At the Track
AT THE TRACK
To Infineon and beyond...
DON CANET
WITH THE PERFORMANCE of current Open-class sportbikes rivaling that of fully prepped, mega-buck racing Superbikes, nothing short of racetrack testing allows one to assess their strengths. Looking for any excuse to escape the SoCal jungle for a few days, we hit the highway for Infineon Raceway, located an hour north of San Francisco.
While liter-class sportbikes have evolved greatly in recent years, so too has the 2.32-mile, 12-tum Infineon road course, which hosts a round of the AMA Superbike Championship each May. Formerly known as Sears Point, this roller-coaster of a racetrack carved into the base of a small mountain is characterized by breathtaking elevation changes. In years past, the circuit was infamous for its lack of runoff, with dirt embankments and guardrails flanking much of the layout. But today, more than $65 million has gone into moving mountains of earth and giving the entire facility a facelift. While annual NASCAR and NHRA races may butter the bread, the track management includes a number of staffers who display a genuine love of motorcycles. Terry Newby and the Sport Tire Services crew brought a trailer stuffed with sticky Dunlop D208 GP Sportmax radiais for us to burn through. Monday afternoon was spent in the paddock swapping out original-equipment skins for race rubber. When it was discovered that the diameter of the 190/60-series Dunlop rear interfered with the Rl’s swingarm crossbrace (requiring a lengthened chain that we didn’t have), we opted to mount 180/55s on all four bikes. Each of the Japanese manufacturers’ importers provided trackside support in the form of a technician to assist with bike setup.
Securing an exclusive date at Infineon requires a year’s advance notice, so we were fortunate to be the guests of Michael Earnest and Jerr Stewart of Pacific Track Time (www.pacifictracktime.com). Taking part in their well-attended track day, we were able to log more than 200 miles aboard each of the 1000s.
The morning sessions were spent dialing-in the bikes and getting reacquainted with a circuit I’d frequently raced on during the midto late-’80s. Holy Cow! Lap times have plummeted over the years, and the sheer potency of the current 1000s gave me full appreciation for the added elbowroom around the revamped circuit. When the track cleared for the mid-day lunch break, we put new rear tires on each bike and I rode them all in succession to get comparative lap times.
First up was the Yamaha YZF-R1, which feels like an overgrown R6, with the same zippy engine and tippy chassis, but way faster. Comparatively high, wide handlebars, low footpeg placement and supple suspension make the Rl’s chassis the most street-oriented of the lot, but hold the throttle pinned in the upper reaches of the rev range and the top-end rush of power shows why the blue machines dominated the Daytona Superstock final.
While the Rl’s soft midrange and hard-hitting top-end power delivery require the rider to pay attention to gear selection, it’s easy to get on the gas early-especially exiting Infineon’s off-camber Turn 2 or cresting Tum 3a, both areas where the Suzuki and especially the Kawasaki require patience with the throttle. Executive Editor Brian Catterson summed it up best, calling the Rl, “Very reminiscent of a Suzuki GSX-R750-smooth down low and building gradually through the midrange before exploding on top.”
The Rl’s stability rated second only to the Honda in this group, its check-ball steering damper doing a good job of quelling the sharpest bumps remaining under the track’s recently laid asphalt. And if it’s brakes you value mostsomething Infineon places great demand on-the Yamaha’s radial-mount four-pots are worth their weight in gold anodizing. A best lap of 1:41.77 was the quickest we’d seen to that point, setting a worthy mark for the other three bikes to chase.
From our first ride aboard the Kawasaki ZX-10R earlier that morning, it became clear that this bike is a beast! It’s totally dominated by its motor, with an incredible midrange hit that makes you leery of turning the throttle when you’re leaned over near the tire’s edge. Once you do pull the trigger, you’d best hang on because the ZX floats its front wheel out of comers like no other. Of the four bikes here, the Kawi is the only one not equipped with a steering damper, yet would seem to need it the most. But on the plus side, it’s also the only bike in this group with an on-board laptimer-though we didn’t use it, instead relying on the proven Unipro lap-timers we’d installed on all four bikes.
Putting the spurs to the wild-n-wooly 10R at Infineon took all the courage I could muster. Again, Catterson nailed it: “I remember thinking at one point that it would take a Superbike racer like Eric Bostrom to get the most out of this thing-then I remembered he jumped ship to Ducati. Maybe this is the reason why?”
We all agreed the Kawi’s riding position was the best of the bunch in track-attack mode. Its narrow, compact stature allows freer movement to get up over the front in the constant fight against front-tire flight. While the bars never hit the stops, I experienced enough moments of shortened breath and puckered cheeks exiting firstand second-gear comers to be certain the lOR’s best lap of 1:41.46 was all she had in her.
Gearbox woes also hampered the ZX-10R’s showing on the racetrack. Although it never jumped out of gear, it occasionally failed to upshift-not good on a bike that commands 110 percent focus. Looking for an answer to this dilemma, we called a few race-tuners that we knew had experience with this new model, and were told that they suspect the stock shift-linkage arrangement doesn’t offer the optimum leverage ratio. With aftermarket rearsets installed, their riders have experienced no problems.
Nonetheless, with the possibility of missed shifts lingering in the back of our minds, the Kawasaki left us with a feeling that it offers the most unrealized potential of this group. That’s not meant to be a backhanded compliment, but more of a hope that it’s only a steering damper and shift fix away from tme greatness.
Honda’s rock-solid-handling CBR1000RR was the first bike I jumped on in the morning, and there couldn’t have been a better choice. It’s very easy to ride in spite of being wickedly fast, its linear power delivery has no discernable midrange hit, and shifting is crisp with or without the clutch. The CBR boasts very neutral steering, supple suspension and brakes that are strong without being grabby.
And its trick, high-tech HESD rotary steering damper works as well as a traditional telescopic unit on the racetrack.
Despite the CBR’s extra 30 pounds, it never gave us the impression of being heavier than the other bikes. Gearing is shorter than the others as well, which meant it ran into the rev-limiter more frequently and required an extra upshift on the short start/finish straight, as well as a gear-taller comer exit in the hairpins at each end of the circuit.
Maybe because the CBR is a bit thick around the middle, I didn’t find a need to get my body over the front end during comer exits; the RR already feels like it carries the most forward weight bias of the lot. The trade-off here is that rear grip was slightly less plentiful than on the other bikes, resulting in a hint of wheelspin where the others remained hooked up. Even so, the Honda was judged the easiest to ride around the racetrack.
“Making laps on the Double-R is like a tick-tock clock,” remarked Assistant Editor Mark Cernicky. “It’s so precise and predictable, it leaves it up to you whether you want to ride like a cuckoo.”
Never mind what Cernicky says, nutter antics aren’t my style, just clean, hard laps. And after I’d given the Honda my all, the stopwatch displayed a best lap of l:42.44-maybe those extra pounds take a toll, after all.
Old Faithful-that would be Suzuki’s well-established and revered GSX-R1000. Maybe it’s just because we’ve ridden this bike so many times before, but it took no time at all to feel at home on the Gixxer. Which is not to say that you climb aboard and whack open the throttle. As with the ZX-10R, the GSX-R’s engine response is very snappy, and there’s an abundance of power regardless of where the tach needle is pointed. As we’ve stated before, the Suzuki’s light-effort throttle accentuates its response, and gives it a bit of a hair-trigger effect.
If there was one other complaint voiced about the Suzuki, it was lack of initial bite from the front brakes. But who knows? Perhaps that had me carrying more entrance speed, because I certainly didn’t find myself braking any earlier. Another aspect that stood out was the big Gixxer’s tendency to chatter the rear wheel when charging comers while downshifting. A bit of skilled clutch modulation smoothed the situation but diverted attention, and that is something you don’t even give a second thought to when riding the slipper-clutch-equipped Kawasaki.
Even so, treated with respect, the Gixxer simply hammered out laps, showing there was no quicker way around
Infineon on this day. Clocking the top time of 1:40.60 took big stones as the bars wagged in protest, just not as much as did the Kawi’s. Enough can’t be said for the added sense of security the Suzuki’s steering damper provided. I was shaken, not stirred!
The GSX-R coming out on top is a bit surprising, seeing as how it lost to the CBR in our April issue’s MiniShootout. But that test was conducted on different tires, (the stock Bridgestones), at a different track (the Streets of Willow) and with a different rider (Mark Cernicky). Change any of those variables, and the results might have been different this time around, too. Which just goes to show how close these 1000s really are.
In the end, every bike here offers more than enough performance to make you a force to be reckoned with at a track day-just ask any of the club racers whose numbered racebikes were passed by our license plate-wearing stockers at Infineon. But on this day, the stopwatch said the reigning King of the Superbikes wasn’t going to give up his crown without a fight.
ADVANTAGE: SUZUKI
