- It was a matter of time - we all knew this. We
watched the 750 cc class go bye-bye and the 350 cc class
go too. How long could this 500 cc absolute-extreme-sport
exist with the little support it gets. There is so little
trickle down technology from it that it is not even
expected. The machines are so specific-purpose and built
to perform their given task that there is almost no
reason to have them except to prove to others doing the
same thing that "mine is faster than yours." Then again,
racing has always been a contest of that sort anyway -
those with the need to prove themselves to those they
feel still care. It's a competitive corporate pie eating
contest of the very rich and well endowed that's only
played by those with the most incredible insight toward
the ultimate goal. To survive long enough to capture the
crown. The showroom for the latest, fastest, flashy and
most trendy wares the manufacturers ego can collectively
offer happens to travel at 180 miles per hour. There
should be a place for this trophy to hang beside the wall
inside the corporate dining room. It should have more
value than its weight in metal. Somewhere, somehow, the
specialness of this victory went away. It was turned into
a run of the mill tournament that any manufacturer could
capture if the additional effort was put forth. If a
manufacturer decides they want the championship they
simply rekindle their effort and "buy it."
-
- It goes without saying that the factories can beat
the privateers - if they couldn't, the privateer would
soon be working for the factory. That is how it is done.
Money, the biggest factor in motor sport events is always
the reason the talented rider gives in and goes big time.
Money is what it takes to make these 500 cc machines what
they are. Who has the money to develop them? The
factories. They stand at the front and the back of the
pack holding all the cards. No amount of sponsorship
money can overcome this deficit.
-
- What's funny is that support for racing has always
been in the area of "race it on Sunday - drive it on
Monday, or sell it on Monday." Somer of the fans that
follow Nascar see the cars on the track and believe that
the car in their own driveway that they take to the
office is the same car that is winning the race on TV.
Because it looks like it. Even though the cars are
completely fabricated from the ground up. It doesn't
matter. As "Joe Nascar fan" is standing around the coffee
maker on Monday, he can tell his buddy that a car like
his won the big race last Sunday. What a fool. That's
where the support is! That's where the mentality is!
-
- The motorcycle race enthusiast has always been more
informed than that. Sadly though the manufacturers see
the opportunity to sell
- street bikes in the same manner as the Nascar and
other automobile race series do - race it to sell it. Joe
"wanna-be-a racer" will drop his $10,000 on a show room
copy (4 strokes are what is available) of a bike that
wins on the race track. Even if there is not a single
shared part between the one he bought and the real race
version. Just because it looks right, and more
importantly makes Joe feel good. Unfortunately that's all
that matters. The factories can't sell multi million
dollar five hundred cc two strokes to the masses -
especially these days when bike sales are as low as they
are. The costs are just too high. They can't even make a
street going version that's even in the same ballpark as
the machinery that's out there. At least they haven't
tried for quite some time in the two stroke arena.
otherwise we'd all have one hundred and eighty horsepower
two strokes in our garages and give them hell every
morning on the way to work.
-
- There is no topic more important in recent years than
providing enough machinery to enough teams for
competitive classes to exist.
- Since there seems to be a major problem making this
happen - the shoot thyself in the foot syndrome has
happened. Honda needs not beat Honda. If that's the only
company left on the grid. There's no reason to show up.
The same would be true of any manufacturer. If the big
boys can't decide on a displacement class to race in then
they will not be racing. They can not exist to simply
beat themselves. It seems we have entered a time where if
they build it no one will come. The real king, KR senior
talked about moving to four strokes because he likes the
way the series is promoted. That spells death, if it
didn't spell death enough when he made the move from
Yamaha. Some things are the sign of other things and
this, as time may prove, may have been it. As much as we
all hate to listen to KR Sr. complaining and moaning
about every little thing the fact remains that he is
probably the reason the 500's are still here right now,
and perhaps the actual corner stone we all hate to admit
exists. Who else stands for more - Doohan? With his
multiple championships proving nothing. What a waste of
talent. Just because you can do something doesn't mean it
is in the best interest of the sport or the best interest
of the greatest number of people. What a yawn. What was
needed was the encouragement of other manufactures. One
way to do this is to forget your own personal pile of
accomplishments and lend your talent to a company who
needs riders to over come the short comings of new
experimental machinery.
-
- These days with the 250's being as fast as they are
and the fact that their speeds qualify them for the front
row of the grid at almost
- every 500 cc GP makes one wonder what the purpose of
the 500's is if not to simply display that it can be done
in a 500 cc version.
- Those back straight speeds are impressive aboard the
500's but the 250's have come much further than the 500's
in recent years. Tire technology often being the
separating factor between podium standings. Five hundred
cc technology has come full circle with more power
despite lower power fuels, and power bands as wild as
they were before the engines were "big bang-ed." Yet
still this is boring to the sponsors. One reason this is
true is because it has been done before. No one wants to
see things revert to the way they once were only to be
again where they were at that time - long ago. This is
called negative gain. The people remember - I know I do.
-
- Things may have started to slip a bit when the push
start was abolished - to favor the Yamaha which wouldn't
start. Though they called it a safely issue (perhaps it
was - all those Yamaha's were going to be run into if
they didn't move out of the way)! Rules change in the
face of the people who put up the money. It's always
easier and cheaper to change the rules than it is to
develop or redesign characteristics which are
undesirable. Once again the rules will be changed to
favor what is popular - and in this case it seems what is
popular is what is, to so many of us - boring. Then I can
think of a dozen or so instances similar to this in the
history of GP racing, so that's nothing new to many.
Racing will continue to exist. Racers are those who have
it in their blood - and it's a good thing too because
without that kind of enthusiasm no one would be able to
enjoy the fast art of motorcycle racing - at any level.
It is not the racers who are lacking talent, it is the
factories who are lacking interest in providing
technology to the riders. And perhaps the factories are
also lacking interest in creating new systems to make the
big bikes better. After all why improve a machine that
already dominates the field if given enough attention
to.
-
- I'd rather see a Mamola hold on to a nasty Cagiva by
his thumbnail while its trying to throw him high side, or
a Schwantz drift wide onto the dirt and flat track his
multimillion dollar GP ride than let it go or bail in
order to save corporate (and his own) face. I'd even
rather see Fast Freddie center punch The King to prevent
him from another championship - because the championship
seemed to matter more back then. It wasn't so clean, it
was racing at its best. That was then and this is now -
and now things are much more sterile and antiseptic. When
the cream rises to the top and stays there too long - it
gets moldy and starts to smell foul. We then call it
cheese. Welcome to cheese racing Y2K.
-
- Rick
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