BMW reveals S 1000 RR Superbike! May 08

BMW Motorrad have confirmed they will compete in the World Superbike Championship in 2009 on a new supersport bike, designated the S 1000 RR.
Speaking in Munich, Hendrik von Kuenheim, General Director of BMW Mottorrad, said "The Supersports motorcycle is an all BMW development from the ground up and will be built in Berlin".

BMW Motorrad's first Supersports will be the "S 1000 RR". "In choosing the name and designation of BMW's new Supersports, we are consistently following our nomenclature at BMW Motorrad," von Kuenheim said.
"In this name, the "S" stands for Supersports, marking a new class of motorcycles from BMW. The "1000" designates the size of the engine, and the "RR" naturally stands for the model itself."

According to von Kuenheim, in the early phase of development they checked out various engine concepts, deciding in favour of a straight-four, which offered the best qualities to meet the power, performance, weight, and package requirements.
"In typical BMW style, the engine will of course offer a number of special features, especially on the cylinder head. For package reasons we have decided against the BMW Duo-Lever on the suspension. Taking up more space, this kind of front-wheel geometry would have presented disadvantages with the very compact structure of BMW's new Superbike", von Kuenheim said.
"But you can be sure that the innovations we are introducing are absolutely convincing. One example is the special traction control you will find on the new machine.
"As you may expect of BMW Motorrad, the design of our BMW Supersports will be absolutely unique and very different. While it will of course reflect the usual design language in the segment, it will at the same time offer a strong and powerful message from the BMW brand."
BMW are currently testing riders for the new team and have assembled an engineering team.
von Kuenheim also outlined BMWs aim to improve sales by 50 percent by 2012.

To meet this objective, BMW will enter market segments where it is not represented.The next step is to take on the competition in the Supersports segment on both the road and the race track.