The key to designing an effective race machine is making one that is reliable, fast enough to get on the podium and not overly difficult to work on. Will the new Benelli Tornado be one of these? The Tornado looks to be the right amount of innovation without making an overly complicated machine -- on paper, anyway.

Peter Goddard's California Connection benelli factory development rider used to sell bike parts in the golden state Soup Reader Richard Janes wrote in yesterday about his connection with the Goddard family, which included Goddard and father living in California. He writes: "Last year I drove over to Miller's Motorcycles here in San Luis Obispo to get some bearings pressed in my back wheel. Old Bob Miller is a TRUE old timer and super nice feller, though he looks kinda intimidating at first. It's a trials bike shop primarily out past where the pavement ends on Prado Road...we're talkin' out in the boonies. You gotta drive past the tallow works to get there. A Quonset hut in a gravel lot adorned with weeds. Bartel's it ain't. Anyway, I notice a picture of Peter Goddard on the '99 RSV Mille racebike. Kinda out of place I thought, but hey. "Cool pic Bob." "Yep, he and his pops are close family friends,", he replies. Oh yeah? Turns out Goddard the elder was a traveling food processing machine tech and full-on trials nutso. Spent a few summers over here working and trials riding, bringing the young Peter along too. Pete actually worked parts & service at one of our dealers for awhile (SLO City Cycles, gone now; Don Canet worked there too). I got to chat with Peter at the Benelli tent on Sunday afternoon and he got a big kick outta hearing about this. Says he very well coulda sold me parts and worked on my Kaws back then, I was a frequent customer. Now he's a bike setup guru. How cool is that?"

After a couple of years of hearing rumors of the Benelli Superbike, it's interesting to finally see it on the track. The bike takes some sound engineering principals and administers them to the proverbial "clean-sheet" design. It also bucks the Aprilia/Bimota/Honda method of building new v-twins.

The Benelli appears to be designed around three major concepts. The first is the three-cylinder engine package, the second is the rear-mounted radiator, and the third is a combination trellis/perimeter frame.

ENGINE

Triples are allowed 900ccs according to WSC rules. If one splits the difference between 750ccs for the fours and 1000 for the twins, you'd get 875. In theory, the triple gets a 25cc break.

More importantly, the Benelli engineers are trying to make the best of both worlds -- an engine that has plenty of torque like a twin and the top end hit of a four-cylinder. Right now, they are lacking in the power department, but they look to at least be in the ballpark. According to speed trap readings, the bike is about as fast on top speed as a private Ducati. Not bad for a brand new machine.

The bore/stroke ratio is oversquare -- 88mm x 49.2 mm. So are F1 engines. Theory says that this is the way to gain higher revs and more power, although this type design creates a reliance on a well-designed cylinder head to spread the mixture evenly and have it all burn efficiently.

Benelli-folk say they Tornado currently revs to 13,000 rpm. That figure will need to increase to get the maximum from the engine. Twins are revving to around 12,500 and fours are hitting upwards of 14,750.

A cassette-style transmission and a dry clutch are also used.

The engine has a unique sound -- think a Dremel tool in a backpack. It has a revvy, mechanical sound but also has a muted quality.

COOLING

The rear-mounted radiator is a designer's dream. It is known that race bike radiators are inefficient for a variety of reasons. The front-mount design doesn't let enough air flow through because the engine sits in the way. In addition, the very hot exhaust pipes live directly next to the radiator.

Therefore, the radiators get disproportionately larger and larger as performance increases. A greater amount of water flowing through the cases helps get the heat out of the engine and into the atmosphere. Dragging these huge radiators around and spoiling airflow has been a necessary evil to this point.

Car builders moved the radiators to the sidepods on open wheel cars decades ago but the only bike manufacturers have that have relocated the radiator successfully have been the makers of hand-built racing machines like the Britten and the Tul-Aris. Team Roberts attempted a rear-mount on their Mark I GP machine, (ironically another triple) but the idea was tossed out for the Mark II version.

In naked shots of the bike, the radiator on the Benelli appears much smaller than a standard Superbike item. One potential downfall is the Tornado may be much more vulnerable to overheating while sitting still, since it relies on ducting to supply cool air from the front to keep things cool. Benelli techs were seen running fans through the machine's ducting when it was idling in the pit lane.

FRAME

Benelli calls their frame a "mixed solution". The front section is chrome-moly tubes (think Ducati) and the rear is aluminum alloy (think Japanese). "Tuned flex" is a buzzword that pops up every few years in GP racing as designers attempt to find a way to help
their suspensions cope with bumps while the bike is leaned over. It's hoped that the Tornado's frame will give in the right amount in the right places while providing stability in the all important swingarm pivot area.

The Tornado has a short wheelbase (1395mm) and an adjustable steering head (22.5 degrees to 24.5 degrees).

Another thing one notices about the bike is the components -- Ohlins forks, Brembo brakes, Dunlop tires, KLS quick shifter, Arrow exhausts. It seems wise to go with proven components on a radical or unproven design like the triple. Since the forks, brakes, etc., are known good parts, it will make it simpler for the Italian engineers to analyze their frame geometry and strength.

One mistake Harley made in '94 was that they used obscure components no one else did. When something goes wrong, the problem is harder to find.

Now the really hard work begins for Benelli. Although they have ground to make up on their experienced rivals, they are now on the WSC treadmill that requires constant improvements just to keep up the pace.

Vroom, vroom.