A Monster test day!
By TMX Archives on 2nd Jan 09
THE 2008 MX1 world championship was a long, hard one. But with the most successful race team of recent years behind him the odds were in favour of yet another Rinaldi team rider taking the title. But just how many people put their money on the number 19 plate of David Philippaerts? Broken ribs and a thumb didn't stop the Italian coming away with the red number one plate after his home GP at Faenza. Fast forward a couple of weeks to a not quite so sunny Donington Park post-MX of Nations and Jon Pearson caught up with the Yamaha Monster motocross team, the new world champion and bagged a go on his title-winning bike.
FACTORY race bikes are always special. You can't fail to be a little nervous of the chance to take one out on track. Anyone can throw a leg over one, fire it up and nip out from under the easy-up awning out onto the track. But when the couple of blokes standing under the awning out of the British autumn drizzle, watching you nip off on their treasured machine include the newly crowned MX1 world champ David Philippaerts, you'd have to be stupid not to feel at least a bit of pressure!
The reality comes about two laps later. GP tracks take some learning whatever your level but after a while you stop rolling off the throttle, begin to start making the jumps, completing the doubles and firing through the corners. After two laps, in a bid to 'show them what's what' I fire the Rinaldi team-built YZ450 out of a high berm, glide smoothly over an admittedly short double right in front of the easy-up, land, remember the track has been cut short for this test, miss the turn by a mile, ride through a ploughed-up bit of track and straight into the fence!
I'll excuse myself by saying it was the bike's fault. The Yamaha YZ450F which took Philippaerts to his first world title took me by surprise, not because I couldn't look ahead and work the front brake, but because it so quickly filled me with confidence I couldn't help myself. The truth is GP race bikes are often too harsh and by their nature (and the nature of the rider) have a suspension set-up I don't have the corner speed or attack on the jumps to cope with. In short they feel awkward, too stiff at the front and therefore too raggedy on the bumps, harsh in the jumps and most of all not enough weight over the front makes them hard to turn.
But there was something more complete about the Rinaldi team 450. There's no doubt they know how to build a bike. In 21 years running his own MX team Michele Rinaldi has bagged eight titles in the last 10 years. "For sure a lot of this is down to our riders," says Michele and that includes a certain Belgium fellow whose name no one in a blue shirt is now able to mention (we'll call him Effan Steverts for the sake of this test). Josh Coppins was odds-on favourite in 2007 until injury handed the title at the death to Suzuki and Steve Ramon.
But that consistency at the top of the MX1 world championship is not built on luck. By the admission of Philippaerts himself he says, "this is the best team", and you'd be hard-pushed to argue otherwise.
One thing I always find amazing is just how close the factory bikes are to our standard machines. Remove the factory Kayaba suspension, fork clamps and ignore the engine for a moment and you have a bike from the showroom with a few stickers on it. Ok, so it's not quite that simple but this is no hand-built, million pound MotoGP bike like that other Yamaha world champion Valentino Rossi scoots about on. The relationship to your standard YZ450F is closer than you'd think.
Those differences are factory Kayaba suspension front and rear, Brembo calipers, pads, discs and clutch, CNC triple fork clamps, Acerbis bodywork and of course the engine. The motor is the most expensive part of the bike which Rinaldi himself claims costs 20,000 each. Detail changes to the engine are factory CDI unit, crankshaft, cylinder, cylinder head, camshaft, piston and specially built Arrow exhaust.
Development across the 2008 season went in three basic stages according to Rinaldi. "First we improve suspension settings, then in Germany we have a new pipe and CDI which increases rpm and bottom end response, then at the Czech GP the third change was bigger. It was improved power everywhere and that was after we spent time tuning and adjusting the bikes on the dyno."
The lesson I learnt at the very start (aside from not getting too cocky in front of easy-ups) was just how good the 450F drives. A lot of that is down to Yamaha's swingarm and rear wheel design they tell me, a design developed by this most successful of MX teams and still used as standard on Philippaerts' bike.
Philippaerts and Coppins developed the swingarm you'll find on the 2009 YZ450F to give it more longitudinal but reduced lateral stiffness. The whole emphasis of the design is making it lighter yet easier to ride.
The standard YZ450F effortlessly grips and drives, even in slick and hard-pack conditions like Donington Park. With 20,000 euros worth of engine work and the subtle Kayaba suspension, Philippaerts' bike has something like a slingshot connected to the throttle. The fuelling and throttle response is so smooth you can chug along at about 100rpm up to the face of jumps then let go of the trigger just at the last minute and watch as the ground falls away beneath you.
There are a couple of places at the Donington Park circuit where unleashing that slingshot effect throws you higher than a house and try as I might, being higher than my home isn't normal behaviour. But it seemed easy and I came away from the all-too-brief test firmly believing what both Philippaerts and Coppins had told me, that the bike is a complete package.
With an inherent smoothness not just behind that throttle response but carefully prepared across the whole of this Rinaldi team Yamaha, it was hard not to feel special during my 20 minutes onboard the world champion's bike. Obviously you don't win any world championships without professionalism but from Michele Rinaldi down through his team, from the giant (monstrous even) hospitality truck, right down to the last nut and bolt of this very carefully finished motorcycle there's no doubt working for perfection creates success.
Five minutes with Philippaerts
T+MX: Well done on the World Championship! How does it feel?
DP: Well, it's been four years work to get the championship, four years working on getting my body, my bike, my team. The year ended perfectly and this year it has worked.
T+MX: The body hasn't been perfect all year though has it?
DP: No, I broke my thumb and my rib but these are things you have to deal with. The body and bike were not 100 per cent at the beginning either and to win you need to use everything at maximum. When it came good though I felt good and I was able to push hard for the championship, finally!
T+MX: What was the secret then?
DP: Everything coming together. A combination you would say of good bike, team and body. The team is good for me because it has the best bike and it is like my home, the same language makes everything more easy. I know being consistent with the team is very important. Stefan [Everts] was here for a long time and he won many championships so I know this is the way.
T+MX: And the bike then. What was so secret there?
DP: It's easy to ride. Compared to the KTM it feels very light, easy to turn. Every bike is the same with Yamaha so each time it feels good and not different, you know? That's important for training and racing because you always feel like the bike is equal. The KTM was sometimes different.
T+MX: It can't be perfect though, what would you improve?
DP: Always we need more power and better power. But we need better power for the start. This is our problem. If we can improve that so there is less pressure for the start of each race we will be strong everywhere.
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