MotoGP machines are manufactured only around one goal- to win the championship and decimate the competition. Manufacturers spend millions on researching and exploiting the machinery to the last bit. But, there's always a separate department that searches for loopholes and notifies the team of engineers to look it up.
Exploiting loopholes hasn't been new in this sport, with Honda's Seamless shift gearbox and its radical Torductor sensor being built around loopholes. Now Suzuki has joined the slew of exploiting the loophole and this time, it's the cylinder head area that's under the scanner.
READ ALSO: MotoGP Insight: All You Need To Know About Seamless Shift Gearbox
MotoGP rules forbid the use of hydraulic or electronic means to control or alter the valve timing of an engine while it's up and running. Conventional VVT systems like Ducati's DVT uses both of them, which is termed illegal in the sport.
A Variable valve timing system is used to improve low end power without sacrificing the outright power delivery required at higher engine speeds. This is achieved by altering the timing of opening and closing of the intake and exhaust valves to maintain the required charge inside the engine. This process of changing the valve timing is called "Cam Phasing". The camshaft drive and the camshaft itself has a relative motion to the extent of a few degrees.
READ ALSO: An insight Of Engine Valvetrain
To improve the overall power delivery from the GSX-RR's inline 4 engine, Suzuki's engineers at Hamamatsu, Japan developed a new system which is entirely mechanical, but works effectively as a VVT system. The system uses Radially machined grooves and steel balls (Yes, you heard it right) on the cam phasers which are connected by a spring.
As the engine speed increases, centrifugal force is exerted on the steel balls forcing it towards the outside of the groove. Phasing in the Mechanical VVT takes place as the grooves on one sprocket is curved whereas the other one has straight grooves, thus the slight relative motion alters the complete valve timing of the engine.
Though Suzuki uses VVT on both intake and exhaust sides of the valvetrain on the GSX-RR, it uses VVT only on the intake side of the all new 2017 GSX-R 1000- the first superbike ever with VVT. Will this be the next big thing in the world of superbike racing? only time will tell.
By: Suraj
*** Maverick Vinales on the Suzuki GSX-RR
Exploiting loopholes hasn't been new in this sport, with Honda's Seamless shift gearbox and its radical Torductor sensor being built around loopholes. Now Suzuki has joined the slew of exploiting the loophole and this time, it's the cylinder head area that's under the scanner.
READ ALSO: MotoGP Insight: All You Need To Know About Seamless Shift Gearbox
MotoGP rules forbid the use of hydraulic or electronic means to control or alter the valve timing of an engine while it's up and running. Conventional VVT systems like Ducati's DVT uses both of them, which is termed illegal in the sport.
A Variable valve timing system is used to improve low end power without sacrificing the outright power delivery required at higher engine speeds. This is achieved by altering the timing of opening and closing of the intake and exhaust valves to maintain the required charge inside the engine. This process of changing the valve timing is called "Cam Phasing". The camshaft drive and the camshaft itself has a relative motion to the extent of a few degrees.
READ ALSO: An insight Of Engine Valvetrain
To improve the overall power delivery from the GSX-RR's inline 4 engine, Suzuki's engineers at Hamamatsu, Japan developed a new system which is entirely mechanical, but works effectively as a VVT system. The system uses Radially machined grooves and steel balls (Yes, you heard it right) on the cam phasers which are connected by a spring.
As the engine speed increases, centrifugal force is exerted on the steel balls forcing it towards the outside of the groove. Phasing in the Mechanical VVT takes place as the grooves on one sprocket is curved whereas the other one has straight grooves, thus the slight relative motion alters the complete valve timing of the engine.
*** Suzuki's Radical VVT (on a 2017 GSX-R 1000)
Though Suzuki uses VVT on both intake and exhaust sides of the valvetrain on the GSX-RR, it uses VVT only on the intake side of the all new 2017 GSX-R 1000- the first superbike ever with VVT. Will this be the next big thing in the world of superbike racing? only time will tell.
By: Suraj