TESTING 2001

Saturday 17 February 2001

With Garry and Nori third and fourth fastest today there was a feeling of quiet satisfaction in the Red Bull Yamaha pit this evening. Not wishing to push their luck, both riders finished roughly an hour early, despite Garry trying a new tyre right at the end of the session that he felt could have possibly given him the ‘pole’.

Today we managed to get the 01 bike going as well as the 2000 bike. We started with the new bike this morning, to see if the changes we made last night had made an improvement and they seemed to be working well, so we stuck with it and eventually managed our fastest time on that machine. The feel is slightly different, but it seems to be working.

We won’t be riding tomorrow. We fitted a new tyre right at the end of his session that worked very well and Garry reckons he might have been able to get into the ‘42s’ if he had continued – but we not here for that, we’re here to prepare for the coming season. Obviously I’m very encouraged by what he achieved today but there’s no prizes to be won here, it is the points on race day that I am interested in. The other thing I am very pleased about is the amount of stuff we have been able to try out here. It means that we won’t have to go to Valencia, though we’ll be at Estoril, and more importantly Barcelona where we struggled last year.

I had a better day than yesterday! I started a little slowly because I was a bit stiff after the crash and because it was quite cold. Then this afternoon a started to go quicker. Today we worked on the bike’s balance and tried some tyres and made some good progress, but I need to keep riding.

Nori was a little beaten up after yesterday’s crash but quickly loosened up. To start with we played around with a few different settings to let him get back in the groove. Then we fitted some new tyres that Michelin have been developing that they thought might suit someone with Haga’s Superbike experience. They improved his time a little, so we tried a few more chassis settings and his times came down again. Given that it his only his second day riding at this track, on a new bike, I’m very pleased with how he is progressing.

As in Malaysia, the two Red Bull Yamaha riders approached the first day of testing in Jerez very differently. Still finding the limits of his new bike, on a circuit he has never ridden on before, ‘new boy’ Nori Haga crashed towards the end of the session – though fortunately the Japanese rider was unhurt in the 4^th gear spill. Under considerably less pressure, team mate Garry McCoy rode steadily and continued to evaluate the various changes on offer for the new season.

We still have a lot of things to try out and we’re concentrating more on that than on our times, but still I am happy with how we went today. This morning we started with the 2000 engine, and after trying the new version later on in the session, found that, at this track at least, the ‘old’ version was better suited to my riding style. We also tried a number of different tyres.

At this level you have to test everything that is on offer and to eliminate the things that don’t work. The trouble is that to effectively evaluate things you have to go reasonably quickly and that means taking risks - and above all I want to make it to the 1^st race with no problems!

Today was both good and bad. It was good in that our times were more than respectable, but bad in that, although we tried a number of different options, none of them took us significantly forward. Obviously we have a responsibility to evaluate all the things that are offered to us by Yamaha, Michelin and Ohlins, but at the same time we don’t want to take any unnecessary risks. We have 12 day’s testing ahead of us and we need to stay fresh. It is why I called Garry in early today and why, if everything goes according to plan, we’ll call it quits here at the end of tomorrow’s session.

Apart from my crash at the end of the session, it was a good day today. We had just swapped bikes and were running a slightly harder compound tyre and I think that might have been the cause of the problem. Obviously we are learning all the time. I need to do as many kilometres as possible and try lots of different set ups and inevitably, in finding the bike’s limits, you risk crashing. Fortunately I didn’t hurt myself – the only problem is that I only have two sets of leathers left!

We started off with the same settings as in Sepang, to allow Nori to learn the circuit, and that seemed to work pretty well – we appear to have found a good base set up now. After that we tried a few suspension variations, but they weren’t entirely successful – but then that is why we come testing!

The third day of Yamaha’s extensively interrupted private tests at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit gave Garry McCoy a brief chance, towards the end of the session, to try the 2001 spec engine. Although unable to judge its performance over a ‘good lap’, due to continuing track drainage problems, the Australian rider pronounced himself pleased with the bottom end pick of the ‘new’ motor and the smoothness of the power throughout the rev range. Team mate ‘Nori’ Haga continued his steep learning curve, suffering a lower speed high-side at the now infamous turn 9, after hitting water on the track, but improved lap times thanks to finding more feel from the front end.

The power (of the 2001 spec engine) is more responsive off the bottom end and smoother through the rev range. It isn’t a big difference but I reckon it will help at tracks where there are a lot of tight corners.

The set up I am using is still very similar to last year’s. I’m running a new frame, and while it is exactly the same specification as the 2000 one, it feels more rigid – they seem to get a little ‘flexy’ with age – and gives better feedback from the tyres. These however are only our first tests – we’re not rushing into anything – just trying to make steady progress.

The new engine only seemed to make a difference on the couple of slow corners here. Instead of there being a delay and then the engine building revs too quickly, it picks up right off the bottom and allows Garry to get on the gas sooner. I’m very pleased because last year we tried a few engine mods that gave good bottom end, but at the expense of top end power. Here it seems that they haven’t ‘robbed Peter to pay Paul’ – that we’re getting the best of both worlds. The new engine, plus some encouraging tyre tests, have meant that our time in Malaysia has been very positive. I am a pessimist by nature but these tests have gone better than we hoped – though not better than we planned. Now we intend to run the two engines with identical chassis set ups for the remaining tests and compare them over a variety of tracks. That way we can be sure we’ve made the right choices when it is time to go racing.

At the time of my crash I was trying a new 17" front tyre – but that wasn’t the reason I lost the front end - it was due to the water at turn 9. In fact today we managed to considerably improve the feeling of the front and my lap times dropped as a result.

Despite the weather, Nori’s low speed high-side and the session being stopped for 2 hours while the ambulance took Olivier Jacque to hospital, we had a positive day’s testing. After getting close to a good base set up for the suspension we started looking at tyres – mainly the front – and made an important leap in lap times as a result. Basically we were trying to get better feel from the front end and made significant progress in that area.

There are stark contrasts in the Red Bull Yamaha pits, where the team’s two riders are testing alongside each other for the first time. On the right - a relaxed and rested Garry McCoy, reacquainting himself with the bike he rode to such effect last year, before incorporating the 2001 modifications, ready for an all out assault on the world championship. On the left - the ‘new boy’ - the spectacular Japanese ex-World Superbike rider ‘Nori’ Haga, along with new race engineer Colin Davies - learning fast the intricacies of setting up their new machine, ready for the first GP in April.

Debbie and Stu relax during one of the many rain delays during the Sepang test January 28,29,30 and 31.

Garry McCoy

I wasn’t especially tired after last season, but I thought it would be a good idea to take a complete break and come back really fresh. The team did a couple of tests with Haga while I was back in Australia - I could have gone along, but in the end I decided it would be more beneficial if I just took it easy. In all I’ve had about 3 months off – but it seemed to go very quickly! While I was at home I had an R1 road bike to run around on, so when I got back on the GP machine I was instantly struck by how light it was – though I quickly readjusted. I’m in no rush to make a lot of changes – I’m not one of those riders who likes to have new ‘bits’ just for the sake of it. To be honest I don’t think we’ll see major performance leaps from any of the bikes this year, though obviously we’ll be trying what is on offer to make the machine as competitive as possible. The big difference at the start of this year, as opposed to last year, is that we know we can win. For 2000 I set myself the target of finishing in the top five and that is what I achieved. This year my sights are firmly set on the world championship title – and hopefully I’ll continue to achieve my goals!

Though little changed from the 2000 machine Garry's bike looks faster thanks to the new number 5.

We began testing with last year’s bike for two reasons. Firstly because, after a 3 month break, we wanted to start Garry off on what he knew. And secondly, we wanted to see how much he and the bike had progressed since we came here early last year. So far we’ve fitted a new swinging arm and rear shock, and although both are identical to last year’s spec, we’ve already seen an improvement – they feel somehow fresher. The next thing we’ll try is Yamaha’s ‘new’ engine. Basically it is a package of improvements and we’ll test them all together before working backwards to see what suits Garry and what doesn’t.

We’ve had no major problems, but I have to try a lot of different settings to gain experience and see what works. The bike is very different from what I was riding last year - a motor with very little engine braking, different chassis, different tyres - different everything! In 98 I came third at Suzuka, in the 500 class on a wildcard ride, but that is my only experience in this class and I was on Dunlop tyres then, not Michelins. At the moment I just want to take it easy, learn how to ride the bike and get it set up ready for the start of the season.

New front number 41

This is my first test session with ‘Nori’ and so I’m still learning how he works and visa-versa. In fact it is going better than I had hoped - though we are still looking for a good base set up. We’re not trying to make big jumps, just steady progress – for example we’re still running the same tyres as yesterday to keep that a ‘constant’ while looking at other set up options. There’s no hurry, we have 15 days of tests before we go racing and it is important to lay a good foundation now for the future.

For more old GP Reports go to

2000 GP Reports