BMW HP4 RACE
FULL TEST
P104
and offer a significant 40% reduc-
tion in gyroscopic weight, which
translates into much improved
steering, plus enhanced acceler-
ation and braking. That's because
there's less rotational inertia, thus
helping improve acceleration—
which is why all top-level drag
racers use CF wheels—as well as
braking, with less overall weight
to stop and start. But interest-
ingly, BMW's adoption of carbon
fiber as the new aluminum didn't
extend to the HP4 RACE's swing-
arm, which is indeed still made
of—aluminum.
"By the time we'd inserted all
the metal fixtures we needed to
incorporate in the carbon fiber
swingarm, there wasn't sufficient
material left to justify making it
in carbon fiber," says Gonschor.
"So we didn't!"
But while it's the HP4 RACE's
glitzy array of exotic CF hard-
ware that grabs your attention
first and foremost, that's only
because it's so self-evident—
whereas lurking behind all that is
a stealth fighter of a mechanical
package that combines scintillat-
ing performance with MotoGP-
level componentry, to create
a motorcycle that's amazingly
close in performance and feel to
a factory superbike. I rode the
factory S 1000 RR Superbike
each year that BMW contested
the World Superbike series,
the last time at Imola in 2013 on
Chaz Davies' GoldBet bike in
the final season of BMW's five-
year plan to win the World title
(Above) The unique benefits
of carbon fiber components in
steering and handling were fully
experienced at Estoril.
