Debrief time at Cremona. Despite cutting all
sorts of shapes, Toprak and the BMW couldn't stop
the Ducati of Nicolo Bulega.
P106
FEATURE I RIDING RAZGATLIOGLU'S BMW M 1000 RR
I'm not even halfway around
my out-lap, and already I know
I could ride this bike to the
shops, no problem. The Öhlins
RVP25/30 front fork and Öhlins
RVP50 shock are set surpris
-
ingly soft. It's not intimidating
at all, but
that's at a pedestrian
pace compared to the next five
minutes of my life.
With sufficient heat in the
Pirelli WorldSBK SC0 rear and
SC1 front slicks, and the hairpin
before the back straight ap
-
proaching, I try to ratchet up the
aggression
a bit. Braking later
than I would have probably liked,
the BMW nonetheless turns with
the ease few riders will ever get
to experience, and, upon see
-
ing that near mile-long back
straight,
I tell myself that unless
this thing looks/sounds like it's
going to break, I'm not backing
off until I absolutely must.
Stand the chassis up so it's
on the fat part of the tire and pin
the throttle to the stop. The next
12 seconds feel like two as the
Toprak BMW launches onto the
back straight, all 250-ish horse
-
power pushed into the ground
accompanied
by the single best
combination of induction,
engine and exhaust roar I've
ever
heard.
The BMW simply vaporizes
the back straight all too soon.
Shifting through the gearbox
is like taking a samurai sword
to a loaf of bread. The gearbox
shift has the perfect combina
-
tion of feel, resistance and
smoothness, and
as I shift back
to second for the final three
switchback corners, the superb
engine-brake strategy takes
over.
