To hell and back

Tadashi Asahina has a lifelong passion for the Z1. After two decades of development, his mutant Z1 racer is almost ready for its European debut…

Tadashi Asahina scrutinises the TV screen in his booth with a tense smile. The screen shows the Asahina Z1 ridden by his team-mate, Akinori Okada, has qualified in only 74th position, eight places short of a guaranteed start for the Suzuka 8-Hour race. “We’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” the boss of number 79 says, hoping for retiring rivals or, possibly even a compassionate gesture from the organisers. On Saturday 1 August, the race management team announces the final list of qualifiers, which the Asahina Racing team will unfortunately not be a part of. The dream slips away for team number 79 for the fourth time in six consecutive attempts; the ‘mutant’ Z1 will not be part of the line-up for the most popular endurance race this side of the Pacific. Still, with an average lap speed of 152kph, against 164kph for the faster bikes, the former Kawasaki is no mean performer. With its 70s roadster looks and ‘do-it-yourself’ finish, the Asahina Z1 looks nothing like a racing beast. But it has two sizeable excuses: it was conceived 30 years ago and its personal history with Tadashi Asahina dates back two decades. “I was competing in 250cc racing in my twenties,” the former racer now in his eighties recalls. “I’ve run a lot of races and won a few of them, but their level was quite humble.” It was at that time that Tadashi took possession of a Kawasaki 900 Z1 and that the NK1 category was born in Japan. Its requisites were that bikes had a steel frame, two rear suspension units, and an engine with capacity exceeding 800cc. Tadashi lost no time in getting busy in competition at the helm of the Z1 ‘Super Four’ and, to improve on the factory set-up, he started making a series of technical tune-ups.

“Every time I tweaked it, it got even faster,” he says. Having proven his technical wizardry on Japanese racetracks, Asahina-san created a company specialising in mechanical tuning in 1986, focusing more intensely on the design and fabrication of exhaust systems under the brand Extec. The company’s headquarters have remained at their original Osaka location to this day. For the first 10 years, the boss did not have the time or the means to invest further into new sporting challenges. But, on the eve of his thirties, “I had enough money to resume competition,” he says. And he certainly did not deprive himself of that. Transgenic Z1 However, years have gone by and the technological gap between the Z1 and sports bikes has grown bigger than ever. To claw his way back, Tadashi has embarked on a complete reconstruction programme, swapping original parts with better-performing customised ones, stepping into the fabrication of aluminium frames and a plethora of carbon-fibre elements. To date, the list of modifications remains impressive. I can see the purists screaming murderously: “Yeah but it’s not a Z1 any more!” From a mechanical point of view, they’d be right. But the spirit of the Super Four still shines. Tadashi Asahina is there to make sure of that… “In 1998, we entered the Suzuka 8-Hour for the first time,” he says. “This year will see our sixth participation. We’ve only qualified twice and never managed to finish, due to technical gremlins. But racing this bike remains my priority. It’s more important to me to try to race with the Z1 than any other bike. Besides, I never wanted to buy a bike specially to race at Suzuka.” To reach his goal, Tadashi modified everything – almost. When we asked him why he didn’t attach a new fairing to his Z1 to gain a few more precious kilometres per hour, he replied, “No, I really like its style as it is.” And since the rivals’ equipment keeps improving every year, you can’t help question the bike’s chances in the famous Japanese sprint.

Classic Motorcycle Mechanics November 2005 edition

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