PICS: PRETTY BOY AND RACELINE IMAGES
Stuart Hicken’s Hawk squad has been working on BMW's flagship superbike from its Mallory Park HQ since 2011. This wealth of experience is all pretty obvious when you consider that the Buildbase Beemer has won half of the eight British Superstock races in 2016 at time of writing, while setting absolutely stonking laptimes along the way. So what makes it tick inside, and how different is it from the day it came from the factory?
Well, we know the S 1000 RR has a strong engine, but I didn't realise it was this strong. So strong, in fact, that they haven't even taken it out the chassis. How mad is that for a front-running race bike? With the rules being restricted even more this year, the Buildbase team make absolutely no changes internally. None, nada, zip… Apparently, even in their title-winning year of 2011 with Richard Cooper, the spec of the bike was pretty much the same, even with (then) more room for manoeuvrability within engine regulations. This means that they stick on a full Arrow exhaust system for that obvious boost, Samco hoses, and fill her up with some Motul 300V oil. Couple this with a Tsubaki race chain and a set of Renthal sprockets and you've got all the basic elements needed for an absolute monster of a race bike. No crazy internals and therefore, no massive expense. Tempted yet?