Flying Start, Tragic End

Success of SMT-Batham’s super-light Macau bike overshadowed by road racing’s cruel side.

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2016 BMW S1000RR ALEC TAGUE, CREW CHIEF

WE ARRIVED IN MACAU not knowing what to expect with our lightweight project bike. At the final round of BSB, Michael tested the Dymag carbon wheels and Fortis swingarm in free practice, but had to revert to aluminium wheels for the competitive sessions, and the rest of the good bits were kept in reserve for Macau. Just as well; he put the BSB bike end-over-end at Clearways...

The final weight for the Macau bike was 158.3kg with all fluids but no fuel – that’s around 18 kilos less than anything he’s used to, and 10kg less than a BSB bike on the weight limit. Michael reckoned it was like moving a 600 around!

So we were into the unknown in FP1: I had our usual components ready to go in case it wasn’t working, but it was instantly good. Spring rates front and rear were guessed before we flew out, and we didn’t need to touch them. We worked on damping a little – the stiffer, lighter wheels transmitted more shocks back to the bike; we had to play around with reducing compression, and firming up the rebound.