Spent a couple of hours yesterday at Qld Raceway for the BMW Ride Day and a chance to ride the BMW 2015 BMW S1000RR – the 200hp Beemer litre superbike.  They had a dozen of these things lined compete with Pirelli track rubber, some S1000R’s and K1300’s for good measure.  

That’s Chris Vermuelen, former MotoGP champion and celebrity instructor for the day.

Now, not having ridden a superbike on a racetrack before had me well and truly anxious beforehand but the briefing beforehand by Miles Davis, Marketing Manager at BMW Motorrad Australia and official titleholder of the ‘best job in the world’  settled much of that talking about the track layout and how they’d marked the circuit with paint markers to indicate racing and cornering lines.

And the bike..?  OMG, 200hp into 200kgs is stretching the boundaries of Newtons Law of Physics in the first place, but the real eye-opener isn’t so much the acceleration (you’re expecting that ti pop your eyes), its the braking force the thing is capable of…to own one will mean two days a week in the gym for a 50-something to even contemplate doing it justice.

Anyways, a couple of hours out of a work day and $59 buys about as much fun as you can have with your leathers on.

   

   Thanks to BMW Motorrad Australia and the California Superbike School for putting on the day…very well run event.  Looking forward to getting to a Phillip Island training event run by the Superbike School, before buying the S1000RR!

   

 Footnote:  the 2016 S1000XR was on display for the first time – S1000RR engine tuned to 160hp in a GS Adventure style frame.  Looking forward to riding that one day!