BMW M1000RR ‘IT’S ALL ABOUT USING THAT POWER’
2024 Riders and teams
Rory Skinner Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad
Leon Haslam ROKIT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad
Josh Brookes FHO Racing
BMW Motorrad
Peter Hickman FHO Racing
BMW Motorrad
The BMW is a weird one because when you look at it on paper the M1000RR has a shed load of power. It’s as powerful as anything on the grid. It’s really strong and out of all the inline-fours on the grid, it’s the most top-endy. They just keep pulling and in terms of straight line I love riding them. But making a usable package around that for the rider has been an issue. The power is beautiful but it’s not always usable. Trying to get that power tamed and use what it’s got isn’t easy because it’s such a screamer. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword because you can have as much power as you want but if you can’t use any of it, then there’s no point having it – especially here in the UK with such diverse circuits.
The last time I raced around Cadwell Park, Oulton Park and Knockhill I was on a Boost Yamaha which had 150bhp and that was about right, you could have a bit of a rest on the straight, keep pushing all race and your eyeballs weren’t falling out. Now I ride a 200bhp road bike round those tracks and it’s a different challenge – so you can imagine what a 250bhp BSB bike must be like.
Given the tracks in BSB, having an engine that does what you want more than just producing loads and loads of power is so important.
You can dial out a lot of the power with the MoTeC ECU, but having the manpower and expertise to do that for every corner of every track is hard from a financial perspective.
There are also some question marks over the chassis and I’ve heard some rumours about the stiffness and also the location of the swingarm pivot point. But we’re talking about small things, because the M1000RR is well proven to be capable of running at the front on track.
The frustrating thing for anyone running a BMW in BSB or World Superbike is that as a road bike or Superstock spec it’s the benchmark. Just ask Hicky whose fastest ever TT lap was set on a Superstock bike!
I remain unconvinced about the big wings on the bike. You hear people say that they turn the BMW into a different bike and that they’re brilliant, but then one falls off and they can’t tell the difference!
‘I remain unconvinced by the wings’