Even if this time it seems to be off to a good start, Petronas (the Malaysian oil company, not the current team) is not its first attempt at MotoGP.
Last year, at this time, we counted you the long and very eventful history of the Petronas FP1 which hit the headlines in the early 2000s.
We report it again below for those who have not read it, but know that it is perhaps not finished since, according to the site CycleNews, the stock of “forgotten” motorcycles discovered in 2010 has just been restored and will soon be offered at auction in Great Britain.
According to our British colleagues themselves, the story could therefore still experience new twists and turns...
“The affair lasted so long that the British motorcycles were apparently forgotten and ended up in the care of British sports car and sports motorcycle restorers and brokers Lanzante Motorsports. They have all been restored to original specifications. However, the company has been coy about how it has had custody of these machines, and it will be interesting to see if Petronas and/or Momoto move forward to reclaim their ownership. Expect more twists and turns in this story when the auction date is released ».
To be continued…
The idea came from the management of Petronas, a Malaysian oil industry: to participate in a high-level motorcycle championship, with an estimated budget of 30 million for 5 years.
The conditions materialized at the end of 2000, when Dorna, organizer of the MotoGP world championship, announced a historic turning point with the transition from 500cc to MotoGP, i.e. the gradual abandonment of the two-stroke engine in favor of four-strokes. of 990cc.
Given the similarity of this type of engine with those of Formula 1, Petronas then orders a motor from the engineering company Sauber Petronas Engineering (60/40 joint venture between the two parties). As for theAprilia Cube, the result is a 989 cc three-cylinder with four valves per cylinder with pneumatic return and balance shaft. A very narrow, if somewhat tall, engine, for which 3 hp is declared at 200 rpm, is the concept of Osamu Goto, former head of Honda, McLaren and Ferrari in F1 (see our exclusive interview here).
Osamu Goto: “Nous avons utilisé l’expérience acquise en F1. Aujourd’hui, il y a trois prototypes, mais la version finale sera présentée le 21 octobre prochain au GP de Malaisie, probablement avec une moto complète, car ce moteur n’a pas été conçu séparément, bien sûr, mais inséré dans une moto. Le moteur que vous verrez est le premier prototype de trois. Nous avons atteint 15500 trs/mn sans casser et on ne dit pas que, dans la version finale, on continuera à utiliser la distribution pneumatique. Le régime maximum, en fait, ne l’exige pas et, évidemment, dans une version moins sophistiquée il pourrait être plus bas et plus compact. Du reste, si dans un moteur destiné à la F1 le but est de trouver autant de chevaux que possible, l’objectif pour une moto est un peu différent: il faut que la facilité et la maniabilité sont privilégiées. Avoir 270 chevaux et aucune possibilité de les passer au sol serait un non-sens.”
The engine was finally presented in April 2001 at Suzuka, with Petronas and Sauber seeking a chassis partner. The engine is then of a classic design (vertical) except for its intakes at the front, and develops nearly 200 hp.
A complete motorcycle performs demonstration runs at Sepang, October 2001, in the hands of Niall Mackenzie.
The engine is completely different from the first presented: much more tilted towards the rear and with visibly very optimized crankcases and cylinder head, a concept taken up by Honda for its Moto3. None of its 283 parts are in common with the old one! A real gem!
Osamu Goto: “It's a beautiful engine, completely new compared to what we showed at Suzuka: it's lower and the cylinders are more inclined. It was made in five months, and mounted in a Harris chassis. Last week he did a first test in Shah Alam, where we will return after doing a few tests here in Sepang. And once we finish here, we will return to Europe, to Jerez.”
But suddenly, barely a week after these tests, and for reasons still unknown to this day, Petronas decided not to enter MotoGP but Superbike!
Rumor has it that Sauber and Petronas had entered into negotiations with several teams to participate in the 2002 MotoGP championship, but that Sauber had been too greedy... we are talking about 10 million dollars!
So, after some denials, Petronas suddenly confirms that his bike will be entered in Superbike and not in MotoGP, under the direction of Carl Fogarty. The motorcycle world is taken aback…
Le Foggy Petronas Racing is created.
Sauber, more interested, leaves the project, while the 3-cylinder must be completely redesigned, becoming a 900cc to benefit from the regulations which had fixed different weight scales for the 750-4 cylinders, the 900-3 cylinders and the 1000-2 cylinders.
In accordance with the Superbike regulations, and unlike those of MotoGP, the Petronas must also be approved by ultimately manufacturing a road machine sold in 150 units, with at least 75 units in the first year for newcomers. English society MSX International will be responsible for it when the engines are available…
Carl Fogarty (11 / 2001): “The FIM has not yet set a date for the homologation of our bike, I think it will be in the middle of the season, where we will have 75 bikes completed. They will be on sale towards the end of next year. The first will be ultra-special road bikes as they are to be based on the Sauber racing engine. There will be a long way to go before the numbers are put together and the final look of the bike is finalized and the bikes assembled. MSX has a lot of resources in the automotive industry and engineering in general, it's their job to make sure we produce the road bike on time. They have an impressive CV, Ford is one of their clients, from a clean sheet to model launch. I want the public to look at this bike and think it’s absolutely awesome, and I want to give them something they love.”
At the team's official launch in Bologna in December 2001, Foggy announced that he would oversee the launch of 10.000 road motorcycles over the next few years, creating a mass industry in Petronas's own country of Malaysia.
In January 2002, it was Eskil Suter who obtained Petronas the market for “redesigning” an engine, with the initial objective of participating in the SBK championship in the first race of 2002…
From the start, Eskil Suter expressed doubts about the feasibility of the project in such a short term.
Carl Fogarty then applauded his nomination with both hands. This won't last...
“It’s the best of both worlds for us. We had the involvement of the best engine designers, and now our sponsor Petronas has chosen the best engine developers to transform our motorcycle into a competitive machine. In this way, we retain the expertise of F1 while drawing on the experience of Eskil Suter, who has an impressive background in the world of motorcycling and is very positive about the whole project. He will work closely with my team to ensure we meet the deadlines to be on the World Superbike grid for the Laguna Seca round in July. It makes me very happy to know that the engine will now be developed by people who know motorcycles inside out.”
As for WCM by Peter Clifford, the chassis is made by the British manufacturer Harris Performance Products.
Ultimately, the operation proved to be a disaster, with Suter completely overwhelmed by a task which, by his own admission, was beyond his capabilities at the time.
In February 2002, it was only 3D renderings of the engine on a computer, despite hiring and purchasing equipment thanks to subsidies from Petronas: “This job is like a suicide mission. It’s a crazy challenge, but everyone involved is aware of that.”
In March 2002, Foggy began to express doubts about Suter and, openly, explained that it was Petronas who chose him and not him, and that he did not know that Suter had skills in engine design... atmosphere! He even indicates that everything else will be ready and competitive, but that he has doubts about the engine: “I don't know much about his company, and I never realized he was known for his engineering skills. I’m 100% sure everything will be fine, but as for the engine, I don’t know.”
In May 2002, the Foggy Petronas team workshops, entirely financed by Petronas, were operational; they will have cost a whopping £1,5 million!
“As the team that everyone is watching, our new factory and workshops must be impressive.”
Foggy is very proud to show his headquarters to the press, and insists on the presence of a prayer room, because Malaysian Muslim employees will come to work there. But he specifies that in fact, it is above all him who will go and pray, so that the engines will eventually arrive!
Foggy had planned to show the machines at Silverstone at the end of May, before the first race at Laguna Seca in July, but the engines were not ready and he canceled everything.
The racing bike is finally unveiled in London on June 11.
In July 2002, the new engine was finally ready. It generally follows the architecture of the Clean, but seems closer to the first version than the second.
The motorcycles are finally presented in Kuala Lumpur.
Troy Corser et James Haydon, lured by good salaries, do parade laps at Brands Hatch during the summer, to cheers from the crowd, but the road bikes are not ready and Foggy announces that the racing debut is postponed until 2003. Of course, in the meantime, we also tour in Sepang…
75 road machines will be hastily assembled in England in January 2003, by MSX International in Basildon, Essex, while the manufacturing line is set up in Malaysia, at modenas who had signed a subcontractor contract for Foggy-Petronas; the FIM agrees that the other 75 will be examined later (in Malaysia).
Meanwhile, Troy Corser made interesting times in testing at Phillip Island.
In Valencia for its first race, the Petronas qualified 4th on the grid, thanks to Troy Corser and the latter says he is confident in his chances of winning a victory quickly.
More Suter engine chronically overheats, and the entire 2003 season was hampered by both technical problems and a lack of power.
At the end of the season, Foggy separates from James Haydon, who never got used to the motorcycle, and also dismisses Eskil Suter, to entrust the development of the engine to Ricardo, a British racing engine specialist. As a result, road motorcycles are also withdrawn from sale, so that the modifications suggested by Ricardo can be transposed to road machines, so as not to risk disqualification.
But in the meantime, the regulations have changed, the 4 cylinders being authorized to cube 1000cc like the twins and the 3-cylinders. The result was that Petronas started with 10% less displacement compared to its competitors, unless it again manufactured a 1000cc…
The 2004 season begins with the Suter engine, the new one not being planned until mid-season. Yet Troy Corser managed to take a pole position in Germany, and at Misano he spent most of the race in the lead, before being overtaken at the very end of the race by Régis Laconi.
At the end of the season, Corser will have won two pole positions and two podiums, in total. Troy Corser finished 9th in the ranking, --Chris Walker 11th, both drivers being handicapped by the uncertain reliability of the engine.
Tired, and unconvinced by Foggy's managerial qualities, Troy Corser left the ship at the end of 2004 at the end of his three-year contract, and signed with Alstare, with the Suzuki with which he won his second world champion title the following year.
A new rebored version of the engine was presented in 2005.
But the new pilots, Gary McCoy et Steve Martin, will not obtain any convincing results, finishing 22nd and 18th in the championship, while the road bikes are still not available for sale, in blatant contravention of the WSB rules... But given the poor performances of the Petronas, no one is asking complaint, which avoids further angering the Malaysian oil tanker.
Officially the road bikes are on sale for 25 pounds, but there is no distributor in Europe and you have to buy them directly in Malaysia, from a NAZA Bikers Dream company. No wonder buyers aren't rushing...
McCoy escapes in turn after a year, but Steve Martin remains and is joined by the young English hopeful Craig Jones. It is nevertheless the swan song for FP1, especially since Foggy is no longer hiding to say that he is fed up. Martin scores two front row qualifiers, at Phillip Island and Valencia, but that will be it for the rewards.
The racing Foggy Petronas bow out at the end of 2006.
Foggy tries to use his lavish technical structure to bait the brothers Castiglioni, to whom he offers a superbike entry with the MV Agusta F4, but they know the race and do not respond to Foggy's financial requests.
Foggy will finally sell all the equipment purchased with Petronas funds, in an auction organized by Whyles Hardy & Co in March 2008 (auctioneer who will later sell Caterham F1, but that's another story...) .
The story doesn't end there, however...
In February 2010, Motorcyclenews journalists discovered 60 Petronas FP1 carefully lined up in a warehouse.
The collection, worth around 2 million euros, was carefully guarded, and the owner, Malaysian oil giant Petronas, appeared to be hiding the entire episode under a veil of silence. The reason for this is not clear but in the years of the Superbike program, almost 35 million euros were spent, with the prospect of launching excellent motorcycle production in Malaysia.
The failure was complete and only the 75 motorcycles produced in Essex, followed by the other 75 in Malaysia six months later, saw the light of day. Although the company that produced the first batch had changed ownership, now owned by another engineering company, Arrk R&D, the motorcycles were still at the original site.
Petronas therefore paid for the guarding… and, a little shamefully, the silence!
Once updated, all English motorcycles were purchased in 2012 by Momoto, a company owned by a former Malaysian pilot, Dato Paduka Aiddie A Ghazlan.
This renames the motorcycles to MM1 and has them repainted in his colors before offering them for sale. More than likely, he would also have bought back industrial patents to continue mass manufacturing, with ambitious export projects around the world.
If you feel like it and you are adventurous, there must be a few left (see here)... but with 900cc and 127 hp, definitely don't think about buying a MotoGP!
Sources: Motorcyclenews, Crash.net, GPone, Visordown, etc.
