Foggy PETRONAS Racing chief engineer Steve Thompson has already set his sights on a number of areas of focus for his efforts in improving the performance of the FP1 for the next World Superbike season.

New technical regulations for the 2004 season allow triples to increase engine capacity to 1000c. But Thommo will spend the winter getting the best out of the existing 900cc triple, as a change in engine capacity would have meant the need to rehomologate the bike.

He said: “The new regulations are designed to make competition closer and more of a spectacle. For instance GP engines have become noisier so the increased noise limit to 107dB will be popular. But the other changes do not really affect us too much. It is all designed to provide a level playing field and you can argue the pros and cons of each individual change all day long. I suppose one change that might put us at a slight disadvantage is the unified minimum weight of 162kg. The triples used to be lighter than the two-cylinders, which can now be the same weight.

“But there are plenty of areas that we know we can make progress with. These include combustion chamber performance, the clutch, injector bodies, gearbox options, throttle transition, conrod links and water pump efficiency. We can also reduce blowby which may, unfortunately, see the end of the much-loved and much-photographed flame-out! But we are confident that we can extract more performance out of the current engine and be more competitive next season.”