| Author | Message | ||
     Vagelis46 |
The other teams will have less Hp than last year.... This year stock pistons and conrods for EVERYONE ! ! ! For the 4 cylinder motos.....My guess is that Honda and Suzuki will get stronger results this year... The CBR and Gsxr were less tuned compared to Kawasaki and Aprilia.... For the 2cyl bikes....EBR will hopefully do well.... The EBR project show to be better designed this year.... Pegram turns out to be the right choice for the team manager .. | ||
| Mackja |
Still will be a up hill battle, all the other manufacturers built homologation specials so they can race a so called "stock" bike in WSBK. I really believe EBR will do much better, but the rest of the field is still full steam ahead. Performance may be down a little, but not that much. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Note that there appears to be no auxiliary under-seat gas tank in the above photo. Did they figure out it was unnecessary? I suppose they could have left it off for testing, but that seems very unlikely since its presence is bound to change the way the bike handles. Perhaps they found somewhere better to store additional fuel? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Is it gone, or is it smaller? I still see a triangular aluminum box tucked under there, but maybe that is for electronics. | ||
| Crusty |
Currently it's 57° F at Portimao. Can they get enough meaningful info at those temperatures to help with setup? | ||
| Classax |
For the 4 cylinder motos.....My guess is that Honda and Suzuki will get stronger results this year... The CBR and Gsxr were less tuned compared to Kawasaki and Aprilia.... Kawis Ichiro Yoda says " we have lost 15 or more horsepower because we can not use titanium conrods. We can not use special tappets and also we can not touch the combustion chamber. The crankshaft is very standard." I agree it will still be an up hill battle, but being down 15HP vs 30 to 35 is a very big deal. Last year with homologated parts the ERB was according the team making about 210HP and still down 30-35hp against the leaders, and maybe 40 against the final version of the V4 they trotted out to DESTROY everyone in the final round. I think we will see some really fun close racings and EBR will have a legitimate shot at the middle of the field. | ||
| Court |
I think we can plan on seeing some surprises and some great racing this year. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
I wonder why they still use a conventional muffler for the EBR in WSBK format ?? The conventional muffler created many problems with the ride-height last year.... the bike was setup very high so that the exhaust was not touching the ground during big lean angles.... This turned out to be a major problem last year.. I was expecting this year to find a solution to make the "under the engine" muffler to work... DUcati has managed to make it work for the Panigale... Unless they are 100% certain that the conventional muffler gives them a little more Hp for a certain Db level, compared to the "under the engine" muffler for the same Db levels ... ...I hope there is no compromise in the ride-height as last year, since the high lean-angle and corner speed potential seems to be the strong point for the EBR..... OR... is there a chance that the extra fuel tank is under the engine for the 2015 , so there is no space for a muffler ?? Just asking ..... I can't wait for the official introduction of the bike... and the results from the first test | ||
| Hughlysses |
I wonder why they still use a conventional muffler for the EBR in WSBK format ?? I have wondered that as well. The huge muffler first appeared at the Assen race, and it was implied if not stated outright that it was required there due to stringent noise restrictions. However, the huge muffler remained on the bikes the rest of the season. I recall at least one person implying that the conventional muffler was required by the WSBK rules which they said state something to the effect that the exhaust system has to remain in the stock location. Since the street version of the RX has a side-mounted muffler, the race bike has to have one too. Does anyone here know for certain what the requirement is? | ||
| Hughlysses |
Well, I found the rules and answered my own question. The 2015 WSBK rules can be downloaded here: http://www.fim-live.com/en/library/download/46057/ download/Library/no_cache/1/
It looks like 2.4.b above has been interpreted to require them to hang a muffler off the right side of the bike. It does seem they could do more to reduce the width of the pipe leading to the muffler where it comes around the swingarm; Jens' race team used this arrangement on one of their race machines at Assen:  I'd think this arrangement presents much less overall width on the right side of the bike compared to the EBR race setup, and it appears it would comply with the rules. If ground clearance is actually a problem, I hope Larry will change to something like this. | ||
| Classax |
They could almost do better with a light weight version of their own resonator, Hint Hint Wink Wink. Heck forget the hints here's a flaming billboard! The quarter wave is a great idea for a street bike. I guess they were unable to convince FIM that the actual exhaust is UNDER the bike. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I wonder if they could homolgate the bike for 2015 with the accessory "race only" (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) exhaust tips, which would let them legally get rid of the right side can? | ||
| Vagelis46 |
So...the FIM rules explain the conventional muffler solution for the WSBK ,,, Still.... why has the team installed a HUGE conventional muffler and not an "under the engine" muffler + a small conventional muffler as the soluton used for the homologated bike? I guess the team knows better and I wish our questions are answered at some point (Message edited by vagelis46 on January 21, 2015) (Message edited by vagelis46 on January 21, 2015) | ||
| Hughlysses |
Apparently today's test session was rained out. This from Larry Pegram's Facebook page: "@LarryPegram72: 1st day of testing our @HeroMotoCorp @ErikBuellRacing for @WorldSBK @AIAPortimao was basically a day to watch it rain. ‪#‎tomorrow‬" | ||
| Jaimec |
Sounds like they are testing and comparing a dual-brake setup with their "traditional" ZTL. See what Canepa has to say about it: http://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/world-superbik es/2015/january/new-hero-ebr-team-takes-first-euro pean-steps/ | ||
| Jaimec |
Sorry, wrong link for the brake comparo. It's this one: http://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/world-superbik es/2015/january/hero-ebr-rider-canepa-tests-again/ | ||
| Classax |
I don't know if power is the right word. The ZTL have plenty of power, but you use much more lever effort to get it. Much more than I would have thought safe on dual disc set up. Getting a pad material that will give you the aggressive bite of a dual disc set up with enough longevity to survive the additional heat build up is going to be the trick. Too soft and it won't last, too hard and it eats rotors. The flip side of the ZTL is that since its so linear its easy to trail brake. I'm would be willing to admit that may be the things that make it great for the street, canyons and occasional track day, simply aren't applicable to real high level racing. We shall soon see. (Message edited by Classax on January 22, 2015) | ||
| M2typhoon |
Class, There may be a reason why the ZTL bike had rain tires on it. Could it be because it's better in wet conditions? } | ||
| Hughlysses |
^ I would think that even with rain tires, in really wet conditions less braking power would be required or even desirable. That plus you've got built-in water cooling to help out the heat removal issues!  ZTL might well show advantages in wet conditions. | ||
| Reepicheep |
You could mess with the hydraulic ratios to get leverage, but it would be a constant trade off of adding more travel in return for less force needed. So what the racers must be after is a combination of low travel but high braking forces. Or maybe it's about fade. The advantage of the ZTL setup is less unsprung and rotational mass. But that lost unsprung and rotational mass is also what allows heat to be better absorbed and dissipated. It's not braking power, either setup can easily lock up the front wheel under any circumstance. I'm glad all the options are on the table. I like ZTL better for my street bikes. I don't know which is best for WSBK levels of riding (which are pretty much 99% unrelated to how I or anyone else rides a bike on the street). | ||
| Classax |
Its all quite exciting actually. I know I'm no WSBk caliber rider and not using the equipment anything like those guys but still its interesting. Jump off any bike after doing a few laps and onto the EBR and at first you feel the thing isn't going to stop, because you're timid on the lever looking for that immediate bite when you first touch the lever. Its not until you start to experiment that you realize you can squeeze much quicker, harder, longer without upsetting the bike or going over the bars and still get it slowed down for turn in that you begin to trust the ZTL and brake at the same points as before. Now that I'm more comfortable with how to use it, I find it easier to modulate. Jumping back on my neighbors 1199 or my buddy's F3800, those bikes feel grabby and way too touchy. Its way harder to be smooth and modulate with them. Almost like an on off switch. Everyone's experience is different though. I'm ready for the season to start! I predict 8 or 9 points for Larry and somewhere north of 60 for Nic, assuming no DNF's or DNS's and everyone stays healthy on the year. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Some info in Day2 of the Portimao test .. http://www.motoblog.it/post/367840/sbk-test-portim ao-2015-diretta-day2-live | ||
| M1combat |
I still say they'll be able to get the ZTL working the way Canepa needs them to. Also... Canepa "might" be referring to something along the lines of "lap after lap usable power without fading or destroying the pads" as opposed to outright one zone stopping power. I mean... like Reepi said... The bike will surely face plant you at whatever speed you'd like to do it so Canepa is likely not talking about single stop braking power. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
It seems that we will see both brake setups during the season. I predict that ztl will be used in Philip island in round 1. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
Unfortunately there are no times released for EBR in the Portimao test. | ||
| Vagelis46 |
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/world-superbik es/2015/january/haslam-fastest-in-final-day-rush-a t-portimao/ Very promising news ! ! ! | ||
| Classax |
Hmm 2 and 3 seconds off the pace of the leaders with a new to bike and new to track rider, while testing two brake set ups. Looks like they're picking up where they left off at the end of last year. A second closer to the leaders last year puts EBR in the 8-12 spots in most rounds. Very encouraging. | ||
| Neutrum |
sykes did a 1:41 in 2014... this portimao test wasn't useful at all. too wet and too windy. let's wait for the jerez-test and, better, for philip island. | ||
| 2kx1 |
Sykes won't do a 1:41 in 2015... | ||
| Hughlysses |
Team EBR Hero Happy With Canepa's Lap Times During Test In Portugal: http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/team-ebr-hero- happy-with-canepas-lap-times-during-test-in-portug al/ |
