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Power Cup Racer at Phillip Island

5K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Lenz 
#1 ·
Last Sunday I took my wife, Belinda, to her first race meeting - the final round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Phillip Island. We had a great day and was blessed with perfect weather and good racing in most classes. Belinda got bit of a glimpse of what good racing is all about and enjoyed herself more than expected.

I was keen on seeing Graeme Wilshaw who was punting a BMW Powercup K1200R in the Naked Bike series. This class is open to machines from two to four cylinders and has no upper capacity limit. These bikes are possibly the most modified in the Series. Graeme's BMW is almost stock and there is plenty of room for improvement. He even used the heated grips when it rained the last time he raced at Winton! The trackside announcer said that the team has plans to reduce the weight by up to 30 kgs next year and the spare bike could be raced by special guests such as ex-racers. Something to look forward to for next season.

We dropped passed the pits for a quick look around and soon spotted the BMW garage. I showed Belinda the two Power Cup race bikes and the difference between racing slicks and rain tyres. Phillip Island is well known for it's rapid weather changes, so the two bikes were suitably tyred.

I was fortunate enough to catch up and have a chat with Graeme (albeit briefly) just before the first race and found him to be very pleasant. They were having some problems with mid-corner grip but they were working on it. I asked Graeme and his mechanic how did they manage to bleed the cooling system at Winton without the special gear the workshops have. Draining the coolant was easy, but to bleed the system properly, the bike has to be on the side stand. Had to stop there, as he had to grid up. I wished him luck.

Although the grid is small,at the moment, there is good variety - 5 Yammie FZ-1's, 1 Cagiva Raptor, 1 Tuono, 2 KTM Super Dukes (they sound fabulous BTW) and 1 BMW PowerCup K1200R. Graeme unfortunately jumped the start and was eventually penalised 10 seconds at the end. This relegated him to 6th overall, although he managed crossed the line in third. That thing sure does haul down the straight and sounds good doing it. He was involved in a good dice and it was great to see the bike in action.

The second race went much the same way. He had a good dice and crossed the line in third. The announcer (couldn't hear him properly at this stage) suggested there was a moment or two early on. Hope to see what happened when the race is broadcast on TV. Highlights this Sunday on Channel10 (12:30 - 1:30pm) or possibly Speed Week on SBS soon.

Graeme is quoted in the current AMCN :- "We qualified really well,as it is really a street bike with some fairings on it. We tried to find a tyre that will work on it. Because [the bike] is a shaft drive we can't adjust anything. Once we've got a tyre that works, we can develop the bike around the tyre, then onto the suspension. We're still running the stock shock with no adjustment for ride height, so for the package we have, I think we've done a really good job."

Will keep you posted on how the BMW Power Cup Team progress next year. It was great to see the bike in action.

Cheers
Trevor

will post some pics soon
 
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#5 ·
K R at Phillip Island

Watched SBS Speedweek today (Sunday) and saw the vision of the KR blasting around. Very impressive particularly on the straight with some serious mumbo on display. Seems they were having problems getting drive mid curve so tyres sound like an issue - heavy bike with lots of power. It would be interesting if the final drive gearing could be easily altered.

Cheers
Lenz
 
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