The AMA has just announced expanded equipment eligibilty for Formula Xtreme beginning next year. Looks like everyone will be pleased with these changes, especially the very vocal Triumph crowd that would love to see the 675 do battle:
From the AMA:
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and AMA Pro Racing today announced changes to the equipment eligibility list for AMA Formula Xtreme beginning with the 2007 racing season.
AMA Formula Xtreme is a support class of the AMA Superbike Championship, the nation’s premier motorcycle road racing series.
Beginning next year, production motorcycles featuring engines with the following displacement and specifications will be eligible for competition in the AMA Formula Xtreme class:
• 550cc-600cc 4-stroke liquid-cooled 4-valve four cylinders
• 650cc-675cc 4-stroke liquid-cooled 4-valve three cylinders
• 650cc-850cc 4-stroke liquid-cooled 4-valve twin cylinders
• 990cc-1100cc 4-stroke air/oil-cooled 2-valve desmo twin cylinders
• 990cc-1200cc 4-stroke air/oil-cooled 4-valve pushrod twin cylinders
• 900cc-1350cc 4-stroke air/oil-cooled 2-valve pushrod twin cylinders
In making the announcement, AMA Pro Racing Director of Technical Development, Kevin Crowther said the changes were consistent with the intent of the Formula Xtreme class and reflective of the current motorcycle marketplace.
“The goal of the Formula Xtreme class is to feature highly-modified machines from the broadest list of models,†said Crowther. “These changes are consistent with that philosophy and should lead to increased brand and rider participation in the class.â€
Crowther added that emphasis was placed on equipment diversity as well as competitive balance.
“If it becomes apparent that a specific model or type of machine gains an unfair performance advantage, AMA Pro Racing reserves the right to implement restrictions including, but not limited to, additional weight to restore competitiveness,†said Crowther. Crowther noted that this stipulation applies to the Formula Xtreme class only.
The changes to the eligible model list are the result of actions taken by the newly-formed AMA Racing Committee created earlier this year as part of a re-organization of the AMA and AMA Pro Racing.
Equipment standards for the remaining classes (AMA Superbike, AMA Supersport and AMA Superstock) remain unchanged.
UPDATE: The AMA has noted an error in their first release:
The line • 990cc-1100cc 4-stroke air/oil-cooled 4-valve desmo twin cylinders
Should read • 990cc-1100cc 4-stroke air/oil-cooled 2-valve desmo twin cylinders
The list above has been corrected.
Link: AMA
See also on The Kneeslider: Formula Xtreme – Now Motorcycles are the Stars
aaron says
hmmm…. an 850cc big bore ducati 749 with wsb spec chassis could walk away with this one i think….
good to see a formula encouraging diverse machinery!
Tom says
Best decision in a long time. Once they work out the bugs (restricting any machines that become too dominant), it should be a helluva race to watch.
Not only will it be fun, but it should encourage some engine development that diverges from the standard inline 4’s.
Will the new 800 cc BMW inline 2 race in this series? Will Japanese manufacurers start developing/refining inline 2’s or V-twins? I’ve always preferred twins to inline 4’s, and this should help increase the sporting twins available in the marketplace.
Can’t wait to see how this shakes out. Could it be that AMA racing will actually be fun to watch again? I have admit I’ve been getting bored watching the march of the bike clones.
hoyt says
this is cool.
A 675 Triumph racing against air cooled BMWs, Buells & Ducatis… against the in-line 4s from Japan? let’s race !
hoyt says
hopefully this will also get Guzzi to put another sportbike into their line-up…and then race
richard says
I’m still laughing at the memory of the 1339cc 4-stroke air/oil-cooled 2-valve pushrod twin cylinder Buells trying to compete with the 599cc 4-stroke liquid-cooled 4-valve four cylinder bikes this year at Daytona.
Tom says
“I’m still laughing at the memory of the 1339cc 4-stroke air/oil-cooled 2-valve pushrod twin cylinder Buells trying to compete with the 599cc 4-stroke liquid-cooled 4-valve four cylinder bikes this year at Daytona.”
You mean the same bikes that have finished in the top 10 the last two races? I hope the AMA is showing the same kind of foresight in allowing these other configurations. That’s what racig should be about.
C.J. Luke says
The “new” Formula Extreme Class could quite likely be the best thing to happen to Motorcycle racing in the U.S. as well as possibly the best thing to happen to motorcyclist in general in a long time. This gives a lot of people/motorcycles a shot at a ‘piece of the pie’.
Richard….don’t be to harsh. The inline 4’s have been battle hardened and fine tuned for quite a long time under intense competition. Reserve judgement for after the “others” have had a few years to “get it right”. I think the Formula Extreme class just made the move that will put it up at the top of the list of motorcycle racing.
The only real problem here is it will take “deep pockets” to race in this class.
richard says
I wasn’t being harsh… I was just laughing.
In any engine based on combustion, the amount of power generated should be proportional to the size of the combustion chamber. Breaking the rules of the game, as they did to allow the over-sized, non-production model Buell to compete, only to see that bike DNF on its debut, strikes me as funny.
The new Formula Extreme class will be interesting, but the early results will not reflect the rider’s skills because there will be too much variance in the machines they are riding. To be a sport, the primary determinant of winning should be the sportsman, not the machine he uses. (Who wants to watch a Hayabusa drag race a bicycle?)
Tom says
The Buell may not be production . . . but neither are any of the bikes in Formula Xtreme.
Pick up a July issue of Cycle World, and you’ll see something interesting. In a 600 cc shootout, they rate the Honda CBR600rr’s HP at 101. In the same issue, they ride the Formula Xtreme Honda and say that its horsepower is “140 plus”.
So both Honda and Buell have 100 horsepower streetbikes that have been modified to produce 140-150 HP in race trim racing in the Formula Xtreme class. That seems fair to me and makes for one of the most interesting racing classes around. The addition of other configurations should make Formula Xtreme something to see.
Much more interesting than seeing grid after grid of nearly identical bikes.
bobio says
“I’m still laughing at the memory of the 1339cc 4-stroke air/oil-cooled 2-valve pushrod twin cylinder Buells trying to compete with the 599cc 4-stroke liquid-cooled 4-valve four cylinder bikes…….”
If the Buell is bad, what does that make the bikes that finished behind it as the year has progressed? Or is Daytona the only race that matters? Or should everything be nice and boring, just like the disposable Japanese showroom bikes?. Did any other bikes DNF over the course of the year?
“In any engine based on combustion, the amount of power generated should be proportional to the size of the combustion chamber.”
You have a lot to learn about high performance engines.
Power is power – who cares about combustion chamber measurements. I know which one I’d rather work on. And there’s no such thing as a RACING engine that doesn’t get worked on.
“To be a sport, the primary determinant of winning should be the sportsman, not the machine he uses.”
Then get into bicycle racing. The UCI rules make innovation near impossible. Boring motorcycles make for boring racing.
richard says
Tom said, “The Buell may not be production . . . but neither are any of the bikes in Formula Xtreme.”
That’s not the point. Rule E2h1 requires the engine be one that was originally produced for street use and the Buell XBRR features an engine that was originally manufactured for racing. They are allowed to modify the engine before the race, but they must start with a street-based engine. The XBRR was the only bike in the race that was not BASED ON a street bike. Hence it was illegal.
bobio said: “If the Buell is bad…”; “is Daytona the only race that matters?”; “Or should everything be nice and boring”; “Did any other bikes DNF over the course of the year?”; “You have a lot to learn about high performance engines.”; “Boring motorcycles make for boring racing.”
First, I never said Buell is bad. I said the XBRR didn’t legally qualify, and their poor performance made me laugh.
2nd, obviously Daytona is not the only race that matters. In fact, I don’t think it mattered much at all. However, it made me laugh to see 2 of the 4 (as I recall) Buells DNF, and the other 2 do so poorly, after all the hype before the race.
3rd, I never said I wanted boring. However, what’s interesting to me may be boring to you, and vice versa.
4th, I don’t think any other manufacturer had 50% of their bikes DNF in a single race this year– this could be a first!
5th, you have no idea what I do or do not know. The point I made is that generated power should be proportional to combustion chamber size– i.e., for any given bike, if you increase the size of the combustion chamber, you should get more power, and the more you increase it, the more power you should get. (Yes, I know that other factors come into play, but I’m just saying it’s proportional.) If the Buell machine is so incredibly inefficient that it takes 1339cc of exploding gas to get the same amount of power to the wheel that a typical 599cc bike can get to the wheel, then there is, in fact, something seriously flawed with their design. However, please note that I originally refrained from saying this– I merely said it made me laugh.
Finally, I don’t find the current motorcycle races the least bit boring. If you do, maybe you should watch some other sport because, after they have adjusted the requirements for each class of bike, they intend to make their performance nearly the same. Then, the only difference between what we have now and the new Formula Extreme will be that Formula Extreme may have bikes from more different manufacturers. However, since I don’t derive my sense of self from identifying with a particular motorcycle brand, that will make no difference to me.
todd says
so I should be able to run a 1000cc supercharged nitro burning single since there doesn’t seem to be any regulation on those. I think it should work fine as long as I can come up with a strong enough counter balancer…
-todd
bobio says
There will always be superstock for those who like a parade of bland consumer product. That has always been obscenely dull, as far as I’m concerned.
It isn’t about the brands for me either – it’s about some racing challenges at the hardware level, something that has been grossly absent in the AMA since the BOTT class of almost 20 years ago (probably before you were born?). FX won’t bring that back, but it does make the hardware interesting again.
If I want to see a bunch of disposable 600s, I’ll go to the local showroom. Or junkyard.