New Suzuki MotoGP Racer Is Certainly Inline-Four
| 07/11/2012 | Posted by under Carburetor Parts |
A Japanese informant, who asked to remain anonymous, New Suzuki MotoGP racer is certainly inline-Four, It is not, however, normal inline. When guess from exhaust sound, kind same as YZR-Ml. All the other trappings of MotoGP are present: top-level Brembo calipers and carbon discs, Ohlins suspension, plus carbon-fiber bodywork. A radically forward rider position is evident in the photos, and the engine’s cylinder block also is inclined forward, perhaps as much as 30 degrees. Tills moves the intake throttle boclies to where they need to be in the airbox. As the rider accelerates, his face is directly over the steering crown.
The fuel tank sits behind a large carbon-fiber intake airbox and consists of a thin forward vertical portion as tall as the airbox, with a long and quite thick foot that effectively forms the rider’s seat. Fuel pipes to the injectors enter at the front of the airbox. Note also that as the rider accelerates, his butt is three inches clear of the two-inch-thick seatback pad, further underscoring the far-forward rider position. What has happened here is that as the engineers have sought to lower the placement of the fuel toward the machine/rider center of mass, putting most of it under the seat, fuel mass has moved rearward. If the front tire is not to become unweighted during off-come acceleration, something else must compensate by being moved forward.
But not only that, as tire grip is increased each year, more power may be applied without wheel spin, thus increasing the tendency to lift the front. Under the rider’s hands are bulbous ducts leading from the chin intake in the fairing nose, through the chassis sides and into the engine airbox. Suzuki’s usual round starter door is visible in the right side of the fairing, through which a starter dog can spin the crank if the slipper-clutch setting is too soft to permit rear-wheel starting.
It’s hard to see what is going on with the airflow to the two radiators. At first, the covers between them and the front tire look solid, like carbon fabric.
But they could also be stone shields. In one photo, the upper cover has come loose and moved forward along one edge, as though there were pressure behind it. If solid, it would be a first in ducting ram air from above the tire to the front faces of the radiators. Airflow behind the front tire is always disturbed, providing poor pressure to push it through the radiators. This is part of the reason radiators are as big as they are. Four large hot-air exit slots are provided in the fairing sides. When I look at where the cylinder head must be, it might suggest the upper radiator is U-shaped to make clearance for it. Suzuki did this during the early 1980s to move its disc-valve RG engines farther forward.
Recently on the Italian website GPone.com, journalist David Emmett asked Suzuki racing technical director Shinichi Sahara if the company will change to an inline-Four. Sahara replied that they will stay faithful to our engine layout. It is normal for manufacturers to build and test multiple prototypes before determining which is most promising.
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