Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade
Our Fireblade’s trackday debut doesn’t quite go to plan…
A WISE MAN once said, “A trackday isn’t a race; it’s more dangerous than that.” And I was right – proven by taking the Blade to a recent event at Mallory Park (organised, ironically, by Bennetts, the bike insurers, for its customers – raising the conundrum of how its own insurance covers an on-track accident). Sure enough, four laps into the first session, my failed efforts to brake for Edwina’s chicane were rewarded with a tail-ender; not one but two other bikes rearranged the Blade’s backside. To be fair to Lee and Alex, the unfortunates who were using me as a mobile braking marker, they didn’t have awesome ABS and I did. I apologised later, to which their reply – “It’s okay, it happens” – was less of an admission of guilt than I expected... so I stopped feeling bad.
Instead, what I did was borrow a Honda Fireblade SP belonging to
“Not one but two other bikes rearranged the Blade’s backside”
SPEC HONDA CBR1000RR FIREBLADE £15,225 + 999cc inline four + 189bhp + 196kg + 16-litre tank + 832mm seat + Miles so far: 1616
Bennetts. It’s the semi-active, quickshifter version of the base Blade I’ve been riding. But it feels completely different, and not just thanks to the lovely, smooth, floaty Öhlins suspension and clutchless gearshifts. The throttle is more consistent, the feedback from the engine response is natural and, while physical issues are still present (the fairing is still a joke), controlling the SP is much more intuitive than riding the stock bike. It’s much better - and if I’d ridden the SP before the base model, I’d be wondering what all the fuss is about.
Which is handy, as Honda has taken my Blade back and swapped it for an SP. And I want to find out exactly what the differences are.
SIMON HARGREAVES