Ex-Foggy riders lament lack of power.

Former Foggy Petronas Racing riders Troy Corser and Chris Walker, who will move to Alstare Suzuki and PSG-1 Kawasaki respectively next season, have stated that a lack of horsepower remains the FP-1's biggest problem - and was the main reason for their decision to leave Carl Fogarty's team.

For Corser, 2004 marked the end of three-years with FPR, during which time he had helped take the FP-1 from the drawing board to World Superbike pole positions and a podium finish.

Corser, Walker, WSBK Silverstone, 2004
Corser, Walker, WSBK Silverstone, 2004
© Gold and Goose

Former Foggy Petronas Racing riders Troy Corser and Chris Walker, who will move to Alstare Suzuki and PSG-1 Kawasaki respectively next season, have stated that a lack of horsepower remains the FP-1's biggest problem - and was the main reason for their decision to leave Carl Fogarty's team.

For Corser, 2004 marked the end of three-years with FPR, during which time he had helped take the FP-1 from the drawing board to World Superbike pole positions and a podium finish.

"We struggled a lot with mechanical problems with the bike initially, just because it was all new parts and the mechanics were trying to get the most out power wise, but trying to keep reliability," said the Australian, during an exclusive interview with Crash.net. "I would always want more power and so we'd lose a bit of reliability.

"With that in mind the results on the track were fairly sparse in the first season," he admitted. "This year they improved the reliability and the horsepower did improve a little, but we were always 15kph slower on top speed and it was just 15kph too much.

"That's two or three 'tenths' on a straight and you lose that a couple of times around the track and you gotta try to make up half a second, which is basically what I did at Magny Cours on the Superpole lap.

"Get it exactly perfect, how I want it, and I could do the lap time but on race tyres and a race situation it's completely different to just one lap," Troy explained. "It's been really good with Petronas - a good team, good bike - but I think the Suzuki is the bike to be on next year."

Walker joined FPR for the 2004 season, replacing James Haydon, and made an instant impact by claiming the team's first ever podium finish in his very first race. However, that would be the first and last time he finished in the top three - and Chris has decided to accept an offer to ride a PSG-1 run ZX-10R for 2005.

"It was more the way the championship is going more than anything else," began Chris, when asked by Crash.net why he'd decided to leave. "I was really happy at Foggy's team and they're good guys and the bike's brilliant to ride.

"The thing is that it's a three-cylinder and it's a 900cc - it's just not fast enough out there. The way the championship's going it looks like the 1000cc four-cylinder bikes are the way forward.

"It was a really hard decision to go," he added. "It wasn't something that I took lightly; it was a decision that was made over a matter of weeks and months rather than a few days.

"It's still sad not to be able to stay with the boys again next year, but I'll see them in the paddock, we're still pals and it was great to work with Carl - he was an absolute star - but I got the chance to get on a bit better bike and that's what I want," concluded 'The Stalker'.

The full interviews with Corser and Walker can be found in the Crash.net radio archive...

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