I’m usually better braking into the slower corners, but this wasn’t the case in Austria in 1997 on a very slow first-gear hairpin corner. John Kocinski had just taken the lead from me and he broke really late because he knew I was going to come back at him. I knew I could outbrake him so I hit the brakes as late as I could – too late on this occasion. I was in two minds whether to run through and knock him off (he was a big rival) or to run wide. There was a split second’s hesitation and panic before I ended up running into the back of him, taking myself out of the race while he went on to win.
To actually pass someone on the brakes you have to be right on their back wheel going into the corner. Sometimes you have to let go of the front brake, enough to run past the other rider, and then brake later in the corner again. That would have meant spoiling my line as well as John’s and scrubbing off some speed, but it’s worth losing three tenths of a second off your lap time if you get past another rider. It might also mean taking the corner in first rather than second gear, so then you are using a combination of the front brakes and engine braking.
We must have looked like four Michelin men, except for the fact that we were using Metzeler tyres. It was my first trip to Japan, with my dad, my mechanic and a guy called Lew Durkin, who came everywhere to help out. We were still on a pretty tight budget, so we couldn’t afford to pay freight charges. A bike had been lined up for me to ride in the 1989 Formula One World Championship round in Sugo, but we had to bring out our own gear – including tyres.
So each of us checked in for the flight with a tyre on each shoulder, along with all the other stuff we needed. But that was nothing compared to having to find the right train when we got there and then to carry this lot all the way to Sugo. We arrived to find a disgrace of a bike. There was oil all over the place and the brake pads were knackered. We’d also heard that Joey Dunlop was not going to make the trip. So there was a RVF sitting there doing nothing while I, the reigning world champion, had to make do with this heap. There was no way, though, that they were going to let me use that bike.
It didn’t matter for one practice session because Metzeler produced a fantastic rain tyre and I was easily the fastest when it rained. We had loads of Japanese hanging round the garage trying to see what kind of tyres we were using. There was probably no one else in the world using Metzeler tyres on short circuits because Metzeler couldn’t afford to travel to places like Japan. We had to do all the work on the tyres ourselves, although they advised us on pressures and the like before we went.
I had a crap race, finishing 13th but picking up a few valuable points towards my next world title. But the ‘fun’ did not stop there. Dad didn’t know we had to phone ahead to secure reservations for the flight home, so when he tried it was fully booked. They eventually found us some seats but told us we needed to pay a penalty for having too much weight; we had to carry a one hundredweight toolbox on board as hand luggage. Luckily we had left all the tyres at the circuit – even though we had ended up not even using them for the race – because we couldn’t be bothered to lug them all the way back to Tokyo.
In those days, we used Metzeler tyres because they were free and we couldn’t afford Michelins. They weren’t that bad, especially on road circuits. Everyone else in 1989 was running 17in Michelin rears on the Honda RC30, while I was running 18in Metzelers. It was all a bit ‘pre-war’, but I loved it. People thought I was mad, and they were a bit hit and miss. At some circuits, such as Thruxton and Mallory, the Metzelers were crap, but at others they were great. The previous year at Donington when I was going for my first F1 world title, there was no way the Metzelers were going to work, so I bought a Michelin, scrubbed the name off, stuck some Metzeler stickers on and came fifth to clinch the championship. Michelin were not too happy when they found out, of course; while Metzeler didn’t know what to think. They were too busy celebrating the win anyway. Then, again at Donington in 1989 the Metzelers were brilliant. Niall Mackenzie had returned from the Grand Prix circuit and thought he would clean up in all three races. He didn’t, but I did. From then on, after signing for Honda in 1990, I was on Michelins for the rest of my career, apart from one year on Dunlops in 1992 as a privateer, when we had to negotiate a special price.
There didn’t seem to be the same tyre sponsorship available in those days as there is for young riders today. Nowadays, the methods of selection are a bit more sophisticated, but the need to go to any lengths to get the right tyres on the bike is even more important. Tyre selection is perhaps the most crucial part of qualifying and practice. When I started out in racing there was not too much choice. Everyone pretty much ran on intermediate Michelin tyres – a bit like today’s cut slicks, which have grooves sliced into the rubber by a machine, but straight out of the mould. If it rained, there was a wet tyre, so there were only two choices. Even by 1995, the choice of tyre never seemed critical as they all seemed to work on the best bike I have ever ridden.
I wish it had been like that towards the end of my career. Now there are different compounds, different sizes and different shapes to take into account when trying to decide which tyre to use for a race. In 1996, when I was riding for Honda, finding the right rear tyre was an absolute nightmare. I guess it’s because the bikes are getting faster and more powerful, so there is less and less grip and more and more heat in the rear tyre. From that date onwards it was almost as though you would win the race if you could find the right tyre – as simple as that.
The size of the tyres when I started out was 18in. That size then dropped to 17in and now 16.5in tyres are sometimes used. When the 17in came out in 1985, it looked really good. Although it was an intermediate tyre, the sides almost looked as though they were slick, with no tread. Maybe it was just a psychological thing, but I loved it.
Everybody seemed to be using Michelins in those days, although a lot of racers and motocross riders have now switched to Dunlop. It was always pretty well accepted that Michelin produced a better tyre for superbikes and Grand Prix bikes while Dunlop made tyres more suited to the 250cc and 125cc series. But the balance has shifted because Dunlop now produce a very good superbike tyre. In the few races I competed in 2000, I noticed that Dunlop had made big strides during the winter.
But there have been a lot of changes recently. In the last dry races of my career, at Kyalami in South Africa in 2000, I rode on a 16.5in front and rear tyre for the first time in my career. It felt really good, although I went back to a 17in at the front for the second race because I was struggling to change direction a little bit. The smaller the wheel, the fatter they are, and because my shoulder was already injured for those races I found the steering really heavy. Although I was going really quick and set the new lap record, I kept losing the front because the 17in tyre at the front was a bit narrower and would not hold the track as well. I was given a few warnings when going over bumps, but I guess I ignored them and down I went.
For the rest of the year, all the riders on Michelins used 16.5in tyres at the front and rear. It’s strange because in my last six years of racing, I had tested 16.5in and 16in front wheels but never liked them. I always asked for them to be changed back straight away to 17in with a 5.75in rim at the back and 17in with a 3.5in rim at the front. The steering on the others always felt heavy and they didn’t give me any advantage. The only problem with the 17in tyres was that their grip would drop off very quickly towards the end of a race. But a 16.5in rear, while not providing the same grip at the start of a race, would be better towards the finish.
So deciding on the size of tyre was never really too much of an issue. Most of the debate centred around what was the best compound for the conditions and circuits, especially at the rear, where all the drive comes from. I would go so far as to say that finding the right rear is the most critical part of racing. More often than not I would find a front tyre I was happy