Sofu's 600
Sofu's 600
Hands-on with the Ten Kate HannSpree Honda
Want Kenan to know Sofuoglu’s the best World part Supersabout port-winning Honda CBR600RR? It’s not something that you can actually put a finger on-a screamer of an engine or silky-smooth suspension, for example. Rather, it’s the overall bike-building expertise of brothers Gerrit and Ronald ten Kate of Netherlands-based Ten Kate Racing.
Not that this Honda’s individual components aren’t special. The three-page build list that Gerrit e-mailed me prior to my brief ride on Sofuoglu’s RR at a 16-turn circuit adjacent to France’s Magny Cours racetrack confirmed that no part had gone untouched, that every facet of every fastener had been improved. This is an exceptional motorcycle. Based on my outing on an Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR at 2007’s final AMA
Supersport round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Ten Kate Honda didn’t strike me as being extraordinarily fast. The engine did, however, rev more freely, a feature accentuated by the light-effort, quarter-turn throttle.
Accelerating down the short, fourthgear straightaway, I barely had time to take note of the narrow clip-ons and the firm seat pad. The position of the shift lever was a touch high, which required slightly more effort on my part to make upshifts using the one-up, five-down, racestyle shift pattern.
Electronics play a big role in modern racebikes, and the Mychron 3 Gold Bike engine-management system brings together many important aspects of the machine, including the quick shifter, traction control and data acquisition. Between the engine, transmission and suspension, there must have been 100 sensors!
Steel Braking rotors and SBS carbon pads slowed the CBR in a hurry-just the way the champ likes it. Sometimes, Sofuoglu runs different pad compounds in the right and left calipers to achieve the desired feel and action-instant response combined with fade-proof durability, for example. According to Gerrit ten Kate, Sofuoglu is very aggressive on the brakes and likes a lot of weight transfer to compress the fork, reducing steering angle and nhancing the bike’s ability to turn more quickly. Unchanged from Sofuoglu’s race-winning performance one day earlier, the WP fork made liberal use of the available travel. Even so, though I braked hard and late for corners, the front end never bottomed. Frantic directional changes to make up for those late-corner entrances were handled effortlessly, a welcome feature in an unfamiliar setting. Soft-carcass Pirelli Diablo Corsas gave every indication of being well-suited to Sofu’s setup.
Ten Kate’s success in World Supersport and Superbike (James Toseland won that title on a Ten Kate CBR1000RR) is due to more than just talented riders or fast, impeccably prepared machinery. It’s a balance of experience, organization and an immense passion for racing. Pretty impressive for what not so long ago was little more than a simple dealer o pe rati o n. -Mark Cernicky
