BMW’s Superbike project on track
Posted by automobz on July 19, 2008
It was close to about eight months ago that BMW declared their intention of participating in the Superbike World Championship from next year onwards. Hence, BMW is working overtime in order to get the bikes race-track ready in order to lay rubber during the first race of WSBK 2009. The eagerly awaited superbike clocked some miles at the Eurospeedway Lausitzring recently. The German circuit featured on WSBK calendar till last year and this gave BMW a good comparison measure of lap times vis-à-vis lap times of previous year’s race weekend.
The BMW S 1000 RR is being tested by a team of three riders; Steve Martin, Kevin Curtain and Jeremy McWilliams. After the test, riders said “The basics of the S 1000 RR are very good, the engine has good power, the chassis and suspension are working well and the bike has the basis of a Superbike racer already.” Berti Hauser, GM, BMW Motorrad Motorsport, was quite pleased with the progress and declared: “I am very happy with the professional way all three riders worked and the amount of feedback they have given us. We are under no illusions of the amount of work we have to do before the start of the season next year, but we are ready and looking forward to facing this huge challenge. Up to now, we have done very little work on the electronics and have preferred to get the bike’s basics working well and I think we have achieved that. If our project continues at this good pace, I think we could surprise a few people next year.”
It is in Rosenheim, near BMW’s headquarter in Munich, that BMW Motorrad and Alpha Technik will be developing the Superbike racebikes in a state-of-the-art factory which is established over 7,000 square meters. The main workshop is split into three parts and houses two dynos. BMW Motorrad’s Off-Road and Enduro team is also incorporated in the same facility. The progress towards development of the factory has been rapid and marks just another step forward for BMW Motorrad and Alpha Technik towards 2009 Superbike World Championship season.
