Kawasaki's World Superbike...
Kawasaki's World Superbike team Paul Bird Motorsports unveiled the 2011 version ZX-10R superbike at the Nürburgring, prior to the WSBK round this weekend.
As if to emphasize that it means business in its efforts to regain its previous status as a major World Superbike Championship power, Kawasaki unveiled the 2011 version of its World Superbike racing machine to the world press at the Nürburgring racing circuit, prior to the launch of the production street version scheduled for next month’s Intermot show.
After literally showing everything on the racebike over the last month on its dedicated “teaser” website with numerous photos of the bike during testing in Japan, the unveiling was a little anti-climactic for those who have been keeping close tabs on the website and
its twitter account (which has also been rather forthcoming regarding details on the new 2011 version of the ZX-10R).
Although the ZX-10R superbike...
Although the ZX-10R superbike has been shown numerous times on Kawasaki's dedicated 2011 ZX-10R teaser website, this is the first time for the bike in official team colors.
Representatives from Kawasaki...
Representatives from Kawasaki Motor Europe and Paul Bird Motorsports pose with the new Kawasaki ZX-10R superbike and Kawasaki project director Ichiro Yoda (far left).
Unlike previous generations of the ZX-10R, the 2011 edition apparently started its design as a superbike race machine first—with modifications to meet street emission and noise regulations, as well as minor street-going considerations—applied after its performance goals during testing on the track had been met. “We started development on this bike with slick tires and racing spec engine,” revealed Kawasaki’s project director Ichiro Yoda. “This is a quite different procedure than previous models.”