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The first free practice of the 2013 World Superbike opening round of the season at Phillip Island
started ten minutes later than expected, due to the numerous crashes
(12) that characterized the Supersport practice, which forced the
session to be red flagged five different times.
Michel Fabrizio was the fastest rider during the
first practice. The Italian riding is now riding a competitive Aprilia
RSV4 Factory and he posted a flying lap of 1’31″218, well under Max
Biaggi’s last year’s record and just three tenths off the 2011 Superpole
record, and we can expect that Superpole record to be broken this
weekend and his race pace was scarily constant.
The Italian was not only the fastest, but he left both Pata Honda’s
Leon Haslam and Fixi Suzuki’s Leon Camier, second and third
respectively, more than half a second adrift, with nine riders were
covered in less than a second.
Aprilia factory rider Sylvain Guintoli was fourth ahead of the two
BMW riders, Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri while Tom Sykes still
recovering from his pre-season test wrist injury was 7th.
Jonathan Rea was 8th, followed by Carlos Checa who suffered a crash
at Siberia. The Alstare rider was okay and returned to his garage on his
own two feet, but with his leathers sadly in need of repair and team
mate Ayrton Badovini already bruised and battered from last week’s test
binned his Panigale again and at Swan Corner that left him down in 18th.
Completing the top ten was Davide
Giugliano. Further down the field was Eugene Laverty. wildcard rider
Jamie Stauffer, returnee Max Neukirchner who suffered a big crash during
the official test.
WSBK Phillip Island FP1 results:
01- Michel Fabrizio – Red Devils Roma – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 1’31.218
02- Leon Haslam – Pata Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.510
03- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.585
04- Sylvain Guintoli – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.746
05- Chaz Davies – BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team – BMW S1000RR HP4 – + 0.828
06- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team – BMW S1000RR HP4 – + 0.839
07- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.895
08- Jonathan Rea – Pata Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.940
09- Carlos Checa – Team Ducati Alstare – Ducati 1199 Panigale R – + 0.953
10- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.097
We asked Simon de Burton to come up with five little-known facts about BMW motorbikes, and this is what he told us: from the technically interesting tidbit to the simply bizarre.
Hot stuff
Although modern-day BMW bikes are available with a variety of engines ranging from the water-cooled, six-cylinder unit of the mighty K1600GT to the single-cylinder powerplant of the G650GS trail bike, it is the 'flat twin' configuration for which the marque is celebrated. The shaft-driven, horizontally opposed layout was originally conceived in 1922 by aeronautics engineer Max Friz – but few people know that one of the main reasons he went to work for the firm was because he was promised an office which benefited from a wood-burning stove.
Quite a Combination
Anyone who has watched The Great Escape will be familiar with the Wehrmacht R75 motorcycle combinations which appear in several scenes and which were issued to the German army in the early years of WWII – but, outside their enthusiast following, few people appreciate just how remarkable they were. Producing a mere 26bhp, the 750cc engines had a compression ratio of just 5.6:1, meaning they could run on fuel of the worst possible quality. They had eight forward and two reverse gears, a driven sidecar wheel with a locking differential, and all three wheels were interchangeable. There were hand and foot warmers heated by exhaust gases – but the dry weight of the outfit was 420kg!
Streamlined
In the autumn of 1937, Ernst Henne rode his 500cc BMW 'kneeler' to a world solo motorcycle speed record of 173.67mph. As the name implies, the 'kneeler' was ridden in a kneeling position, with rider and machine fully enclosed in teardrop-shaped bodywork. The shape of the body was based on pre-War concepts of streamlining and actually made the bike inherently unstable at higher speeds. BMW went on to lead the way in motorcycle aerodynamics, famously with the introduction of the R100RS in 1976 – the first motorcycle to have a full fairing that was designed as an integral part of the machine.
Well Travelled
Between 1997 and 2002, Slovenian Benka Pulko established the world record for the longest solo motorcycle ride by a woman – both in terms of distance and duration – when she circumnavigated the globe on a BMW F650 single. She travelled a total of 111,856 miles (180,015km) through 75 countries. She also became the first woman to ride solo through Saudi Arabia and the first motorcyclist to ride in Antarctica.
Best Seller
BMW's R1200GS 'adventure sports' bike was recently announced as being the UK's best-selling motorcycle in the 'above 125cc' category for the third year in succession, with 1,742 sold in the country during 2012. Sales of GS models began to soar in 2004 after Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman used R1200GS 'Adventures' for their Long Way Round tour. They had wanted to use KTMs but the factory didn't want to get involved. The original GS 'big trail bike' was the R80 version, introduced in 1980 after a prototype model won the 1979 German Off-Road Championship.
Text: Simon de Burton (ClassicDriver)
Photos: Getty Images
Ever trawling the interwebs for motorcycle-related tidbits, we came across this motorcycle-gear infographic produced by UK-based insurance company Bennetts. It’s a nice walk through time and lays down some milestone-moments in riderware. As Americans, we might have added a specific entry for the Aerostich Roadcrafter one-piece suit, but, hey, that’s how we are. They did manage to get Harley-Davidson board-track-racing “kit” in there, and gave a nod to Mr. Schott (of “New York, USA”) for inventing the classic motorcycle leather jacket, so we’ll give the Brits a break. And they even got the stick-on rubber helmet mohawk in there. Anyway, check it out. Anything you’d add?
