2011 World Superbike Prep
James Toseland and Ayrton Badovini have for the first time ridden their World Superbike S 1000 RR machines that have been prepared in record time in Italy in collaboration with the parent company of BMW.
Two days of Superbike testing at Portimao in Portugal were used to confirm the technical decisions made by the team in regard to the weight distribution and suspension settings, as well as various different electronic mapping.
The riders also put time adapting the superbike to their riding styles, and covering a lot of laps that allowed them to provide important information to BMW Superbike engineers.
The BMW men have now returned to Italy, and will implement the changes for the future testing which will continue on the Portimao Superbike circuit, in late January.
James Toseland (BMW Superbike) says: "The package is very good. The engine has good power and we are working to obtain a more even distribution. The bike ‘s strength is I think that the chassis provides excellent response when changing direction."
"We worked carefully on the set up of the suspension, weight distribution and the bike responds very well to changes. We must, however, work to develop the whole package . The team is fantastic and a lot of the guys are the same as those with which we won the title in 2004."
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Superbike) says: "I was impressed by the professionalism of the team, which I already knew. The bike is built well but, of course, is being refined. We have already seen the details of what we will be doing and I am sure at our second outing at the end of January everything will be even better."
Serafino Foti (Team Manager of BMW Motorrad Superbike Italy) says: "We started working on the bike just a month and a half ago and we put in a lot of effort to be ready to test in Portimao."
"We are quite satisfied with the way the bike responded but obviously it remains to be seen what else happens as it was on the track for the first time in Portugal. The track, due to yesterday’s (Thursday) rain, was very dirty, but we needed to cover a lot of miles and not take too much notice of the times we set."
