Fuller in full flight at Pukekohe
extra rpm available was never realised due to the slow burning combustion chamber . Other four-cylinder superbike racers soon overcame Yamaha ’ s rpm advantage by the use of titanium valves .”
AND IN THE BIN ... “ There have been , of course , some failures along the way with Paul ’ s OW-01 / FZR1000 combination . Head gasket failure and a broken crankshaft have led to withdrawals from racing at various times . Experimentation with crankshaft weight / harmonics have produced a more reliable package in recent times . A faulty ignition power toggle switch caused a nonfinish , as did a broken exhaust spring that let a header pipe pop off the head whilst Daniel Mettam was a guest rider . Daniel now holds the Pukekohe lap record for this class of bike in perpetuity as he did a 67 second lap back in the Classic Festival TT race in 2020 before that darn spring broke . “ Lubrication has been exclusively Motul 300V 10 / 40 . Speaking of lubrication , The Yamaha Genesis series had a relatively well-developed oiling system compared to its contemporaries . A
series of cleverly placed internal and external oil feed pipes are fed from a baffled wet sump . The motors feature oil scraper panel fixtures near the crankshaft flywheels and a series of windage discouraging horizontal panels that act as a roof on the sump . These features discourage aeration of the sump oil and help prevent evacuation of the sump during hard braking . The oil system in the OW-01 / FZR1000 hybrid remains standard as delivered by Yamaha in 1989 . “ Overall , the idea was to accentuate the advantages of the OW-01 with the FZR 1000 motor . As previously mentioned , these revolved around a more compact and stable chassis with emphasis on good cornering and braking . The other side of the coin was to try and offset the displacement disadvantage of the ‘ mere ’ 1000cc motor . The results over several racing seasons have indicated that the team succeeded in those goals .” So . The question now becomes the elephant in the room … Pav has hung up his cape , but the OW-01 is better than ever . Watch this space …
36 KIWI RIDER