RUN ONE: CBR1000RR, S21 road tyres

Scrawled across the page of my note pad in all caps after my first run was: “IT’S AMAZING. IT’S LIKE MY CBR6 BUT LIGHTER AND FASTER. IT’S INCREDIBLE.” I’d never felt so excited after riding something as when I first stepped off the new Fireblade.

But it’s not just the scream-inducing speed on the straights that got me – it’s also so easy to ride; so easy to make yourself feel like a hero (even as you’re being lapped by John McGuinness). The RR tips naturally into corners on the Bridgestone Battlax Hypersport S21s, the Showa suspension clearly more capable than I am.

I’d have preferred to have got time with it on the road, too – there are no potholes or cat’s eyes on Portimão’s Algarve International Circuit – but it didn’t feel stiff or jarring like a track bike can. The racers found it a little soft, so it’s easy to see this as the ‘entry-level’ suspension when the SP boasts electronic Öhlins kit. It’s not – this is still very high-spec equipment that can be adjusted to suit your ride.

The power delivery is smooth and deceptively torquey. There are no surges, and on the start/finish straight the Honda kept driving forward – in my case to 170mph – before I had to brake for the first corner. There’s a crest as you power onto the straight, and the lifted gently until I lost my bottle and closed the throttle. The wheelie control didn’t seem intrusive.

At no point did I feel cramped. I’m 5ft 10in, and while it was clearly a smaller machine than my 2000-model CBR600, it didn’t make my hips protest like BMW’s S1000RR. I felt safe and confident. But that diminutive size does have disadvantages – BSB rider Jason O’Halloran said that he found himself having to hold on to the bars tighter than usual due to the wind blast. This would likely be easily cured with a double-bubble screen, and we are talking about speeds way beyond anything you’d see on the road – or tracks like Cadwell – but even I found that, above 150mph, the wind on my lower legs and feet was so strong as to make it a little more difficult to change gear.

An up and down quickshifter is standard on the SP, but an optional extra on the RR; it was fitted to our bikes, so stamping down three or four gears without touching the clutch was incredibly satisfying as the noisy titanium end-can barked. A couple of times I found the down-changes into the start/finish straight wouldn’t quite work – and I wasn’t the only one – but I was able to bring the clutch in briefly to reset it.

The faster-paced racers found it more of a problem. It seemed to be caused by not being positive enough with your boot, and I’m pretty sure that slightly adjusting the position of the selector would have been enough to cure it where I was concerned.