FOUR-BAGGER!
RACH WATCH
Scott Russell hits another homer at the Daytona 200
KEVIN CAMERON
SCOTT RUSSELL'S TALENT IS FORmidable—and portable. After three Daytona wins on Kawasakis and a close second last year on a Suzuki, he came back on a Yamaha to dominate this year’s 200 for a record four wins.
Yamaha itself was equally impressive, affirming its place in motorcycle sport. They brought in Big Race Boss Toshimitsu Io, the Belgarda Yamaha World Superbike Team, and ranks and rows of blue-and-white-shirted technicians. Their bikes took first, third and fifth in this toughest of all races, making Yamaha the all-time top Daytona 200 winner with 17 victories, one more than Harley-Davidson.
Although Russell was only sixthfastest after the first practice, Yamaha’s strength showed, as the bikes were holding their line outstandingly well in corners. Colin Edwards, Russell’s WSB teammate, topped early qualifying with a 1:49.274 lap time. Then, in the afternoon, Russell blasted the lap record with a 1:48.999. Doug Chandler, with a 1:49.409, was third-fastest qualifier.
Kawasaki team boss Rob Muzzy said, “We now finally have more power than we had with the old (1995) engine.” Kawasaki, proven masters of combustion-chamber design, had labored to solve the combustion problems of the shorter-stroke engine. No solution came during 1996 and, while Chandler did win the U.S. Superbike title, the World Superbike team lacked competitive power. Daytona qualifying showed Kawasaki power, and two keys to this were offered: First, the engines have a noticeably rougher idle; second, they pop and bang more than before on deceleration. Both suggest increased valve overlap and some tradeoff between power and range. These bikes sported single-sided RAM castmagnesium swingarms. Muzzy replied offhandedly that tire-changing was faster this way and the team likely would keep the arms on even after Daytona. Does this casualness cover handling advantages?
Yamaha’s Io remarked, “When your engine (design) is 10 years old, you must concentrate on handling.” But in today’s racing, even with “only” 150 horsepower, you must concentrate on handling anyway. Long ago, when Yamaha introduced the OW-01 750 Superbike, its rear suspension had a two-slope curve-softer at first, then firmer. This was a legacy of Yamaha’s > historic concentration on Daytona, where a rising suspension rate maintains ride height on the 33-degree banking. It didn’t work elsewhere, for the trend of design has been a return to smooth, constant-rate rear suspension. Freelance suspension consultant Dale Rathwell helped in 1991 with a new suspension linkage, but as in life itself, solving one problem merely reveals others. As chassis were made stiffer, small-bump response deteriorated, eventually creating a continuing crisis that all makers now face. Stiff chassis are stable and can handle improving tire grip. But when leaned over in a turn, high rigidity passes small-bump impacts on to the suspension, which for more than one reason cannot handle them. This harshness makes it hard to hook up except on the smoothest surfaces.
A “degressive” rear suspension curve-one that gets softer as the suspension compresses-helped. This softness absorbs small bumps, boosting grip on rough surfaces. Another piece of the answer was to soften the chassis elsewhere. In 1995, stiffening plates atop the chassis beams were deleted. In 1996 they were back again, with flex provided by use of a smaller, 42mm fork (you can see this same trend at work in motocross). And now, in 1997, comes an all-new set-up.
Seeing U. S. Yamaha’s Tom Kipp walking across the garage area, I complimented him on the team bikes’ line-holding. “That’s a very good observation,” he replied. “Because of some new suspension components, we are able to keep the back end up high enough that the bike doesn’t squat now, when you accelerate out of turns.”
Those new suspension components must include a linear or slightly progressive rear suspension link. The drawback of the degressive link was that, to work, the rear suspension had to sink into the soft region. This is squat, which unloads the front wheel enough to make it push, slowing the rider’s drive off the turn. What I was seeing in the East Horseshoe was the result of all this development and testing: The 1997 bikes hold line.
Is there a crisis in suspension and chassis design, as I suggest? Or are correct settings just hard to find?
I asked long, tall Mats Larsson, Öhlins’ suspension development engineer, who replied, “Five different factories-five different answers. Which theory does that prove? No theory.” Larsson is careful and conservative, not leaping on bandwagons.
Öhlins is not the only suspension outfit in Superbike racing. Showa’s parts are praised by all as being the best engineered and most precisely made in the business. But many teams with Showa connections have sought freedom to test other suspensions, suggesting dissatisfaction with how all those beautiful parts work. Last year, when Suzuki came oh-so-close to winning the 200 with Russell, its team was free to use any suspension. They chose Kayaba. Suzuki’s Masayuki Itoh, characterized by insiders as “very much a company man,” is now under strict orders to use only Showa suspension and Tokico brakes. As a result, little black clouds of ill-feeling hovered over Suzuki team members, and their Japanese staff all looked like Yoichi Oguma (Honda’s notoriously grumpy former race boss) on a bad day.
The Suzukis made plenty of power, but were just that much behind on the suspension-setup learning curve. Every little advantage counts, Mr. Itoh. Like Kawasaki, Suzuki now has a gear cam-drive kit.
Harley-Davidson’s VR1000 60-degree V-Twin soldiers on. Race chief Steve Scheibe described gains in three areas: reduced friction, combustion and mechanical reliability. A new, lighter, two-ring piston cut friction loss, while a more open combustion space improved efficiency in that area. A gear-driven intermediate shaft now allows shorter cam chains that have banished chronic tensioner problems. The higher you tune an engine, the more its power narrows, so a new six-speed gearbox takes the place of the original five-speed. The riders say it shifts really well. Chris Carr’s bike sounded great and looked fast past start-finish, but in the race a sensor failure gave it a bad case of the da-dit-da-dahs.
Eraldo Ferracci had the only big Ducati team. Vance & Hines wasn’t
ready yet, and there was no “Bologna presence” as last year. Ferracci’s big achievement may be his new association with the fashion house Donna Karan (DKNY MEN). We’re delighted that motorcycles are cool as seen from a New York City mainstream management viewpoint. Kudos to Ferracci, kudos to DKNY.
Early Ducatis were fragile because higher rpm and bigger pistons cracked the crankcase main-bearing bosses. Then, it was the 851-sized cylinder stud pattern, forcing a stroke increase
from 64 to 66mm, to let displacement grow without dangerous thinning of the cylinder liners. In 1996, big blow-ups became routine. Now, the crankcase has been redesigned with wider-spaced cylinder studs, permitting a return to safe liner thickness. But Japanese horsepower is gradually forcing Ducati into unreliability.
Why no faster in practice and race? Mat Mladin, the Phoenix winner and a talented, motivated rider, qualified only ninth, and the top Ducati finished 18th. Ferracci said they were >
behind in handling setup. To save engines from riders’ attempts to compensate by holding lower gears to 12,500 rpm, he de-tuned the engines “with the chip.” Is this the whole story? A problem with the latest engines? Ferracci’s desire to finish? Mladin was in early for a tire, then for an “oil leak.” On lap 25, I saw the crew coiling hoses and cables, and Ferracci himself took off his gloves.
In the bigger picture, Ducatis were once perceived as privateer mounts, and made up nearly 20 percent of the Daytona starting field. Now, that number has fallen to 7 percent, and they are seen as costly exotics, fast only with hard-to-obtain factory connections.
Honda RC45s were strong in early -season WSB tests. Each intake stack now has two smaller injectors. Presumably, one operates alone until en-
gine demand requires both. This allows more accurate metering in the critical early acceleration range. Superbike and F-l engineers agree that power improvements now come not from traditional soup-up techniques like increased airflow, but from friction reduction. Street engines may lose 15 percent to friction, but at racing rpm, losses are heavy. Accordingly, piston skirts have all but disappeared, and wristpins have dwindled, with wristpin bosses now just little stalactites under the piston domes. Crankshaft bearings have been downsized in diameter (width is less important) and, wherever possible, reduced in number.
Smaller bearings cut friction, but work harder. Efficiency is highest at the instant before complete failure. Normally, oil is fed to main bearings, then flows around their grooved upper shells into the crank through drillings to the rod bearings nearby. Unfortunately, this scheme delivers oil intermittently, only when the end of a drilling happens to be in the grooved shell. The bearing survives if enough oil is then shot in to keep the surfaces apart until the next refill opportunity.
Honda engineers switched to continuous oil feed to both crank ends. This way, oil pressure no longer fights centrifugal force to enter the oilways, and flow is not dependent on lineup with an upper bearing shell groove.
Further, end feed eliminates grooved shells, which itself boosts bearing capacity. All this refinement-borrowed from the historic Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine-has allowed Honda to safely downsize bearings yet again, setting free extra power. Subtle stuff.
Miguel Duhamel won this race last year from an undistinguished qualifying position. Honda team manager Gary Mathers noted, “If a rider can survive the first 40 miles of madness, and has a capable bike, he has a good chance to win.” The ’97 bike was
fast-Duhamel ran with Russell at the end, a lap down. But racing handed him tire trouble instead of a shot at a third win.
Tire anxiety was moderate this year. During practice in ’96, it was twolaps-and-new-gumballs, but now riders stayed out longer. Tire men looked like they were sleeping at night, save for Dunlop’s haunted David Watkins, who carried the world upon his shoulders. Michelin had a “Three Compound” tire-soft rubber was used high on the left shoulder and over much of the right-hand (cold) side, with highdurability stuff in a wide band between. Despite all human cleverness, tires remain mysterious. For one rider, a tire runs cool and practically forever. For another with a different style,
it overheats and begins to shed itself in the distressing process called
“chunking.” Understanding tires is part of what it takes to win Daytona. As Edwards said of Russell, “I tried (to run Scott’s pace) and blew a tire in 15 laps. Apparently, he hit the setup right.”
At the start, Russell was away first, with Edwards and Chandler following. But for two early laps led by Edwards
and one by Chandler, it was Russell, flag to Bag. While others made unscheduled tire stops, all was gold for Russell. By lap 13, he was able to hide in traffic, leaving lappers to obstruct his pursuers. Both Edwards and Chandler acknowledged that Russell had the combo-either of them could have gone faster, each knew his tires wouldn’t tolerate it. Russell slowly eased away to a 13-second lead by lap 20, when he pitted for two tires and fuel. Chandler’s Muzzy crew upheld
its reputation for immaculate pitwork, but Chandler needed more than this. On lap 46, Duhamel, slowed by extra tire stops, was finally lapped.
The terminal drama began on lap 51 when a privateer’s big oil spill and subsequent crash brought out the pace car. Russell’s 22.5-second lead evaporated as the bikes bunched up. When the track went green two laps from the end, Russell was confronted with Duhamel, still a lap down, but in his face as he was a year ago. Russell responded with a hectic lap, sliding, barely saving it, then drafting past to win not only in fact, but on the road.
The final order was Russell, first for the fourth time, Chandler, 4.5 seconds down, then Edwards, Honda’s Steve Crevier, Kipp and Pascal Picotte on the top-finishing Suzuki, all on the lead lap. A lap down, Duhamel was seventh, followed by Aaron Yates (Suz), Larry Pegram (Suz) and top privateer Paul Harrell (Attack Yamaha).
Mix infinite detail and preparation, luck and human drama, and you have the Daytona 200. □
