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BSB boss Higgs outlines balancing rules for Supersport in 2021

Bennetts British Superbike boss Stuart Higgs has outlined how balancing rules will work in the new-look Supersport championship, indicating a hefty use of spec-electronics.

From the start of next season, Triumph’s 765cc triple will be allowed to compete against the usual inline-fours as part of a tryout which, if successful, will be rolled out to WorldSSP and then other domestic series in 2022.

“The whole point of this is it’s using the environment of the British championship to develop and nurture sort of technical rules which can be matured and then rolled out hopefully not just at the world championship level but open to other promoters and organizers going forward,” sad Higgs.

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“We’ve proven pretty effectively since 2002 that we can evaluate regulations across multiple classes. In terms of electronics in the World Supersport class there is a spec-ECU. Already in the British championship there’s a spec-ECU. So the spec-ECU is basically the principle method that the balancing will come from.

“Things have moved on obviously a lot over the last few years where performance balancing was always down to rudimentary things like playing with the weight. Now we’re looking at a much more invasive electronics system to manage that.

So that’s where the technical input will come from. That’s where you already see references in the Supersport 300 category where essentially you’ve got different motorcycles with different architecture that have different revs but the thing is much more invasively controlled by electronics, but significantly by series-controlled electronics.

“It’s not open house. It will be very, very tightly controlled. Then from a technical point of view, this is very much why the British championship is leading this and wants to lead this. We want to go on a case-by-case basis.

Obviously we have a very willing and able partner in Triumph, and we can look and take on a project, seal the project with that manufacturer, and then potentially move on to the next manufacturer.

“Then by the end of this process have a balanced swing of motorcycles across various displacements and architecture that can form the class. It is a bit of out-of-the-box thinking.

“The previous way of Supersport eligibility was a model that was on sale to a certain number of units. Obviously we’re taking up something from a family of motorcycle range, and then turning that into a fit for competition motorcycle. Going on from that, you would have seen recent announcements in the last couple of weeks from Yamaha with a motorcycle now essentially just built for competition.

“I think this is obviously a new philosophy that the industry and motorcycle promoters at the highest level are now engaging on about hardware being developed and fettled for pure competition and track use. This is really significant for the industry. This the start of a next generation, certainly for racing.”

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