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project k1 vs k9

waste ourDid wemoney?

We spent £3150

2001 suzuki gsx-r1000 k1165.04bhp; 86.14lb.ft; 185mph (est); £5750The original litre-class GSX-R astounded when new, but common sense says it’s too long in the tooth to give the latest model a kicking, no matter how much money we throw at it.

words kev raymond pics PaUL BryanT

2009 suzuki gsx-r1000 k9164bhp; 80lb.ft; 184.52mph; £10,320Latest incarnation of the mighty Gixxer Thou is nimbler than the original, but heavier and revvier – the K1 kills it in the midrange despite similar peak power.

2001 Suzuki GSX-R1000 K1

on engine and chassis upgrades to a

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Somewhere in France. Rain and more rain. Still, look on the bright side – at least we’re not wearing the tyres out too quickly

The K1 uses a bit more fuel than the K9, but there’s not much in it. However, a strike at a local oil refinery almost stopped the whole trip in its tracks

Handles as if on rails; steaming along; pulls like a train; insert your favourite locomotive-related cliché here

Not the tallest mountain in the world, but certainly one of the twistiest. If you’re in this neck of the woods on a supermoto, you’ll be in heaven

Both bikes have handy bungee points, but the K1’s marginally more practical for carting luggage. Kev’s past caring

on the road

Who’d have thought a PB project bike would ever stick to schedule? Our carefully modified GSX-R1000 K1 has had its braking and suspension sorted, and a whole stable full of extra horses added thanks to clever head work and skilful set-up. We’re ready for a proper showdown with its younger brother, the K9 – thrashed on the road and datalogged on the track.

With deadlines looming and snow falling, we take the decision to head for France, in search of better weather and a dry trackday.

Fast-forward through lots of motorway and the real riding starts as we get within reach of the South of France. A quick look at the map and there’s a riot of green ‘scenic’ markings alongside the road from Gonfaron to Bormes-les-Mimosas via Collobrières. Lots of cols marked on the map, and cols mean hairpins.

It’s grippy, sinuous and pretty, and after a few miles we realise this could well be the best road in the world – as long as you’re on a 50bhp supermoto. On these bikes it’s just too tight and twisty – it’s like using an Exocet to shoot pigeons.

By the time we stop at the top of the Col des Fourches, Kev’s grimacing. ‘On these slow corners the K1’s hard work. I had to really muscle it in. It felt like it had a flat tyre, but it hasn’t. I think it’s just the suspension’s now set to work at much higher speeds. I was getting sore shoulders from pushing on the inside bar all the time.’

By comparison the K9’s nimble and copes with this slow stuff. The fuelling’s not that great lower down, as Kev points out: ‘In the slow bends it’s surging – it gives you some fuel, you say, “no, that’s too much, I’m running wide”, then there’s nothing. You can disguise it by going up a gear, but then you’re not getting the drive.’

When we swap bikes I’m impressed by the K1. The power’s fluid and predictable, with massive drive everywhere above 4000rpm (it’s woolly below that, but I prefer that to the K9’s jerkiness) and the riding position’s roomy. It helps that the roads open out a bit, and as we hook west to Pierrefeu and then north towards Brignoles we can start laying down a bit more power.

Kev reckons the K9 turns quicker, but as we swap again and start going faster I start missing apexes on it, while I was having no problem on the K1. Why? The K1 falls into turns like an old Bimota – it likes to be leant over, but doesn’t like the process of getting there. Steering the K1’s a physical process, something you do to the bike whether it likes it or not, where on the K9 it’s a more natural happening. Put another way, the K9 feels like it’s rolling round its tyres, while on the K1 they’re in a fight about who’s in charge – you put in a command at the front, then wait for the rear to acknowledge. The K1 also stands up on the brakes. I don’t mind because in my world bikes have always done this, and when I’m on the case I can

use it to help me turn. It’s a technique I use instinctively, and on the K9 it doesn’t work – as a result I’m missing apexes by a mile. It’s my old-fashioned riding that suits the K1, not a fault with the K9.

The local paper says the best of the weather’s over towards Cannes, so we take a fast A-road blast to Fréjus. Damn, these bikes are not for those with no self-control. When you come out of a 70km/h limit

project k1 vs k9

K1: the story so farWe bought our K1 at the back end of last summer for £2600, with just over 16,000 miles on the clock. It was basically sound, but had been a bit neglected, and was 25bhp down on standard thanks to some bodging of the exhaust valve and secondary throttle butterflies. We sorted the exhaust valve and chucked the secondary butterflies in the bin, which gave us back most of the missing ponies. Next up, MCT sorted the tired suspension by revalving the forks, fitting harder springs, filling with thicker oil, revalving the rear shock and increasing the gas pressure. They also sorted the wheel alignment (the marks are hopelessly inaccurate). Brakes next, and four-pot calipers from a K3 SV1000 went on, along with EBC HH pads. That made a huge difference, although we spoiled it a bit by fitting a K4 GSX-R750 radial master cylinder. We’ll be removing that soon, but it was still in place for the track test here.With the handling and braking improved we could try for more

power. Tim Radley at Race Developments fitted secondhand K5 exhaust headers and a random Scorpion can that came with the bike, along with a K+N air filter and a Power Commander. Some fiddling with the velocity stacks in the airbox yielded an extra few bhp to take us up to a very healthy and perfectly-fuelled 152.43bhp and 80.64lb.ft.We could have left it there, but Tim wanted to show what

could be done with some proper cylinder head work. He welded extra material into the inlet and exhaust ports, so he could machine them to the shape he wanted, based on flow-bench work and experience. While he was at it he added adjustable cam sprockets and a manual camchain adjuster, and recut and faced the valve seats.The result, after a lot of patient setting up, was astounding

– 165bhp and 86lb.ft. And it’s all genuine gains, not swapping power in one area for illusory benefits elsewhere. The K1 now follows the standard curve up to about 7000rpm and then just takes off, murdering the standard engine and chopping the K9’s curve up into little bits.

In six months we’ve taken our project GSX-r1000 k1 from asthmatic wheezer to steroid-fuelled medal contender. But have

we done enough to beat the latest model on road and track? Science and

development meet stopwatch and logger.

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Your pB travellers

Kev smithPB’s hardest working tester, he takes every bike to the limit then takes a long peek over the edge

Kev raYmondA PB stalwart in its earliest days, he is still unerringly incisive when it comes to bike analysis

When in France the need For some sea and sunshine becomes very real and We can’t come this close to the med and not have a look

speed (rpm x1000)

2

Power(bhp) Torque(lb.ft)

90807060504030

100110120

150

130

160170

140

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

K1 vs K9■ K1 after head work and power commander etc: 165.04bhp; 86.14 lb.ft ■ K1 standard engine: 147.37; 78.19 lb.ft■ K9 standard engine: 164.10bhp; 80 lb.ft

Costs so farsuspension overhaul £355exhaust headers £80PC III £298.33K+N air filter £34.16Brake calipers £70head gasket £47.15adjustable cam sprockets £145Manual camchain tensioner £65Cylinder head mods £1175Lift head, set valves, cams £528.75Dyno time £352.50

totaL £3150.89

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speeD triple vs r1

and know for a fact that a big wheelie’s only a twist of the throttle away it’s hard not to give in to temptation. So we don’t.

From Fréjus it takes a bit of ferreting around to find our way onto the DN7 over the Massif de l’Esterel, but it’s worth it.

You have to be careful as it’s popular with racing cyclists as a training route, especially at this time of year – the good ones will be cornering faster than you on the descents. Otherwise it’s not too busy out of season and the views from the top are impressive. Not as impressive as the cheek of the park warden who wanted us to pay 750 euros for the privilege of using them as the background for a pic.

From the top we drop down towards Cannes, but rather than get caught up in the urban sprawl along the coast towards Nice, we pick our way through the suburbs of Mandelieu and out onto the coast road back towards Fréjus via St Raphaël. I’ve got happy memories of this road – I first rode it in 1986 on a CX500, on my way to Pompeii on my first foreign trip. You need to watch out for diesel spills and lines of drain covers on bends, and on some of the hairpins the buses use both sides of the road and will swipe you off without a second thought, but otherwise

there’s something magical about giving it some beans with a red-stone cliff on one side of you and the sparkling Mediterranean on the other.

We stop for action pics near le Trayas, using a convenient lay-by to turn round in between runs. After 20-odd passes, and a lot of twitching of curtains in the camper vans stopped for lunch in the lay-by, I’m convinced someone’s been on the mobile and there’ll be a car full of gendarmes along in a minute. When we stop and take our lids off, two

vans disgorge middle-aged couples who walk over to admire the bikes. I try to hold that thought an hour or so later when I’ve just got the bill for

the most expensive one-course snack lunch in history. This may be off season, but there are no discount prices in seafront restaurants on this coast. To balance the books, the following day we dine at Lidl.

As we get back on the bikes, I notice my visor’s sporting the first flies of the year. Half an hour later we’re running away from a cloudburst, but fortunately it heads out to sea without giving us more than a sprinkling. What next? Let’s do it again, but in the opposite direction. This way, the ascent up towards Esterel really flows. The road’s a bit damp but I’ve got confidence in the K1 now – we understand each other. That’s good because it does need confidence – once you’re committed to a line that’s pretty much your lot, where the K9’s happier to chop and change. I could happily ride up and down this road all day, so that’s what we do.

Last time up, and it’s still sunny at the top, but as the sun sets the temperature plummets and I’m forcibly reminded that it’s February and I’m in race leathers. Normally at these moments there’s a race for one particular set of keys – everyone wants whichever bike will give the easiest ride to tired bones and a frazzled brain. It’s a surprise to find I really don’t mind which bike I get for the ride back. The K9? Fine by me. It’s an hour or so back to the hotel, picking our way through rush-hour Fréjus, a bit of A-road, then a wrong turn and an unplanned frozen motorway thrash before a hot shower and a three-course meal.

With a few glasses of wine inside me I’ve got time to reflect. I thought the K1 would end up like a lot of modified bikes I’ve ridden – strip away the compromises of a standard bike, which has to work for all people in a wide range of situations and you can easily improve most bikes within a fairly narrow range. We’ve been trying to do something very specific with the K1 – make it lap a racetrack faster than the K9. If that made it a pig in town, or compromised its performance in any other way, so be it. What’s amazing is that it hasn’t. It’s still a great road bike.

aD

project k1 vs k9

Here’s where the K9 excels – flicking from one side to another in slow to medium speed bends. In faster bends the K1’s more stable

The K1 will do this all the time unless you specifically tell it not to. It’s got so much midrange it just can’t help itself

Still looking good after all these years. But enough about Kev Smith. GSX-R = blue and white – any other colours would just be plain wrong

St Raphaël: cous-cous for three, glass of orange juice and a coffee each. ‘That’ll be 50 euros please.’ Bloody hell, I’m in the wrong business

We’ve been trying to do something speciFic With the k1 – make it lap a track Faster than the k9.

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tech comparison

project k1 vs k9

K9engine

One glance at the spec sheet shows the K9 motor’s been designed to rev. Up to 999cc (K1-4 is 998cc, K5-8 is 998.6cc), it’s even more

oversquare than the earlier models (74.5mm x 57,3mm compared with the K1’s 73mm x 59mm). Exhaust and inlet valves (now titanium) are

1mm bigger, and it has forged pistons (stronger than cast items), posh cromoly conrods and a stronger, lighter crank. The engine’s narrower than earlier versions, and a stacked gearbox makes it shorter as well. The balance shaft is smaller and lighter. Compression ratio is up to

12.8:1 (K1-4 is 12:1, K5-8 is 12.5:1) and there are air holes between the bottoms of the cylinder walls to reduce the effect of air pumping round

the crankcase as pistons rise and fall.

chassis/suspensionThe chassis is all-new, built from five cast sections, welded together

and with a bolt-on subframe. The shorter engine allows a more compact frame, with a longer swingarm in relation to the wheelbase, claimed to improve traction. Wheelbase itself is 1405mm, against the

K1’s 1410mm. Rear suspension is conventional, but the big news is the Big Piston Forks at the front. BP forks are claimed to be lighter and

stiffer than conventional forks, with more consistent damping qualities. It’s easier to strip and revalve them as the whole damping unit slides

out of the top of the forks – important for race teams, less vital for the rest of us. Nice to have both damping adjusters at the top where we

can get at them easily though.

K1engine

Despite rumours, the K1 is not a bored and stroked GSX-R750Y engine. It has a very similar head layout and valve sizes, but was

actually all-new, slightly taller and longer, with a bore and stroke of 73mm x 59mm for a displacement of 998cc. Compression ratio is 12:1. The cylinders are cast into the upper crankcase half for extra rigidity, and plated directly onto the aluminium block – no separate cylinder liners. This saves weight and reduces the possibility of coolant leaks

and head gasket failure – common with conventional wet-liner engines. Titanium headers and a titanium/aluminium silencer help shave weight, while a servo-controlled exhaust valve is there to keep the noise down

in the midrange as much as improve the power delivery.

chassis/suspensionThe frame was based on the 750 – they look identical and share

dimensions but the wall thickness was increased to cope with the extra speed/power of the bigger engine. There was nothing

revolutionary about the K1’s chassis even in 2001 – now it looks a bit old-fashioned, physically long and tall. The fully adjustable 43mm

upside down forks were based on the 750’s, but with an anti-stiction titanium nitride coating to the sliders. A non-adjustable steering

damper lurks in front of the fork legs. Rear suspension is a standard fully adjustable monoshock, operated by a heavily braced swingarm

that looks like something from the early 1990s – contrast that with the K9’s cast and welded, CAD-sculpted loveliness and you get some idea

how far chassis aesthetics have come on in the last decade.

Knee down in February. Nice.

No, it’s not Nice, that’s Cannes in the background

wheels, braKes and tYresWheel and tyre sizes are the same as previous 1000s – standard

superbike sizes. But the wheels themselves are lighter. Front brakes use 310mm floating discs gripped by four-piston radial monobloc calipers

– rather than being bolted together from two separate halves, the whole caliper’s machined from one solid block. Once the piston bores have been machined (32mm for the trailing pistons, 31mm for the leading ones), the outer faces are plugged and then welded. In theory all this makes them stiffer than standard calipers, but it also saves weight –

a claimed 205g per caliper. A radial master cylinder with a 17mm bore provides the pressure.

electronicsFrom the K1’s relative simplicity to the K9’s bewildering array of sensors and gadgets in ten years. But have we actually moved on? Most of the

K9’s extra processing and control ability (at least in standard form) goes into massaging the engine through ever-stricter noise and emissions

controls. The same goes for the catalytic converter and huge, ungainly exhausts – all the theoretical weight loss over the K1 is squandered right

there, hence the K9 weighing in a full 10kg more than the K1. And the three-position engine mapping switch? I’ve no doubt it’s handy for

racers when linked to a race ECU, but for the rest of us? It didn’t get touched throughout this test – not in the wet, not in the damp, not in the dry – which tells you all you need to know about how useful it is where

it really counts out in the real world.

wheels, braKes and tYresFairly light three-spoke alloy wheels carry what are now standard

superbike-sized tyres, but in 2001 that 190-section rear was a talking point. 320mm discs at the front are operated by six-piston calipers.

They’ve got to be at least 50% better than four-pistons, right? Wrong. It’s fine if you develop discs and calipers at the same time, but these were just added to existing discs. The extra power never materialised, there was a penalty in feel, and there were 50% more pistons to get

covered in road crap and seize up after the first winter. They went radial for the K3/4, then finally back to four-pots for the outstanding K5.

electronics/engine managementAlmost bizarrely simple by today’s standards, but state-of-the-art in 2001. Up to that point fuel injection was almost universally jerky and

horrible low down, especially off-idle. The Suzuki system uses two sets of throttle butterflies – the main ones are controlled by the rider. The second set are computer controlled, reacting to engine speed, inlet pressure and throttle position to average out the airflow through the

throttle bodies and smooth out the delivery. And that’s it – no lap timers, no catalytic converter, no switchable fuel mapping. Just something that for the first time delivered the advantages of fuel

injection (good for top-end power, programmable to get through noise/emissions tests) with well set-up CV carbs – grab a handful of throttle

knowing it’s going to do what you expect.

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at the tracK

There are few things more dispiriting than waking to the sound of rain hammering on the windows. Except when you’ve got to get up and go to a racetrack you’ve never seen before and learn it in the wet on an unfamiliar 165bhp bike… And if you’ve put in 1000 miles to get to some warm, dry tarmac, it is, to be blunt, a total bastard... But since we’re here, we’d best get on with it, learning which way Circuit du Var goes, hoping that a dry line appears.

The first session wasn’t so much misty, more like riding through a cloud. Clear your visor and a few seconds later you have to clear it again. Corners are looming out of the murk; can’t tell if it’s a flat kink or a hairpin at first glance. Fortunately it’s a simple track to learn, except there’s a bikes-only dead-stop right-hand hairpin and immediate slow left, just where you’re expecting a fast left kink. In the dry that’s going to be a test of stability on the brakes and low-down drive.

Second time out and it’s time to fire up the datalogger. Now the Racelogic Performance Box is a marvellous bit of kit, but there’s one problem: I’ve never even seen it before and although Kev knew how to work the old one, this one’s new to him as well. Arse. So to get the hang of gathering data I decide we’ll go through the full logging rigmarole in the next damp session. If nothing else, I tell Kev, it’ll give us an idea which bike is the most forgiving and smooth-steering. He scowls at me. Fair enough. Actually, we did get interesting info from the damp runs – the K9 was braking harder and later than the K1 in most places, even though the track was wetter than for the K1 run. First points to the K9.

By lunchtime there’s a dry line pretty much everywhere. When the circuit staff get back from their two-hour lunch (this is France, after all...) and let us back out, we’re onto dry tarmac. A lap to make sure it’s dry all the way round, another to warm the tyres, then give it some out of the last bend and down the straight. Merde! I’m on the K1 and at 100mph or so it just stands up on its back wheel over the little crest before the start finish. The K9 does the same, but it’s not so relentless as the K1 – a shortshift to third calms it down where the K1 wants to flip all over again. The whole straight’s a compromise between wheelie and drive, whichever bike you’re on, but the K1’s definitely driving harder, as Kev finds out later on: ‘It just feels like the K1’s power kicks in earlier and harder – all the way down the straight I’m rolling off to stop it flipping, and into the last fast kink, top end of second, kick it into third and drive out, it’s wheelying out of there. Is it on lower gearing than standard?’

Nope, but the K1’s walloping power delivery makes it feel that way. Although first gear’s the same on both bikes, the K9’s close-ratio box means all the K1’s other gears are higher than the 9’s.

Kev Smith’s world famous in Corby, but he doesn’t let it go to his head. Note the gorgeously painted French GSX-R600 K4 in the background

Fast corners are where the K1 scores. It takes some work to turn it in, but once there, it’s rock solid, no drama

If the K1’s acceleration is impressive, Kev’s less enamoured of its behaviour on the way into bends. ‘It’s a feel thing – where the turn-in is a bit rippled I’m getting a floating sensation and I’m not sure if it’s the tyre trying to tell me something’s wrong. Then braking into the last right hander, I can’t change down early, I have to hold the gear and let the revs fall. If I bang it down I get bad rear chatter. Then as you come off the brakes it goes all mushy. You can’t go from one to the other smoothly.’

The faster he’s going, the more he’s liking the K9 over the K1, especially the steering: ‘It’s smooth without being wishy-washy. The K1 feels like an old bike by comparison. I’m still having problems with both on the brakes though, running wide on the entries and thinking, “the apex is over there, need to brake harder to make it”, but that makes it worse, eventually you have to just let it off and pitch it in, trust the front to grip.’ Fortunately the Bridgestone BT016 tyres on both bikes are up to the job – impressive as they’re not a pure trackday tyre and last well on the road. ‘They spin in the wet, but in the dry the corners are slow so you pick it up onto the fat bit before you gas it so they just hook up and drive.’

The K1 wears its rear tyre more than the K9 – a classic sign the suspension’s over-stiff or at the edge of what it can do, but Kev points out that the K1’s fiercer power delivery might have something to do with it as well, working the tyre harder from lower speed. Certainly the wear’s even, no cutting up or cupping, just a nice fine grain right to the edge.

With a load of dry laps logged for the K9, it was time to see if the K1 could match it. Unfortunately the main run suffered from terminal datalog user error number 374 – forgetting to press the ‘on’ button. Sorry Kev, my fault. Logger switched on, he headed off for an out lap, a quick lap, and an in lap. Proper Superpole stuff. He didn’t plan it that way – the in lap was ‘in’ as ‘in the gravel’. Not his fault – the gearbox had been getting progressively more cranky, and had already jumped out of

second several times. This time it chose to do it just as Kev cranked into the first part of the second double right, braking hard down from 90mph, with a view to trail-braking down to just over 50 at the apex. With no drive, and the bike running wide onto the marbles at the still damp edge of the track, he ran out of options: ‘I’ve never braked so hard

project k1 vs k9

K1 vs K9 – one LaP of CIrCuIt Du var, Le LuC, franCeKev Smith: ‘The great thing about racing yourself is you can always say, “I won”.’

GsX-r1000 K1 GsX-r1000 K9Lap time 1:10.70s 1:10.80sspeed on straight 131.95mph 131.4mphsPLIts:first right (300m) 8.6s 8.7sfast left kink (680m) 21.2s 21.2sMid-hairpin (770m) 26.07s 25.93sBraking point (1000m) 38.2s 37.95sapex of double right (1170m) 43.11s 42.7sfast right kink (1500m) 52.2s 51.9sapex of last turn (1920m) 62.78s 62.8s

‘A tenth faster? I’d swear blind it wasn’t... Are you sure you didn’t mix the files up?’ No Kev, I didn’t. A tenth of second. That’s the difference. But what’s interesting is not how much time difference there is, but where it’s won and lost. If all we had was a stopwatch, we’d be left with the idea that both bikes were so close because they were doing practically the same thing. They’re not. The K1 initially takes that tenth on the run into the first right hander, approached via a fast left kink off the straight. But the K9 takes it straight back, uses its smooth steering to hustle faster through the super-slow hairpin and following slow left, then starts to pull away up the hill and into the double right at the top of the circuit. At the apex of the double right the K9’s got nearly 0.4s in hand, but it starts to go wrong from there as the K1 can finally start to lay down some serious power in second and third, using its stiffer suspension to dance through the fast right and get back on the gas while the K9’s tip-toeing through and running wide on the exit, struggling to stay on the track. That lets the K1 catch up in the middle of the last bend and then out-drag the K9 to the line. Result.

CIrCuIt Du var

heaD-to-heaD GsX-r1000K1 GsX-r1000 K9Weight (measured) 198.5kg 208.5kgWheelbase 1410mm 1405mmBore and stroke 73 x 59mm 74.5 x 57.3mmPower 165.04bhp@11,400rpm 164bhp@11,200rpmtorque 86.14lb.ft@8200rpm 80lb.ft@9800rpm

This is the slow left after the hairpin. Drive out of here is critical for a good entry speed to the next complex. The K9 uses its smooth steering to carry a bit more corner speed and pull away from the K1 up the hill

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aDleant over before, but I just wasn’t going to make it round so I had to stand it up and try and gas it through the gravel.’ The logger trace shows he left the track still doing nearly 60mph, and the gravel then slowed him to a stop in 60 metres. To put that in perspective, the K1’s original six-pot brakes took over 105 metres to stop from 100mph. Shows gravel traps work, so long as you can keep it upright.

No harm done, but understandably he wasn’t keen to do any more full gas laps, so we had that one quick lap to go on. In the end, it was enough to get a comparison, and it wasn’t at all what we were expecting.

For most of the lap there’s not much in it – the K9 feels better but the K1’s putting more power on the ground. Towards the end of the lap though, there’s a big difference. ‘That last kink is the key – it’s getting on for 100mph, knee down, and you have to really turn it in hard on the K1. It’s a real confidence thing – you really don’t want to get it wrong and run wide because there’s not that much run-off. The K9 feels like it’s making the initial turn better, but I’m struggling to keep it from running wide on the exit. Maybe it’s turning too well, so I’m effectively turning in too early, having to wait longer before getting on the power.’

The datalog trace confirms it – both bikes hit the same speed at the apex, but the K9 spends longer down there before getting back on the gas. That gives the K1 – which has been struggling to stay on the K9’s back wheel for most of the lap – the chance to nose ahead, and once in front, there’s only one more corner to deal with. No finesse needed here, it’s a case of burying the front end into the tarmac as late as possible, flinging it on its side, picking it up and nailing it away down the straight. And nailing it is what the K1’s best at. Both bikes are doing about 40mph/6000rpm at the apex of that last corner. In first gear, the K1’s making about 10bhp more than the K9 at that point, and at 7k, that advantage has doubled. The miracle’s not that the K1 beats the K9 by a tenth, but that the K9 could get so close in the first place.

Same corner, same line, different feel. Both bikes talk to you, but while the K9 keeps up a constant, running commentary, the K1...

...can’t make up its mind whether to whisper or shout. As long as you listen carefully though, the message still gets through

Do a frenCh traCKDayTwo reasons you might want to do this. 1: escaping crap weather in Blighty for a bit of dry tarmac early in the year. 2: as a focus for a road trip in the summer – thrash to a track, thrash round a track, thrash home. There’s also 3: various combinations of good food, cheap booze, great roads and a general public who by and large treat bikers like human beings. Option 1 is risky, as we know from long and soggy experience. Even in the South of France, the weather’s a lottery in the early months, and for every sunny day we’ve had in February, we’ve had a grotty one to negate it. On balance though, it’s worth a try, especially if you can arrange to get two or three outings in on the same trip to even out the averages.

1 Choose your traCK You can find a full list of every track in France at www.motos-et-pistards.com/circuits-moto.php. For an early season day you’ll be looking at the far south: Le Luc, Ledenon, Nogaro, Pau-Arnos and Paul Ricard spring to mind, but by far the most accessible is Le Luc, which is why we ended up there. They sub-let loads of days a year to clubs and trackday firms, so you need to check their website at www.circuitduvvar.com, look at the calendar and click through to find contacts for the organisers, then contact them direct. Some will be phone only, others will have websites and online booking.

2 sPeaK frenCh. It heLPs... On the day there’s a very good chance you’ll find someone who can speak some English and will be happy to help out, but it’ll make life a lot easier if you can speak a bit yourself, or find a mate who can. Without some French you’ll find it difficult to get past the first hurdle of actually finding out what’s on, when and where. You won’t find many racetrack websites with translations into Rosbif.

3 thInK aBout tyres They’re a lot more expensive in France, and even if you take spares it’s not always easy to find someone to fit them for you, even to loose wheels. You might want to choose something that’s not going to turn to snot in 20 laps.

4 Get soMe traveL InsuranCe Read the small print though – it often won’t cover you for trackday use. While you’re at it, get a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which is the modern version of the old E111 form. Without it you could face a huge medical bill if you hurt yourself while you’re away.See www.nhs.uk for more details.

5 taKe your PaPerWorK WIth youYou’re legally required to carry your bike’s log book, insurance and your driving licence. UK insurance automatically covers you for EU travel but ONLY for the legal minimum in whatever country you’re in. For the same cover as you get at home, you’ll need a green card from your insurer. Some charge, some don’t. Some tracks (Circuit Carole in Paris is one) have days when they count as one-way public roads, and your road insurance should be valid for those days.

6 DoN’t assume you’re goiNg to go anD KICK soMe froGGy ass There’s a hard core of trackday enthusiasts and ex-racers who indulge their fetish for tuning and modifying bikes (which is frowned on for road bikes) by building and thrashing track specials. Some of them are bloody quick. One of them (a driving instructor and stunt rider on a GSX-R600 with crash bars) came past Kev Smith at the hairpin: ‘He was a mentalist - he had it leant over as far as it would go, everything on the deck. In the wet.’

7 taKe It easy. It’s not a race, and if there’s one thing worse than dumping your pride and joy and ending up in casualty, it’s doing it a thousand miles from home, and not knowing how to ask for a bedpan. Trust me - been there, got the T-shirt.

project k1 vs k9

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aD

Absolutely bloody not. Just one look at the dyno curves (PB April 2010) tells you we’ve invested wisely, optimising what we’ve got rather than going mad with bolt-ons or getting diverted by shiny bling – two grand in headwork and set-up sounds like a lot until you realise you can easily spend that on a full system, a Power Commander and a few dyno runs, all for a few bhp. What we’ve got is the very best of all worlds – we’ve kept the incredibly strong midrange that gives the K1 its legendary pull out of corners on road and track, but added a big, fat-top end kick as well. It’s impressive that the K1 beats the K9 round the track – it’s what we set out to do, after all – but it’s only a small part of the story. It would have been easy to compromise every other aspect of the older bike’s performance in order to achieve that narrow goal. But our ten-year-old bike is as driveable and useable as it’s ever been, just as happy trickling along in traffic as it is wheelying out of, well, just about anywhere.

We haven’t wasted our time either. This project has been an object lesson in measuring, modifying and then measuring again, letting the

results speak for themselves rather than making assumptions about what gains we’re getting. Who would have thought you could get so much extra from some secondhand exhaust bits and a cheap race can? Who’d have bet on four-piston calipers beating the six-pistons so soundly – or a fancy radial master cylinder taking us back to square one?

Who’d have believed a ten-year-old bike could beat this year’s model (the 2010 model is colour changes only) anywhere, let alone a racetrack? We believed it, and thanks to some very clever people we’ve proved it.

Don’t lose sight of the fact though, that the K1 is now significantly modified. The K9 is standard. Do some of the same kind of development to the K9 and it’d be better still. But the standard K9 costs almost twice what it took to buy and modify our K1. If it was your K1 you’d have also invested love and skill into making it yours, and that’s worth thousands in itself. It’s significant that Kev Smith, who’s done most of the test riding during our bike’s transformation, is seriously considering buying it. He’s got the message: ten-year-old sportsbikes rock.

project k1 vs k9

so, have we wasted our money?

thanK youDarren at MCt suspension: www.mctechnics.co.uk or 01449 777161Mark White: Mark@mandmmotorcycles.wanadoo.co.uk 01780 482277tim radley at race Developments: www.racedevelopments.co.uk 01452 305343Mark at BsD: www.bsd.uk.com 01733 223377www.dynojet.co.uk 01995 600500Pierrot et tout le monde at speed racing team - Merci et à bientôt! www.srt06.com

Sunset on the Esterel, time to go home. Kev S, who has remembered his jacket, will

be toasty. Kev R, who hasn’t, will freeze