I agree with Ted to a extent put it would be better to do that sort of thing away from the eyes of the world and cheaper to do it on a normal prodution factory testing day with normal looking bike and test riders.
Anyway back to the point;
Dual clutch like you'd find in the VFR or cars in the VW group like the Golf,Seat,Veyron as they have two geared shafts and two clutches-one clutch for each shaft. These have benifits but are very expensive,big,heavy,Dead feelin it character and a pig in maintaining also generally real world use.
From the little info of the pic this is more like a Single clutch twin shaft unit similar to what u'd find on a Fiat Dualogic/selespeed,BMW SMG,Lambo Egear,Gumpert apollo,Pagni Zonda R/Huayra and many racing cars. These are lighter,simpler,cheaper,better for packaging and maintaining also feel/character but still can have faults.
So no they ain't cheating they just been clever and read the book- This will benifit road bikes greatly. I think racing should be about forward thinking and new ways,not putting up brick walls on paths which currently happens now and for many years.
Many great designs have been done in racing by thinking of new ways which would benifit production versions on what they would and wouldn't be based on (many have been banned by racing gov body's). Unfortunatly some have havn't come to light but some have eventually made it with, NO help thanks to the Gov's regs or racing body's.
Now from what i would guess, If i was in that job thinking about it why not look at the past for ideas? Most people would have heard about Honda's V-tec engine system but some won't or understand it. The V-tec is a actuator that changes the cam profile (low/high lift)at a given rev range by a 'pin' pushing the cam/system to the other profile while the engine is still running. This system sound crude but its very small,simple,light (only one cam and running gear needed),cheap,can handle speed,temperatures also lots of power.
Now what if you used a similar idea for the gearbox but just update the idea for this application and chuck in a slick quickshifter and engine management (Which is already in,so add a programme for it) for extra security/reliablity and it would be simple,light and easy. I should be hired by Honda.
I like the picture of Honda giving a playful 2finger salute to the Gov reg's behind closed doors. I'm guessing Ducati will have a usual Italian hissy fit and complain crying (because they didn't do it first) to the Gov body until they ban that design too.
Posted: 26/02/2011 at 10:41
