2017 BMW HP4 Race onboard at COTA

It’s another new-bike ride with Zack! We know you’ve probably already binged on European coverage of this bike, but when we had an opportunity to ride the bike we made sure Zack brought along his camera and took you along for the ride. As usual, please feel free to suggest a bike you want to see featured here. If we get enough comments, we’ll try to get him on that one next. -- The BMW HP4 Race is what dreams are made of—and not the grown-up kind of dreams, where your checkbook is balanced and your Christmas shopping is finished early. I’m talking about crazy, adolescent dreams. Building vehicles out of Legos and imagining impossible feats: “It flies and can go underwater and has 900 horsepower!” That’s kind of what it feels like to spool up the HP4 Race’s 215 hp BMW engineers started with the already potent S1000RR, a showroom thunderbolt that has all but ended the race for the most powerful superbike. The HP department in Bavaria breathed on the engine with a race-level tune, full exhaust, and squeezed even more juice out of the same 999cc. BMW claims 215 hp from the HP4 Race (16 more than the 199 claimed from the S1000RR). The chassis got even more exotic treatment—replacing the aluminum twin-spar frame with one made from carbon fiber. That saves 9 pounds alone, and combined with carbon wheels, bodywork, a special swingarm, plus the fact that there are no lights, blinkers, or street equipment, the HP4 Race shed around 80 pounds. BMW claims it weighs 378 pounds ready to...