THIS IS the world's first official image of Kawasaki's 2011 ZX-10R racer.

The 220bhp machine, which is undergoing a series of intensive testing at Suzuka circuit, will be the basis of the 2011 road bike due for release next year. Visordown has learned the 2011 10R will be an all-new machine belting out a reported 200bhp in road trim.

And with an expected wet weight of less than 200kg, the 2011 ZX-10R is shaping up to be something really special.

We ran the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R concept skectch back in June and a very early 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R concept sketch in January.

It's about time Kawasaki clawed back some of the deficit in the 1000cc market. Let's hope the new 2011 bike really delivers what Kawasaki are promising.

Looks a bit like the BMW S1000RR, which we all thought looked like a ZX-6R and there's more than a passing resemblance to the 2009 Kawasaki/Hayate MotoGP bike pictured below.

It seems like we're going around in circles ...