BMW shows new 1000 supersport BMW S1000RR

BMW takes a lot of pride in its business and appears to be surging forward as a company delivering leading edge technology. This is particularly so in the elite performance category where the recently acquired BMW Sauber F1 team is now reaping the benefit of the company’s not inconsiderable R&D machine to find a better way, and looks to have almost bridged the gap to Ferrari and McLaren. Much activity has also been seen in the motorcycle area of the company, BMW Motorrad, which is in the middle of a broad-based model initiative. It has entered the serious enduro market and has been extending the performance of its offerings all round. Now the company is finally declaring its hand in the toughest category of all – superbike territory. BMW Motorrad’s first entry into the area will be the S 1000 RR, a 1000cc four cylinder that looks a treat, at least based on the racing prototype shown overnight in Europe.

April 16, 2008 BMW takes a lot of pride in its business and appears to be surging forward as a company delivering leading edge technology. This is particularly so in the elite performance category where the recently acquired BMW Sauber F1 team is now reaping the benefit of the company’s not inconsiderable R&D machine to find a better way, and looks to have almost bridged the gap to Ferrari and McLaren. Much activity has also been seen in the motorcycle area of the company, BMW Motorrad, which is in the middle of a broad-based model initiative. It has entered the serious enduro market and has been extending the performance of its offerings all round. Now the company is finally declaring its hand in the toughest category of all – superbike territory. BMW Motorrad’s first entry into the area will be the S 1000 RR, a 1000cc four cylinder that looks a treat, at least based on the racing prototype shown overnight in Europe.

Firstly, in traditional BMW nomenclature, the S stands for Supersport (not to be confused with the racing class which has smaller engine capacity), the “1000” designates the size of the engine, and the “RR” stands for the model itself.

Many motorcycle magazines have published photos of a racing prototype which BMW has tested on several European racing tracks. The press statement made a particular not “that neither the design nor the impression of quality are the same as on the production model following at a later point.”

Fair enough, but it really does look pretty delectable as it stands, regardless of whether it’s finished or not. Whatever it looks like in final form, it will be available to customers in 2009 and BMW will build 1,000 production models by the end of next year so they can go Superbike racing with the model and fulfil the rules of the Series.

There were several interesting clues in the speech, most notably that the new S 1000 RR would have “a number of special features, especially on the cylinder head”.

We’re not sure if this means pneumatic valves, which the company already has considerable expertise with thanks to its Formula One involvement or some other factor.

So too did the company disclose that it decided on a straight four after evaluating various engine concepts as it offered “the best qualities to meet the power, performance, weight, and package requirements.”

Another skill set under development for some time at BMW Motorrad is that of traction control and its application to motorcycles. The company confirmed the bike will have traction control but elected against providing further information at this time.

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