They say imitation is the best form of flattery. But if you talk about road-legal insanity, the BMW HP4 Race doesn’t need any of that for being at the pinnacle of the motorcycling hill. The other motorcycle here, the Yamaha R15, is a pretty darn good machine too. However, this particular example is audacious and wants to emulate the best on two wheels from Germany.
Such is the extreme nature of this laudable transformation, if you simply glance at the images, it’ll be hard to tell that this isn’t the finest from BMW Motorrad. That tinted visor, the decals, those gold-finished premium forks, the bodywork, and even the exhaust pipe, all of those bits have been mimicked to perfection. However, the blinkers, that rear seat, the smaller rubber and that tiny front disc brake, do giveaway the fact that this is a smaller sized replica.
Also Read: VIDEO: Onboard Footage of a BMW HP4 Race at Isle of Man will parch your throat
Based on a Yamaha R15 V2, this transformation happened in Vietnam. We can only imagine the kind of effort that must’ve gone into achieving this amount of replication, that too, on a smaller scale. But this only confirms that ‘Hero Worshipping’ can make us do more than just day dream and slap wallpapers around the house.
If you need to know more about the BMW HP4 Race, the track-bred motorcycle is limited to just 750 units worldwide and has been priced at a steep INR 85 Lakh (Ex-showroom India). Weighing just 171 kilos when fully fuelled, the new HP4 RACE is even lighter than the factory racing bikes currently used in the Superbike World Championship and is only slightly above the MotoGP factory racers in terms of weight. Want to know power? The BMW HP4 Race is good for 215 hp at 13,900 rpm, while the maximum torque of 120 Nm is reached at 10,000 rpm.
Here are the other reasons why the actual motorcycle is so extreme and costs all that much.
- Carbon fibre main frame in monocoque construction weighing just 7.8 kilograms.
- Self-supporting carbon fibre rear frame with three-stage height adjustment function.
- Carbon fibre wheels offering a weight reduction of some 30 per cent as compared tolight alloy forged wheels.
- Öhlins FGR 300 upside-down fork.
- Öhlins TTX 36 GP spring strut.
- Brembo GP4 PR monoblock brake calipers with 320 T-type racing steel brake disks (thickness: 6.75 mm) at the front.
- Racing engine at World Cup level with an output of 158 kW (215 hp) at 13 900 rpm and a maximum torque of 120 Nm at 10 000 rpm.
- Close-ratio racing gearbox with adapted transmission ratios.
- Weight-optimised electrical system featuring light lithium-ion battery with 5 Ah.
- 2D dashboard and 2D data recording including logger.
- Dynamic Traction Control DTC (programmable for selected gears at 15 levels).
- Engine Brake EBR (programmable for selected gears at 15 levels).
- Wheelie Control (programmable for selected gears).
- Launch Control.
- Pit Lane Limiter.
- Light trim parts made of carbon fibre with snap fasteners.
- Paint finish in BMW HP Motorsport colours.
- Production run of 750 units, each individually crafted.