HP4 Race fulfils the need for speed
BMW’s superbike-spec machine is the perfect lightweight rocket on two wheels
EESTORIL, Portugal xiting Circuito Estoril’s final corner, I roll on the throttle full from more than 160 km/h, accelerating with such force that I strain to pull myself forward and tuck in behind the windscreen. Telemetry later reveals speeds in excess of 300 km/h at the end of the 985-metre front straight. Braking for the 90-ish degree right-hand first turn is hard enough to make blood rush into my face.
I’m riding the exclusive, expensive, and blisteringly fast BMW HP4 Race. When ridden by BMW’s test rider, Juergen Fuchs, this track-only bike is almost two seconds faster around the racecourse than the S1000RR supersport machine.
If you find the bike’s $95,000 price tag to be outrageously expensive, the HP4 Race is really not for you. What you get for almost one hundred large is a limited edition (750 units), better-than-World-Superbike-spec racing machine. It’s a bike that can, in capable hands, race competitively in World Superbike.
The irony is that, despite being hand-built at BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s factory race shop in Berlin, using many of the same components found on the S1000RR race bike competing in the FIM World Superbike championship, the HP4 Race cannot be raced. Homologation for most racing series dictates that competing machines must be based on commercially available street bikes. And the HP4 Race is no street bike.
Despite resembling the S1000RR, the HP4 Race shares nothing with the street bike other than engine castings. It’s an entirely new machine, at the base of which is a lightweight carbon-fibre frame. Also made from carbon fibre are the wheels, subframe and bodywork. All of these lightweight components combine to drop wet weight to 171 kilograms, 37 kg lighter than the street bike and 8 kg less than the full racer.
Steering rake angle, trail, triple-clamp offset, and swing-arm pivot height are all adjustable, and all the necessary inserts are included with the bike. You also get a variety of sprockets to alter the final drive ratio for different tracks. Ride height, seat height and foot peg height are also adjustable.
Ohlins provides the fully adjustable, race-spec suspension components, which are identical to the parts found on the WSBK race bike. Brembo race-spec brakes are standard, and there’s no ABS.
BMW Motorrad Motorsport offers three factory-built race engines for customers. Identified by their product codes, the 5.2 engine is the base race engine, the 6.2 has an altered cylinder head for more power, and the 7.2 is the full Superbike-spec engine. The HP4 Race uses the valve train from the 6.2 engine, and the lighter crankshaft and connecting rods from the 7.2 engine. It produces 215 horsepower, which is just five shy of the WSBK engine and 16 more than the street engine.
The electronics are much more elaborate than on the street bike, with four ride modes (Wet, Intermediate, Dry 1, Dry 2), lean-sensing dynamic traction control with 15 levels of intervention, adjustable wheelie control that intervenes only in the bottom three gears, adjustable 15-level engine braking, launch control that works in first and second gears, and a pit lane speed limiter. There’s also a quick shifter that works up and down, and a 2D data logger with an instrument panel that can be configured to display a multitude of information, including TC, engine-braking and ride mode settings, GPS-enabled lap times, as well as more elaborate data such as throttle opening, front and rear wheel speed, lean angle, and if the optional sensors are installed, brake pressure and suspension travel.
Adjustments to the electronics can be made on the fly through the specialized, race-only switchgear, which is simplified compared to a street bike (three large buttons on either side) and very easy to use.
We’re allotted four 20-minute sessions on the HP4, and there are also S1000RRs we can ride any time we’re not on the hero bike. Hopping onto the HP4 after two sessions on the S1000RR immediately reveals a much more extreme riding position, with a higher seat and abnormally high foot pegs.
It takes less than half a lap to get completely comfortable on the HP4, which feels much lighter, stiffer, and more precise than the street bike, which itself is a stellar-handling motorcycle. It steers with much more precision than the street bike, and takes less physical effort to ride, especially through the tighter turning transitions.
Throttle control is as near to perfect as possible. Because the ride modes offer different power curves in the first three gears, the throttle is remarkably easy to manage, especially noticeable when exiting the tight chicane in first with the throttle opened full while still cranked way over. Of course, once on the front straight and in fourth gear acceleration is brutal enough to almost make the stock bike feel slow.
The traction and wheelie controls are almost completely invisible, allowing the bike to rocket forward with brutal speed without spinning or lifting a wheel — at least until you hit fourth gear, where the front wheel can lift at very high speeds if you’re not careful. The stock bike often lifted a wheel coming out of the slower turns, making it feel faster (most likely not), but also requiring more effort to ride.
The BMW HP4 Race is not a superbike repli-racer, but rather a true superbike-spec motorcycle. Sure, it’s expensive. And there are other costs that come with ownership: BMW recommends replacing the engine at 5,000km intervals, at a cost of about 15,000 euros, which is claimed to be cheaper than rebuilding the existing engine. But that’s the price you have to pay for WSBK performance.
BMW claims it was built to introduce carbon-fibre technology to motorcycling, a feat the company has already tackled with its i3 electric and i8 hybrid cars. I think they did it for fun. Wealthy trackday enthusiasts and well-to-do collectors will probably snap up the bike, of which I think we’ll see about 10 come to Canada.
If you can afford to add one to your collection, it’s worth every penny. But you should ride it, or you’ll have no idea what you’ve got.