Fiat Yamaha YZR-M1 800
Racing Relativity
The chance to ride Valentino Rossi's Yamaha YZR-M1 at Valencia after a season that saw him finish outside the top two championship places for the first time since his debut year in 125 Grand Prix back in 1996 was even more of an honor than usual, as I was one of just five journalists invited to do so. Ten laps on the bike not only made it a proper test rather than a showbiz stunt, it also allowed me to learn a lesson in two-wheeled relativity. Although everyone (including myself) who rode the Yamaha and Ducati proclaimed the YZR-M1 to be much easier to ride and a more complete package, the results column and Rossi's constant complaints regarding the Yamaha's lack of speed obviously showed how different things are when ridden at title-contending pace.
The two bikes could hardly be more different to sit on. While the Ducati is low-slung and stretched out, the more compact Yamaha has a much taller ride height. Asking Rossi's legendary race engineer Jerry Burgess why it was set up that way yields an interesting explanation. "It's because a couple of hours into the project, when Valentino was riding the Yamaha for the first time four years ago, we replaced the small 290mm discs they were using back then with bigger 320mm ones to get it to stop," Jerry recalls. "But then he complained he was locking the front brake, so it was obvious the low center of gravity the Yamaha had back then didn't work in delivering sufficient weight transfer under braking to load up the front wheel so the tire could grip. One way to deal with that is to lift the engine in the frame, or else you can just run the bike higher at both ends, which is what we did then as a quick fix and have done ever since."
A row of shift lights above...
A row of shift lights above the 2D dash display comes on in sequence from 18,300 rpm upward, with one big shift light that tells you to shift NOW. Note the displays on the dash for lap time.
The uncluttered cockpit has a white toggle switch on the left clip-on allowing you to scroll through the three different engine maps carried within the Magneti Marelli ECU, with a yellow launch control button above that for starts and the front brake lever adjuster knob just behind. These are matched on the right handlebar by the red kill-switch button, surmounted by a green one to press for the pit lane speed limiter, while the dash has last lap and best lap times prominently shown, plus an abbreviated analog tachometer display. But these are quite small because Rossi and teammate Colin Edwards II shift entirely by sound and feel, as well as the half-dozen small shifter lights which start flashing in unison at 18,300 rpm, followed by the bright-red shift light above them 500 rpm later before the harsh 19,000 rpm rev limiter. There's also a large gear indicator in the top right-hand corner of the dash, which is really welcome.
The YZR-M1's gruff-sounding but easy-revving 800cc 16-valve DOHC engine is surprisingly flexible and forgiving, pulling strongly from as low as 9000 rpm, then building power fast and strong once past the five-figure mark. It's not as peaky as you might expect given the smaller engine displacement, and the delivery is pretty linear and tractable. However, the Yamaha has more of a wheelie tendency than even its 990 predecessor did, which is another surprise, especially given that its ride-by-wire throttle control program is much less abrupt than all its rivals-save for the Ducati, with which the Yamaha shares the same Marelli Marvel 4 ECU. Besides continually pointing the front end skyward in each of the first three gears the Yamaha would even pull a long, lazy fourth gear power-wheelie down the front straight, lofting the front wheel controllably six inches above the tarmac, seemingly without sacrificing much acceleration. Much of this happens if you don't wait for the small lights on the top of the dash to all flash together from 18,300 rpm upward, because you then end up grabbing a higher ratio before the torque curve peaks.
Despite the wheelie tendency, the Yamaha is really well rounded and user-friendly to ride, especially the smooth yet strong throttle response when you get back on the gas again exiting a turn. Unlike the more powerful 990 with its comparatively brutal power delivery, on the 800 you can get on the throttle harder while still leaned over, accelerating on the edge of the tire to maintain momentum. With the Yamaha's smooth but effective throttle response, you can keep up corner speed knowing that when you get hard on the gas again you're not going to spin the back wheel because of the 990's big hit of power.
While I thought the 990cc YZR-M1 was hard work a year ago to make major steering changes, the agility of the 800cc version in the turns is outstanding. It's even more nimble than the more minuscule Honda, but without sacrificing anything in stability when you squeeze hard on the slightly dead-feeling four-pad/four-piston Brembo carbon brakes in a desperate attempt to slow the bike down from high speed. The Yamaha stayed glued to the line I had chosen, and as with the 990 YZR-M1, you can feel there's just enough engine braking delivered by the combination of the mechanical slipper clutch and ICS variable-idle system as you back down through the gears in quick succession (while always using the clutch to do so, however, just as Valentino does).
Once again, as in the past, you have the feeling this bike was carefully improved and demandingly refined by an expert in the art of setup, resulting in a package so capable it's almost beyond criticism. But only, it seems, at press-tester speed, although let's not forget this bike won four GP races this past season. "It's a good package, for sure," Burgess says. "I believe we've got a very, very good-handling motorcycle. But what we need is a little more push from the engine, a little more grip from the tires and a lot better reliability from the motorcycle as a whole. You can't afford a single DNF these days; look at how Stoner scored points in every race this year, which is a great achievement by Ducati as well as Casey himself, and we've got to match that next season. When you get a valve-spring engine turning at 19,000 rpm, the valve lift you can use is compromised, and even though the spring component may be all right you need very special spring wire-and the mass of everything is critical. It also compromises your choice of camshaft design and engine characteristics, so for sure pneumatics is the way to go. But for 2008 our primary focus is to take the bike as it is but with a better, more dependable motor and stick Bridgestones on it without sacrificing any of the many good things it has about it already. If we can do that, it's up to Valentino to do the rest-and we all know that he can!"