James Hillier & Kawasaki Ninja H2R Claim Fastest Isle of Man TT Speed
When the supercharged Kawasaki Ninja H2R was unveiled, plans quickly escalated for its use on closed circuits across the globe.
We rode the “tame” H2 ($25K) at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. – the H2 producing a mere 200 horsepower. As for the H2R ($50K!), though, it’s much more of an animal, its integrated supercharged 998cc pumping out over 300 horsepower.
And the H2R is just what 2013 Lightweight TT winner James Hillier piloted around a closed-roads Mountain Course during a solo parade lap.
Isle of Man TT organizers allowed Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Hillier to take the H2R on a full-speed lap around the 37.73-mile Mountain Course as hundreds of spectators looked on. During his lap, Hillier’s Strava GPS app recorded a speed of over 206mph on the famed Sulby Straight, which would be the fastest speed ever recording for a motorcycle on closed roads at the Isle of Man TT.
But he adjusted the seat’s side sections to help compensate for the intense acceleration, and his team set up the suspension to “cope with the array of different road surfaces he would encounter across a lap of the World’s most famous pure roads course.”
Once Hillier was off, he spent “little time waving” to TT fans, and focused on putting in a quick lap. When he returned and the tire smoke clear, Hillier said “that was insane, simply insane. The first four gears are just over in a flash and the acceleration is mental.
“It was fast everywhere and over the mountain, well, it was simply incredible. I had my cycling app Strava switched on for the whole lap and down Sulby straight I gave it full gas in top gear and it topped out at over 206mph. Wow!”
Stay tuned for some onboard footage that Kawasaki will surely release. For now, check out the photo gallery and video below of Hillier flying through The Isle of Man TT’s Cronk y Voddy straight.
James Hillier and Kawasaki Ninja H2R Isle of Man TT Photo Gallery
Kawasaki’s marketing department blew it. The street version, while down on HP on paper, is equally ludicrous. Kawasaki totally F’d themselves by lying about a number of things during advertising, having low HP numbers on paper, then giving their glorious menace to journalists along with a pair of handcuffs. Then came along John Q to prematurely embarrass it on YouTube losing races because they don’t know how to ride it yet. It’s like the guy who lost to a Tesla in a Hellcat because he didn’t know how to get 800 hp to the ground – or putting my mom in John Force’s funny car with no previous experience then blaming the car for losing. The H2 is a fistfight with Mike Tyson before Buster Douglas. It requires an entirely new skill set to keep on the ground. I’ve been racing for money for the better part of 20 years and can say without hesitation that the H2 IS the fastest accelerating street bike I’ve ever ridden by miles. Been racing big bore drag bikes (amongst other things) and the H2 is the first bike in 10 years that actually scares me. I piss ice water and this thing makes my hands shake before and after I throw a leg over. It’s like skydiving with a jet pack because gravity wasn’t fast enough. Trying to explain what WOT on the H2 feels like to other riders is as difficult as explaining what riding a sport bike is like to someone whose never ridden one. It’s completely, ludicrously, brilliantly indescribable.
I was the H2’s number one critic before it came out. Then I bought one and ate my words. The supercharger moves the power band down to 2k. That huge hit of power most guys can’t use on a liter bike past 7K is available from a standstill on the H2 – and then it just doesn’t quit. You hear Hillier hit the limiter a couple times? It’s because the whole rev range goes by faster than you can shift. The H2 is a whole new world of fast. Once guys start figuring out how to keep the back wheel from spinning and the front wheel on the ground (and not die in the process) the motorcycle world is going to realize just how much the game has actually changed by Kawasaki. The H2 isn’t the bike equivalent of a Hellcat – it’s more of a .50 cal machine gun strapped to a solid rocket booster doing a slingshot around the sun. Just F, man.