BIG AND BEAUTIFUL |
Jeff Brown examines Gus Kuhn's big hope for this season's endurance races. |
Motor Cycle Weekly, 28 April 1979 |
If painstaking development, thorough preparation and determination are winning ingredients, the Gus Kuhn team must be rated among the top contenders for this year's Coupe d'Endurance crown. The team, riders Andy Goldsmith and Stewart Hodgson, with mechanic Dave Sleat and team manager Gus Kuhn boss Vincent Davey Snr have developed their Suzuki GS1000 endurance bike during the winter and Andy Goldsmith was more than pleased with the results of the bike's first team outing at Brands Hatch recently.
L-R: Andy Goldsmith, Vincent Davey and Dave Sleat
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"I was impressed with last year's bike but the new one is markedly better in every way," he said. "The seating is better and the bike should be very comfortable for a 24 hour event. The motor is much more powerful too. At Brands the power was coming in with a bang at 7,500 rpm and peaking at 10,500 rpm, but it still had a lot of useful power outside the power band," continued Andy. "It was very manageable and agile too; in corners it was no harder to move around than a 350. "I've been lucky to find a backer like Mr Davey. The team set-up is great, the back-up is there and the machine will do the job. As it is, the bike is easily competitive with the Honda RCBs," he said.
The new bike is based on the design of last year's machine (which has been up-dated to be used as a spare) and has a new frame made by Ken Sprayson of Reynolds. The swinging arm and detail frame work was done by mechanic Dave Sleat and the Gus Kuhn workshop men. Weight is about 420lb. The bike's triple clamps are re-machined BMW items while the front forks are shortened GS1000 tubes with modified springs and internals, with air pressure usually about 14psi. Front brakes are Lockheed callipers with Suzuki RG500 disc. A close-ratio gearbox is used and the bike has a standard GS1000 drive chain.
The gearshift can be easily changed from left to right. Everything on the bike is designed for quick removal with one screwdriver, the idea being the less spanners necessary, the less time spent in the pits. The swing arm pivot point is adjustable to allow the wheelbase to be altered to suit different tracks.
The engine in last year's bike was near standard but the new one has Yoshimura valve gear and cams, while the spare bike has experimental cams the team designed and made themselves. Breathing through 31mm Keihin racing carbs, Vincent Davey claims the spare bike can be converted to Formula One spec simply by bolting on standard Suzuki carbs. Unfortunately, the team will only contest a few Formula One rounds because of the effort and money concentrated on the Endurance championship.
"There's more than £20,000 tied up in that bike," said Vincent Davey, "and that's without considering the time spent on it. We simply cannot justify expanding our racing effort without assistance." But while Formula One is going to miss out on the professional approach of the Gus Kuhn team, endurance racing will certainly gain.
"It's going to be very interesting this year," Andy Goldsmith said. "With Honda cutting back it'll leave it open for the other teams - and there are a lot of good teams in it." "I think we've got the right bike at the right time. With that little bit of extra luck as the final ingredient it should be a good year for us."
Click here to find out about this GK Suzuki now. |