Well it took them a fair bit of time to get the S1000 competitive in WSBK and actually get a win, as opposed to Aprilia, who started the RSV4 project the same year (2009) and they won a race that very first year, and 2 WSBK championships since then.
Of course Aprilia had the advantage of years of road racing experience, whereas BMW was starting pretty much from zero. I do wonder if the car-centric guys at BMW underestimated just how hard winning at that level would be.
While that is true, BMW has been making motorcycles for a long, long time. And they were road racing long before the S1000RR came out. It isn't like they were brand new to the whole thing. Personally, I have a lot of respect for what BMW did with the S1000RR. Instead of doing bullshit like Suzuki does, where they give you "Bold New Graphics" every year, then about every 3 years they will increase output by 1-2hp or something just to keep you interested.....BMW came firing out of the box with a fucking badass bike. Keep in mind they used the 2005 Gixxer 1000 as a base platform (which is why it feels so much like a Gixxer when sitting on it and riding it), so they could have easily put out a bike that makes 155hp, with no electronics, with sad brakes etc...but they didnt. Instead of giving us something that was "ok" and keeping a lot of potential performance in their back pocket for future improvements, they threw it out there and gave us a missle immediately. If you are going to break into that market and compete with the Big 4...that is how you do it. If the assboogers would have only made it match on both sides. :down:
my point of view ! they are wasting toomuch money 32 engine on a year ! and plus they support motogp came team petrucci so for them its losing alot of money ! and who know maybe bmw 2015 will be effected by this decision and it will not be the super bike any more
Last year was their shot until Melandri went full on Xaus mode the last few rounds. Had a comfy lead, and crashed out of i believe 3 of the last 4 races.One of the biggest choke jobs i have ever witnessed.
Umm, no. Shit happens. Sometimes shit happens 3 out of 4 weekends. It was no "choke job". The dude has been racing at the world level for a long, long time. He didnt choke, he just had bad luck.
To be fair, if he'd ridden for points instead of outright wins it was his for the taking. But racers, race. -jim
True. The case could easily be made that he didnt race very smart. But he didn't "choke". Shit like that gets on my nerves. Like when a basketball player has an off night, some reporter will ask him if he shot bad because of his brother being sick or because he was thinking about his upcoming contract negotiations. Or if somebody crashes, they will ask if it was because of worrying about his newborn son. Or if a baseball player makes a couple of errors in the field, they will ask if it was because of drama in the clubhouse. If somebody misses a layup, it isnt because his contract is up at the end of the year, he just put the ball against the backboard too fucking hard that particular time. If somebody tucks the front, they didnt choke...they just had a lil bit too much brake pressure for that lean angle in that particular corner. People are always looking for some story, or trying to put some mental/psychological twist on things.
Well, in motorcycle racing, sometimes it's true. Obvious, even. When it's this time of the year in MotoGP and silly season hots up, some riders start riding better and more consistently. Let's just say they're more motivated and leave it at that. -jim
Chaotic, I know you've never heard of Regis Laconi but he would tell you that he choked at the final round of the championship that he lost to Toseland (you might have heard of him, he raced more recently).
Thankfully, his time at Eurosport France seems to have ended last season. I don't remember seeing his face in recent months. That man is living proof that you don't need to be very smart to be fast as hell on a motorcycle.