Technical concepts in the Superbike World Championship

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Technical concepts in the Superbike World Championship

Technical concepts in the Superbike World Championship
All against the mafia

The Ducati lead melts in the Superbike World Championship. The Japanese four-cylinder have caught up – albeit with extreme effort and different ideas.

Michael Rohrer

05/22/1997

“There is no substitute for displacement.” The fundamental principle of the engine builder is just as banal and correct as its continuation “except through more displacement”.
Has exactly this principle Ducati so far dominated the Superbike World Championship. While the four-cylinder competition of the four Japanese industrial giants is limited by the regulations to 750 cm³, the Bolognese were able to increase significantly with their desmodromic V2. From 851 cm³ in the first generation superbike of the same name in 1988, the unit grew up to 1996 996 cm³ and won six world titles.
But now the limit of one liter for a two-cylinder has been reached, and the opponents are catching up. Four of the first six world championship races in 1997 went to Honda, only two to Ducati. Even though Ducati returnees Carl Fogarty took over the championship lead by a narrow margin at the last World Championship round in Donington.
“But our engine is far from over,” says Claudio Domenicali, chief engineer of the Ducati racing department, optimistically, “there is enough potential to stay at the top even without further increases in displacement.” Primarily, the Ducati Last winter, technicians were less concerned with increasing the performance of the factory engines, but rather with their durability. Up to seven engine failures per race weekend in the past season, mostly housing cracks, not only put a strain on the driver’s confidence, but also on the finances.
A new, reinforced housing, in which the spacing of the stud bolts has been increased due to the bore that has grown from 92 to 98 millimeters over the years, is intended to ensure reliability. Even more power should come from a new generation of injection and electronic engine management.
The engineers at the Japanese plants are much more familiar with the search for performance without displacement assistance. And now that Ducati is literally full of beer, they are moving closer – especially Honda. The RC 45, demonized as a faulty design after its racing debut in 1994, has mutated into a top favorite in its fourth season.
With the engine, which has always been extremely strong and now produces 165 hp, the points of criticism of throttle response, torque and acceleration, i.e. performance in lower engine speeds, have been eliminated. Completely new engine inners together with the latest version of the programmable intake manifold injection ensure that the RC 45 is even considered a model of excellent acceleration in the Superbike World Championship today. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find out more about this, as well as a reason for the exclusively used V4-cylinder engine design. “We are hired by Honda to do the best we can with the material they give us,” says Neil Tuxworth, Team Principal of the Castrol Honda Superbike Factory Team, “The same goes for the engine’s development stages. We got a new engine for the last third of the 1996 season and now again at the start of the season, I can’t say more. “
In fact, on closer inspection, the conceptual differences between the V4 and a four-cylinder in-line engine such as Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha as very complex. If a V4 motorcycle initially benefits from handling-friendly properties such as a narrower design, shorter crankshafts and therefore more favorable mass distribution around the center of gravity, other V4 characteristics tend to conflict with manageable handling.
A V-engine cannot be installed in a motorcycle frame as compactly as an in-line unit because of its greater overall length. A variable placement of the engine and thus an adaptation of the wheel load distribution to the conditions of different racetracks is very limited. In addition, at least in theory, there is a higher weight.
In addition, it is astonishing that the Honda engineers, unlike all other racing machines, let the RC 45 go onto the track without a variable steering head, which greatly restricts the modification of the chassis geometry. With improvements such as a completely new steering head in August 1996 as well as various triple clamps and rear wheel swing arms, the RC 45 has become more manageable, but the competition remains superior in this regard. The fact that the machine has nevertheless become the measure of all things in the Superbike World Championship in four years’ time has to do with the testing and development work of New Zealander Aaron Slight, who with “his” motorcycle prominent teammates such as double world champions Doug Poland and Carl Fogarty has put in their place. The World Cup runner-up also left his 1997 comrade, the unpredictable John Kocinski, behind in the current interim standings.
Yamaha is less satisfied with the first races of the 1997 Superbike World Championship. After the impressive Daytona 200 victory, the two US factory drivers Colin Edwards and ex-world champion Scott Russell were sure that they could compete in the Ducati Infight against Honda, but now it looks completely different.
“We’re far from a perfect idea at the moment,” complains Scott Russell. And mainly means the chassis. With ex-racing driver and Ohlins technician Anders Andersson, Yamaha has probably the most competent specialist on the team. But the Swede is also struggling with the unbalanced balance of the Yamaha. “When you brake hard, the thing bounces back and forth so that you feel very different,” said Russell in Donington.
Apparently, the example of Yamaha shows that variable engine installation options can also be a bad trap when it comes to driving behavior. Basically, however, the Yamaha shows how Kawasaki and Suzuki closer to series production than Ducati and Honda. That is due to the regulations. A small manufacturer like Ducati only has to build 200 identical basic machines for homologation in the Superbike World Championship, whereas the large corporations have to build 1000. And the smaller the series, the easier and cheaper it is to put a real racing motorcycle on the road. Unless a manufacturer like Honda allows itself the luxury of a sinfully expensive special series regardless of any sales opportunities for the specimens not required for racing.
This also explains why Yamaha, like Kawaski and Suzuki, with their four-cylinder in-line engines fitted with flat slide carburettors, are more cost-effective than Ducati and Honda with injection.
But at least Yamaha, in accordance with the company’s philosophy with five instead of four-valve cylinder heads, as is the case with the competition, and Kawasaki can still keep up in terms of engine power with around 160 hp each. Yamaha mainly benefits from the intensive fine-tuning of the Italian technician genius Beppe Russio, who has turned the moderately talented Yamaha five-valve engine into a veritable powerhouse over years of hard work.
More surprising is the resurgence of the factory Kawasaki, which have recently been deployed under the direction of the German ex-Grand Prix driver Harald Eckl. “In 1996 the Kawasaki technicians had great difficulties with the new short-stroke engine, which simply did not achieve the performance of its predecessor,” explains Eckl, “but now the engines are turning a lot faster than the opponents at 14,500 rpm. And that is just the beginning.”
The basis of the Kawasaki revitalization program was the conversion of the camshaft control from chain to spur gears, a new cylinder head and lighter engine parts such as pistons, connecting rods and crankshafts.
The Kawa technicians have found imitators in the Suzuki. The whites and blues have long since shelved the ultra-short stroke idea because of painful experiences. From now on, however, the GSX-R motors, which are also around 160 hp, are also equipped with spur gears instead of timing chains. So the Suzuki technicians finally want to make up for the almost chronic performance deficit, especially in the medium speed range, which the new motorcycle presented in 1996 has not yet been able to make up for.
Unfortunately, neither the Suzuki engineers nor the other colleagues have the capacity tuning instrument available. Except, Suzuki or Honda conjures up a race-ready version of their new everyday Ducati fighter TL 1000 or VTR 1000.

Suzuki GSX-R 750

EngineWater-cooled four-cylinder four-stroke in-line engine, two overhead, spur gear-driven camshafts, four valves per cylinder actuated by bucket tappets, four Mikuni flat slide carburetors, passage 39 mmBore x stroke 72 x 46 mmHub volume 749 cm³Compression 11.8Power 158 HP at 14000 / minPower transmissionPrimary drive via gearwheels at 14,000 / min – Dry clutch, six-speed gearbox Chassis Bridge frame made of aluminum profiles, load-bearing engine, Showa upside down fork, sliding tube diameter 47 mm, two-arm swing arm made of aluminum profiles, central spring strut, AP double disc brake at the front with six-piston calipers, 0 320 mm, rear disc brake with two-piston caliper 0 220 mm, Michelin -Tires, dimensions varyDimensions and weightsVariable steering head angleCaster variableWheelbase 1400 mmWeight without petrol 162 kg

Kawasaki ZX-7RR

EngineWater-cooled four-cylinder four-stroke in-line engine, two overhead, spur gear-driven camshafts, four valves per cylinder actuated by bucket tappets, four Keihin flat slide carburettors, passage 38 mm, bore x stroke 73 x 44.7 mm, displacement 748 cm³, power 163 hp at 14500 / minPower transmission, primary drive via Dry clutch, six-speed gearbox Chassis Bridge frame made of aluminum profiles, load-bearing engine, Ohlins upside down fork, sliding tube diameter 46 mm, two-arm swing arm made of aluminum profiles, central spring strut, AP double disc brake at the front with six-piston calipers, 0 320 mm, rear disc brake with two-piston caliper, 0 230 mm, Dunlop -Tires 120/60 x 17 front, 180/67 x 17 rear Dimensions and weights Steering head angle 63.5 degrees Caster 99 mm Wheel base 1410 mm Weight without petrol 162 kg

Yamaha YZF 750 SP

EngineWater-cooled four-cylinder four-stroke in-line engine, two overhead, spur gear-driven camshafts, five valves per cylinder operated by bucket tappets, four Mikuni carburettors, passage 39 mmBore x stroke 72 x 46 mmHub volume 749 cm³Compression 13.2Power 161 HP at 13800 / minPower transmissionPrimary drive via gears Dry clutch, six-speed gearbox Chassis Bridge frame made of aluminum profiles, load-bearing engine, Ohlins upside down fork, sliding tube diameter 44 mm, two-sided swing arm made of aluminum profiles, central spring strut, Nissin double disc brake at the front with six-piston calipers, 0 320 mm, rear disc brake with two-piston caliper, 0 192 mm, Dunlop -Tires 3.75 x 17 front, 6.25 x 17 rear Dimensions and weights Steering head angle 66 degrees Trail 98 mm Wheel base 1420 mm Wheel load distribution f / r 53/47% Weight without petrol 162 kg

Honda RC 45

EngineWater-cooled 90 degree V four-cylinder engine, four overhead, spur gear-driven camshafts, four valves per cylinder actuated by bucket tappets, programmable Keihin PGM-FI intake manifold injection and engine managementBore x stroke 72 x 46 mmHub volume 749 cm³Power 163 HP, power transmissionPrimary drive at 14,000 / minPower transmission Bridge frame made of aluminum profiles, load-bearing engine, Showa upside down fork, sliding tube diameter 47 mm, single-sided swing arm made of cast aluminum, Showa central spring strut, Brembo double disc brake at the front with four-piston calipers and floating discs, 0 320 mm, Brembo disc brake at the rear with two-piston caliper 0 190 mm, Michelin tires 120/60 x 17 front, 180/67 x 17 rear Dimensions and weights Steering head angle 65.5 degrees Caster 86 – 98 mm (variable) Wheelbase 1400 mm Weight without petrol 162 kg

Ducati 996

EngineWater-cooled 90 degree V-two-cylinder engine, four overhead, toothed belt-driven camshafts, four desmodromic actuated valves per cylinder, wet sump lubrication, electronic suction pipe injection and engine management Marelli-Weber EFI / EMSBore x stroke 96 x 66 mm displacement 996 cm³ kW compression 11.8 (114 hp) at 14,000 rpm Power transmission Primary drive via gear wheels, hydraulically operated multi-disc dry clutch, six-speed gearbox Chassis Steel space frame, load-bearing motor, Ohlins upside-down fork, guide tube diameter 46 mm, single-sided swing arm made of cast aluminum, central spring strut, floating Brembo 0 double-disc brake at the front with four-piston brake with four-piston 320 mm , Rear disc brake with two-piston caliper, 0 200 mm, Michelin tires 120/60 x 17 front, 180/67 x 17 rear Dimensions and weights Steering head angle 65.5 degrees Trail 100 mm Wheelbase 1428 mm Weight without petrol 162 kg Wheel load distribution f / r 51.5 / 49.5%

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