Bought for endurance racing, this KTM RC8R came in for fitment of a Bazzaz unit, supplied by the owner, which included the traction control he was quite keen to use on track.
First of all we had to run the bike in, which we did on the Dyno; it’s a quick, safe and very effective way of managing a new engine’s break-in period and getting the best performance out of it in the long run. We then set about sorting the Bazzaz itself – after fitting it we added a performance aftermarket air filter and mapped the unit on the Dyno to match the engine, using the offset allowance (percentage difference between the two cylinders) to fine-tune between front and rear pots.
The quickshifter that came with it was a straightforward fit, and using our experience we mapped the Bazzaz ECU. They come through set on ‘5’ all the way through, which gives problems over 75% throttle and is more suitable for a wet road environment, not the straight of a racetrack. It also needs ‘fading’ away toward the top end (when on the fat part of the tyre well on the way out of a corner) as the traction control’s real worth is in the mid-range, peak torque area when first tapping on, and feeding in, the gas.
Bazzaz fit and set-up is straightforward, but to get the most out of the system as a whole the real work lies in the fine-tuning...
