Petronas FP1
| Petronas | |
|---|---|
 FP1 street legal |
|
| FP1 | |
| Manufacturer | Petronas |
| Production period | 2002 to 2003 |
| class | motorcycle |
| design type | Superbike |
| Racing series | Superbike World Championship |
| Motor data | |
| Three-cylinder four-stroke engine | |
| Displacement (cm³) | 899.5 |
| Power (kW / PS ) | 136 kW (185 hp) |
| Torque ( N m ) | 92 |
| transmission | 6 courses |
| drive | Chain drive |
| Brakes | front 2 × 320 mm floating brake discs with 4 piston tongs, rear 220 mm disc with 2 piston tongs |
| Wheelbase (mm) | 1420 |
| Dimensions (L × W × H, mm): | 2050 × 680 × 1135 |
| Empty weight (kg) | 181 |
The FP1 was a racing motorcycle from the racing division of the Malaysian oil company Petronas .
Model history
The motorcycle was originally developed by Petronas around 2001 together with Sauber-Petronas as a MotoGP prototype with 989 cm³. However, Petronas decided during development to use the machine in the Superbike World Championship instead. Before 2003, however, this meant that, according to the regulations, the cubic capacity had to be reduced to less than 900 cm³. Furthermore, the regulations of the FIM stipulated that 150 copies of a homologated street version had to be produced in order to get the approval for the racing series as a small series.
Production of 75 each in Great Britain at MSX International in Basildon , Essex and Modenas in Malaysia began in 2002 and was completed in July 2003. Suter's Swiss experts contributed the engine .
In 2003, the FIM changed the regulations, surprisingly for the developers. The permitted displacement was increased again to 1000 cm³ for all cylinder numbers and the FP1 was disadvantaged in the field due to its design. Nevertheless, with Carl Fogarty as team boss, the Foggy Petronas Racing Team took part in the Superbike World Championship from 2003 to 2006 . In the first two years, the team was able to achieve some notable successes - in addition to podium places, also third and fourth place in the overall standings. However, this was mainly due to the fact that the Japanese factory teams from Honda , Yamaha , Suzuki and Kawasaki showed relatively little commitment in this racing class in both years. From 2005 FP1 was more aggressive in any way and Petronas presented the project end of 2006, after some 30 million US dollars had cost.
successes
| season | driver | Points | placement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 |
 Troy Corser / James Haydon
|
118 | 4th place |
| 2004 |
Troy Corser / Chris Walker
|
200 | place 3 |
| 2005 |
Steve Martin / Garry McCoy
|
48 | Rank 6 |
| 2006 |
Steve Martin / Craig Jones
|
19th | Rank 6 |
Street version
The machines produced for road traffic were never sold and were considered lost for a long time. Rumor has it that they were shipped to Malaysia and destroyed there in order to prevent opposing teams and the competition from analyzing the motorcycles. In February 2010, news of the discovery of 60 machines in a warehouse in the UK caused some excitement.
The homologated FP1 developed 127.5 HP due to emission restrictions and, unlike the racing version, had a lighting system.
Web links
- “Foggy Petronas FP1”, motorcycle dated 25/2003, accessed on April 25, 2016
- Motorcycle Wiki, accessed April 25, 2016
- "Disappointing farewell for Foggy Petronas", Crash.net, accessed on April 25, 2016 (English)
- "Momoto Sue's Petronas for $ 83 million over Petronas FP1", asphalt and rubber from October 28, 2013, accessed on 25 April 2016 (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Hoard of Foggy-Petronas FP1 road bikes found in Essex. motorcyclenews, February 10, 2010, accessed April 25, 2016 .