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YOU THINK YOU KNOW what a motorcycle should look like? Think again. What
you see here is the Gurney Alligator, American car racing legend Dan
Gurney's completely different take on what aspects of two-wheeled design
should be emphasized.
Conventional sportbikes are tall, with short wheelbases to make them
turn quickly. This limits their acceleration and braking by making them
prone to wheelies and stoppies. Gurney's concept has some extra
wheelbase that may slow steering somewhat, but its center of gravity -
another important aspect of swift turning - is so low that the Alligator
flicks into corners very quickly. Under acceleration and braking, the
Alligator's lower cg and longer wheelbase allow it to generate
higher peak values without lifting its wheels. And why not? Orthodoxy is
not destiny.
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Alligator
is powered by a Honda XR600-based Thumper. Liquid-cooled cylinder
head is in the offing.
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Gurney has been working on this
concept for nearly three decades. He initially moved in this design
direction because he is tall, and his Montesa dirtbike made him feel as
if he were pitching forward when going down hills. Ever the innovator,
Gurney removed the seat, put a pad on the frame rails and tried riding
that way. It felt better. The Alligator is that concept, taken to its
logical extreme. The top of the drivechain and the front of the rear
tire now define the riding position. You sit in this motorcycle,
rather than perch on top of it.
Gurney's business, All American
Racers, is race cars, but the Alligator project has been his stamp
collection, his serious hobby since 1976. The Alligator shop has its own
tools and staff, existing only for this purpose. And it is a fabulous
recreation. The motorcycle in its various versions has been occasionally
sighted in rapid movement on various Southern California backroads, and
select journalists have ridden it. Their responses? Intense interest in
the entirely different feel of this machine. Former 500cc World
Champions Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey have also ridden it. Their
responses? "The things our Grand Prix bikes had the most trouble
with, your bike does well." *(See note
below)
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As
a driver, Gurney, now 69, was victorious in Indycars, Formula One,
NASCAR and sports cars.
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Development began with the Honda
XL350-powered AI and has progressed to the current A4A, which has
carbon-fiber bodywork of the kind that flows constantly from the
autoclaves of the racecar industry. Current power comes from a Honda
XR600-based Single with a modified, fuel-injected cylinder head, which,
for the moment, remains air-cooled (that's what the second 'A' in A4A
means).
Styling? "I've always admired the dustbin," Gurney explains.
"I don't care if the styling is no good. I want function." The
tailed dustbin was the direction in which roadracers were moving toward
in 1957, when the FIM banned streamlining behind the rider and decided
front wheels must be bare-naked.
Modern motorcycles are therefore aerodynamically 'dirty' open-backed
wedges, shoved through the air by sheer power, making little attempt to
close their turbulent wakes. So far, the Alligator has achieved 139 mph
on its reported 70-plus countershaft horsepower, with 150 mph as its
target.
An important goal of this motorcycle is to give the rider the feeling
that he's not 100 percent committed in a corner, that he has some
latitude instead of zero room for error. "We've achieved this
almost to the degree we wanted to," says Gurney.
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A1
prototype (foreground) metamorphasized into current A4A, which
has carbon-fiber bodywork, a single-sided swingarm (with in-arm
shock) and fuel injection.
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We all have projects and
ambitions. So what does Gurney plan to do with his? "My so-called
strategy is to build about 30, keep some, pre-sell the others and then
see what crops up," he replies.
Can it all work? I think it can. We are still in the longest economic
boom in living memory, and this country is filled with people who can
have essentially anything they desire, people who want the unique, very
individual thing that no one else has. The Alligator is it.
*Note:
Wayne Rainey accompanied Eddie Lawson to the test but Wayne did not
ride the Alligator. (Not yet, anyway). We were not able to proofread
the story before it went to print, so this mistake was over looked.
Eddie discussed the bike's characteristics with Wayne throughout the
test and together they felt the Alligator did perform well in several
areas where their G.P. bikes were difficult.
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