The Foggy Petronas at it's press introduction in London in June 2002.

The Foggy Petronas Superbike

June 2002: When the curtain went up we were greeted by the sight of Carl Fogarty standing proudly in front of a stunning ice sculpture of the bike. Flanking him in full race leathers were his riders, Troy Corser and James Haydon sitting on their race machines. To say that the bike looks stunning would be an understatement. The black screen looks high and raked back the result of hours of aerodynamic testing. The rear section with the triple exhaust exiting centrally under the cowl is pure sex. To finish off the overall appeal is a turquoise and black colour scheme with a red seat hump means that the bike will stand out from the rest of the pack.

The chairman of PETRONAS, Mr Tan Sri Dato' Seri Azizan Zainul Abidin, officially launched the team and said how proud he was. When asked why he had picked Foggy to head the team he replied simply. "He is a
legend." He also announced that he had agreed to sponsor the team for five years, enough time to gain the world championship.

Carl Fogarty then took over the microphone and expressed his gratitude to the team for all the effort that they had all put in to get them to where they are today. There have been many detractors in the press that seem to take great pleasure in slating the team and casting doubt on the teams abilities to meet their deadlines. Today's launch should shut up even the most pessimistic of critics and prove that when the team say they are going to do something, they do it.

The FP1 was originally developed as a 998cc triple for entry into the MotoGP series by PETRONAS and Sauber. However in late 2001 PETRONAS decided that they would contest the world superbike series instead in conjunction with Team Foggy Racing Ltd, thereafter know as Foggy PETRONAS Racing. This change meant that a number of major changes had to be made to the machine for it to be eligible to race in 2002. The first and most important was the reverse in-line triple engine had to be reduced to 900cc to comply with the technical specifications for triples in the superbike class. This was then mated with a chassis that was designed and built in record time by the team. A state of the art exhaust system was developed which features a unique three into one into two into three arrangement which allows the engine to run at lower revs.

Some of the other technical changes made include:
- Changing the bore and stroke to increase drivability at the torque curve.
- Increasing the size of the gears to improve life.
- A redesign of the cylinder head and crank cases.
- A vertical split in the headstock of the air intake.
- A change of injector bodies and increase in powertrain weight to improve drivability.
- An improved lubrication circuit.

All of these adaptations have been made in an unprecedented short time frame. James Haydon and Troy Corser only saw the completed machine in its final livery this morning and both of them were delighted with the finished product.

Foggy Petronas FP1 Superbike Specifications

Just Added!
Giant 12" x 17" screensaver image of the new Foggy Petronas Superbike

"I was walking around this morning with my race face on" Said Carl Fogarty at the bike pess introduction on June 11th. "I don't think I've been this nervous for a very long time. I can't impress enough how proud I am of the whole team. The amount of work they have put in to meet the deadline has been amazing

"This year is a development year for us. We need to finish races and fine tune the bike. Next year I expect us to be right up in the points and hopefully winning races and after that the world championship.

"We've got two of the best riders around to ride the bike. Troy Bayless was world champion in 96 and was my team mate in 99 and JamesHaydon is probably one of the hottest talents around at the moment."

"To see it like this, I just can't wait to ride it. It has been an absolute nightmare watching the guys racing this year and not being able to be out there, but now we can look forward to the rest of the year."
Said Haydon.

Above: Petronas engineers have been hard at work crafting and converting the GP designed prototype to a production based World Superbike. Click the above picture for more revealing secrets.