Racing into the future?
By TMX Archives on 14th Aug 08
Once upon a time it was said that racing improves the breed. But in these days of hi-tec overkill, is this really still the case?
"RACING improves the breed” – is a maxim that probably goes back to the moment when motorcycles were first raced, which, I imagine, was about five minutes after whoever it was managed to get two machines running at the same time! The term was no doubt coined by the first ever team-manager who obviously had an eye on his future prospects. Going racing was obviously going to cost money – so what better way to justify it than to come-up with a snappy catchline. "Racing improves the breed, boss!”
And, up until relatively recently, I would agree unreservedly. During the first 60 or 70 years in the life of the motorcycle there was indeed a direct correlation between a manufacturer's racing bikes and their road machines, the sales of which allowed the factory to go racing in the first place. The extreme conditions of racing helped develop every aspect of the production motorcycle. Over the years, engines became more powerful yet at the same time more reliable, frames evolved from being something that simply held all the various bits together to being a properly designed engineering structure that actually aided the machine's handling. The Norton ‘featherbed' frame of the early 1950s was probably the single biggest jump in chassis development, from which all else has followed. Suspension, brakes, tyres, hydraulics, electronics – all have improved beyond dreams, thanks in the main to factories' racing programmes.
But does that maxim still hold true in the year 2008? Does racing really improve the breed these days? I'm not convinced...
In recent years, in my humble opinion, we have simply moved into a world of overkill – on all fronts. A MotoGP racing motorcycle can top 220mph these days. What relevance has this in relation to road bikes, which in Britain are restricted to a 70mph limit? Less in many other countries. A 50cc machine can top 70mph.
Take brakes for instance. Carbon discs and associated pads can haul these awesome MotoGP machines down from 200mph to a standstill in seconds - yet would be worse than useless in ‘real world' conditions, suicidal in fact. They only work when red hot – not worth much on a cold, wet day on your commuter bike are they?
In F1 of course, the fantasy is light years ahead of two-wheelers. Yet the sport that spends billions of pounds in an endeavour that attempts nothing less than to get the least miles per gallon from any given engine capacity is forever despertately trying to justify itself. Why? It is a motor sport that exists for its own sake. F1s efforts to make itself look green are laughable. Like the F1 Earth Car. It gobbles juice, resources and plain old cash like it is going out of fashion – just like all the rest of its ilk. But painting a picture of the earth on it makes it green.
F1s latest effort at appearing green involves the use of yet another crappy acronym – KERS. It stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System which is an attempt to recover the energy used during braking. In a recent track test of the system a mechanic was felled by a whacking great electric shock, just by touching the car – but that is by the by. Only those wrapped-up in the unreal world of F1 could dream up something that is of next to zero value in ‘real world' driving for Joe Bloggs. I'll tell you why. An F1 car is designed to do two things: it accelerates, it brakes. Max throttle, max brakes, max throttle, max brakes. End of. So yes, I'll buy the idea that if you can harness all that energy currently ‘lost' during all that fierce braking – and then plug it in when you next want to accelerate – you are on to something. Fine if you are racing a F1 car. Back in the the real world of driving, us millions of ordinary Joes do not spend ANY of our time accelerating at max throttle or max brakes. With the price of fuel currently overtaking the cash we have in our pockets, and liable to stay that way forever, we accelerate as gently as possible and don't brake at all if we can help it. Both waste fuel. With a little forward thinking it is amazing how far you can go without accelerating or braking hard. As millions have recently discovered, the difference in fuel consumption can be incredible. For many people, it can be the difference between driving or not driving.
Meanwhile, I remain open to persuasion that racing continues to improve the breed – so convince me. Hard facts only though guys, no red herrings!