Patent ID: 7721705

Claim:
A throttle management apparatus for an internal combustion engine of a vehicle, wherein the engine has a plurality of cylinders arranged in two spaced-apart banks, and a throttle body assembly comprising a first throttle body section and a second throttle body section spaced apart from said first throttle body section, said throttle body assembly including a respective throttle valve for each of said cylinders, and the vehicle includes a throttle activation member operatively connected to at least some of said throttle valves, wherein the throttle management apparatus controls the throttle valves, the throttle management apparatus comprising: a first throttle control device which electrically drives the throttle valves for some of the plurality of cylinders disposed in a first bank of said engine, based on an electric signal generated according to selected operating conditions of the vehicle, wherein operation of the throttle valves of said first bank is controlled exclusively by said first throttle control device; and a second throttle control device which mechanically drives the throttle valves for the rest of the plurality of cylinders disposed in a second bank of said engine, based on an amount of throttle activation member operation; wherein the first and second throttle control devices are disposed in a space formed between the first and second throttle body sections; and wherein the second throttle control device is configured and arranged to mechanically control the throttle valves of said second bank during an early stage of throttle grip operation, so as to provide relatively rapid response to manual manipulation of said throttle activation member during said early stage of throttle grip operation.