Bike Tech

In common with bikes running in the World Superbike series, Endurance racers are based on the road bikes that are familiar to the riders who come to watch, however, like WSB, it is usually only a superficial resemblance in the supersport and superbike categories. Also like World Superbike, many of the endurance teams run works bikes or have significant factory backing and all the bikes including the pure privateers are heavily modified from the basic road specification. Often the bikes are based closely on the preceding season's World Superbike specification.

Endurance bikes are divided into seperate classes; Supersport (four cylinder bikes up to 600cc and twins up to 750cc) Superbike (fours from 600cc to 750cc, triples from 600cc to 900cc and twins from 750cc to 1000cc), Stocksport, and SuperProduction.

For a machine to survive 24 hours of continuous racing with up to three different riders, the requirements are very different from those of short circuit racing where performance is more important than longevity. An endurance bike will generally sacrifice some performance for increased durability and reliability. The SERT GSX-R750 Suzuki, for example, runs slightly softer cam timing and a slightly lower compression ratio than the WSB spec engine and as a result the SERT bike is 10 bhp down, at 150 bhp. Weights are also slightly higher as the bike has to carry lights, a starter and a generator. As a result, the SERT Suzuki is noticeably slower than the 1998 WSB bike. The engine build will naturally feature many modifications from stock in order to both lighten and strengthen componemts.

Another major difference is the fact that the bikes cannot be individually tailored to individual riders as three different riders will be piloting the machine over the course of a race. In short circuit racing, the bike set up will be dictated by rider preference for brakes, suspension and handling. James Whitham, on taking over the Modenas from Jean-Michel Bayle at Jerez, commented that the suspension set up had had to be modified considerably for him as Bayle prefers a bike with suspension set very hard; Whitham prefers a much softer set up. This level of personalisation is obviously not possible for endurance bikes where a consensus set up that suits all the riders must be achieved. Some minor preferences can be accommodated, but clearly these must be easily and quickly changed over during a rider changeover which may be as short as 10 seconds. An example of this is the M&P Phase One quick reverse gear lever, which can be swiftly changed from from a 1 down, 5 up change pattern to the 1 up, 5 down pattern preferred by some riders.

The specifications quoted here are the basic factory team or road specification; individual team specifications may vary considerably from this standard.