Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha debut

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Valentino Rossi's Yamaha debut
Kirn

motorcycles

Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha debut

Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha debut
Who dares Wins

Yamaha newcomer Valentino Rossi was almost as fast in his first test on the four-cylinder M1 as he was with the V5 Honda. He still has a good two months until the start of the season in South Africa.

Friedemann Kirn

01/28/2004

For almost three months, fans and journalists had been looking forward to Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha debut, and when the superstar arrived in Malaysia for the long-awaited start of a new era in MotoGP, the wait continued. On Saturday morning, January 24th, 2004, the roller gates of the Yamaha box slid up on time, but for the time being the presentation of a black motorcycle with a makeshift number 46 and some sponsor logos stuck on it. The driver belonging to him demonstrated that a change of brand did not mean that he would associate a change of style with his lifestyle, and arrived at the paddock shortly after ten.
That he was much more rested than all those who had been waiting for him for an hour was confirmed when he got into the saddle. Rossi circled the Sepang circuit with a standing start in 2.16 minutes, then in 2.11, 2.09, 2.07.5 minutes. The dozen Italian journalists at the pit wall nimbly plucked Malaysian ringgit bills out of their pockets and began looking for possible ones
Bet best times of the day.
When the world champion broke the 2.06 mark, the onlookers were banned from the pit lane. So as not to miss anything, they climbed onto the grandstand opposite the Honda box, where they stopped Rossi’s times with wristwatches and cell phones and were amazed when the doctor found the value of 2.03.8 in the late afternoon
Minutes cracked.
After a few hours on the new motorcycle, he was already faster than the Kawasaki drivers Alex Hofmann (2.04.5) and Shinya Nakano (2.04.6) as well as the Suzuki stars John Hopkins (2.03.9) and Kenny Roberts (2.04 , 4), which is the stretch in the
Days earlier with the Honda factory team.
Rossi celebrated the successful debut at the Yamaha M1 with a wheelie along the entire home straight and shook the last remainder of it
that nervousness that made him feel about the
had accompanied over the past few months. “I admit: I was scared,” he said
explained in his first interview of the new year. “I didn’t want to stay with Honda anymore. There I was not treated as a world champion, but like a civil servant. Besides, I had achieved everything
there was to be achieved. Nevertheless, I delayed the decision as long as possible. At some point I was sitting in the restaurant and resolved: You do that now! “
Who dares Wins. While Rossi did the first few hours with modifications
on the handlebars, the seat and the footrests and with
a version of the inline four-cylinder M1 that was essentially a
old Carlos Checa machine, he got serious on the second day-
looking for your own set-up. He has also already tried one of the evolution motors with more torque that Yamaha had prepared for this test.
And the lap times continued to tumble. On the third and final day of the test, Rossi burned a best time of 2.02.75 minutes into the asphalt and was up
his new motorcycle again
shot into the orbit of the world’s elite. He was faster than the Honda riders Nicky Hayden (2.03.2), Colin Edwards (2.03.3) and Makoto Tamada (2.03.5) and only just under Max Biaggi (2.02.58)
and Sete Gibernau (2.02,7) as well as his
own unofficial lap record in Grand Prix training last year
October (2.02.48) removed. “That would have
i didn’t expect. Even now the motorcycle drives more or less like a Honda. I enjoy accelerating, ”Valentino beamed, although he made clear differences.
One of them is the many electronics
on the Yamaha ?? in engine management as well as in the cockpit, which sparkles like in the disco. “There are loads of luxurious displays like the time interval between two laps. I need
just revs and lap times, ”the Italian explained. A second is driving behavior. So is the Yamaha difficult to steer with the rear wheel? the motorcycle has traction when accelerating out of the curve, as if it were latched into rails like a roller coaster. And if the driver is particularly brutal
turns on the gas, the machine does not turn gently sideways, but rather
starts wildly with the rear end too
swerve. “The Yamaha produces
no slides, ”Rossi stated succinctly. “Controlled slides are not just fun, they are also a wonderful way of achieving fast lap times even when the tires are wearing out.
We have to work on that. ”
According to chief engineer Jerry Burgess, the key to this lies less in chassis modifications than in the current one
Engine characteristics. There is a third distinctive difference. »The engine does not kick in suddenly, the performance characteristics are surprisingly even. But compared to the Honda it lacks power. I can’t say exactly how much because I don’t know
once exactly what the Honda does?
I tried to ask a couple of times, but only got a shrug in response, ”Rossi chatted. »Especially in the last 500 revolutions to the maximum speed of 16500 tours
in fourth, fifth and sixth gear the Yamaha feels comparatively weak. That was an area that was always available at Honda and was a real help in many situations. “
The poorer power delivery turned out to be a shortcoming of all Honda challengers, possibly with the exception of Ducati. Suguru Kanazawa, president, had already made the full 245 hp of last year’s RC 211 V untouchable
of the Honda Racing Corporation, threatened last fall with a dormant potential of another 15 percent, from which a whopping, dizzying 280 horsepower can be calculated. Part of the
possible extra horse left Honda
in Malaysia for a trial run, whereupon Tohru Ukawa, demoted to test driver, at 318 km / h at the
Light barrier flashed past. Five km / h faster than Max Biaggi, eight km / h faster than Sete Gibernau and around 13 km / h faster than Nakano’s Kawasaki. Suzuki even lagged behind by up to 19 km / h. Incidentally, Yamaha knew exactly about all lap times and top speed values ​​??
As a precaution, they kept the top speed of their own four-stroke racers to themselves .
“Additional performance is not always rewarded with better lap times,” played Masao Furusawa, general manager of Yamaha’s Technology Development Division, to which the MotoGP group with around 80 engineers reports, the arms race. “Even now
In the MotoGP class there is a power-to-weight ratio of less than one kilogram that is hardly manageable
per horsepower. That’s why it’s coming in the future
more on the performance characteristics, pulling power and responsiveness. “
In order to improve this area in particular, Yamaha already had four different engine variants in Malaysia
in the luggage, including a “Big Bang” version with a tight firing order and four-valve heads. The prototype could not be used as desired because the new Magneti-
Marelli injection technology on a mystery-
rious way with the electronics developed by Yamaha to mitigate
the engine braking effect got in the way. The experimental departure from the gas exchange with five valves per cylinder, which had previously been the non plus ultra, was nevertheless spectacular: It proves that Yamaha is ready to cut off old braids if it serves the sporting success with the new megastar.
Rossi’s otherwise rather reserved chief technician Jerry Burgess was in a good mood. “We
don’t want us in the races
stop monumental development tasks. Our goal is to have a motorcycle in the remaining two and a half months until the start of the season in South Africa
to build with the Valentino good
Can compete with a conscience, ”said the Australian. “The engineers need
Just listen to Valentino and nothing can go wrong. He inoculates his
Environment self-confidence. Everyone sees Valentino marching ahead and is infected by it. “
According to Burgess, a very promising package of new parts can be expected for the next test two weeks after the debut. “We are
Happy now, and Valentino will be even happier at the next test. So happy that he won’t stop laughing! ??

The most spectacular transfers

Geoff Duke 1953 The double world champion 350/500 of 1951 got another one in 1952
350 title on Norton, but the half-liter world championship had to go to Gilera works driver Masetti
left. Not just an accident, but also the superiority of the Italian four-cylinder
the British singles were the reason why Duke 1953 to the annoyance of his British fans
switched to Gilera. Did Duke do the hat trick with the Italian bikes ?? the 500 World Championship titles in 1953, 1954 and 1955.
Mike Hailwood 1966 Four times in a row from 1962 to 1965 “Mike the Bike” had conquered the crown of the premier class on MV Agusta and was then lured by Honda, where after successes in all other classes they had waited in vain for the breakthrough in the 500s. Hailwood won the 250 and 350 titles for the Japanese in 1966 and 1967, but left it at eight individual wins on the 500. In 1968 Honda got out and made Hailwood a spectator
?? the contract sum was paid out, but the Briton was not allowed to compete on any other machine.
Giacomo Agostini 1974 At the end of nine triumphant years with six 350 and seven 500 titles on MV Agusta, Giacomo Agostini was defeated by his young teammate Phil Read in 1973 and reacted to the shame with a change from the Italian four-stroke to the two-stroke from Yamaha. In 1974 he won the 350 title there, and in 1975 he crowned his career with the 500 World Cup. Ago later returned to
MV back, but the four-stroke era in GP racing was over for the time being.
Marco Lucchinelli 1982 For three devastating years, from 1979 to 1981, Honda was with
the four-stroke faulty construction NR 500 was embarrassed in Grand-Prix-Sport, whereupon 1982 got a sense of it and the three-cylinder two-stroke NS 500
presented. Marco Lucchinelli, reigning world champion on Suzuki, was paid for the seemingly outrageous fee of one million dollars at the time
pulled on board, but failed to prove his abilities: Five fifth places and an eighth place overall were the meager result for Honda, Suzuki once again provided the world champion with Franco Uncini. It wasn’t until 1983 that Honda made the breakthrough
?? with Freddie Spencer.
Eddie Lawson 1989 In six years with Yamaha, “Steady Eddie” won the 500cc title three times, in 1984, 1986 and 1988, but was tired of his self-assured team boss Giacomo Agostini. In 1989 he climbed a Honda, became world champion again in Erv Kanemoto’s team and remained a vagabond for the rest of his career: in 1990 he returned to Yamaha with Kenny Roberts as team principal and missed the title after an accident caused by an unsecured brake pad through no fault of his own. At the end of his career, Lawson set another bang and went to Cagiva.
Valentino Rossi joined GP sport in 2004 in 1996, the child prodigy set out for a breathtaking march: 125cc world champion in 1997, 250cc world champion in 1999, champion of
Half-liter two-stroke class 2001 and in the last
For two years he was the sovereign ruler of the reformed upper level with 990 cc four-stroke engines. because
After a total of 33 race wins on Honda in the MotoGP premier class, there was nothing left that
best rider on the best motorcycle could have proven that the 24-year-old urgently needed a new challenge? and opened a new, exciting chapter in GP history with his autograph under a Yamaha contract.

Who will be world champion?

Will Valentino Rossi boss stay in the ring? Will Max Biaggi finally get his title chance, or will Loris Capirossi even cross the finish line on the Ducati as the winner of the 2004 season? The race in the premier class seems more open than ever. You too, dear readers, can win: if you use your personal
Type your favorite MotoGP World Champion, write it on a postcard and send it to the MOTORRAD editorial team by February 16, 2004, password MotoGP World Champion, 70162 Stuttgart. With all the correct tips, a replica of the agv Rossi helmet (photo) worth 469 euros will be raffled off at the end of the season.

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