Superbike Evolution

Race Watch

MAZDA RACEWAY TOM SYKES EVO RULES

THE VIEW FROM INSIDE THE PADDOCK

SUPERBIKE EVOLUTION

WORLD SUPERBIKE

Dorna wants lots of entries and close, exciting competition. What’s wrong with that?

Kevin Cameron

Big changes are coming to the Superbike World Championship next year, a transition from nearly full-race machines based on production bikes to a controlled-cost class, closer to stock, and more similar to British Superbike or Super-stock. Twelve of these new "EVO" bikes have been added to grids this year to restore full starting fields.

On the one hand, this is a business decision. From 60odd entries per race 25 years ago, SBK has dwindled to just a few factory or otherwise well-funded teams. Extend this line of decrease and you can predict when it goes to zero. To prevent this, you limit the class to a technology level that many more teams can afford.

On the other hand, I and so many others were originally attracted to racing because of the fascination of building the fastest motorcycle you knew how. We labored over engines, chassis, and suspensions, and we celebrated advances, such as failure-free titanium connecting rods, valve springs made from fatigue-resisting vacuumremelted steels, and light magnesium wheels. There was a lasting, powerful excitement in transforming ideas into parts and parts into quicker lap times. When we weren’t at the track, we were at the mill, lathe, or grinder bench. It was an intense life.

The new EVO rules have turned out not to be as repressive as I had feared. For a number of years, SBK was guided by American Steve Whitelock, a man with vast experience of bike racing at all levels. His policy was to seek a level grid by “giving ’em what they need.” He saw that pure stock racing would always be won by whichever manufacturer had most recently released a new model because that model would have advanced features. Therefore, other teams must be allowed to modify their equipment in order to keep up. When Honda’s CBR1000RR lacked ride-by-wire throttle, Whitelock allowed its team to add the feature.

Some others saw this as approved cheating. When Dorna’s parent company bought the series, this group sought a rigid rules structure that would somehow guarantee level competition without need for Whitelock’s judgments, which they saw as subjective. When former racer Paul Smart’s son, Scott, replaced Whitelock as tech inspector, the rigid rules group was sure its day had come.

Not so fast! As it has turned out, much of the Whitelock program has been sensibly continued; any team whose basis model lacks ride-by-wire can now adopt it to a ceiling price of 2,500 euros (from 2017, this feature will have to be stock on the homologated model). Camshafts and their timings are free but must remain in their original positions (no change to valve size or angle). Connecting rods maybe replaced by others of the same material and original or greater weight. This rule is realistic, as stock rods—and especially their bigend cap bolts—have not been reliable at racing rpm. The cylinder head may be modified to increase gas flow but must begin as a finished stock part, not a “raw casting.” (We all remember the argument that, “Sure, it’s stock. We took the stock part, melted it down, and poured it into our mold.”) Combustion chambers can be modified and compression ratio is free, but pistons must be stock—no mods and no oversizes.

The swingarm pivot position— so important in preventing squat-and-push—may be moved radially by 5mm even if the basis model does not provide a movable pivot. The swingarm itself may be replaced. Only aluminum 17-inch wheels of 3.5-inch front and 6.0-inch rear widths may be used (forged-magnesium racing wheels are super expensive because most of each forging becomes chips in machining!).

Only one set of gear ratios may be used (including the primary ratio), declared in advance. This makes it unnecessary for teams to (1) have cassette gearboxes, or (2) carry five alternate ratios for every gear.

Many parts, such as brakes and suspension, must be chosen from approved lists. Yes, this reminds us of AMA Pro Racing’s odious attempts to make parts approval into a “revenue stream,” but if only three SBK teams can afford the latest MotoGP-style through-rod fork, the difference is not racing; it’s just money. So setting limits makes sense.

You get the idea. The sophisticated but expensive techniques used in MotoGP— automated upand downshifting and combustion optimization by CNC matching of piston and head shapes—are not to creep into this production-based class, where they would have the effect of kicking the have-nots off the podium.

“ IF ONLY THREESBK TEAMS CAN AFFORD THE LATEST MOTOGPSTYLE THROUGH-ROD FORK, THE DIFFERENCE IS NOT RACING; IT’S JUST MONEY. SO SETTING LIMITS MAKES SENSE.”

Everyone has admired the success of British Superbike, which has attracted full grids and provided the frequent and close competition that has again given British riders access to the highest levels of international racing. That experience, plus the success of the Spanish CEV series, has provided much of the basis for the coming EVO World Superbike. The goal is lots of entries and close, exciting competition.

Fundamentalists want to “rip out all the electronics” and go back to “real man-to-man battles.” We can to an extent sympathize with their views because, 60 years ago, racing was just one man, one cylinder, a Lucas magneto, and an Amal carburetor. But racebikes have become more than four times more powerful since then. The reason the US Navy equips carrier jets with approach and landing electronics is that they can’t afford to lose any of their highly trained pilots. The same is now true in motorcycle roadracing; highly tuned engines hit hard, and high-grip tires let go without much warning. The higher and sharper the point on which riders must balance, the more control authority they need. Not only are motorcycle electronics here to stay on production bikes, but in racing, they help keep the ambulances parked.

Yes, the hated intake restrictors are written into EVO, to be applied under closely specified circumstances to restore competitiveness. This is the Big Stick, for use in extreme cases. Whitelock would learn through his agents that a certain team was preparing to introduce a particular modification. Knowing it would give a big advantage, he would drop into their box and say, “Okay, boys, you should know that Kawasaki is planning to protest your use of Y if you introduce X, so you might just want to cool it.” The threat of restrictors will have a similar effect, of tempering any rush to introduce equipment that could trigger their use.

There is no steady state in human affairs. Technology moves from simple to complex. Left to itself, any part or system is quickly driven to such high cost that few can afford it. I paid a few hundred dollars for a custom racing chassis in 1972, but today a Moto2 team pays 400 times more. That is a rise 67 times greater than inflation. Total nonsense!

Such prices have nothing to do with good racing. Yet technology in handcuffs is sad. Who wants to see splendid racing machines reduced to the status of bowling shoes? But the idea of SBK, BSB, CEV, and (one day) AMA Pro SuperBike, working toward a common set of rules is very attractive. More US riders in Europe and Europeans back on the grid at Daytona? You bet. I’ll just have to get used to it.