World Championship Motorsports

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World Championship Motorsports (WCM) was a Grand Prix motorcycle racing team formed in 1992 by American Bob MacLean and British Peter Clifford. The team ran Yamaha motorcycles from 1997 to 2002 and was called Red Bull Yamaha WCM.

Competition history[]

Early Years (1992-1996)[]

The partnership began in 1992 when Yamaha made it possible for independent teams like WCM to purchase the YZR engine. The frames were built by ROC, Serge Rosset's company, and Peter Goddard was the first rider that WCM engaged. In the next five seasons riders like Niall Mackenzie, Andrew Stroud, Neil Hodgson and James Haydon rode the ROC-Yamaha bikes for WCM.

Yamaha Support Team (1997-2002)[]

In 1997 the team had a single ROC-Yamaha bike with Kirk McCarthy as rider. However, after the first three races the Promotor-Yamaha team withdrew from the championship. Yamaha invited WCM to take control of the team with two factory-spec YZR500s and riders Luca Cadalora and Troy Corser. WCM gained a Red Bull sponsorship and the team was rebranded as Red Bull Yamaha WCM.

In the 1998 Grand Prix season, WCM rider Simon Crafar scored the only victory of the season for a manufacturer other than Honda, when he won the 1998 British Grand Prix at Donington Park.[1] The following year, WCM rider Régis Laconi won the 1999 500cc Valencia Grand Prix riding a Yamaha YZR500.[2] The team experienced its greatest success in 2000 when rider Garry McCoy won three Grand Prix races however, inconsistent results relegated him to fifth place in the final standings.[3]

For 2002 when the rules changed to allow 4-stroke engines up to 990cc, WCM remained with the old 500cc 2-stroke motorcycles. Garry McCoy and John Hopkins, raced for the team.

Independent Team (2003-2005)[]

In 2003, and José David de Gea made up the team's rider line-up. Red Bull left the team to sponsor KTM in the 125cc World Championship, and Yamaha cut their support. Left with no title sponsor and no machinery, WCM joined forces with Harris Performance Products and renamed the team as Harris WCM. The new team quickly built their own 4-stroke MotoGP racer with an engine based on the Yamaha YZF-R1 engine.[4]

Having sat out the Japanese GP due to engine problems, the FIM found that the motorcycle was not in conformity with the championship technical regulations the following race and the team was disqualified.[5] The team appealed but the International Disciplinary Court turned the appeal down.[6] The team took their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (the final stage in the appeal process) but the court again ruled in FIM's favour.[7][8] Following the courts decision the team entered the British, German and the Czech Republic Grand Prix using 1993 2-stroke 500cc Yamaha-engined motorcycles while they continued to develop the 4-stroke machine.[9] The races where WCM ran the 2-stroke 500cc Yamaha motorcycles marked the last starts of the 2-stroke 500cc bikes in MotoGP.

The Harris WCM four-stroke motorcycle finally made its debut at the Portuguese Grand Prix.[10]

For 2004, was joined by Michel Fabrizio as the team riders. Following an injury mid-season Burns was replaced by James Ellison while Youichi Ui replaced Fabrizio following Fabrizio's one race ride for Aprilia at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Ellison at the 2005 British Grand Prix

Halfway through the 2004 season WCM announced that it joined forces with Blata to run a V6 machine for 2005.[11] The team was renamed Blata WCM in order to reflect their new sponsor. James Ellison and Franco Battaini were brought in as team riders. The new motorcycle was not ready at the start of the season and the team continued using their Harris WCM motorcycle from the previous two years. The new V6 motorcycle was due to make its debut at Czech Republic Grand Prix but it was not ready.[12] Blata said that the bike would be completed, but announcements died down shortly after this and the motorcycle never raced.[13]

In a 2009 interview, Peter Clifford revealed that Blata only managed to produce "a lump which represented 90% of one motorcycle, but the engine never ran even on a dyno." In the same interview, Clifford also claimed that he was in the process of taking Blata to court.[14]

Attempts to Return (2006-2007)[]

The provisional entry list for 2006 listed WCM with Bimota engines and Jeremy McWilliams and as riders.[15] but the team was missing from the final entry list as the team dropped out of the championship.[16]

In June 2006, WCM and Winona Racing, announced a strategic partnership to run a 250cc World Championship team in 2007 while WCM also planned a 2007 MotoGP return.[17] Winona WCM, did not race in 2007 after the team's principal sponsor failed to deliver funding in time.[18]

Other notable WCM riders were John Hopkins, Noriyuki Haga, Alex Hofmann, and Ralf Waldmann.

References[]

  1. ^ "1998 500cc British Grand Prix results". motogp.com. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  2. ^ "1999 500cc Valencia Grand Prix results". motogp.com. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  3. ^ "Garry McCoy MotoGP career statistics". motogp.com. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  4. ^ McLaren, Peter (30 November 2002). "Red Bull Yamaha reborn as Harris WCM". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  5. ^ McLaren, Peter (25 April 2003). "Harris WCM disqualified". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  6. ^ McLaren, Peter (4 June 2003). "WCM appeal verdict announced". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  7. ^ McLaren, Peter (12 June 2003). "WCM take FIM to Arbitration". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  8. ^ McLaren, Peter (26 June 2003). "WCM lose arbitration". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  9. ^ McLaren, Peter (7 July 2003). "WCM to make MotoGP return – on '93 Yamahas!". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  10. ^ McLaren, Peter (6 September 2003). "WCM embarrass Kawasaki, Proton". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  11. ^ McLaren, Peter (20 July 2004). "WCM to run Blata V6 in 2005!". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  12. ^ McLaren, Peter (16 August 2005). "No Blata V6 at Brno". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  13. ^ McLaren, Peter (23 August 2005). "Blata: The V6 will be completed". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  14. ^ "Peter Clifford Interview: WCM, Blata And Production Engines In MotoGP | MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks". motomatters.com. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  15. ^ "McWilliams, Perez, Bimota on MotoGP entry list". crash.net. 27 January 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  16. ^ McLaren, Peter (10 March 2006). "Final 2006 MotoGP entry list announced - no WCM". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  17. ^ McLaren, Peter (29 June 2006). "Winona, WCM join forces". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  18. ^ McLaren, Peter (15 June 2007). "250: Winona WCM postpone comeback". crash.net. Retrieved 16 May 2008.

External links[]

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