We simply couldn't ignore this carbon-framed, race-spec superbike not just for its awesome tech, but also for its unbelievable 1240bhp per tonne power-to-weight. That's fully-fuelled, too...

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Yes, yes, we know, this isn’t a car, but it is a carbon-framed BMW that’s only marginally heavier than the machines used at the top level of motorsport. Nice. The HP4 Race is a very special motorbike, limited to 750 units and packing a faintly absurd power-to-weight ratio of 1240bhp per tonne in race-ready trim with a full tank of fuel. Slice it whichever way you like, but that means the HP4 Race will leave just about anything else for dead in a straight line – at least until aerodynamics eventually halt its progress at silly speeds. There’s no reason 200mph shouldn’t be possible.

That 171kg wet weight is just 11kg heavier than the minimum MotoGP bike weight, and a paltry 3kg heavier than the lightest that World Superbikes are allowed to be. The carbonfibre frame isn’t even heavy enough to make a good dumbbell, weighing a mere 7.8kg. It’s produced in small batches and BMW says it’s going to make the chassis available on the aftermarket to let bike builders do their stuff – and to let HP4 Race owners repair their bikes if they damage the frame. The wheels are carbon, too, saving 30 per cent even against lightweight forged alloy units; a factor that should help make the HP4 Race insanely flickable even at high speed.

Ohlins supplies top-drawer suspension identical to the spec used in both World Superbikes and MotoGP, while the swingarm and Brembo brakes with titanium pistons are also motorsport spec. As for the engine, you’re looking at a World Superbike-spec four-pot with 212bhp at 13,900rpm. You might call it a little peaky, as with all sports bike engines, with peak torque of 89lb ft coming at 10,000rpm. The rev ceiling is 14,500rpm, some 300rpm higher than the engine in the existing S 1000 RR. The motor is linked to a close-ratio six-speed race-derived gearbox that comes with spare ratios to allow owners to tune their bike for each track they visit.