Previous: The Other Factories

Kawasaki

Team Green take over from Aprilia as the lone Dunlop runner (except for WCM Harris, perhaps) and that fact alone clouds the picture. We already know from last year that Kawasaki are happy with their motor which turned very quickly from an oversize Superbike complete with carburetors into a lightweight motor with fuel injection. The unique feature of that system is the slides used instead of butterflies to give a clear inlet tract at full throttle. Harald Eckl's team are still concerned with the basics of chassis set-up so the minutiae of engine braking compensation software have yet to be explored.

Ducati

Ducati went from outsider to contender in nine months. Will the Ducati win a GP race in '03?

They really wanted to use a V-twin but realized that would be impractical. So they put two V-twins side by side to make a V4. Actually, they have made two V4s, the Twin-Pulse and the Four-Pulse. The later is a conventional V4 but the Twin-Pulse fires like two V-twins side-by-side. They'd really love to use it, but like the big-bang versions of the 500cc V4 two-strokes it is harder on bottom end components than the 'screamer' motor. One Ducati tradition that is being maintained is the steel trellis chassis.

Roberts Proton V-5

It's a V5 like Honda's but with a narrower angle between the cylinder blocks, probably 60 degrees like the Suzuki, which—again like the Suzuki—will require a balance shaft. With ex-Formula 1 luminary John Barnard now part of the team, expect a complete package like the Honda rather than a collection of parts when the bike appears. Unfortunately, the motor is running into overheating problems on the dyno and wasn't ready for ant pre-season tests.

WCM Harris

When is a MotoGP bike not a Superbike? The regulations aren't too clear on the subject but this bike doesn't look like an R1. The crankcases are based on the roadbike but recast in more exotic materials. The chassis is made by British specialists Harris Performance Products, the suspension, wheels and brakes come from the usual array of suppliers, and the result is a MotoGP bike. Is that too different from the evolution of Kawasaki's bike which started life on Superbike, and therefore road bike, crankcases?

The team's main problem is that Ralf Waldmann retired from racing just before the start of the season leaving them with British rookie Chris Burns. Jose-Luis Cardoso and Jay Vincent are the likely candidates. However, neither of them will be at Suzuka so WCM have leased their second grid spot to Moriwaki for one race only.

One area where you will not be seeing many changes is in the engines. When the 990cc capacity limit was announced, one top race engineer was heard to remark that anyone who couldn't get 200 horsepower out of one of these new motors shouldn't be allowed to call himself an engineer. Most of the motors on the grid make nearer to 220 than 200 horsepower. At the moment that is enough but if competition forces the pace of development Honda are holding one ace up their sleeve. After that Barcelona timed session which saw Ducati fastest, Ukawa went back out on track with a 'new engine' and went quicker still. One wonders if the 'engine' was 'replaced' by a click or two on lap top. The basic architecture of the RCV was based on a V6 motor for the road that Honda developed shortly after the RC30. Obviously it was never put into production but the threat is there, hanging over the heads of Yamaha, Ducati and the rest like the Sword of Damocles.