Kawasaki Will Try A Revised, More Powerful ZX-RR Engine At Malaysian GP

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>Kawasaki Will Try A Revised, More Powerful ZX-RR Engine At Malaysian GP
Sep 04, 2006

From a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team:

MALAYSIA KICKS OFF DEMANDING THREE RACE RUN FOR KAWASAKI

The Kawasaki Racing Team head for the Far East this week, and an intense schedule of three races in as many weekends, starting with the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, and taking in the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island before bringing their whirlwind tour of Asia to an end with the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

It's a punishing schedule for both teams and riders alike, with Sepang in particular making huge demands on the physical fitness and endurance of Kawasaki's riders, Shinya Nakano and Randy de Puniet, due to the strength sapping extremes of temperature and humidity experienced at the Malaysian circuit.

But both Kawasaki riders head into this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix with their sights set firmly on a strong performance, and confident that hundreds of testing laps completed during the winter at the 5.548 km Sepang circuit will stand them in good stead once practice gets underway on Friday.

For Shinya Nakano, Friday's two free practice sessions will allow him the first opportunity to test a revised Ninja ZX-RR engine and exhaust system, designed by Kawasaki engineers in Japan to improve torque at the bottom of the rev range, as well as outright power at the top end - both essential characteristics at the Sepang circuit.

The 28-year-old Japanese rider rates the Sepang track as one of his favourites, and is confident that the latest specification Ninja ZX-RR will suit the characteristics of the high-speed, but technical, Malaysian circuit. The Kawasaki pilot heads for Malaysia from his home in Japan determined to secure a good result for Kawasaki, as he builds up the momentum for his home Grand Prix at Motegi in three week's time.

Nakano's Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet, has been on a mission in recent weeks, to improve both his qualifying performance and his race starts. The 25-year-old Frenchman saw an improvement in qualifying at Brno, after regaining his confidence in Bridgestone's super-sticky qualifying tyres during free practice, and a series of successful practice starts during the one-day, post-race test at the same circuit means that de Puniet heads for the Far East in determined mood.

The rookie Kawasaki pilot likes the challenges offered by the Sepang circuit, where he completed three successful tests aboard the Ninja ZX-RR over the winter. And, the demanding conditions in Malaysia will certainly hold no fears for de Puniet, who is one of the fittest riders on the MotoGP grid.

Sunday's 21-lap Malaysian Grand Prix will get underway at 15.00 local time (GMT+8 and CET+6) on Sunday 10 September.

Shinya Nakano: #56
"Sepang is definitely one of my favourite tracks, and one I know pretty well after completing so many laps there during winter testing. I've had some good results at Sepang in the past, and the fact that we head to Malaysia with a massive amount of data collected during testing means that I'm quietly confident ahead of this weekend's race. The Ninja ZX-RR already suits the characteristics of the Sepang circuit very well, but this time around we have a revised engine and exhaust system to evaluate during free practice, and this could well give us a distinct advantage this weekend. Overall, I'm looking forward to racing in Malaysia, and I hope that I can pick up some good results here and in Australia, and then carry that momentum through to my home Grand Prix at Motegi."

Randy de Puniet: #17
"We completed three successful tests at Sepang over the winter, so I know the track pretty well. Of course, everyone else knows the track equally well, because all the other MotoGP teams were out in Malaysia testing at the same time! But I like the track, and the fact that we managed to find a good working set-up on the Ninja ZX-RR during our last test there in February should stand us in good stead when practice gets underway on Friday. I think it's possible to get a good result in Malaysia, but I do need to look hard at my starts. Too often in the last few races I've lost places from the start, and then been forced to try and make them back up during the race. We did some work on this during the post race test at Brno two weeks ago, so I'm fairly confident going into the first of the three overseas races."

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=26929

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>Nakano gives new engine thumbs-up.

Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano ended Friday's Malaysian Grand Prix free practice just tenth fastest, but pleased with the performance of a revised engine which he claims is currently only 70% set-up.

Nakano started this morning's hour-long free practice aboard a Ninja ZX-RR fitted with the older specification engine, but quickly switched to the latest version of the four-cylinder powerplant - and was immediately able to match his previous best lap time.

Nakano's initial comments were that the latest specification 990cc motor, which also features a revised exhaust system, offered a significant improvement in top speed along Sepang's trademark twin straights, but that throttle response - especially out of slower turns - still required refinement.

"Our revised engine is working well here, and there is a definite improvement in top speed on Sepang's two long straights," he confirmed. "However, we've only been running this engine for two hours today, so there is still some set-up work to be done tomorrow. At the moment we're about 70% there with the set-up - it's still a little bit too aggressive out of the turns - but I'm confident that, with more track time tomorrow, we can improve things in this area."

"For Shinya it was a very positive start to the day, as his lap times on the revised engine were similar to those on the older specification motor," added technical manager Naoya Kaneko. "With any major revision to the engine there is extensive set-up work to be done, so I'm confident that we'll be able to make further improvements with more track time tomorrow, which should allow Shinya to close the gap to the top of the timesheet ahead of qualifying."

Rookie team-mate Randy de Puniet finished 13th fastest overall after struggling through both of today's free practice sessions with front brake problems.

"Today was not the start to the weekend I was hoping for," he confessed. "It's strange, because the bike felt good during the early part of this morning's free practice session, but then as the pace increased we started to suffer with front brake problems. The braking force is just not consistent from lap to lap and corner to corner, which doesn't inspire confidence at a fast track like Sepang, and also makes it difficult to work on the set-up of the bike, because it's impossible to lap consistently. We've made changes to try and eliminate the problem, but without success so far. We need to sit down tonight and go through the data from today, to see if we can come up with a solution."

"Until we've fixed this problem, it will be difficult for Randy to progress with setting up his bike for this track," admitted Kaneko.

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