Difference between revisions of "Kawasaki Z1000 Bol D'or"
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Revision as of 21:22, 23 October 2019
Racing Bikes Kawasaki Z1000 Bol D'or | |
Class | [[:Category:Racing motorcycles|Racing]] [[Category:Racing motorcycles]] |
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Weight | |
Manuals | Service Manual |
Photos
Overview
Kawasaki Z1000 Bol D'or 1975
The French were the first to set out after the records at
motorcycling's Le Mans 24 Hours, the Bol d'Or. They developed the Japauto 1000,
which was a very successful adaptation of the Honda 750 four-cylinder production
model.
The Italians entered the field with the Guzzi and Laverda
two-cylinder models. The Italian motorcycles were in the front starting
positions, but they never finished. Thus the first years of the Coupe
d'Endurance were dominated by the French and Honda.
Then Kawasaki built and put on the market its two-shaft
four-cylinder 900, a big racing motorcycle with a production-model chassis. It
was clear to many private adapters of motorcycles that the Kawasaki could be a
winner. And the Bol d'Or was the only big race in the world in which a
well-organized team of amateurs could have a ope of winning.
The Honda Japauto 1000 won the 1972 and 1973 editions of the
Bol d'Or, and the French thought that they would win again without great
difficulty. At the starting line of the 1974 edition, Luc Rigal's official BMW
and some sixteen more or less competitive Kawasaki 900s, none of which could be
underrated, waited to take off. Rigal's BMW 900 took the lead, but Leon and Du
Hamel's official Kawasaki overtook it in short order. Right behind was another
Kawasaki, this one private, belonging to the French
Godier-Genoud team. Kawasaki had two official and one
semiofficial motorcycle in the race. The official ones were those ridden by the
Franco-Canadian team of Leon and Du Hamel and by the Anglo-French pair Tait and
Balde. The semiofficial Kawasaki was raced by Coulon and Sousson. The motorcycle
that won the race was the Kawasaki raced by Godier and Genoud. They rode a fine
race with pit stops only for brakes, aside from transmission chain adjustments
and the normal refueling stops, which took no more than ten seconds.
The 1975 Kawasaki 1000 that Godier and Genoud raced had a
completely redesigned chassis that was built with totally new techniques. With
the aid of a computer from Amiens University, the Frenchmen built the chassis
out of a particularly light and tough material known as 25 CD 4S, which was
recommended to them by Pierre Doncque. This adviser to the French team also
designed a new rear cantilever suspension with a kind of openwork structure that
worked like a swinging fork, acting on a single Koni shock absorber mounted
below the hub of the fork.
This redesigned Kawasaki weighed about 400 pounds, some 100
pounds less than the normal production model. Its horsepower was 105, but that
did not diminish the vehicle's mechanical reliability.
Despite all this attention, the Kawasaki lost out to the fast and maneu-verable
official Ducati at the Barcelona Montjuich 24 Hours. The Ducati was raced by
Canellas and Grau, who had an advantage on that twisting and climbing course.
The Kawasaki's superiority had been challenged by a less
finely tuned and less powerful motorcycle. The Ducati won again at the Mugello
1,000 Kilometers, while Godier and Genoud only managed a fourth place.
At the Belgian Liege 24 Hours, a fast race run under a torrential rain, the
Kawasaki had bad luck. Godier fell and the motorcycle was withdrawn from the
race.
But the time came for the Kawasaki, at the thirty-ninth edition of the Bol d'Or.
Alain Genoud and Georges Godier dominated the race, coming in ahead of the
Kawasaki raced by Estrosi and Husson as well as the one raced by Du Hamel and
Balde.
The green four-cylinder sponsored by Sidemm, the French
Kawasaki dealer, also won the last race of 1975, the Thruxton 600 Miles. Luc and
Vial came in first, and Godier and Genoud came in third.
Motorcycle: Kawasaki 1000 Bol d'Or Manufacturer: Kawasaki Industries Ltd., Tokyo Type: Coupe d'Endurance Year: 1975 Engine: Kawasaki four-cylinder, tour-stroke, with two-shaft overhead chain distribution. Displacement 998.1 cc. Cooling: Air Transmission: Five-speed block Power: 105 h.p. at 8,500 r.p.m. Maximum speed: Over 1SS m.p.h. Chassis: Double cradle, below and side, tubular. Front, telescopic suspension; rear, monocross (cantilever) with openwork fork and single vertical shock absorber Brakes: Front, hydraulic double disk; rear, hydraulic disk