The ELF 500 ROC was a motorcycle that competed in the and 500 cc Road Racing World Championship.

ELF 500 ROC

A new European motorcycle made its debut under the Elf banner in 1996. The engine was a Swissauto 500 cc

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being comple ...

V4 engine A V4 engine is a four-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The V4 engine is less common compared to straight-four engines. However, V4 engines have been used in automobiles ...

, designed as a compact and powerful unit which could be used in both sidecar racing outfits and solo bikes. It utilised a single balance shaft and a 6-speed cassette-type gearbox. Its

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...

design allowed for the engine to fire at different angles, allowing the rider to choose either "big-bang" or "screamer" engine characteristics. The engine was housed in a frame designed by Serge Rosset's small ROC firm, based at Annemasse in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The bike competed in the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

500 cc World Championships.

1996

Sponsored by soft drink giant Pepsi, the team consisted of Adrian Bosshard and Juan Borja. Over the course of the season

William Costes William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

stood in for Bosshard, Chris Walker later replaced Bosshard, and

Marti Craggill Marti may refer to People Surname * Benedictus Aretius (non-Latinized surname Marti; 1504-1574), Swiss Protestant theologian and natural philosopher * Berthe Marti (1904–1995), French scholar of mediaeval Latin * Debbie Marti (born 1968), Englis ...

stood in for Walker at the final round. At its debut race in Malaysia, Borja scored an impressive 10th place. The bike would go on to record 8 point-scoring finishes out of 15 races, its highest placing being that of 8th by Borja at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

. The motorcycle proved fast but unreliable as it notched up a string of non-finishes. Borja finished the season on 34 points, Walker on 2 points.

1997

Borja remained in the team, and was joined by new teammate Jürgen Fuchs. Reliability was still a concern but there was improvement and the bikes finished 13 times in the points – 6 times inside the Top 10. Its highpoint came in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, with Fuchs scoring a best finish of 6th. Borja finished the season on 37 points, Fuchs on 28. The ELF team ceased GP competition at the end of 1997, but the bikes returned to the grid in 1998 in the form of the

Muz 500 The Muz 500 was a motorcycle that competed in the and 500 cc Road Racing World Championship. Muz 500 The Muz 500 started out as essentially the same machine as the ELF 500 ROC. The Muz 500 competed in the 500 cc World Championship in ...

. {, class="wikitable" , - ! colspan=3 , ELF 500 ROC Specifications , - , Engine Type: , 2-stroke water-cooled V4 , - , Displacement: , 499.27 cc , - , Max Power: , 160 + BHP , - , Carburation Type: , 4 Dell Orto VHSB35 flat valve carbs , - , Ignition: , CDI digital , - , Clutch: , Dry multiple discs , - , Transmission: , 6-speed cassette type , - , Final Drive: , Chain , - , Frame Type: , Twin spar aluminum , - , Suspension: , Front: Inverted telescopic forks
Rear: Ohlins mono shock , - , Tyres: , Michelin , - , Wheel: , Front: 3.5 x 17 inches
Rear: 6.0 x 17 inches , - , Brake System: , Front: Carbon composite disc (320 mm), Nissin 4 pot calipers
Rear: steel disc (220 mm) , - , Overall Length: , 2040 mm , - , Overall Width: , 490 mm , - , Wheelbase: , 1410 mm , - , Weight: , 129 kg (without tank) , - , Fuel Tank: , 35L , -

External links

Specs for the 1996 ELF 500Official Swissauto site
Grand Prix motorcycles

ELF 500 ROC

1996

1997

See also

External links