In November of 2010 former BMW riders Troy Corser and Leon Haslam got a chance to use BMW’s wind tunnel to optimize their riding positions, and so did Marco Melandri last year, and and Aragon winner Chaz Davies also got the same opportunity following the Assen round where he salvaged a 7th and 5th place after a tough Superpole and destroying his bike during warm-up.

The BMW Motorrad factory rider spent the afternoon in the wind tunnel of the BMW Group working on aerodynamically optimizing his riding position on his BMW S1000RR ahead of the fourth round of the season at the highspeed Monza circuit that takes place on May 12th.

With simulated speeds up to 240 km/h, Chaz, who stands at 1.83 metres tall, tried several different positions and body angles in order to find the ones that minimise the drag as much as possible.

“It was a really interesting afternoon”, said Davies. “When testing on a track, you try new development parts and different settings but you are not working on your body. So it was great to experience in a stable environment with my riding position, to move myself around on the bike, to have elbows and shoulders in different positions and to then see in the data what difference it makes. I have learnt that I have to try and get myself inside the bike sooner on the exit of the corner in order to reduce the drag and be faster on the straights. It was good to see what difference that will make if we can improve that for the next race. Especially on a track like Monza, the aerodynamic efficiency is very important because every lap we are wide open for much longer than any other circuit on the calendar. Having the right riding position helps me to make best use of the powerful BMW engine on the straights.”

Continue reading: Chaz Davies works on riding position in BMW wind tunnel

Vampires are no longer scary and ugly like they were once, but Hollywood has now made them dangerously sexy and very cool looking even when they vamp out and ready to bite into their latest food source, just check out the growing number of hot looking actors and actresses who have potrayed vamps like in Interview with the Vampire, Underworld, the short lived Moonlight, Blood Ties, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Blade, the Twilight saga, Being Human, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries.

So it seems that photographer Markus Hofmann, whose client list includes companies like Hewlett Packard, Sony, Nintendo, MTV, Ray-Ban, Kodak and BMW Motorrad has decided to make the foray into the dark and exciting vampire world with this series of photos of beautiful model Felicia Rie clad with her own set of fangs - and God cannot hate fangs in this case - and the German made superbike, the S1000RR.

“Ever since it first arrived on the scene, the RR has always had a raw edge, which I wanted to explore with this ‘Underworld meets Speed’ photo-shoot,” said Hofmann. “I wanted the scene to be moodily lit, suggestive and erotic, with more than a hint of the existence and the power of evil. The pictures are sexy, provocative, dynamic and exciting – much like the RR – which offers a world of riding possibilities far beyond the reach of most of us mere mortals, but at the same time challenges us to explore how far we are willing to push ourselves in pursuit of riding pleasure.”

Marcus Hofmann BMWS100RR and Vampires

Continue reading: Markus Hofmann wanders down the supernatural side of the BMW S1000RR

Max Biaggi was not the only rider to claim his crown at Magny Cours last sunday: with a comfortable second place behind fellow countryman Jeremy Guarnoni (Kawasaki MRS), local hero Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) conquered the 2012 Superstock 1000 FIM Cup in front of an ecstatic French crowd. Italy’s Lorenzo Savadori (Ducati Barni Racing Team Italia) prevented Luissana (Kawasaki Team ASPI) from completing an all French podium, but there’s no doubt everyone was just pleased enough with the title clinched by the 23 years old from Oyonnax.

Entering the last round of the season, Barrier had already collected 4 wins with 2 second places, and yet he was just 3 points ahead of Italy’s Eddi La Marra, who had just one win under his belt but had been extremely consistent throughout the season with its debuting Ducati 1199 Panigale. On Saturday Barrier earned himself the pole position right in front of his main rival, but just a few corners into the race on Sunday the Ducati man slipped out of the race with the third remote contender for the title, Bryan Staring from Australia (who was 22 points behind Barrier before the race) doing exactly the same.

That meant title in the bag for Barrier, who could quietly cruise toward the chequered flag leaving rabid Guarnoni taking all the risks on the wet tarmac and the first spot on the podium (as well as the third place in the standings). In order to pay tribute to the new Champion and its fierce BMW S1000RR, here is a nice collection of pictures of the happy couple and the BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet boys taken over the weekend in Magny Cours. Read what Barrier had to say in the aftermath of the race right after the jump.

Continue reading: Sylvain Barrier 2012 Superstock 1000 FIM Cup Champion - Tribute gallery

New images of the stunning BMW S1000RR HP4, the extreme track-oriented version of the popular Bavarian Superbike we already talked about in a dedicated post a few days ago. Starting from the name (High Performance 4) this version of the S1000RR is aimed at all the track lovers around the world and boasts adaptive suspensione, revised electronics, Traction Control, Launch Control, titanium exhaust courtesy of Slovenian specialist Akrapovic and forged wheels.

Although engine and chassis have remained virtually unchanged in he comparison with the standard model - as well as the claimed output of 195 hp - the various interventions operated by BMW to an weight loss quantified by the manufacturer in 8.8 kg, a crash diet that provides the bike with an overall weight of 199.2 kg in running order.

The BMW S1000RR HP4 comes with a special white and blue graphics and a different layout of the instrumentation. The bike should be unveiled in September (as model year 2013), and the price, though not yet official, should be around the € 20,000 mark. More information on this awesome bike is available at the official website.

Continue reading: BMW S1000RR HP4: new images surface

Hornig, a renowned aftermarket company from Germany, introduces its new conversion kit for the 2012 BMW S1000RR. In orderto adapt to the recent restyling of the Bavarian superbike, Hornig had to modify or redesign several parts of the kit used for the previous generation, and for this new project they decided to go for a classy black and gold color scheme.

The kit includes adjustable footrest system in black anodized by Gilles Tooling, golden levers for clutch and front brake, matte black windshield by Racingscreen MRA and a cool matt black AC-Schnitzer Stealth exhaust, which is also strictly in black to make the sound as good as the matt black painting (and whose sound can be appreciated in the above video).

Hornig did not neglect the safety of the vehicle in case of an accident, including in the kit some special protection for engine and forks, and to make it easier to carry the bike around, they installed a cool pair of ’strap-holders’ on the tail. For purely aesthetic reasons, the German tuner has also added a special aluminum grid to protect the oil radiator and a smaller number plate holder. Completing the package are golden fork adjusters, a golden oil filler plug to protect the engine oil of access from strangers as well as various decals.

Continue reading: Hornig introduces new conversion kit for the 2012 BMW S1000RR

BMW Motorrad raises the stakes for its Superbike weapon making it even more radical in both aesthetics and mechanics: the new “High Performance 4” version of the S1000RR is almost ready to make its debut, boasting a range of new components and technical improvements aimed at making it even faster around the track than it already is.

Launched in 2009 at the spectacular Portimao race track, in Portugal, the BMW S1000RR rapidly established itself as one of the fastest motorcycles in the Superbike class, gradually shortening the gap with the Japanese 1000s thanks to the traditional quality and mechanical sophistication of the German house: this year BMW scored their first 3 historic victories in the WSBK series thanks to Italy’s Marco Melandri, who’s currently second in the standings behind fellow Italian Max Biaggi. At the beginning of the current year we also the first actual upgrade of the bike, that in addition to cosmetic enhancements included a refinement of the power delivery as well as improved aerodynamics.

According to Spanish website SoyMotero.net, BMW will present this special HP4 version of the S1000RR in September, presenting it as the ideal bike for those who call the track their ’second home’. Sales in this segment are certainly not as good as they were a few years back, but perhaps the arrival of the Ducati 1199 Panigale S (which is now seen by the Bavarian boys as a sort of Audi re-incarnation on two wheels) led BMW to take immediate action. Provided that nothing has been revealed about the price and that both its twin-spar aluminum frame and 193 hp 4-cylinder unit remain virtually unchanged, the list of the main innovations of this HP4 in the comparison to the ‘regular’ version of the S1000RR is available right after the jump.

Continue reading: BMW S1000RR HP4 ready by the end of the year

If you don’t live in Europe you can’t imagine how important the UEFA EuroCup soccer matches are. Cities and towns across the continent gear up with giant screens to allow huge crowds of frenzied football (soccer) fans to watch the games to cheer and suffer with their team.

Nationalism and even politics becomes a big part of tournament, especially this past year and half with the European sovereign debt weighing heavily on the shoulders of several countries and the popular belief that Germany’s Angela Merkel’s rigidness is partially the cause for the severe cost cutting budgets that nations are now facing.

The MotoGP and WSBK paddocks aren’t immune to nationalism and since the majority of paddock is European you can imagine what happens if the matches were aired during a racing weekend. Aragon’s race 2 winner Marco Melandri found this message on the onboard computer of his BMW S1000RR when he got his garage on Monday morning for the Pirelli tire test.

Just some good natured ribbing from some of the German members of his team since Italy beat Germany 2-1 in the semi-finals, but in the final on Sunday evening Spain destroyed Italy 4 to 0.

Photo source | marcomelandri33@twitter.com

In the aftermath of the World Superbike round that took place at the newly dubbed Marco Simoncelli World Circuit in Misano Adriatico, Italy, BMW has organized a quite cool event that allowed motorsports journalists from all over the world to test its outstanding machines that are racing in the series. More specifically, the testers were offered the chance to try out the ‘regular’ BMW S1000RR as well as its most adavanced versions, namely the Superbike and Superstock 1000 variants fielded by the official BMW Motorrad Motorsport team and by the satellite BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet team.

BMW treated the testers like real riders, providing them not only with the actual bikes, but also mechanics and garage. The track sessions were divided into shifts, and everyone had free access to three different configurations of the awesome S1000RR: the standard motorcycle, the Superstock 1000 ridden by Italy’s Lorenzo Baroni in the FIM Cup and the proper World Superbike machines of Michel Fabrizio and Marco Melandri.

Moreover, as the proverbial icing on the cake, giving advice to the testers were the two aforementioned Italian riders themselves! We will tell you more about this event in the forthcoming days, but for now you can enjoy the massive collection of pics that our mates from twin-site Motoblog.it have taken right on the spot.

View the full BMW S1000RR live test Superbike - Misano Adriatico photo gallery

Today we would like to introduce a special bike that has been created by tyre maker Continental in cooperation with two ‘big names’ of the scene: BMW’s aftermarket specialist Wunderlich (which is also responsable for the Piranha kit) and renowned French designer Nicolas Petit. The model is called Wunderlich S1000 RR “Mad Max” and - as the name unmistakably suggests - is a special rendition of the awesome BMW S1000RR inspired by the classic Mad Max sci-fi movie trilogy of the late 70s-early 80s, starring a very young Mel Gibson.

The German Superbike got stripped of its original front fairing and handlebars and turned into a super aggressive off-roader, as those manacing Continental TKC 80 enduro tyres (120/70 B17 at the front and 180/55 B17 at the rear) clearly emphasize. The model also uses Ohlins suspension, Magura handlebars, Moto-Master discs and an aluminum exhaust system courtesy of Ramus, which got it tested during the last IDM superbike Championship.

The Wunderlich S1000 RR “Mad Max” uses an interesting matt black with golden inserts color scheme that surely adds up to the futuristic look of the model, and is also a perfect match to its undeniably aggressive attitude. Besides, there seems to be quite a few stickers around providing humourous safety warnings as well as usefull indications about its secret weapons. Maybe the time is right for a fourth Mad Max movie.

View the full Wunderlich S1000RR Mad Max photo gallery

via | Petit-Creation e Wunderlich

The new Nikon D800 is one of the most awaited new machines in the world of photography. In order to promote its new product and show off what it is capable of, the Japanese company has decided to put out a five-minute long video entirely shot with its brand new reflex full frame toy, starring a biker/doctor riding its shiny black bike at night in a desert town. Surprisingly enough though, this bike is not a Jap, it is the new and beautiful BMW S 1000 RR.

This promotional video is called “Joy Ride”, and was directed by renowned portrait photographer Sandro Miller. To give credit where is due, we have to say that the quality of the footage is absolutely astounding. It is always a pleasure to watch this kind of high-quality video starring a sportsbike, and if you are wondering how they did all that with the Nikon D800 only, after the jump there’s a short ‘behind the scenes’ clip showing just that. By the way, the man on the bike is TT racer and recently appointed BSB rider Mark Miller. Sit back and enjoy.

Continue reading: BMW S 1000 RR stars in new Nikon promo video