VOL. 54 ISSUE 26 JULY 4, 2017 P105
(PS: they didn't!), and my first
lap of Estoril on the HP4 RACE
was like shaking hands with an
old friend you hadn't seen for a
while, even down to the spa-
cious yet accommodating riding
position, without excessive
weight on your arms or shoul-
ders.
For even though WorldSBK
rules have been tightened up
since then to bring the engines
especially closer to stock, the
HP4 RACE has the same explo-
sive, irresistible acceleration and
heaps of straight-line perfor-
mance that I can remember
Chaz's S 1000 RR Superbike
had. With peak power of 215
bhp/158 kW at 13,900 rpm, and
maximum torque of 120Nm deliv-
ered at 10,000 revs, this engine
is a considerable step up from
the 193-bhp HP4 that debuted
five years ago, and is easily the
most powerful BMW motor-
cycle ever offered for customer
purchase. The revlimiter has
been raised an extra 300 revs to
14,500 rpm, and as I found each
lap I'd exit the fast, fast third-gear
sweeper leading on to the Estoril
main straight in a vain attempt to
pretend I was Toni Elias depriv-
ing Valentino Rossi of his 2006
MotoGP world title by beating him
to the line there by a wheel for his
one and only GP victory. It pays
to rev the BMW engine out to the
limiter, because there's definitely
more power available up high.
So you can ignore the array of
flashing red lights across the top
of the ultra-legible 2D dash telling
you to hit another gear until just
before the RBW throttle stops
building power, and you can tap
the sweet-action race-pattern
gearshift to hit fourth gear as
you start to straighten up and fly
right down that long, long front
straight.
Carbon-
framed
motorcycles
are like
buses: you
wait three
decades
for another
one…and
then three
come along
one after
another.
The swingarm
is aluminum
not carbon
fiber because
requisite metal
inserts didn't
leave space for
viable loss of
weight.
(Right) RTM/Resin
Transfer Molding
manufacturing system
developed on BMW's i3
electric car allows volume
production of carbon
fiber components, each
identical one to another.
