2014 HP4 Race

To this day, this is the first bike I will buy to put in my dream garage if I win the Lottery.

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For BMW, the HP4 Race was, and still is, its money-no-object 'Halo' bike... the brand's statement to the world of its technical excellence and at the time, we thought, maybe a glimpse of future plans, but alas, we are still waiting for the centrepiece of the bike - its carbon fibre frame - to appear on a mass-produced S1000RR.

The HP4 Race is much more than an S1000RR with a carbon frame, although that alone would be something quite special. It isn't just a statement of technical expertise by BMW or, for the more cynical, a marketing exercise to draw attention to the road S1000RR, which is where the real money is for BMW. The HP4 Race exists simply because it can.

The details are the sort you see on factory race bikes as opposed to pimped-up road bikes. Set aside the carbon frame, carbon wheels, carbon bodywork and bespoke Suter swingarm, and also set aside the MotoGP-spec Brembo GP4 PR By today’s standards the dash looks like an overgrown calculator, but it was pretty trick in its day.