Da' rules..

I think that's a valid observation. I mean, the GSXR 750 kind of stands
out in this pack of potential runners.

When you compare instead of HP/lb, but instead Bang/$, the 750 is on top
of the pack.

The only folks who will not be running them (most likely) will be
factory satellite teams just trying to make a go of it.

Of course, today we already have a Suzuki cup, SuperStock (albeit with a
lone Honda sitting on top of the podium past 2 races -- bully for him).
And before that, when it was 750 SuperStock, it was pretty much 100% GSXRs.

Also missing from the mix, most interesting, are the BMW 800 twins. They
may simply not have the giddy up to keep up, or BMW doesn't want to play
along with contingency etc. Maybe you just have to strip off too much to
make them raceable and, again, why spend a couple extra $1000 on stuff
you're stripping anyway when there's a perfectly usable GSXR 750 instead.


Of course, DMG has that knob. They can tweak the GSXR to, say, 1hp/3.1
pounds to try and slow them down, or they can say "hey this is what we
want -- parity in racing!" as the factories flee, and Suzuki carries the
day again.

Racers are their own kind of economy, they like the cheapest thing that
wins. For the "professional racer" basically trying to stay in the top
10 to get the $5k check per race (almost $100k per year, not bad work if
you can get it), with a few sponsors to pay for parts, gas, and medical
insurance, they could be happy fighting for 8th all day long.

The lower purse is cheap enough to encourage those in that group to move
up or get out. The top prize is a windfall for any team that happens to
get it. I noticed there was no mention of a championship purse going to
the winner, or top 3, in the series. They get a trophy I guess.

So, I can easily see these folks content to run the GSXR or whatever
else is currently best bang/$ in terms of racing. Perhaps the factories
can pony up extra $$$ for contingency purses in order to try and get
racers to run their bikes that sit out side of the "best race value"
curve. But that only works if the bike is actually competitive.

Some shining star will show up every year, and the riders will flock to
that bike for its perceived or real advantage.

A GSXR 750 FX series, boy, that does sound exciting.

Regards,

Will Hartung

 

Tuning versus squeezing every last pony out of an engine will be key to
winning and the big twins lend themselves to that in spades. They also
will prolly be cheaper to run too...

 

Ya' know, even though I don't see that happening, you may be right, but
we'll see I guess...

 

Right now, in virtually every class, racers spend lots of money on
reducing weight. Under these regs, you'd still want to use lightweight
wheels for handling, but all the other bits like sub-frames could be
stock and steel instead of aluminium. You might see things like clip
ons, radiators, rearsets being built up to a weight instead of down till
they break. Maybe look at it another way, a Ten Kate CBR600 is probably
right on the WSS600 weight limit which would mean they would only be
allowed 120hp. I suspect that's not going to be enough. I was really
working on the basis that brochure dry weights are a lie and this is
about end of race wet weights. Do that with standard road bikes and
virtually every sports bike comes in right around 190-210Kg. So it's not
a huge stretch to say that race bikes could be built in the 180-190Kg
range instead of going to huge efforts to get down to the 160-170Kg
range.

I think it's only in the last year or so that WSS600 and FX have hit a
real 140hp and I think only a few of them have done that. That's with an
aftermarket but restricted cam. It looks like the cam in these regs is
free but must be homologated which ought to make it a bit easier at the
risk of a peakier engine.

Anyway, speculating about what you would race within these rules is fun
but idle. My guess is that this will be a bit like bracket racing. The
need for speed will drive people to get as close as possible to that
140hp limit without going over it. And the easiest way to do that is to
go for a heavier starting point with a bigger engine because then it
costs less.

 

Hey, maybe Honda could get the VFR homologated and the we could
have V-4s in mix of engines too.

Bruce

 

Why; more drafting, more bumping, more intentional running people off
the track, more crashes, more injuries, more rider deaths, more fans,
higher TV ratings, more revenue for DMG, and the end of the
roadracing as a legitimate sport in the U.S.

Of course.

Isn't it obvious?

 

Ah HA!

Now we see the real reason for adding pace cars and rolling starts --
the only practical mechanism to actually complete the race and get past
the turn 1 madness that is SSport today.

When every other race ends up with a wad of bikes being scattered like
bowling pins in turn 1 at the start, they'll immediately bring out the
pace car, catch everyone up, sweep up the track for 3-4 laps, then they
can try again until they get through enough rolling restarts to weed the
pack of enough folks to make the first turn survivable.

Very clever.

Regards,

Will Hartung

 

This could be the best thing to happen for club racing in a long
time. People will have to go to club races to see really fast bikes.