Three-Peat Potential ?
Three-peat Potential ?
Year of the GSX-R
Yoshimura isn't resting after two consecutive titles
RACE TEAMS HATE CHANGE, WHICH IS WHY SUZUKI CAMpaigned the 2000 AMA Superbike Championship with the last-generation GSX-R750. The new bike, winner of every magazine accolade you care to mention, arrived too late for any substantive R&D to be done. Better to race with what you know than flounder with what you don't.
For 2001, though, the old Gixxer has finally been retired. As we went to press, Yoshimura was still in shakedown mode on the new 750 Superbikes that Mat Mladin and teammates Aaron Yates and Jamie Hacking will do battle with this year. The results are more than promising: Mladin (above) turned the quickest lap times on race-compound (non-qualifying) tires in multi-team pre-season testing at Daytona International Speedway.
Yosh’s computer whiz Ammar Bazzaz is happy with the switch from Pi data acquisition to a MoTeC system. With that change comes a larger electronic dashboard that can feed the rider more information, things such as maximum speed in a section, split time for a section and warning messages to alert of problems. Bazzaz looks forward to the additional electronic tuning MoTeC affords as he can access more data from more sensors. He’s also enthused about improved control over the fuel-injection and ignition systems.
“The Suzuki factory has switched from Denso electronics to Mitsubishi this year for the engine-control electronics,” he says. “Now, rather than burning ROM chips, we can take advantage of flash memory to program changes in real time.” Bazzaz operates a six-computer LAN (wireless local area network) for the team's testing. In all, he has the ability to review 70 channels of onboard diagnostics, but focuses on 10 or 12 significant channels. In reality, Bazzaz's ability to understand and combine these channels is significantly more important than the information itself.
The 2001 racers will anive from the Suzuki factory wear ing Keihin fuel-injection throttle bodies, replacing last year's Mikuni units. Redline has been upped from the previous 14,500 rpm, but how much higher no one wanted to divulge.
Race fans will see the new, more svelte tailsection and some obvious chassis differences, but the GSX-R's steering geome try and adjustability will remain the same. The Yosh team will try radially mounted Brembo front brake calipers on Showa forks specifically machined with a more rigid mounting system. Those changes originate from Suzuki Japan-make no mistake, this is a full factory effort.
But the flow of informa tion and technology is a two-way street these days. Team manager Don Sakakura told CWthat Yoshimura hasn't enjoyed this level of factory sup port since the early `80s, and as Yosh proves its technical merits, the facto ry takes advantage of what the Americans are learn ing. Engine-builder Chris Weidl was thrilled when some cylinder porting he pioneered appeared on a factory head two months later: "I never would have believed a factory could respond so quickly. Piston-crown development is really what made this bike come alive-we tried seven different pistons in ’99,” he says.
Suzuki is taking more chances with its engines, spinning them higher, building things lighter. This in turn makes the Yosh crew work harder and Bazzaz tells us that the old habit of running one engine all weekend just won’t work anymore. “We flick in a new engine on Friday night,” he says. The team does an engine swap in “an hour, easy.”
"For 2001, we will be working for improved front-end grip and feedback," Bazzaz said. "I think we understand enough about the rear end now. Plus, the new bike seems to accelerate very, very smoothly, and that's a big help for rear traction."
The final, and possibly most important change, is in personnel. Mladin will be rejoined with Peter Doyle, the crew chief who helped him win the ’92 Australian Superbike championship, and Bazzaz will move to team technical advisor, overseeing Mladin, Yates and Hacking. Bazzaz feels that putting mechanic Reg O’Rourke, Doyle and Mladin together will only strengthen the two-time champ’s chances, and certainly Yosh’s communication with the factory will be further improved by Bazzaz’s position.
The importance of teamwork can’t be overstated, so we’ll leave you with the words of engine man Weidl: “The communication on this team is so good now. Everything is shared and that cooperation is what gets a bike around a racetrack.”
Well, that and Mat Miadin. -Nick Ienatsch
