I happened to be thinking about last WSBK race. Production based motorcycles with some modifications, putting out 200-210 hp racing in almost perfect conditions with slick tires. As many of you noticed, the Pirelli tires were struggling (understatement?) to last over 15-20 minutes of racing, and the abuse they were suffering showed in a multitude of ways, but the main thing was that the riders had to back down the throttle to avoid risking a fall.
So, this means that a 200 hp bike is shredding a tire that was specifically engineered to sustain that type of abuse, a slick tire that doesn't need to be homolgated for road use, and whose buyers could care less if the tires last more than 1000 miles. Actually they just care if it lasts for one race...
So, this brings me to think of the new Kawasaki ZX-14, Suzuki Hayabusa, and even the current and future generations of 1000cc sportbikes. If some of you remember the most amazing and powerful liter bike of 1990, the ZX-10, you'll recall how journalists gasped at its 137 hp (something that a modern 600 with a race kit can now easily achieve). Maximum speed ? A mind defying 268 Km/h (I probably have reached that on one of my 600s ?).
So, if these numbers aren't really something amazing for us now, specially considering the bike weighted at 222 Kg (dry weight!), what could be so scary ? The problem is that in the late eighties the engines performance evolution got ahead of the evolution of tires and suspension (and even frames, although with Yamaha's Deltabox this is when things started tp change). This lead to some outrageous ideas of finding a way to remove telescopic suspensions from bikes, like the infamous Bimota Tesi, Yamaha GTR 1000, BMW Telever, and some others.
Even so, the results were't that good at the time, and it seemed there was no way to have bikes more powerful than they were at the time, without becoming untamable beasts.
Forward to current times, and we see a new generation of sportbikes whose origin comes from the need of many of us to have a bike similar to a racing machine. There is demand for bikes that perform well in a circuit, regardless of wheter they're confortable or easy to ride in a normal road environment. That's because people now do take their bikes to the track, even if they don't plan to race. Sportbike owners are, more than ever, learning to enjoy what a sportbike is all about, instead of just wanting the "look-a-like" road version of a racing bike to show off at the local pub (not that there aren't still many of those...).
My particular concern is how will the tire manufacturers handle what is coming over the horizon, when it's obvious that handling so much power in such light packages is proving to be so difficult ? Well, we all know that soon we'll see traction control and ABS, TCS, CBS and plenty of electronics to make us not in control but the bike, but it will all come to the tires that transmit it all to the tarmac.
Since I started riding on the track, my biggest investment for my safety are the tires and making sure my bike is well maintained and cared of. What I am afraid of is those riders that spend all their money to be able to get that new 180 hp bike with Akrapovic exhausts and PC3 and whatever, and then say that their tires are almost bald because they can't afford new ones right now... and do I see many of those...