MotoGP Bikes vs WSBK Bikes

found a couple things in a quick search...

http://cbrworld.net/blogs/mario/archive/2006/03/05/222704.aspx

Quote :

There's currently a lot of talks comparing MotoGP to World Superbikes, since both series are undergoing some changes. To those that have trouble understanding what's so different about these two championships, just keep in mind that in MotoGP the bikes are prototypes where almost any change is allowed except for engine size and a few other things. Teams can choose any suspension, tires, frame, etc...

In World Superbikes, the participating machines must be derived from production and commercially available bikes, which are required to be homolgated to be able to race. Another thing to notice is that, the bigger the manufacturer, the more bikes of that model must be available to the public to be homolgated. This allows small manufacturers to be able to compete with more limited edition bikes, as opposed to bigger manufacturers, which must use a real off-the-shelf bike. Naturally, many changes are allowed to bring them to a professional world level racing category, since manufacturers sell racing kits for those production models, but anyone could simply go out, buy one of these bikes, buy the racing kit, tweak it a bit, and go race it too. In WSBK all tires are from the same manufacturer, and teams have limited choice for compounds. This helps level the field a bit.

So, what is so special about this year ?

This year MotoGP has embraced many new young riders, in a year that will close the history of the 990 cc engines in the class. Next year all engines will only be allowed up to 800 cc. Curiously, some of MotoGP experienced riders are going to World Superbikes this season, and this, along with the increased effort by japanese manufacturers to do well in this championshp, has brought back much attention to WSBK. This championship shows how much sportbikes have evolved, since lap times are usually only a bit behind MotoGP lap times.

WSBK is also a measure of how good commercially available sportbikes have become, and how people who buy these bikes can only begin to grasp their potential if they take their bike on to a track. I found it amusing when Alex Barros, an extremely experienced ex-MotoGP rider now in WSBK, compared both "worlds": "The bikes are good, in MotoGP have more power, more electronics and too many choices in tires, but WSBK is good, bikes are fast, is the same as 2002 in MotoGP" (see the full interview here: http://www.worldsbk.tv/page/InterviewsDetail/0,,11445~794063,00.html).

this is a reference from Assens in 2k3.

http://www.sportbikez.net/phorum/read.php?12,77322

Quote :

This is some news i found, kind of interesting for those who wonder what kind of laptimes a motogp bike does vs. a superbike. i thought it would have been a much bigger difference between the prototypes and the production models


Last weekend's World Superbike round at Assen provided the first chance this year to directly compare the pace of production based WSBK machines against the prototype MotoGP racers – with startling results.

MotoGP raced at Assen two and a half months ago and – whilst the GP itself was wet – the preceding practice and qualifying sessions took place under near identical weather conditions to the SBK event, allowing direct comparisons between the lap times.

So, let's start with some facts:

1) WSBK pole sitter Frankie Chili's best lap was just 1.1secs slower than MotoGP pole sitter Loris Capirossi – despite Chili riding a two-year-old Ducati 998RS with around 50 less horsepower and weighing around 20kg more than Capirossi's Desmosedici V4 prototype.

2) Chili's time would have put him 11th on the MotoGP grid! The following is a list of the riders and teams he beat on his 'street bike':

Ukawa (Honda + 0.055secs), Hayden (Honda +0.124secs), Bayliss (Ducati +0.273secs), Haga (Aprilia +0.314secs), Kagayama (Suzuki +0.727secs), Hopkins (Suzuki +0.841secs), Hofmann (Kawasaki +1.298secs), Tamada (Honda +1.477secs), McWilliams (Proton +2.122secs), Pitt (Kawasaki +2.497secs), McCoy (Kawasaki +2.533secs), Kiyonari (Honda +2.833secs) and Aoki (Proton +5.298secs).

3) Under the 107% rule, using Capirossi's time, the top 22 WSBK riders at Assen would have qualified for the MotoGP race. That includes both Foggy Petronas machines ridden by Troy Corser and James Haydon! Corser was just 0.1secs slower than McCoy's Kawasaki.

4) Top Suzuki qualifier, Gregorio Lavilla – riding a GSX1000R – was just 0.6secs slower than top Suzuki MotoGP qualifier, Yukio Kagayama.

5) Top Kawasaki qualifier, Ivan Clementi – riding a ZX7 RR – lapped 1.1secs slower than top Kawasaki MotoGP qualifier Alex Hofmann. But, Clementi was faster than both Andrew Pitt and Garry McCoy – despite his significantly smaller engine size.

It's worth mentioning that Assen requires both horsepower and handling, which should shift things further in MotoGP's favour - the gap between WSBK and MotoGP could actually be closer at many other circuits.

All of which is a bit embarrassing for many GP teams – the rules may state you need to build a prototype, they don't say it needs to be slower than a production bike...

For the likes of Suzuki and Kawasaki, whose MotoGP machines don't appear to be much quicker than their WSBK designs, it is especially baffling.

Presumably, when designing their prototypes, they could have used all their WSBK experience, then employed expensive materials/manufacturing techniques which were impractical on production based racers to improve the bike further – of course changing enough engine internals to satisfy the prototype rules (and avoid a WCM type situation

i'll keep looking...