A press release, issued by the organizers of the Superside FIM Sidecar World Championship:


Abbott signs with Maxsym

Maxsym to provide engines for 2002

Steve Abbott Racing, the World Championship Formula 1 Sidecar team, announced an engine deal with Maxsym Race Engines, the race division of Maxsym Engine Technology Ltd.

Maxsym, which has provided its dry sump system to a number of sidecar teams for the last two seasons, will be responsible for all aspects of the team’s engines.

“Drawing on our staff’s experience of Formula One, Indy Car and World Rally Car, we aim to help Steve become the most professional team in the paddock,” said Patrick Walker or Maxsym. “We don’t want Steve worrying about the engines. He needs to concentrate on racing.”

Abbott, who finished third in the Championship last season, will stick with the Yamaha EXUP engine. He is a big fan of the engine because it is light and compact, but Maxsym will bring it right up to date with some major engine modifications. As well as the dry sump system, Maxsym will increase engine capacity, modify the cylinder head, crankshaft and crankcases and totally redesign the cooling and oil systems. The modified engine will be unveiled at the Autosport Show in January on Maxsym’s stand.

The division has access to Maxsym’s extensive facilities, including the latest fully automated test cells, in-vehicle data acquisition systems and fully equipped vehicle workshops. These are used by Maxsym Engine Technology to design, test and develop complete engines from scratch, principally for U.S. original equipment manufacturers. The company specializes in high-performance 4-strokes for off-highway and recreational products. It focuses on markets traditionally dominated by 2-strokes, which are being forced to turn to 4-strokes due to environmental pressures. Maxsym’s proprietary 4-strokes provide OEMs with a no-compromise alternative to 2-strokes without weight penalties for comparable power delivery.

The Sidecar Championship has followed the trend in these markets by changing to 4-stroke. Maxsym Race Engines’ Mike Richards, an ex-Formula 2 Sidecar Champion himself, said “This gives us the ideal platform from which to build. Sidecars are still accessible to the privateer and since the link with Superbikes their profile has increased dramatically. It is an obvious target for us to demonstrate our strength in high performance 4-strokes.” Technical information learned from the race division will feed back into Maxsym’s other development programmes.

A dyno development and pre-season track support programme will initially iron out teething problems and focus on reliability. Patrick Walker said “This is our first full season. We want to do things properly. We don’t expect
miracles, but we have what it takes and we expect Steve to be in contention.”

Steve’s other main sponsors, Eastern Airways and Les Knight Transport are confident.

“We are delighted. With Maxsym on board, Steve has a great chance this year,” said Richard Lake, Chairman of Eastern Airways.