Aprilia's Fast Future

APRILIA'S FAST FUTURE

APRILIA IS SLOWLY releasing details about the development of its new World Superbike model that should join the fray in 2009: the RSV 1000 V4. The first racetrack tests were privately held at Jerez in southern Spain. No official reports were released, but if the right questions are asked of the right guys, a few indications do surface.

First, the Claudio Lombardidesigned 65-degree V-Four is so compact that it was possible to shoehorn it into a slightly modified Aprilia 250cc GP racer frame. That alone might turn out to be a major strong point of the new Aprilia superbike: It will be very compact and slim when the “real” frame is finished.

The engine has been reported as definitely strong and sounding very healthy, which doesn’t exactly give much of a clue about its potential. But tests were run without any major technical problems, let alone failures. Aprilia CEO Leo Mercanti promises that the bike will not go to the races with less than 210 horsepower. If this turns out to be the case, the bike may be tough to beat, particularly in terms of topspeed potential, given its diminutive frontal area.

While official news from Jerez was measured at zero, Mercanti let himself go a little

farther at the Aprilia dealer meeting held in Milan late last February. The proto type RSV 1000 V4 was unveiled there to stir up enthu siasm and show assembled dealers that Aprilia is very active and determined in the motorcycle department, not just in the scooter market segment. The bike appeared basically in the same condition as it was tested in Jerez, fitted with what looked like a modified RSV 1000 fairing. The real produc tion and racing bikes will take shape much later this year and, although based on the experi ence gathered from these proto type units, should represent a

dramatic departure from ^ the showbike, both in styling and in rolling gear.

The engine will certainly remain in its 65-degree VFour configuration because of its size advantages; Lombardi rates this more important than the ultimate power losses due to the lower mechanical efficiency of an engine that is neither properly balanced in primary nor secondary order. Others, notably Suzuki and Honda, are running oddVee-angle 800cc Fours (65 and 75.5 degrees, respectively) in MotoGP, and the 2007 season results are there to ponder.

Bruno dePrato