Comments for Motorcycles news http://www.moto-newsblog.com Motorcycle blog. Moto GP news, motorcycles of the year, motor racing news. Thu, 24 Aug 2006 04:02:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 Comment on SBK: Official Tests At Valencia And Misano by Suzuki http://www.moto-newsblog.com/?p=39#comment-15 Suzuki Thu, 24 Aug 2006 04:02:40 +0000 http://www.moto-newsblog.com/news/sbk-official-tests-at-valencia-and-misano/39/#comment-15 <strong>Suzuki</strong> The second largest manufacturer is NAFTA with 25.8%, followed by Suzuki

The second largest manufacturer is NAFTA with 25.8%, followed by

]]> Comment on Back To The Future–AMA Style by Sid England http://www.moto-newsblog.com/?p=14#comment-1 Sid England Thu, 02 Mar 2006 01:38:53 +0000 http://www.moto-newsblog.com/news/back-to-the-future-ama-style/14/#comment-1 In 2005, Honda fielded a "Factory" team in FX and as a result, blew the doors off all the privateers. Even though the CBR600RR is sold on the street, I doubt that the factory bike is anything that you or I could build or buy. The Japanese sport bikes are pretty close to being last years GP bikes with lights hung on them. Buell just hasn't gotten around to hanging lights on its XBRR yet and selling a street model. The XBRR is based on the XB12R just as much as the factory Honda is based on the CBR, they just decided to take a short cut and build the bike at the factory and save us the headache of doing it ourselves. In the end, both are race bikes of a similar lineage, having a street bike as a base. FX allows unlimited mods to an aircooled pushrod V-twin which means that no matter what you do to the bike or who does it, it will still be legal. As far as the argument that the XB is not really air cooled, but air/oil cooled, I say hogwash. Many if not most air cooled bikes have oil coolers, including the Buell street bikes. As long as air goes over the cylinders as the only cooling medium, then the engine is air cooled. If I ride my air cooled bike in the rain should It be disqualified because the water in the air makes it water cooled?? Pleeease!! I think the AMA can see this and complaints from Honda are just sour grapes. If Honda can get away with fielding a Quasi-factory bike then why not anyone else? As for Buell's press release about the XBRR being a track only bike, Isn't the CBR based Honda also a track only bike as prepped for FX? After looking at many photos of the XBRR, I would conclude that the frame, basic engine, wheels, etc are nearly identical to those found on an XB street bike and a person with enough ability could duplicate it from an existing XB. There are plenty of places and classes for the factories with unlimited resources and million dollar riders to go racing but few real venues for the privateer on a budget to come in with whatever modified bike he might have and get a fair shot at a win. This is what the "formula" classes attempt to address by creating a class that has a category for everyone. Buell recently sold 50 XBRR's for about $30,000 a copy, I doubt you could get last years winning Honda for that price, much less 50 of them. I would bet that the factories would lose interest in FX if there was a "claimer" provision in the formula that would allow anyone to purchase the winning bike for a preset cap price as there once was in drag racing. Personally, I would rather see the factory teams barred from FX and allow only private and dealer teams, then each year, ammend the rules to attempt to bring the different types of machines to a common performance level. The racing public would be better served. In 2005, Honda fielded a “Factory” team in FX and as a result, blew the doors off all the privateers. Even though the CBR600RR is sold on the street, I doubt that the factory bike is anything that you or I could build or buy. The Japanese sport bikes are pretty close to being last years GP bikes with lights hung on them. Buell just hasn’t gotten around to hanging lights on its XBRR yet and selling a street model. The XBRR is based on the XB12R just as much as the factory Honda is based on the CBR, they just decided to take a short cut and build the bike at the factory and save us the headache of doing it ourselves. In the end, both are race bikes of a similar lineage, having a street bike as a base. FX allows unlimited mods to an aircooled pushrod V-twin which means that no matter what you do to the bike or who does it, it will still be legal. As far as the argument that the XB is not really air cooled, but air/oil cooled, I say hogwash. Many if not most air cooled bikes have oil coolers, including the Buell street bikes. As long as air goes over the cylinders as the only cooling medium, then the engine is air cooled. If I ride my air cooled bike in the rain should It be disqualified because the water in the air makes it water cooled?? Pleeease!! I think the AMA can see this and complaints from Honda are just sour grapes. If Honda can get away with fielding a Quasi-factory bike then why not anyone else? As for Buell’s press release about the XBRR being a track only bike, Isn’t the CBR based Honda also a track only bike as prepped for FX? After looking at many photos of the XBRR, I would conclude that the frame, basic engine, wheels, etc are nearly identical to those found on an XB street bike and a person with enough ability could duplicate it from an existing XB.

There are plenty of places and classes for the factories with unlimited resources and million dollar riders to go racing but few real venues for the privateer on a budget to come in with whatever modified bike he might have and get a fair shot at a win. This is what the “formula” classes attempt to address by creating a class that has a category for everyone. Buell recently sold 50 XBRR’s for about $30,000 a copy, I doubt you could get last years winning Honda for that price, much less 50 of them. I would bet that the factories would lose interest in FX if there was a “claimer” provision in the formula that would allow anyone to purchase the winning bike for a preset cap price as there once was in drag racing.

Personally, I would rather see the factory teams barred from FX and allow only private and dealer teams, then each year, ammend the rules to attempt to bring the different types of machines to a common performance level. The racing public would be better served.

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