Aprilia preparing for gear driven cam engine debut

The factory Aprilia team of Max Biaggi and Leon Camier could be ready to debut their gear driven cam motor as early as Salt Lake City at the end of May following clarification of its legality by the SBK Commission.

As revealed in MCN two weeks ago, Aprilia will be allowed to use the engine later in the year despite the disaproval of some rival manufacturers in the paddock.

A statement from Aprilia read:

Aprilia will be allowed to use a gear driven camshaft system on the RSV4 engine in the Superbike World Championship.

The clarification for the regulations was included in the circular sent by the SBK Championship race organisers to teams and constructors on Sunday 28 March, after the Portimao race, the same day as the historic double victory by Max Biaggi and the Aprilia RSV4.

This means that Aprilia will be able to use the new gear driven camshaft system on its V4, or – obviously – continue using the chain driven system used on the race circuits to date by Max Biaggi and Leon Camier with excellent results.

In keeping with the spirit of the regulations governing the world championship for production derived racing bikes, Aprilia has made the gear driven camshaft conversion kit available for all owners of an RSV4 Factory (information is available at the website www.aprilia.it, in the Racing area).

Aprilia Racing technical and racing director Gigi dall’Igna said: “We were certain our position was right, and we were in fact the first to announce the technical developments we were working on during the team presentation press conference.

“We are the newcomers in this great championship and, while adhering to the regulations, we are obliged to explore every technical possibility to help us close the gap between us and our rivals, who have years of experience and success behind them.

“We have worked intensively on the gear driven camshaft system and its development is still a work in progress, with the main focus on improving power delivery.

“We could be ready to race in a couple of months, possibly for the US race at the Miller Motorsport Park”.