Zonko’s attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R
Andreas Riedmann

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

17th photos

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Zonko’s attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Sharp frontier scalpel: after 16 years, a Kawasaki is again the Austrian champion in the 1000s.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Mayer drives, Mayer works, Mayer laptops.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Stripped racing bikes are not always a feast for the eyes. In the case of the
But that can be said with a cleanly constructed Mayer-Zehner.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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The master and his apprentice. Julian Mayer explains the subtleties of tuning his master device.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Series cockpit with lap times display.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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The kit electronics are as extensive as they are ingenious, but require an enormous amount of coordination. Feeling is good, knowing is better. 2D data recording to underpin the driver’s impressions.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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The sentence of the day was delivered by team boss Peter Mayer when asked what the most difficult thing in racing is: “The financial one. Sponsors are like a needle in a haystack. “

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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The look into the 2016 kit electronics made a deep impression on me. It is an incredibly sophisticated and perfectly functioning tool with which you can perfectly adjust the ninja to every track and every driver – as long as you deal with it in detail.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Zonko’s attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

Master Mayer

Content of

Julian Mayer and the Kit-Ninja finally win the Austrian championship for Kawasaki again 16 years after Martin Bauer’s title. What can the victorious Kawasaki ZX-10R?

You have to go back a long way in the archives of the sports commission if you want the last Austrian championship title for KFind awasaki in the 750 cc class: In 2000, Martin Bauer was the overall winner in the Superstock 1000 class on a ZX-9R. At that time that was – in contrast to Julian Mayer’s current Superbike title (stock sport regulations) on the Kawasaki ZX-10R – a real sensation because the 9-series ninja looked more like a “touring athlete” than the R1 of the time. The ingenious (driving) technician Bauer subsequently played big with the inferior Kawa, also within the framework of the IDM, but he won his German titles on Honda and KTM.

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Zonko's attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

Zonko’s attack on the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R
Master Mayer

Mayer drives, Mayer works, Mayer laptops

Julian Mayer, now 20 years old, is one of Austria’s greatest driving talents and beats the Kawasaki ZX-10R, which has around 200 hp on the rear wheel, over the Pannoniaring, making a spectator breathless. The time of 1.54 min is still a second above the track record of Andy Meklau with the Suzuki GSX-R 1000, but the super-fast Mayer ride in the border area, which looks almost casual from the outside, is not only extremely impressive, but also a promise. We know that in racing, new machines can never reach their full potential in the first season because the experience with the set-up has to be worked out first.

The fact that the Kawasaki ZX-10R worked relatively smoothly this year is largely due to the fact that the Kawa is actually extremely close to the glorious and dominant Superbike World Championship machines in terms of geometry and that they are way above Kit electronics with 100 adjustable functions are uncompromisingly tailored to racing. “The electronics package is just great, but you have to study it carefully. The way the various settings work is extremely helpful, ”says Peter Mayer, the team’s father – in the truest sense of the word. He is the owner of a motorcycle shop in Wiener Neustadt, fully contaminated with racing, as they say, looks after the team as the boss and does the work himself. Julian’s brother Cedric is responsible for the electronics and laptop. Peter Mayer: “He just knows a lot better than me.” Yes, and Julian drives like the devil. Family business. Another secret of success: everything has to fit in the team.

How much power does the engine have??

“I estimate between 195 and 200 hp on the rear wheel,” says Peter Mayer, “at least enough. The point is not to find any more horsepower, but to bring as much of the existing power as possible to the asphalt. ”Estimate? What does the test stand say? Nothing. Original null. Because the engine is tuned purely via the evaluation of the lambda probe and the driver feedback. This Kawasaki ZX-10R has never seen a test bench. According to the stock sport regulations, the engine of the Kawasaki ZX-10R is standard, but it roars through an Akrapovic complete system with Arrow muffler. The latter is simply much cheaper. “The Akrapovicˇ system is great, but the end pot is irrelevant in terms of power and performance. And I don’t want to have to shell out seven hundred for a new pot every time I ride, ”says the team boss, who knows how damn hard it is to find sponsors for motorcycle racing.

You have to budget. This year the Austrian Kawasaki importer (Moto GmbH) relied on Julian Mayer and thankfully showed himself to be generous, unfortunately there were no other donors to be found. But back to the engine. A little more aggressiveness and top performance were achieved by steepening the cams. You drive with the original camshafts of the Kawasaki ZX-10R, which have been rotated a little with the help of the slotted gears. The valve clearance has been adjusted so that the inlet opens longer than the outlet. “The engine has become noticeably more aggressive as a result. At the exit of the curve it just bites harder, ”says Julian Mayer, who manages the balancing act between carelessly firing the rocket and the budget-related ban on falling in a remarkable way. Julian is super fast, but almost never throws away. So maybe mount the Akrapo silencer after all? Does Akrapovicˇ pay nothing at all, does the Slovenian exhaust giant let nothing out? Peter Mayer raises his eyebrows and waves: “Nice idea. But no, that costs us length times width. “

Outside Showa, inside Ohlins

Kawasaki has given the Kawasaki ZX-10R a top Showa fork with gas pressure tank as standard, which is really good and shone in comparison tests. A great part for the fast hobby racer. “The series fork worked up to the lap time of 1.58 minutes in Pannonia, but then we stood in line. Under pressure, the front tire pushed outwards, I couldn’t pull the crown closer without running the risk of losing the front, ”explains Julian Mayer. The remedy was provided by Ohlins TTX suspension elements, front and rear. In accordance with the stock sport regulations, the outside of the fork is unchanged, but the inside is now Swedish gold. The metallic red shimmering gas pressure expansion tank is only a dummy without function. Peter Mayer: “Recently, Ohlins has been using special springs for pressure compensation in its Superbike forks instead of gas, the density of which changes sensitively with changing temperatures.”

With the Ohlins chassis, the lap times then fell to 1.54 min. Kawasaki would also offer various offsets for the steering head, but the standard geometry of the Kawasaki ZX-10R should suit Julian perfectly. The same goes for the brake. Without the ABS function, the M50 monoblocks bite into the two 330-millimeter panes so harshly and easily that there is no need to touch them up. So the series anchor is a dream. World class.

Wonder weapon: kit electronics

The 2016 kit ECU from Kawasaki is absolutely awesome. “When Julian comes in and says that he would like to have a little more transverse drift at the start of the four-corner, I enter in the laptop that the engine braking effect should apply more strongly in second gear. I could also shorten the throttle of the blipper function and lower the speed. If he wants the machine to remain more stable in line, I take the motor brake back. It works for every single gear, ”explains Cedric Mayer, the team’s electronics expert.

The traction control can be set in five positions, and there are ten sub-levels in each position. Aisle by aisle. “It’s really amazing how precisely you can use this electronics to adjust the machine to the individual sections of the route,” enthuses Cedric. “You can also shift the maximum engine speed separately in all gears, for example to save yourself a gear change. Of course, it is extremely important that the driver feels the fine nuances in the driving behavior and gives clear feedback, but the handling of the tool is no witchcraft. The kit electronics are very extensive, but also very logically structured. ”In addition, 2D data recording is used to obtain empirical facts as well as statements from the driver.

Full faith? Just pull the throttle down?

It should not be underestimated that the 2016 kit ECU, which can be described as a digital wonder weapon, requires a lot of kilometers at racing speed. The term “coordination work” is no accident. Julian Mayer: “Sure, it took a lot of kilometers to get the Kawasaki ZX-10R as we thought it would be best, but the result is simply awesome. If, when downshifting without the clutch, the engine control gives exactly as much or as little double-declutching as is optimal at the respective corner entry, you can fully concentrate on the line and the brake pressure on the front tire and then accelerate very enthusiastically shortly after the apex, because you can trust the traction control, which is perfectly programmed to the nearest tenth of a nuance. “

Full faith? Just pull the throttle down? Julian Mayer: “You could probably even turn around completely. In fact, you just give a lot of gas and feel how the traction control keeps the rear tire at its limit. Once you have found the right setting, you can drive an extremely clean acceleration line lap after lap without having to worry about overdoing it. That relieves the strain and is really fun. Cramping is always bad anyway. ”Then he climbs back into the saddle of the yellow and black master Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R and burns very fast times into the asphalt lap after lap. Casual and playful. In which racing series will he attack next year? Peter Mayer: “Let’s have a look.”

Conclusion

When I think about the Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R, I am delighted that it won the international Austrian championship title. Kawasaki’s losing streak was really long. The decisive factors that led to success were, on the one hand, the ZX-10R, which was clearly designed for racing as standard, the fantastic kit electronics and the Ohlins chassis parts, and on the other hand, the enormous talent, carefree and relaxed attitude of 20-year-old Julian Mayer as well as the family team structure.

The look into the 2016 kit electronics made a deep impression on me. It is an incredibly sophisticated and perfectly functioning tool, with which the Kawasaki ZX-10R can be perfectly adapted to every track and every driver – provided you deal with it in detail. The sentence of the day was delivered by team boss Peter Mayer when asked what the most difficult thing in racing is: “The financial one. Sponsors are like a needle in a haystack. “

Technical data Mayer-Kawasaki ZX-10R

  • Drive: Four-cylinder in-line engine, four valves / cylinder, bore / stroke: 76.0 / 55.0 mm, 998 cm³, compression ratio 13: 1, ignition / injection system, 47 mm throttle valves, mechanically operated multi-disc oil bath anti-hopping -Clutch, six-speed gearbox, chain, traction control, kit ECU, racing wiring harness, additional cooler
  • Landing gear: Light alloy bridge frame, steering head angle: 65 degrees, caster: 107 mm, wheelbase: 1,440 mm, Showa upside-down fork, inner fork tube diameter: 43 mm, fork interior: Ohlins TTX, Ohlins TTX strut, cast light alloy wheels, 3.50 x 17 /6.00 x 17, front tires: 120/70 ZR 17, rear: 190/55 ZR 17, 330 mm double disc brake with radially attached four-piston fixed calipers at the front, 220 mm disc brake with single-piston floating caliper at the rear, ABS deactivated
  • Max. Rear wheel power *: approx. 195 to 200 hp at 13,000 rpm
  • Max. torque on the rear wheel *: approx. 110 Nm at 11,500 rpm
  • Dimensions and weight: Length / width / height: 2090/740 / 1.145 mm, weight: 175 kg with all liquids, but empty tank

* Manufacturer information

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