BMW S 1000 RR Superbike details announced

BMW have released pictures and limited details of their S1000RR superbike, which will be both sold as a road machine, and the basis of a planned attack on the World Superbike Championship in 200

BMW have released pictures and limited details of their S1000RR superbike, which will be both sold as a road machine, and the basis of a planned attack on the World Superbike Championship in 2009.

In a presentation to media today BMW Motorrads president Hendrik von Kuenheim outlined the plan for this assault.

 "In our first year in the Superbike World Championship we seek to bring home several places in the Top 10 and to consistently close the gap to the top teams. In year 2 we plan to catch up with the top teams and to win our first places on the podium. And our medium-term objective, obviously, is to win the World Championship!"

 Whilst not releasing any specific information about the machine, von Kuenheim stated that it would be a conventional inline 4 cylinder, with "special" features, especially in regards to the cylinder head, and traction control. Opting to not use BMWs "Duo Lever" suspension due to size constraints, the S1000RR will feature the more usual upsidedown fork front end as found on its competitors supersport machines.

A planned production run of 1000 machines as required for homologation into the WSBK series will have the bike available for sale in 2009 according to BMW.

Munich based Alpha -Racing will be assisting in the race development of the R 1000 SS.

"The team is a combination of specialists from BMW and members of the Alpha-Technik racing crew, as well as further specialists from professional Superbike racing. Choosing the development and test riders for our racing machine, we are currently operating in a revolving system to gain as much experience as possible. The selection of test riders ranges from experienced riders still active today all the way to young top guns."