Roberts' Four-Stroke Ready To Rumble?
ROBERTS' FOUR-STROKE READY TO RUMBLE?
A man is entitled to change his mind. After saying his Proton-backed MotoGP team lacked the resources to build a tour-stroke, three-time 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts has found a way His 45-person GP Motorsports, which is located near Banhury in England's "Formula One district," recently witnessed the first start-up of its new 60-degree 990cc V-Five.
What has changed? Surely, it was the experience gleaned this past season, which showed that expensive F-1-style high-tech is unnecessary. Races are still won off the corners by good handling and smooth power delivery.
“This engine has a balance shaft,” Roberts admitted. “It’s a little different configuration from the Honda RC211V, a simpler package that we can move around in the chassis. The next hurrah for us is to make it handle the way we want. Then, we’ll have to race it for six months to know what needs doing next.”
Initial design needs include flexibility, so the engine can evolve in whatever direction experience dictates.
“There’s nothing outside the normal motorcycle arena,” he continued, implying that the new design has a “normal” 1.6:1 motorcycle bore/stroke ratio, rather than the extremely oversquare 2.25:1 ratio of F-1 engines. “The bottom line is to learn how to get a lOOOcc motorcycle around the racetrack. We want to make a nice little sewing machine that you can ride.”
Roberts considered building a Triple, but rejected the expense of seeking power within a lighter weight, which was the big problem with the previous two-stroke Triple. With five cylinders, 220 horsepower is easy. TeamKR can concentrate on real race-winning issues.
How will the team compete with Honda’s testing department? “We’re going to keep up with better people,” answered Roberts, “not more people.”
Top man is F-1 legend John Barnard, whose task is basic engineering. “He asks good questions,” Kenny remarked. Questions need to be asked, because so much of motorcycle design remains traditional, unquestioned.
Behind Roberts is “a real disciplined work force.” In their well-equipped shop, the growing staff can make almost everything they need.
“We won’t make Yamaha’s mistake,” Roberts noted. In the YZR-M1’s first season, every part was a prototype, and no two were alike. “John will see to it that we have nice pieces,” Roberts added, “and enough of them.” -Kevin Cameron
