WSB bans big bang

The FIM has voted to ban big bang engines from being used in the World Superbike championship.

The move came after the Virgin Yamaha team developed a big bang engine to compete in the British championship and is a result of the continued efforts of the organisers to run WSB on a more level playing field.

It was deamed that the development needed to set up this kind of engine would be prohibitively expensive for some teams and therefore increase the divide between the larger and smaller teams.

The ‘Big bang’ comes from significantly changing the engine firing order. Firing two of the four cylinders almost simultaneously creates a larger gap between firings to allow the tyre to regain more grip on the tarmac.

The MCRCB, organisers of British Superbikes said they knew about Virgin Yamaha’s plans to run a big bang engine before the start of the season and were satisfied that it did not break any of the championships rules.

Read a full behind the scenes report on all the weekend’s racing action only in MCN, out Wednesday, April 27.