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More stateside success for R 1200 S.

Another BMW team racing in the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series has tasted podium success with the R 1200 S sports boxer. At the inaugural Iowa Speedway 500k race, Team Motorrad, competing as 'Touring Sport BMW Xplor', successfully landed their R 1200 S in the final podium position after a tough but rewarding race at the 1.3-mile circuit.

James Chance of Savannah, Georgia shared riding duties with new member to the team, Brad Hendry of Denver, Colorado. The duo worked their way up from 9th position at the start to finish in the 3rd spot, briefly running as high as second place.

MOTO-ST is for production based four-stroke twin-cylinder motorcycles, ridden by teams of riders in longer distance events. Races take place on closed circuit racetracks and last anywhere from three to eight hours. Each hour, the motorcycles stop for fuel, tires, and a fresh rider. These pit stops are precisely choreographed, and the best teams can perform them in less than 15 seconds. Combine this with exciting on-track battles and this kind of endurance racing is one of the most entertaining forms of motorcycle sport around.

James and Brad were turning consistent fast lap times from the first practice session onwards, and according to Team Owner Ivan Messina, were able to sort out some of the problems that had previously restricted the team's progress in earlier rounds of the series:

"We've had some handling issues over the past few races that we were able to solve at Iowa Speedway with James and Brad running together. Since they are about the same weight and share a similar riding style, we were able to achieve a better chassis set-up than we had previously been using. Brad also rides a R 1200 S in the Motorcycle Racing Association series (where he is riding for the Colorado BMW dealer-based Foothills racing team and is leading the very competitive Supertwins GTO Championship) and he graciously shared some of the chassis numbers he has been using to beat the 1098 Ducatis over the last few months."

For the three-hour race at Iowa Speedway, Team Motorrad had the fortune to receive pit crew help from Gina’s BMW of Iowa City. "Gina's sent three of its mechanics over to lend us a hand, and it really shows how close the BMW community is," said Ivan. "I have to thank Karl Leitz, Andy Merlino, and Keith Murphy from Gina's for all of the assistance they provided us over the weekend. Since we don't have a permanent crew, volunteers like them are invaluable to us."

The fuel economy of the Team Motorrad R 1200 S also played a vital role in the team's success at Iowa, only burning about 3.5 gallons (13 liters) of fuel per hour on the short 1.3-mile circuit. With the 4.5 gallon (17 liters) MOTO-ST fuel limit, this left plenty of petrol in reserve for the team and allowed them to employ a two-stop strategy -- something they had not previously done in a three-hour event.

"The stock motor we have in the bike also helped with the mileage," said Ivan after the race. "We had a problem with some overheating at the previous round of the series in Road America (Wisconsin) that led to us changing our race-prepped engine for a standard spare one in the few hours between morning practice and the race. And although the stock unit is about six horsepower down on our prepared motor, I think it helped us out there."

Since the race continued past sundown, MOTO-ST rules required that teams use on-bike lighting for the darker conditions, although according to Ivan, the track lighting system at Iowa Speedway did not seem to warrant additional lights.

"PIAA came through for us again, providing a headlight so that we would be in compliance with the lighting rule for the race. I don’t think we really needed the lights here, but it does provide another aspect for the fans to enjoy. It would be nice to see more night races on the schedule."

The team will spend the next two months preparing for the season finale -- the Daytona Eight Hours race -- that takes place at the famous Florida circuit on 19-20 October. This was the racetrack where the San Jose BMW team made history last year, winning a dramatic inaugural 8 Hours race with team riders Brian Parriott, Stéphane Mertens and Nate Kern taking a 14.856-second victory on the R 1200 S over the M4 EMGO Suzuki SV1000S team that had originally been the strong favourites to take the victory.

"Now that we have a podium under our belt, it gives us some great momentum going into Daytona in October" said Ivan. "We will be there ready to go with a package that has taken some time to come together, but has certainly been worth the wait."

For more information on this endurance racing series, please visit www.moto-st.com.

The following link goes to a 10-minute video on You Tube of the race from the Ivan Messina’s #55 BMW Touring Sport Moto ST team. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRawTKHOeSw

U.S. BMW dealers aim to do the business at 8 Hours race in Daytona

More than 100 riders and 39 high performance sport twin motorcycles, including several BMWs, have been entered for Saturday's 8 Hours At Daytona, the inaugural event in the new SunTrust MOTO-ST Series.

The teams and riders will do battle on the 3.56-mile, 14-turn layout at Daytona International Speedway, all with the goal of writing their names in the history books. Saturday's eight-hour endurance race will also mark the first motorcycle night race at the ‘World Centre of Racing’ since 1985.

A number of BMW Motorrad USA dealers have decided to support and field teams in this weekend’s race, including BMW of San Jose; Mainline BMW and BMW of Atlanta (working as a single team); BMW of Daytona, and Touring Sport BMW.

As a testament to their generosity and devotion to the brand, the first three dealers listed here have combined efforts under the management of Udo Gietl, who as a tuning specialist and team manager enjoyed historic victories with Butler & Smith’s R 90 S team back in the 1970s. Two further BMW dealers are also racing with individual teams, and Udo has been providing advice and technical suggestions for both of them wherever necessary.

The favourites for the overall win look to be the M4 EMGO Suzuki team, which was founded 26 years ago by Bruce Hammer and John Ulrich. It has had more success than any other team in American endurance racing and will be competing in the Supersport Twins (SST) class, which features motorcycles making between 90 and 118 horsepower. This class should produce the overall winners of this event.

Flying the blue and white roundel for BMW Motorrad will be the No. 46 San Jose BMW R 1200 S with top American BMW rider Nate Kern (above), Belgian former Grand Prix and Superbike star Stephan Mertens and Californian Brian Parriott. The team will also field the No. 4 BMW R 1100 S for Tom Montano and Craig McLean in the Grand Sport Twins (GST) class.

The BMW Cycles Daytona entry for Floridian Mike Ciccoto, Texas native John Haner and Australian Warwick Nowland will also be an SST team to watch. Haner is a consistent top-10 finisher in AMA competition, while Nowland is a two-time World Endurance Champion and they will share the No. 83 BMW Motorcycles of Daytona BMW R1200 S with Ciccoto. The No. 83 is a number made famous at Daytona by Steve McLaughlin, the winner of the first AMA Superbike race in 1976 on a 102 hp BMW R 90 S.

Also competing in the SST class is Team Motorrad, whose riders are Ivan Messina, Frank Shockley (above) and Brad Phillips -- all of whom are well known in vintage racing circles. However, the machine they will be racing is anything but vintage! The No. 55 R 1200 S has just had its ‘shakedown’ in a four-hour endurance event at Road Atlanta, finishing in fifth place with no mechanical problems whatsoever.

The starting grid will be determined by the order in which race entries were received, which means that Team Motorrad will be first on the grid! All the riders will get their first look at the Daytona International Speedway road course in a two-hour practice session on Friday evening while the 8 Hours At Daytona race itself is scheduled to start at 1pm (local time) on Saturday. Live timing and scoring data for all sessions will be available via the www.moto-st.com website.

BMW Motorrad Motorsport. Return to road racing.

On April 21st 2007, at the legendary 24-Hour Race of Le Mans, a BMW Motorrad factory team returns to solo racing with a sports flat twin "boxer" machine based on the R 1200 S. In the 2007 season, the Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport will enter a total of four European 24-hour races. Three of these races - those held in Le Mans, Oschersleben and Magny Cours - form part of the "QMMF Endurance World Championship 2007". In these events the sports boxer, based on the BMW R 1200 S, will participate in the "Open Class" due to the currently valid FIM regulations.

The Races:

April 21st/22nd	Le Mans Bugatti Circuit	Le Mans, France
July 7th/8th	Circuit de Catalunya	Barcelona, Spain
August 11th/12th	Motorsport Arena	Oschersleben, Germany
September 15th/16th	Circuit de Nevers	Magny-Cours, France

The Bike:

The technical basis for the endurance motorcycle is provided by the sports twin BMW R 1200 S, launched in May 2006. In spite of numerous modifications for endurance racing, the motorcycle remains true to its roots: the chassis concept with the BMW Motorrad EVO Telelever and Paralever, the well proven cardan drive and the characteristic BMW Motorrad lines demonstrate at a glance that this motorcycle is ‘Made in Germany’.

The most striking feature remains the flat twin "boxer" engine - something which has become rare in motorcycle racing today. In order to achieve the higher engine speeds necessary for use in racing, the cylinder head has been redesigned. As usual, the engine management system is taken care of by the BMW Motorrad BMS-K, though here it has revised mapping for racing.

As a result of these modifications, engine output has been increased to over 130 bhp. The engine red lines at around 9500 rpm. All the important information is displayed to the rider on the new programmable racing dashboard. This instrument panel can be connected to a lap timer for example and if required can generate a gear flash. Other typical racing functions of this bike are a gearshift assistant, the speed limiter function for the pit lane and the crash sensor

In order to reduce the time spent in the pits as much as possible, a quick-change system was mounted on the front wheel as is typical in endurance racing. As far as the chassis is concerned, the bike is fitted with an Öhlins sports chassis adapted to racing requirements, new aluminium fork stabilizers and an adjustable steering damper. The front brake is a new twin disc brake with radial bolted four-piston fixed calipers. Radial armatures round off the racing package here too.

All trim parts have been optimized for the aerodynamic and ergonomic needs of Supersports use and made entirely of carbon fiber. A larger fuel tank is necessary for long distance use with a capacity of 6.08 gallons and a fast filling valve. In spite of the additional volume of 6 liters 1.6 gallons, the racing bike still weights an impressive 51 lbs less than the serial production machine.

The Team:

Under the management of BMW Motorrad's head of motorsport, Berti Hauser, a team line-up of well-known and experienced riders will be taking controls of the sport boxer in the following four 24 Hour Races in Europe.

Nate Kern, USA
Thomas Hinterreiter, Austria
Rico Penzkofer, Germany
Markus Barth, Germany

AFM Competition - Thunderhill Raceway, California

The R1200S Gets “ON THE BOX” in its first weekend in AFM competition (but not without controversy).

In his first weekend aboard the new (and basically showroom stock) R1200S, #46 Brian Parriott battled from last place on the grid, to a third place finish during AFM Competition at Thunderhill Raceway July 16. Since this was the first weekend for Brian on the R1200S, he was saddled with the last grid position in every race, as AFM bases this position on current point standings. Undeterred, Brian rocketed the R1200S when the flag dropped in the Formula IV Race, and began making his way to the front.  He had made his way to third place and was gaining on the front, when a red flag stopped the race, and required all racers to start from their original grid position.  With only 4 laps to recoup all the ground he had lost with the restart, Brian was still able to pilot the R1200S to a third place finish.

Brian continued his momentum on the R1200S in the 750 Superbike Race. Once again, starting from the back of the grid of 18 racers, Brian was able to battle all the way to sixth place. This is quite an accomplishment for both Brian and the R1200S, as his competitors possessed a 40+ rear wheel horsepower advantage, and Brian ran a better fast lap than the rider in front of him.  Again, all accomplished on a basically showroom stock motorcycle.

However at the end of the weekend, Brian found out that the success he found on the R1200S, would not come without a fight.  His third place finish in the Formula IV race was under protest by the other competitors. They felt that the R1200S should not be considered an air cooled twin since it utilizes an oil cooler. The class rules state that the motorcycle must be an air cooled, push rod twin cylinder motorcycle up to 1210 cc’s. The AFM agreed to meet, and decide on the motorcycle’s class legality by the next race at Infineon Raceway August 12.  Undeterred by the protest, Brian and his team feel they have made a major accomplishment in their first weekend with the R1200S.

Brian and the team are looking forward to the upcoming weekend at Infineon, where the more technical layout will make both the R1200S, and the K1200R Power Cup even more competitive in AFM competition. During the last AFM race weekend at Infineon, Brian was able to pilot the Power Cup to the fastest lap during the Formula II Race.