Kawasaki H2R

[JimL]

I'd be guessin' Kawasaki has pretty good access to Mitsubishi wind tunnels (if they don't have their own).  Those little winglets on the front end remind me of some of the interesting aero work on the Motocyzsz projects.  Those folks have done some pretty good aero work in the interest of stability and low drag while working with a big cooling challenge.

Interesting website:  http://motoczysz.com/

[donpearsall]

Getting the speed needed for a P-PB record on the H2R would be easy. However once you do, you would have to tear your $40,000 machine down on the salt just to get it measured. That would be sacrilege! It would never be the same again.
Don

[Stainless1]

Don, teardown is rarely required on center plug motors, they can be measured with a tool that does not require teardown, just access to the sparkplug holes.

But running anything on the salt changes it forever...

[RansomT]

For those who wonder about voiding the warrantee .... The race version doesn't have one. Also, the dyno graph that I saw showed 290+ at the rear tire on the race version.  With that short of wheel base, it has to be a handful to ride at full bolt.

[WOODY@DDLLC]

Should be interesting to see how the launch/traction control handles the salt.  You just know we'll see one there next year. 

Big write-up by Kevin Cameron in Cycle World this month.

[wobblywalrus]

Even more interesting would be one with decent streamlining.

[wobblywalrus]

Pix from the Seattle mo'sickle show.  First.  The carbon fiber air ducts extend back from the front of the fairing to the blower.

Second. There are two versions of these things.  This is the race one based on the assumption the slicks are on it.  Note how the header is plastered tight to the front of the block.  The engine is located as far forward as possible so the pipes are back to keep the front tire from hitting them.  The back half of the air ducts can be seen.   

[wobblywalrus]

First.  A triangulated tube frame a was used rather than the typical box perimeter one found on most modern sport bikes.  The welds appear to be hand done.  Second, the back.  Note the joinery on the tubes toward the rear.  The frame sorta follows the idea of the thong.  Just enough to keep the parts from dropping out and nothing more.

[wobblywalrus]

First.  The little blower.  Judging from the frame joints there is something that was removed to give us a better view.  Above the supercharger is the plenum.  Second pix.  The high rpm fuel injectors.  Shooting the fuel into the bellmouths gives it time to adequately mix and vaporize with the short time available at fast engine speeds.  This is what I need to install on the Triumph to get the benefits from highly oxygenated gasoline blends like I used this year.  Carbs cannot do what is needed to adequately prepare the fuel/air mixture for combustion.   

[wobblywalrus]

The little blower.  These bikes are beautifully engineered.  Three dimensional computer aided design allow all of this to be done within a reasonable time frame.  All of this is more than casual interest for me.  This is what I need to beat for AMA records in the forced induction classes.

[rouse]

Our local dealer has a couple of these things on order. I can't wait till they come in.

I think the price tag will help in keeping the safety up, as in "who the heck would mistreat a bike that cost that much?" The average folks would never spend that much money just to go out and beat it up. The average folks wouldn't buy such a bike.

But to a LSR racer it sure invokes interest at least.

I'd like to see one on a Mile or on the Salt.

Rouse

[donpearsall]

Thanks for the pics of the frame. Question: I notice that wherever the frame tubing makes a direction change, instead of a bend the tubing is welded to a short piece of tubing placed cross-wise in the joint. Is that a better way over just welding the two pieces together or bending the tubing?

Thanks
Don

[wobblywalrus]

The joints with the short tube sections contained bolt heads or nuts.  The ones that do not have a bolt in them look like they do when the bike is fully assembled.  The frame is like a Vincent.  It is tightly bolted to the engine and that gives it its strength.

These blown 1000cc bikes do not fit the rules of any road race class I know of.  Maybe endurance racing?  There are not many places to race them other than the drags or land speed.

[edinlr]

I agree with Walrus about the question of what these bikes were built to do.  The race-only will race where?  Is there a new road racing class for supercharged 1000's?  Obviously a few will show up for land speed racing, but that has never been a big point with the manufacturers, unless Rob Muzzy shows up with a big green trailer.  I guess a bunch will go to the drag strip too, just have to wonder how competitive they will be with the built turbo engines.  In a sense it seems like Kawasaki was doing this as a marketing/engineering exercise, but we may see more of this kind of stuff in the future.

[RansomT]

I agree with Walrus about the question of what these bikes were built to do.  The race-only will race where?  Is there a new road racing class for supercharged 1000's?  Obviously a few will show up for land speed racing, but that has never been a big point with the manufacturers, unless Rob Muzzy shows up with a big green trailer.  I guess a bunch will go to the drag strip too, just have to wonder how competitive they will be with the built turbo engines.  In a sense it seems like Kawasaki was doing this as a marketing/engineering exercise, but we may see more of this kind of stuff in the future.

Yes, but what class in LSR (and to be competitive) ?  The records for MPS-BG are quite high and I don't believe there is a Production Class for blown.  AND I could be wrong, but I don't believe they are building 500 of the race version bikes.