A FRANK EXCHANGE OF VIEWS
Italian WSB ace Pierfrancesco Chili retired more than a decade ago, but he remains a hero to loads of Brit race fans. We caught up with him a few weeks ago for a brilliant chat about his past, present and future…
THE UK might have left the EU, but we still love all our European chums from ‘the Continent’. Especially the legendary racers who’ve come from Italy down the years. Valentino Rossi is top of the Euro-pops of course, but guys like Giacomo Agostini, Giancarlo Falappa and the sadly missed Marco Simoncelli have all grabbed the imagination of Brit race fans.
Pierfrancesco ‘Frankie’ Chili is definitely another man on that Italian hit list. He first appeared on the world scene in the late 1980s, dabbling in the three GP classes – 125, 250 and 500 (the 80cc class ended in 1989). But it was later on in the mid-1990s that he found his spiritual home – production-based superbike racing. Chili had some fiery tussles with Brit legend Carl Fogarty on Ducati 916 racebikes, before switching to the fourcylinder Suzuki GSX-R750 at the end of the century, then jumping back on to a Ducati for the final years of his race career in WSB.
He stayed at the sharp end for much of the 2000s, and his never-say-die attitude in races, plus his genuine, amiable demeanour off track endeared him to fans worldwide. Those chiselled film star looks made him a big hit with lady fans too, we understand, especially when he stripped off, and threw his leathers into the crowd post-race. His saucy reputation was further cemented after a post-race scrap with Foggy at Assen in 1998, Chili clad only in a shorty bathrobe…. Factor in WSBK’s enormous appeal in the UK in the 1990s and 2000s – when Brands Hatch was attracting 100,000 fans – and you see why Frankie was, and remains, a big hit with the Brits.
So, Frankie, is it good to be here in Blighty again?
“Racing in England for me was like racing at home – the English guys even gave me the nickname Frankie back in the day! It was very friendly, the crowds were amazing and I really enjoyed that aspect – GPs didn’t have the same feel. One of my favourite memories was when I was fighting Nori Haga on his Aprilia, and Regis Laconi on a factory Ducati and I was on a privateer bike. We pushing hard, and Laconi crashed, so it was just me and Nori. And in the last corner, Haga was always a little bit wild! I still had to go for it, and I managed to overtake him on the outside out of Clearways, the last corner going into the last lap. I managed to keep him behind me and won the race! It was amazing with the flags and everything, and I even ended up throwing my leathers into the crowd, I was so happy! I came back, and then the mechanics told me I was second. I couldn’t believe it. But on aggregate timings Haga just beat me. I’m so glad they changed it now, as I was so disappointed – but I was happy as in the press conference Nori even said that I had won, and not him.”
An impressive career at the very top – but how did you get started? Was racing your passion as a child?
“I was ready to race at 14, but I lost my father then and my mother didn’t really like the idea. I went through everything, you know, soccer, baseball, and when I got to 17, the soccer team asked me to sign a contract to play with them. I said, ‘No! I’m only waiting to be 18 so I can race a motorcycle’. When I was younger I used to work with my uncle repairing bikes, and I started the love affair back then.”
You spent a lot of time riding for Ducati in WSB – which must be the pinnacle for any Italian racer. But did you ever fancy trying out the other Italian superbike from the time, Aprilia’s RSV Mille?
“I was not interested, from what they were like when I was in 250GP. They didn’t really like me or give me the best kit, so I stayed in Ducati, and then went on to Suzuki. We had big trouble in the beginning, but we fixed it and it was good. I remember one time Troy Corser took me out and I went up to Aprilia and wasn’t very happy with them!”
Hindsight is a great thing – and history shows the V-twins would dominate WSBK, and remain competitive even into the 1,000cc fours era. But do you ever wish you’d stayed on twins, instead of switching to the Suzuki GSX-R750 four-cylinder bike?
“The year before, in Superstock, that bike [the Suzuki GSX-R750] was amazing, so we actually expected to win the championship. Yet as a superbike, the year later when I arrived, the bike was just no good – we went from expecting a championship to winning just one race, at Donington. This wasn’t a good year, but it happens.”
The switch from Grand Prix racing to Superbikes isn’t an easy one. How did you find it back in the 1990s?
“To be honest, my jump was very high at the beginning of my career. From winning European 125cc to going straight into 500cc was hard work! I was still fast on an old bike though which was good, and I was able to be faster than the riders with more experience as I was young and brave. I improved, and was
Fast forward nearly 15 years, and Frankie was guest of honour at the Classic Bike Show in Stafford, just after Christmas, giving us the perfect chance to catch up with him.
better and really enjoyed it – I wanted to continue, but after the big crash at Spa I missed five races, and I was never going to get a good ride. I went down to 250cc, which I really didn’t mind – a bike is a bike! I won on the Aprilia as a privateer, and the year later I had a better bike, I was on pole six times, but we had lots and lots of DNFs. I never really showed my potential in GP racing because of this, so I stopped for a year.
“The following season I asked for a test on the superbike; I thought it was a backwards move and I wasn’t very engaged, but I managed to get a ride – I got a win in my first year. At the end of that, someone from GPs came to me and asked me to ride, but I stayed in World Superbike because I’d found my love for it. It permitted me to ride until I was 42.”
You mention that accident at Spa, which signalled the end of its status as a GP circuit. What happened there?
“I crashed in the corner just before the last chicane, which was incredibly fast. The weather conditions were very iffy, and I went through, sixth gear, down one gear and fire in, and the Tarmac was slightly wet. Immediately the front went, and I had Kevin Schwantz behind me; when he came in he was saying that it was a big disaster. I was sliding and sliding, and then went straight into the rails, and I broke a load of bones, from my vertebrae to my feet. I went to the hospital nearby and wanted to come straight back to Dr Costa at the Clinica Mobile! He put me to sleep as I was in a lot of pain, and when I woke up, he’d worked his magic on things to fix me.”
Do you miss those types of ‘scary’ fast circuits, like Monza, Hockenheim, Spa?
“Well, places like Hockenheim were not good for the fans, because a lot of time is spent in the middle of the trees – with three giant straights. For the racing I missed it,
HIS SAUCY REPUTATION WAS FURTHER CEMENTED AFTER A POST-RACE SCRAP WITH FOGGY AT ASSEN IN 1998, CHILI CLAD ONLY IN A SHORTY BATHROBE
I STOPPED THE RACE BECAUSE MY BODY COULDN’T DO ANY MORE. IN MY HEAD I WAS STILL STRONG AND COMPETITIVE.
and it looked good on TV, but now the mentality has changed. Now they make the tracks like stadiums, because they want people to see all the track. I never wanted this type of circuit to stop, but I like that they modify to make it safer, and move the barriers and things.
“Monza was good with good corners and it was a great track. People used to tell me that I was the best at Parabolica, the last corner, and I love that corner! I’m not a fan of things like the Melbourne Loop at Donington Park. For me, a hairpin is for motocross riders! Spa for me, must come back. It’s changed a lot with lots more space, I mean, even Mugello used to have absolutely no run off! I remember when I raced there, I went off the track at the last corner where there is now loads of space, and I literally went straight off, over a tiny bit of gravel, and into the tyre wall.”
How good were guys like Neil Hodgson and James Toseland back then?
“Haha, I was the older guy there! Toseland, Hodgson, you know, the younger guys, were good. I did find that they used to go slower mid-corner, and then shoot out though! At the end of 2006 I stopped racing, and in 2007 Toseland came to Monza with the Ten Kate Factory and had my logo on the helmets. He won the race and he gave it to me! It’s in my office, before all of my helmets. He did lots of learning and I tried to teach him a lot, so that meant a lot to me.”
Do you have much memorabilia from your time racing at home?
“I’m not a collector, so not much, no. I’ve got one set of leathers from each year, and I’ve got some helmets, but I don’t have any of the racebikes. If it’s at my home, it will just become dirty. I like riding them, rather than just having them to look at.”
Do you still ride? Do you go fast? “Funnily enough a few years ago we did a thing with Continental tyres, and there were lots of us – Jeremy McWilliams, Troy Bayliss, Chris Vermeulen. They were all very fast. Step by step I was getting faster, but then I was getting very close to crashing! I remember McWilliams coming in and telling me to calm down a bit as the tyre wasn’t quite made for what we were getting up to on it.”
Riders seemed to be more passionate and open back in your day, nowadays it maybe feels more corporate. Would you agree?
“I think the world has changed a lot. Maybe I’m old, and not able to network in the way that riders are now. My wife has Facebook… I have email, and that’s about it. I think it’s about the money now. I started to race to beat people. A lot of younger riders go there now because their father wants them to race. Of 100 young riders, two or three might continue. Most of the time, the father will invest a load of money, and lose it – I know Italian riders that have sold their houses and haven’t been able to make it. “There’s a difference in riding now though, the technology has moved on a lot and they need it, otherwise they’ll spend too much time crashing. Someone like Lorenzo has more like our old school style, whereas the new riders like Marquez are very stop and go.”
What do you think of the electronic aids used on road and race bikes now?
“The first time I used traction control, it was home-made in 2006 on a Honda. We tried it at Qatar for two days. First day, first lap, the lap took about 10 minutes! It was like a pitlane limiter. I kept asking for more, and more, and after two days of work, they said that we were in a good range. I do nothing, I open the throttle and it doesn’t move! In the end I actually asked for a new tyre, turned the system off, and I was over a second a lap faster…
“For me, traction control is now too much. I believe it was more fun for me when we had none, but the younger riders won’t know what it’s like riding without it. Even in Moto3, the bikes have electronic aids so it’s the way the world is going. Two years ago I went to World Ducati Week and I had some laps on the V4 – I got on it, and they said the clutch is only for the start. I didn’t understand that you just don’t need to use it any more, as it’s what I would rely on into corners, and out of corners. I was throwing down the gears with no throttle or clutch and it didn’t even lock up!
“All this stuff is new and against my old style, but it must be good. It’s better for safety of course, so that matters. I rode a Suzuki GSX-R1000 World Superbike a few years ago at Eastern Creek, and it was cool – it would spin out of the last corner, and wheelie after, but it felt safe, and the bike looked after it without me needing to do too much. With an old school 500, you must respect a lot. When the power come in, it was very hard, and it was almost always a highside, whereas now that doesn’t happen so often.”
What do you think of the World Superbike championship nowadays?
“In Misano, our beach is a couple of miles from the race track. When I raced there, a lot of people came there, or when MotoGP is there now, it’s completely alive, and crazy and everyone’s revving bikes and being noisy. But, at World Superbike, there’s nothing… Everything’s changed – it’s not just the different rules and one race on each day. The Superpole race is good because you have to push hard, which makes good racing. It’s almost better than the two longer races, as nothing really happens. Jonny [Rea] is good, riding good, and is a step above. Bautista lost his head, although Ducati help with that. They push and push, whether it’s riders or engineers.”
What happened for you after you finished racing, and why did you stop?
“I stopped the race because my body couldn’t do any more. In my head I was still strong and competitive. In the middle of 2006 I broke my pelvis, and from the X-ray it wasn’t completely straightforward. In 2006, I wasn’t allowed to put the leathers on and off by myself as my leg wasn’t working properly. It meant I couldn’t change direction like I wanted to as well, so I went for an operation. Unfortunately, it became infected, and it’s still there now and it comes out to this day. When I work through summer, I still have to change bandages every day.”
Was it tough giving up?
“Nothing changed, it’s everything I knew, and we have a really close family who have all grown up around it. I never thought too far into the future and I think that helped me out a lot. When I stopped racing, or even before, we had a set up, which was a beach near Misano – now we manage it with the rest of the family and I invest my money. I bought a hotel that was old and in bad condition, knocked it down and I’m building it up again nicer, with 14 apartments by the beach. If you’re coming over for something and want to stay, then let me know! Leon Haslam, Jeremy McWilliams, John McPhee, we like having the riders!
“But I don’t like being around the tracks now and not being properly involved – it’s not enjoyable for me.”