Up Front

UP FRONT

Crossing over

David Edwards

I HATE TO GIVE AWAY A PUNCHLINE, SO let me be obtuse. If you ever run across an innocent-looking man-mid40s, balding, spectacles, a ready smile-with a barely pronounceable name and a big blue sports car, do yourself a favor and wave him by.

Explanation? Okay, I give. Csaba Csere is the Editor-in-Chief of Car and Driver, our corporate cousin in the Hachette-Filipacchi family of magazines. The Dodge Viper GTS is the kind of car we thought Detroit had all but forgotten how to build. Powerful, passionate, politically incorrect. Anyway, shortly after C/D took delivery of its test Viper came the Csaba Challenge, a gauntlet laid down via fax machine. Would Cycle World be interested in a little intra-magazine contest, car versus bike?

We’d done this kind of thing before. In 1994, sister magazine Road & Track (we share the same building in Newport Beach) conducted a 0-100-0-mph shootout, a classic sports-car measuring stick that showcases acceleration and brakes. CW was invited to participate, Road Test Editor Don Canet showing up on a Kawasaki ZX-9R. And we smoked ’em silly. Canet and Kawi went from standing start to 100 mph to panic stop in a mere 11.5 seconds. It took the nextquickest vehicle, a Porsche 911 Turbo, two-tenths of a second longer just to reach 100 mph, never mind the braking.

“You’re on!” proclaimed our reply fax to Csaba.

To duel the Dodge, we procured something equally hairy of chest and bulging of biceps: Yamaha’s new-for’97 YZF1000, Executive Editor Brian Catterson up. And unlike the previous R&T test, we’d run the vehicles on roadrace tracks and in the mountains, as well on the dragstrip-a triumvirate of performance parameters.

You can read about the goings-on in detail starting on page 32, including the Viper’s rather spectacular exit from the proceedings. A quick précis? Well, I’m happy to report that the motorcycle is still the undeniable King of Quick. But the Viper gave better than it got on Angeles Crest Highway and at Willow Springs Raceway. We were surprised; so was Csaba.

“I never expected to win at Willow,” he said. “On Angeles Crest, with fallen boulders, streams of water, sprinklings of gravel and thoughtless tourists potentially waiting around every blind bend to ambush a foolish, flat-out motorcyclist, I was confident that the additional security provided by the Viper’s four wheels would help me turn the quicker time. On the track, however, I expected that the YZFlOOO’s superior acceleration and close genetic relationship to a racing motorcycle would give it the edge. After all, the Viper’s l:33.8-second lap time is twice as far away from the absolute automotive lap record of 1:06.1 (set by Michael Andretti in an Indycar) as the Yamaha’s 1:36.3 is from the motorcycle record of 1:22.74 (set by Chuck Graves on an F-USA GSX-R).

“Besides, Catterson got to wear all of the safety equipment that protects a 500cc GP rider, while I didn’t have a roll cage or five-point belts. But the additional margin of security and confidence provided by the Viper’s four grippy wheels let me ignore the gusty crosswinds and dusty corners that bedeviled Catterson.

“Furthermore, while the YZF reigns supreme in the quarter-mile, when the acceleration continues past 110 mph or so, the Viper begins to assert itself in ever more progressive fashion. When the Yamaha tops out, the Viper still has 23 mph to go. At a fast track like Willow Springs, that high-end surge pays big dividends,” added Csaba.

Not that the visceral appeal of the bike went unappreciated by the car guy, who roadraced a Suzuki well enough to earn a WERA Expert license in 1979.

“The Yamaha is an absolutely marvelous piece of work,” Csaba enthused. “Compared to the GS1000 I used to race, it sets completely new standards in power, cornering clearance and stability. In the automotive world, nothing short of a Formula One powerplant revs with the velvety ferocity of the Yamaha engine. And to combine such five-figure fervor with a smooth idle and flawless midrange tractability is absolutely miraculous.

“I was almost as impressed with the YZF’s chassis. At my admittedly modest pace, I detected no flexing, no wobbling, and vastly more grip and cornering clearance than I could work up the courage to explore. For such a powerful machine, the Yamaha even rode very softly, though I guess the tradeoff for this comfort is sudden and substantial dive when you grab the brakes.

“My only real criticism is with the Yamaha’s riding position. Though Catterson advised me that it’s not extreme by modern standards, the YZF’s pegs seemed higher and the bars lower than I remember on my old Yamaha TD-3 roadracer from 20 years ago. I felt like a cricket perched on a bottle rocket. Perhaps, in time, I would get used to the riding position, but I doubt it. For my money, I would love to have the Yamaha’s engine and chassis in a less-extreme style, even if it meant sacrificing some cornering clearance. Such an offering might actually get me to buy a new bike again,” Csaba stated. “But if I ever need to run for my life in my own personal Vanishing Point act, you can be sure I’ll be piloting something with four wheels.”

Okay, so we got beat by a car. Of course, simply calling the Viper GTS a car is akin to labelling Michelle Pfeiffer merely a woman-clinically correct, yes, but it doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. In fact, the Viper is so far removed from mainstream automobiles that we’ve decided to elevate it to Honorary Motorcycle status.

And what about Csaba? Well, there’s hope for him, too. We’ve learned that a cherry 1979 Honda CBX Six has just taken up residence in the Csere garage. □

For the opposition ’s viewpoint, pick up a copy of December’s Car and Driver, on sale this month.