THE WEIGHT IS OVER
£68,000 is a lot of money, but what it buys you is astonishing. 215bhp, and just 171kg of wet weight. BMW’S HP4 Race is a masterpiece…
JUST HALF A lap out and my mind is reeling. I’m just stunned by the HP4 Race, especially the superb turn-in. It feels so incredibly light, effortless and easy. On this opening lap I actually run up and over the inside kerb – not once, but twice. I’m simply misjudging the minimal effort needed to get the required result. The HP4 is pin sharp; the combination of low unsprung weight from its carbon wheels and low overall weight from the carbon frame bless this bike with a unique and vastly superior cornering ability to… well, pretty much anything. I have to completely recalibrate my input. Even after plenty of laps the BMW is still an eye-opener. The way the HP4 scythes through the incredibly tight chicane here at Estoril circuit in Portugal is unique for a superbike. It flashes from full over on the left, up, over and down to maximum right lean as easily as a little Moto3 bike. It’s bewildering, ground-breaking and utterly impressive. I can’t stress enough how much of a difference the bike’s gorgeous carbon-fibre frame and wheels (and bodywork) truly make. I can’t think of another bike – except maybe a delicate 250cc GP bike – that allows such freedom of lines, either going in, round or out. It’s as if the bike is somehow hardwired into my thoughts. Want to tighten your line? Do it, it will. Add corner speed? Do it, it will. In fact, the limits are so high on
this bike most will be unlocking its layers of ability for years to come. BMW have considerately brought along a standard S1000RR for comparison, the 998cc and 194bhp sportsbike that the HP4 is based on. The RR is one of my favourite road bikes, and its confidence-boosting handling proved great for learning the circuit
earlier on. But having another blast after the HP4, I’m shocked – it’s like the S1000RR is riding under treacle compared with this new carbon gymnast. Less weight means greater straight-line performance too. Especially as the donor RR engine is tuned-up into a rabid animal. It’s epic. The HP4 is wonderfully, nearly scarily fast. Race camshafts, Pankl conrods, matched pistons and crank shells (on a 200g-lighter crank) and longer, wider trumpets are among the mods increasing the inline four’s output to 215bhp and a tyre-torturing 88.5 lb.ft. This is as quick as anything I’ve ridden, ever. Yet it’s beautifully controlled too. The mapping allows easy connection from the throttle, be it at low-rev pick up, fast or slow opening. Then get it up top and it’s a banshee, delivering a massive kick and a hard, cutting scream. What a noise, especially with the close-ratio racing gearbox giving frantic, relentless drive. Don’t think the BMW isn’t playful or feel-some, though, or that the HP4 will suddenly catch you out. Any rider of any ability could ride this and love it. That’s a very clever trick to have pulled off. Not only is mechanical grip astounding, the chassis also has loads of feel and allows you to keep exploring and chipping away, at your own pace. It’s carbon and it’s stiff, yes, but flex is engineered in for feedback and rider confidence. This is BMW bringing in new carbon fibre technology for production motorcycles, not just racers, and so it needs to be fun and exciting for all rider abilities. This HP4 Race is surely the first step to mass production of carbon fibre bike parts. A few years ago it would have taken weeks to build just a frame of this complexity. With BMW’S clever new processes the HP4’S main part is made in two hours. Think how aluminium replaced15-stage There’s tractionsteel more as deliciousthe control, chassis stuff. anti-wheelie,materialThe HP4of choice. adjustableis loaded This with engineis the electronics braking,future. – quickshifter,judged it’s almost autoblipper impossible– but to they’refeel themso carefully working. weightedWhen they and do
step in they are so unobtrusive and subtle, gently helping with the lightest touch. More like a lover’s breath on your neck than a heavy-handed digital series of 0s and 1s trying to stop the fun. This bike is all about intuitive speed, interactive fun and efficiency, and the extensive electronics are a real aid in trying to get near its towering limits. Suspension isn’t electronic, however. It’s conventional Öhlins, with an FGR300 WSB fork and TTX36 GP shock. They’re my favourite suspension, giving superb feel for every bump and surface change, right down to the last millimetre of travel. Brakes are Brembo’s GP4-PR one-piece calipers with titanium pistons, and they’re unreal – the standard RR’S brakes feel like they’re off a kid’s bike in comparison. Mating these parts to the wonderful carbon chassis and a conventional Suter aluminium swingarm it’s a deeply convincing set-up. I can only imagine the hours spent honing the HP4 to get it to feel so complete; each part of this bike is so beautifully in harmony with the next. And if you’re not entirely happy there’s so much adjustability (swingarm pivot, fork offset, head angle, full suspension settings) you could play till your heart’s content. With one track session left I decide to really go for it. Jurgen Fuchs (Grand Prix podium finisher and BMW development rider) is lapping in the 1m 45s and I’ve been doing high 46s – so I’ve got a target. I don’t need to, of course… but I want to push it. I get that one-fast-lap superpole buzz. Got to get a good first turn, so I let the brakes off and bury the high-feel front end. Snapping the throttle, the immense power throws me out, quickly through a fast and bumpy kink, the BMW alive and slithering to the kerb. It’s a difficult downhill right next but the mammoth
‘Makes a standard S1000RR feel like it’s riding under treacle’
brakes instantly lose speed, and a late apex lets me stand up and fire out. The HP4 is glued to the road with no understeer at all through super-late-apex turn four, and I get a superb exit. Up to fourth gear for a flat-out kink (ballsy and my favourite corner), I flash through and fire another gear at the screaming jewel of an engine. The pipe crackles and pops going down to second for a bumpy left, the bike erupting into a wheelie on the crest at the exit. Hard on the brakes for a downhill right, the HP4 eats it up and the electronics make the exhaust warble on exit, before bursting through a flat right before the hideously slow chicane. The BMW is still as eye-opening here as it was earlier, effortlessly dashing through and allowing me to pick my ideal exit. I try and spin the rear to help turn it, but it stays planted, electronics popping away. Into the final corner, a fantastic, fast, double-apex right leading onto the 185mph start-finish straight. The HP4 is so precise and easy to place, and I feed the throttle open as quick as I dare, the rear lightly sliding out to the kerb as I hook fourth… It’s 1m 46.2s. Nearly. The next lap is better, but I make a mistake pushing hard and run wide. Time to call it a day. Not that it matters, of course – the HP4 has me buzzing. Sometimes you hop on a bike and it just feels ‘right’. This is one of those bikes. I believe it’s because one man, the engaging project leader Christian Gonschor, was able to single-mindedly go in a very quick, undiluted direction. In just a year and a half he and his clever team developed and brought the carbon HP4 to production. Impossible under a large committee, but do-able with a clever and dynamic young team. Hats off to BMW – this is a superb bit of thinking, and I reckon other manufacturers could have missed a trick. Yes, this is track-only (clue’s in the name), they’re only making 750 and it costs £68,000, but road-going sportsbike sales are dwindling and trackdays are on the up. Why not build exclusive, unrestricted, track-only weapons for a fortune, and use them to test future road bike technology? The HP4 clearly demonstrates the next stage of motorbike development. Carbon for the masses. In the meantime, the HP4 Race is a masterpiece.
‘The HP4 demonstrates the next stage of development – carbon for the masses’