Flammini: Spec Tires For World Superbike And World Supersport In 2004

Flammini: Spec Tires For World Superbike And World Supersport In 2004

© 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The FIM-sanctioned 2004 World Superbike, World Supersport and European Superstock Championships will run on spec tires and Superbike rules across the world will be “globalized,” according to FGSport Group, the organizers of the World Superbike Championship series.

The announcement came from Paolo Flammini, the Managing Director of FGSport Group, and Maurizio Flammini, the President of FGSport Group, in a special press conference held Friday, July 11 at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. The press conference was organized due to overwhelming demand from the media present at Laguna Seca for reaction to recent press releases from the FIM and MSMA regarding proposed 2004 World Superbike rules.

In the press conference Maurizio Flammini, who answered nearly all of the questions, confirmed that there would be spec tires used in the 2004 Superbike World Championship series. “We really would like to have the teams who compete with the same possibility to win,” said Flammini. “Maybe you remember three or four years ago, instead of three or four riders who can win, like today, we had 10, 12 even 14. This is something we really want to go back to.

“We like what Michelin, Pirelli and Dunlop are doing. Unfortunately, there are very different performance caused by the performance of the tires, not from the performance of the motorcycle or the performance of the rider.”

Flammini said the tire companies were only supplying one or two teams with the best tires while the rest of the field getting “bad tires, not good tires, not competitive tires. This is not a good thing.

“You know if you have an engine that is 20 horsepower better than the other you can win two tenths, three tenths on the lap. But if you have a tire that is better than the others you can win one second. So if you don’t have the tire you can’t win.”

Flammini did not say teams would be provided the spec tires free of charge but said the deal would significantly reduce the cost of racing for the smaller teams that have to buy tires. “We will solve a big problem for the medium-level/low-level team,” said Flammini. “You know that today a medium-level team spends a lot of money, lots of money on tires. And they will spend a lot less, that is for sure.

“We can tell you that next year the teams will spend 50 percent less than this year, which is very good news for them.”

Flammini also confirmed that spec tires, the same brand as World Superbike, would be used in the World Supersport Championship and the European Superstock Championship. “The tires in Supersport and Superstock…I believe that will be the same, will be spec tires for everybody,” said Flammini. “I believe it will be one brand for everybody, but I can’t say now (which brand it will be).”

Pirelli currently supplies spec tires for the European Superstock Championship.

Flammini said it was possible that several different compounds from one tire supplier would be available to all racers in 2004. “For sure you remember when Formula One had spec tires for a number of years,” said Flammini. “You have three or four or five kinds of tires. All the tires are for everybody.

“So in the end you can have different…you can choose a tires that fits better your bike than the other one, also the type of riding. If you’re an aggressive rider that needs a different tire.”

World Superbike insiders believe that FGSport Group is close to making a deal with Pirelli, if the deal hasn’t already been completed. Flammini implied that Michelin and Dunlop did not take Superbike World Championship management seriously up to this point, saying , “Maybe this is incentive enough for everybody. So maybe Dunlop will wake up finally, maybe Michelin will finally come.”

The Flamminis were then asked about the recent press releases, which, among other things, indicated that World Superbike would no longer use air restrictors in 2004. “This is correct,” said Flammini. “We will not have anymore. The performance balance will be obtained through different systems. Clearly the target is to have less tuning to the engines in order to keep the costs low.

“In order to get the performance (with air restrictors), you need to tune up the engine and make it very sophisticated and then you limit the performance through the limitation of the air you let into the engine. The way we would like, we will follow is that you don’t limit the air in the engine. In this way you will not need to have a sophisticated engine and therefore the cost.

“Until today everybody was concentrating on spending a fortune on tuning up the engine. Tomorrow this cost will be one-tenth of today.”

Then the Flamminis were asked to respond to the press release from the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association (MSMA), which, in a strongly-worded statement, said all of the factories were pulling their support from the World Superbike series as of 2004.

“Maybe the MSMA people are upset,” said Flammini. “We understand that. They are upset because we worked together for a number of years and we developed a regulation. And finally this regulation was approved the third of September 2001. There is a press release that says – that they signed – that this regulation was approved on condition that the manufacturers will not leave World Superbike in the next three years.

“We accepted this regulation at the time because of the promise of the manufacturer.

“We understand there was a number of problems, and the cost was the first problem.”

Flammini said costs got out of control because “part of the regulation implies full freedom in the engine. You can use very sophisticated materials, you can use technologies and you produce a lot of power.

“We accepted that because the manufacturers said, ‘we are going to produce bikes, we are going to produce bikes also for an affordable cost.’

“After three years we understood that the bikes are not available. In fact, at the last meeting with the MSMA, they said, unfortunately we can only guarantee you one manufacturer, not more than that. Not counting Ducati. Ducati already confirm that they were in the Championship. But between the Japanese, only one was going to confirm that.

“We understand that certainly the motorcycles were not available. Some motorcycles eventually available for a huge price. So practically World Superbike 2004 was not possible to be organized.

“And then we spoke to the teams, we spoke to the riders, we spoke with the manufacturers also, we spoke with the various organizations of the world – like AMA, like UK, like the Germans. We very quickly formed an agreement, and the agreement is based on having motorcycles available to the rider for an affordable price and that can be competitive, can be fairly competitive.

“To give you some idea about, the technical regulations will be very similar to the AMA and the UK. So it will be something in the middle.”

Flammini mentioned that Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki would all have new bikes in 2004 that should be competitive under the new regulations.

“We want to announce the new rules very soon, very, very soon,” said Flammini. “The goal is the end of the month, but we will announce the new rules together with our other organizers like UK, the AMA, Italy. So we want to coordinate everything.”

Flammini said the World Endurance Championship, which is managed by FGSport Group, will also use the new Superbike regulations in 2004.

New support classes, including a “naked” class, for the FGSport Group’s 2004 series are also being considered, according to Paolo Flammini.

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