The new Aprilia RSV4 is the Italian bike manufacturer’s latest effort to create sales with a bike that wins races. After spending 25 million Euros and three and a half years to develop the bike it was entered in the 2009 World Superbike Championship (WSBK). The factory signed three-time world champion Max Biaggi and Shinya Nakano to ride the bike in its first season. The bike is Aprilia’s first V4 engine, and their first appearance in WSBK since 2002 when Noriyuki Haga rode the RSV 1000.Aprilia has a storied racing history, but their success has come in the 125cc and 250cc classes where they have won seventeen world championships since 1992. Their best results in the WSBK championship were fourth place finishes by Troy Corser in 2001 and Haga in 2002. After leaving the championship in 2002 the factory went to MotoGP where they had disastrous results with an innovative, but difficult bike known as the RS3 Cube. They abandoned their MotoGP effort in 2004, and focused their efforts on developing the RSV4.
Like all manufacturers Aprilia is in racing to improve their bikes and create an image that moves bikes off the showroom floor. Racing is a hot bed environment where new ideas are driven by the need to win, but it takes more than winning to sell bikes. The old adage of “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” has its merits, but without a good product that concept falls by the wayside.
When Ducati first entered the newly formed WSBK in 1988 they were a company in financial straits. The company has reversed its fortunes since that time, and its thirteen WSBK rider championships have made the Ducati name synonymous with winning. Along the way the factory has used its signature desmodromic valve system in ground breaking bikes like the classic 916 and the more recent 1098 to create a Ducati mystique. Ducati’s success in WSBK is the kind of image transformation that every motorcycle manufacturer is hoping for when they invest in racing.
BMW is one of those manufacturers. After years of developing high quality bikes for what was primarily a conservative market segment the company has designed a sport bike that is more like its Japanese counterparts than any bike that has ever rolled off a BMW assembly line. The company introduced the BMW S1000RR in 2008, and hired two-time WSBK champion Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus to pilot the bikes. The bike has had its share of development problems in its maiden season, but that’s expected for any new bike. Especially for a manufacturer like BMW who has done most of its racing in cars.
With three and a half years of development work behind them the road over at Aprilia hasn’t been as fraught with problems as the BMW effort. After fourteen starts Biaggi is fifth in the championship with two podiums and seven top five finishes. Probably not enough success to keep the three-time world champion happy, but enough to raise the team’s optimism about the possibility of winning a race in their first season with the new bike.
Here’s some pics of the Aprilia RSV4 race bike that were taken at the recent WSBK round at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.
Here’s an interview with RSV4 race engineer Gigi Dall'Igna.
