Mission Mile
MISSION MILE
MV's F4 Tamburini takes on the world's most wanted supercars
MY HEART RACED AS I TORE open the mission dossier hand-delivered by ace pilot Don Canet, injured during prior maneuvers and unable to take the assignment. Marked URGENT in bright red letters, the file read: Report to your MV Agusta F4 1000 Tamburini, which stands at the ready at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Saturday at 0600 hours. Your objective: Take on the fastest foreign and domestic four-wheelers on the planet in an all-out 1-mile acceleration contest from a standing<\ start. Their mission: Seek and destroy the uncommon denominator, the lone motorcycle in this test.
NAS Lemoore is located in Central California’s San Joaquin Valley, 234 feet above sea-level, its 13,500-foot runways-chosen by our sister publication Road & 7racÆ-perfect for the task at hand. In fact, the rubber-streaked runway is so long that it’s one of several of the Space Shuttle’s alternative landing sites in case of inclement weather.
The extra real estate was definitely needed because among my four-wheeled opposition were several cars that would surelyjurpass 200 mph. Among the assembled were stock supercars, a ground-pounding raft of tuner cars and a trio of Pontiac-Riley Mk. IX a Trans-Am Jaguar XKR and a Lola Ford-Cosworth Champ Car. With a low coefficient of drag and (way) in excess of 500 horsepower, some cars were going to be exceptionally fast at the mile-marker (for the full story, see “Thunder Road,” R&T, September, 2005).
The first half of a run, then, would be where I’d have to shine to avoid tarnishing MV Agusta’s storied racing pedigree, which includes 37 world roadracing championships.
After experimentation, the launch method of choice was to lurch the MV away from the line, re-pull the clutch to raise the revs, then slip the clutch to full engagement as quickly as possible without wheelying the short-wheelbase, 155-hp beast. It worked, bettering all the door-slammers from 0 to 60 mph except the 800-horsepower Rocketsports Lola, which I tied with a time of 3.1 seconds. The same race car’s 0-100-mph time of 5.3 seconds was the only one to beat the MV’s 5.7-second showing. No surprise that the $750,000 Lola was the only car with a more efficient power-to-weight ratio than the motorcycle. From 0 to 150 mph, the MV hung tough with a 12.1-second clocking, third behind the Lola and a 1000-hp (!) Hennessy twin-turbo Dodge Viper.
The $ 184,000 Hennessy stomped all comers at the milemarker, recording a 210.2-mph speed. Early expectations for the MV were 190 mph, but running into a 10-mph headwind and with a much dirtier cD than the hunkered-down, aerodammed autos, the bike could do no better than ninth fastest at 174.7 mph. But it got there quickly, posting the fourth-quickest 1 -mile time of 26.8 seconds. The Champ Car was quickest, stopping the clocks in 24.2 clicks.
With the exception of me grabbing for seven of six speeds on my first run, the F4 had no problems whatsoever, performing as awesome as it looks. Over the course of five runs, I softened the rear suspension to soak up the runway’s expansion joints, and lowered the front end by sliding the fork tubes up 5mm in the triple-clamps. To reduce rolling resistance, I also raised tire pressure to 42 psi in the rear and 36 in the front.
Set up thusly, the MV did itself proud, notching secondquickest in the quarter-mile (10.4 seconds at 141.6 mph) and at the half-mile point, third-quickest at three-quarters and, as noted, fourth-quickest at the mile, beat to the line only by limited-edition racer/specials totaling $1.5 million. Sorry, car guys, but with a price tag some $332,000 less than the fifth-place finisher, the world’s most expensive production sportbike is nothing less than a screamin’ deal on wheels. My apologies.
Mark Cernicky
