VOL. 51 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 18, 2014 P85
ed ABS program fitted as stan-
dard incorporating greater anti-
lift control in pursuit of increased
stability, I could release them
knowing that I'd no longer all but
stop dead on the overrun. Now
I could focus on using the great
grip from the front tire to raise my
turn speed, feeding in the power
smoothly but strongly as I round-
ed the apex, before gassing it up
wide open, trusting the TC that
I'd set exactly halfway through its
range of 15 settings to hook up
the rear.
I'd feel the front wheel lift lazily
but controllably as the TC light on
the dash flashed intermittently to
tell me it was doing its job. The
BMW rocketed out of the bend
with an addictive heady shriek
from the engine, as I headed
down the next short straight en
route to a three-second faster
lap time than using Race mode.
This was confirmed by the in-
credibly informative—albeit rather
cluttered—new dash showing a
myriad of data from speed to lap
times, intake air pressure, twist
grip position, lean angle, braking
force, torque reduction when TC
is engaged, gear selected (much
too hidden away; it should use
larger digits) engine speed, etc.
It's not as bad as an MV Agusta
one, but there's so much data on
the new BMW readout that it's
sometimes hard to decipher what
you're looking for, and on a bike
that accelerates this hard and
goes so fast, that's not such a
good thing. The spread of power
and torque is literally gi-normous!
I tried lapping the Monteblanco
circuit entirely in fourth gear and
didn't need to use the clutch
once. This is an ultra-flexible
friend of a Superbike when you
want it to be, even if riding it other
than in something approaching
anger is arguably a waste of such
a capable package.
The BMW's distinctive styling
has been cleverly refreshed, with
the asymmetric headlights swap-
ping sides so that the dipped-
beam lamp is now on the right
and the high beam on the left. It's
still unmistakably a BMW and is
available in a choice of three col-
ors, including the BMW Motor-
sport blue, white and red livery,
The new
RR packs a
big punch.
Horsepower
has been
increased by six
over the HP4.
