, the pivot point of the swing arm itself can be shifted by up to eight millimeters.
“Our variable engine installation is certainly not rocket science,” believes Giuseppe Bernicchia, “but so far we are the only ones in the Superbike World Championship who have worked with it.” And of course we have other opportunities to perfect the racing motorcycle. But there is also the risk of turning in the wrong direction.
On the chassis side, Ducati is taking a somewhat more conservative path. “A Ducati can only be a Ducati if it has three characteristics: a tubular space frame, the 90-degree L-two-cylinder engine and of course the desmodromic valve control,” says Claudio Domenicali, the otherwise very innovative director of the Ducati Corse racing department Tradition of the Bolognese house with no ifs or buts. It is precisely in this dogma that some minor handicaps are hidden, which repeatedly demand new, very original solutions from Ducati engineers.
Eight Superbike World Championship titles in the 13-year history of this racing series prove that at least the Ducati racing machines are provided with a cane that is one of the finest in terms of handling. Incidentally, whether the 90-degree twin works in an L configuration, which is what the Bolognese plant attaches great importance to, or whether it is “just” an ordinary V-engine, there are no major differences in the lap times. The Desmodromic, that elaborate valve control by means of rocker arms and rocker arms, stood in the way of the “Desmo Quattro” head used up to and including 2000, despite all the advantages in terms of speed stability, precise valve control and thus optimal power output. Due to the design, both the size of the valves and the load capacity of the control were limited.
The new Testa Stretta head with narrower valve angles and larger valves promotes better cylinder filling and combustion and thus higher performance, among other things through increased speed stability. The works racing engine currently rotates around 13500 rpm, an impressive figure for a two-cylinder with a 100 millimeter bore even with a short stroke of 63.5 millimeters. In addition, the more rigid mounting of the rocker arms increases the stability of the engine.
Like his Aprilia colleague and competitor Bernicchia, Ducati Corse boss Domenicali looks at the work of his engine engineers with pride: “Our Testa Stretta engine has around eight hp more than the old engine in all situations.” A statement that especially a man like the current fifth place in the World Cup, Neil Hodgson, will immediately sign. “You can fight like a lion against Troy Bayliss or Ben Bostrom and experiment with completely disturbed braking points,” says the driver of a previous year’s factory Ducati breathlessly, “they open the cock at the exit of the curve ?? and then you can’t think of anything else. “
Hodgson’s hostile brothers from the factory team tried very little, the qualities of the factory Ducati 996 R downplay. The Californian hero of the moment, Ben Bostrom, has won the last five World Championship races, World Championship leader Troy Bayliss the two before that. And the two agree: “The Testa Stretta engine is a giant step forward and will bring the good old 996 back to where it belongs: to the top of the Superbike World Championship.”
So the signs are perfect that the Italian national colors will be spared from undignified misinterpretations at the end of this Superbike World Championship season.

Technical data: Ducati 996 R

EngineWater-cooled two-cylinder four-stroke 90-degree L-engine, two overhead camshafts driven by toothed belts, 188 hp at 13200 / min, bore x stroke 100 x 63.5 cm³, displacement 997 cm³, intake manifold injection, 0 60 mm, six-speed gearbox, trolley frame made of steel, Ohlins upside-down fork, sliding tube diameter 0 43 mm, single-sided swing arm made of cast aluminum, Ohlins central spring strut with lever system, double disc brakes at the front, 0 = 330 mm, radially screwed Brembo four-piston calipers, disc brake at the rear, 0 = 220 mm, two-piston caliper, Wheelbase 1410 mm, variable steering head angle, 64.5 to 66.5 degrees, Marchesini cast aluminum wheels, front 3.50 x 16.5 inches, rear 5.75, 6.00 or 6.25 x 16.5 inches, Michelin tires front 120/70 x 16.5, rear 180/60, 190/55 or 195/55 x 16.5, or Dunlop tires front 120/70 x 420, rear 180/60, 190/55 or 195/55 x 420, tank capacity 24 liters, weight without petrol 162 kg

Technical data: Aprilia RSV mille SP

EngineWater-cooled two-cylinder, four-stroke, 60-degree V-engine, one balancer shaft, two overhead camshafts each driven by gears and a chain, 186 hp at 12800 rpm, bore x stroke 100 x 63.4 mm, displacement 996 cm³, intake manifold injection, Aluminum bridge frame with carbon fiber rear frame, Ohlins upside-down fork, sliding tube diameter 42 mm, two-arm swing arm made of aluminum profiles, Ohlins central spring strut with lever system, double disc brakes with steel discs at the front, 0 330 mm, radially screwed Brembo four-piston calipers, disc brake rear, 0 220 mm, two-piston caliper, wheelbase 1405 mm, variable steering head angle, 64.8 to 66.8 degrees, vertically plus / minus ten millimeters and horizontally plus / minus eight millimeters variable engine suspension and swing arm axle, cast aluminum wheels, front 3.50 x 16.5 inches , rear 5.75, 6.00 or 6.25 x 16.5 inches, Dunlop tires, front 120/70 x 420, rear 180/60, 190/55 or 195/55 x 420, tank capacity 24 liters, weight without petrol 162 kg

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