What's it like to vintage race a faithful replica of a 1970s BMW Superbike with 70 hp then hop on a brand-new BMW M 1000 RR with 204 hp and full electronic rider aids? It's MIND BLOWING and so much fun! Join us at the AMAZING Barber Vintage Festival as Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer races American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association's (ahrma.org) biggest road race on a borrowed BMW 1972 BMW R 75/5 and then rides BMW 2024 M 1000 RR at Nate Kern's Double R Fest trackday.
Check out the story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/1972-bmw-butler-and-smith-superbike-replica-racer-review/
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Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CLI74xvMBFLDOC1tQaCOQ
Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/
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Check out the story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/1972-bmw-butler-and-smith-superbike-replica-racer-review/
Looking to buy? Get prequalified
https://octane.co/vehicle-selection/?partner=GY4VAJr&a=301&flow=long-prequal&appTheme=3a49337c5724d18079602a4ca5a91626
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CLI74xvMBFLDOC1tQaCOQ
Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/
Buy Cycle World Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cycleworld
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SportsTranscript
00:00How far has BMW Superbike technology come in 50 years?
00:03We're at Barber Motorsports Park to find out.
00:05We have a 1972 BMW R75 Slash 5.
00:09A faithful Butler & Smith replica from 1972.
00:13And this is BMW's latest M1000RR.
00:16Full electronic suite.
00:17Massive brakes.
00:18Huge tires.
00:19Aerodynamic aids.
00:20I'm going to spend the next four days racing this bike at Barber Vintage Festival.
00:24And then I'm going to do a track day on the M1000RR with Nate Kearns Double R Fest.
00:29How big a change between this and this?
00:31Obviously a lot.
00:32But what's the magic here?
00:33And what's the magic here?
00:35This 1972 BMW is so awesome.
00:37This mustache popped out of my face.
00:40So I'm just driving out onto Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois.
00:44I'm here as a test for racing at ARMA at Barber Vintage Festival and BMW Motorrad Days Americas.
00:52You know, Barber Vintage Fest, it's one of the great events
00:55on the calendar for motorcycle racing of any kind.
00:58And I get to race a 1972 BMW R75 with a Slash 5.
01:02Owned by ARMA Executive Director Dan May.
01:05A beautifully prepared bike.
01:06This is the first time I've got to see it in person.
01:08This is my test.
01:09And unfortunately, it's raining.
01:28That was awesome.
01:36What'd you think?
01:37Yeah, it was really good.
01:38Super consistent.
01:40Like really balanced chassis front and rear.
01:42Obviously not revving it a lot.
01:44But the bike's just really well prepared and really well balanced.
01:47Brakes are real predictable.
01:48I've spent a million miles riding the 74 Norton Commando on the road.
01:52And this is like 300% better in terms of the way the chassis feels.
01:56It is planted.
01:57It's sort of similar but better braking feel.
02:01You know, it's not super sport.
02:02I mean, it's just amazing.
02:04It was a very good first session.
02:05Really a lot of fun.
02:07And the traction was actually...
02:08Toward the end, I was getting good confidence.
02:10Giving it a little more throttle.
02:11I'm not trail braking super hard.
02:16Oh, so sorry.
02:17So you joined the club.
02:20Sorry about that.
02:21When did you go down?
02:21In the seventh?
02:22I just did one.
02:23On one?
02:24Oh, that's pretty tight.
02:25That's actually two.
02:26Oh, is it?
02:26Yeah, it's two.
02:27Of course, it's two.
02:28It felt real similar to every other time I've entered.
02:30But on no previous lap had the bike moved on the tires at all.
02:35And then, I mean, it felt virtually identical going into that corner.
02:38Yeah, yeah.
02:39It's gone, so...
02:40Did you go all the way down or just on your knee?
02:42Oh, no, I went down.
02:43Okay.
02:44Got seat time and that's what's important.
02:45Got a ton of laps.
02:46Well, uh...
02:47And I crashed first to make him get used to the idea.
02:50Soften him a little bit.
02:52Kick him in the nuts.
02:53Like new.
02:54Photo ready.
02:55Wet track I've never seen.
02:57Bike I've never ridden.
02:58New leather.
02:58Brand new leathers, yeah.
03:00It's all stacking up.
03:01It was great to get any seat time on the bike, but it poured almost all day.
03:04And I ended up with about 30 minutes of seat time on a wet track.
03:07I also ended my test with a crash.
03:09So I'd be heading to Barber with a lot less confidence than I hoped.
03:12Hey, good morning, everybody.
03:14We're at Barber.
03:15We're gonna have four days of fun.
03:18Arm is multi-disciplined.
03:19We do road racing, off-road, which consists of motocross trials, cross-country.
03:24And we do flat track.
03:26All of our disciplines are here this weekend.
03:40Practice group number two, this is your first call.
03:43Getting me during the most beautiful time of getting dressed.
03:45This was my first time at Barber and coming off my rainy test day,
03:48I'm a little nervous, but ready to get my practice session started.
03:52Fortunately, I'm racing in two classes with this bike.
03:54Formula 750 and BEARS, a British European American racing series.
03:58I get four practice sessions a day over two days to help me learn the track and the bike.
04:02And then two races a day on Saturday and Sunday.
04:05Plenty of track time to get it right or have it go wrong.
04:09It's the first session of the day for me.
04:10Rolling out.
04:12Busy paddock today.
04:13I'm gonna give you a little bit of an impression of Barber,
04:16which is a fantastic racetrack.
04:18First time here.
04:20And also this motorcycle, which is my first time kind of riding it in Anger.
04:2393 degrees.
04:24It's nice running temperatures.
04:26200 degrees.
04:27So I doubt we'll see that this morning.
04:29We'll probably get up to 180.
04:30Makes power basically from 45 to 8.
04:33It's phenomenal.
04:39All right, here we go.
04:40Hot pit.
04:41Oh, she's coughing a little bit.
04:42She's cold.
04:43I'm cold.
04:44She's cold.
04:47Very green track this morning, right?
04:49Brakes feel good.
04:49I checked them sitting still.
04:51We're just gonna check the blend.
04:54Make sure nobody's coming.
04:56And we're gonna take her easy.
05:00That was really good.
05:00It was an interesting turn of events.
05:02I was supposed to follow Paul Elledge out,
05:04and he looked like he had carburetors, you know, like a rich mixture or something.
05:07So he had to pull in it.
05:08But there I was leading group two practice.
05:11The first spike on the track.
05:12Not by intent.
05:14But it was really good.
05:14The track walk yesterday with Nate Kern.
05:17Super informative.
05:18It's a beautiful track.
05:19It was my first session, you know.
05:21I'm, like, building the picture of what's going on and where to be.
05:24The good news is, like, you never want the bike to be in the way of what you're doing.
05:28That's the whole idea with the race bike.
05:30What's great about this motorcycle is what a tool it is.
05:34It doesn't get in the way.
05:37It does what I ask.
05:39It goes fast doing it.
05:40Go over next session.
05:41She's working on particularly brake markers.
05:43I have to be mindful.
05:44They're vintage brakes.
05:45I mean, they're new, but they're not Brembo Stylema.
05:48There's a different speed heat dissipation.
05:51There's nothing point shoot here.
05:52Yeah, this morning is basically get to know the track first.
05:55Because it's dangerous and wet.
05:57This afternoon, we'll start to really go.
05:59The brake markers are your friends.
06:01The bike sounded good after about four laps.
06:03It seemed to clear its throat.
06:04I saw you pulling out of Charlotte's Web.
06:06I mean, you were gapping guys behind you.
06:08So good.
06:10Nobody wins practice.
06:12Except for Dan May.
06:13Cameras make that less than graceful.
06:21Practice group number two.
06:22This is your first call.
06:24So second session, much more buttoned down.
06:26The track is warmer.
06:27Super stoked about that.
06:29The bike just feels really stuck in it.
06:31It's such a good motorcycle.
06:32Grippy Continental Road Attack.
06:34Three CRs on there.
06:35Keep them on warmers.
06:36They're not super hot.
06:37They're just hot, ready to go.
06:39So I felt like the progress there was I have confidence where the track is going now.
06:43You know, the advantage I have with Dan's bike is really well developed bike.
06:48Millennium cylinders.
06:50Nickel-silk coated.
06:51Fresh valve job.
06:52It's a really great running bike and has very broad power.
06:55I think it's a very strong 750.
06:57So that's a real advantage.
06:58I see we're waiting.
07:00What is lap time?
07:01I don't know yet.
07:02My best lap was five or six seconds faster than the first session in the morning.
07:07I have a lot better idea where I'm going.
07:09Plenty of work still to do.
07:10Plenty of fast guys in my group.
07:13I'm really pleased with my results.
07:14It's super fun to ride.
07:16I'm just thinking about my lap and riding.
07:19Applying the brakes.
07:20All the things that you need to do to operate the motorcycle.
07:23If you don't want the bike to distract you from the job, it's definitely not.
07:26So it's good.
07:26It's all on me.
07:27That's the burden.
07:28It's all on me.
07:30Lap two and three were exactly the same.
07:33Exactly the same.
07:34There's so many places that you can make a ton of time if you're just going to put
07:39yourself in the right spot on the track and it's very low risk and it ends up with high
07:44terminals so you can really get people.
07:46Like going into Charlotte's Web, it's such a slow corner.
07:48You don't have to get the entrance right.
07:51You can just get into it.
07:52Charlotte's Web, you can definitely stuff people on the inside and it'll break both
07:57your momentum, but you'll get out ahead of him, right?
08:00So you'll lose overall lap time, but you'll gain a position in there.
08:04As long as you set it up right, that's a good passing spot.
08:07For me personally, I'm very excited about the amount of time I've dropped.
08:11I am in the pack of bikes mid to rear, but I'm there and I've done four sessions.
08:17So I have all practice tomorrow as much as I want of those four sessions to really now
08:22work on putting everything together.
08:24One thing I have with this motorcycle is a real advantage in tractability.
08:29It's so well tuned.
08:30The power is really broad.
08:32Gosh, it just pulls and it's awesome.
08:33You know, Dan's raced this for years and years, I think 12 years and he's super familiar
08:37with it, but I'm not.
08:39And he said, I'm going to, you know, he didn't ask me, he just put these strips of tape on
08:44the tack and that's my, that's my happy zone right there.
08:47Don't go past the red, don't go below the white.
08:50And that's where action happens.
08:51And if you keep it in here, it's a beauty.
08:54We threw it on the dyno.
08:55We'll share that with you.
08:56The air fuel is basically perfect.
08:58You know, you stick a sniffer in the tailpipe and it goes straight lines when this thing's,
09:02you know, pulling on the dyno and making highly competitive horsepower.
09:06It's awesome, but...
09:20Really excited about the paddock atmosphere.
09:23I mean, we got perfect weather.
09:24We have a perfect track.
09:26Like the track is amazing and the swap meet's amazing.
09:30Like vintage festival is off the hook and I've spent quite a bit of time in the paddock
09:35because I'm terrified of being late for a practice or not having my stuff together.
09:39So I'm not far afield, but the ambiance here and the help that everybody in the paddock
09:45has given to me and the friendliness.
09:46And it's very cool to have a lot of people come up and say, we really like your podcast
09:51with Kevin Caron.
09:52That stokes me completely.
09:54We're heading out on the track.
09:56Why would I wear a Tech Air 7 airbag vest?
09:58Because in the immortal words of Kevin Schwantz when he retired in 1994,
10:02I don't bounce like I used to.
10:03It's good for everybody, but I'm extra comfortable being not 30 anymore.
10:08I'll just say not 30.
10:10Oh, that was good.
10:11Just a warmup for the day, but I was doing the same times as I did in the four session
10:15yesterday.
10:15So super happy with that.
10:17Bike solid as ever.
10:18It's a beautiful torque curve.
10:19So in the class that I'm practicing with, it's really got motor on a lot of stuff.
10:23So there's places like out of Charlotte's Wet where you can very safely pass people
10:27just because it has a beautiful broad torque curve.
10:29Checked the plugs earlier.
10:30They're looking good.
10:31We were inspecting the inside of the carburetor because there's a little bit of nice flow
10:35work on the carburetor part.
10:37So he was showing me why it fuels so well at high RPM and it's a little rich down low.
10:42We don't need down low.
10:43It actually makes it easy to start.
10:44Once the day's going, you don't need choke or anything.
10:46You just kind of give it a little snap.
10:47And then once it's going, you just pull it up.
10:49It'll eight stroke at local low RPM because it's so rich.
10:51It was bop, bop, bop, bop, bop.
10:53And then once you get you clear a little bit, you get three, four thousand.
10:56It just starts running really nice.
10:58It's jetted.
10:59I think it's perfectly.
11:00We kicked up to group three for a practice because my lap times in group two, group two
11:04is with slower bikes, bikes, mostly a smaller displacement than what this bike is.
11:09So it was good for me to get up to speed, figure out the track.
11:12I'll go out in the beginning of the session and not have too much traffic.
11:16Some very quick people in that group, but also my times were more indicative of the
11:20class I'm racing and the practice for the class I'm racing is group three.
11:24And so they gave me a three sticker based on the lap time.
11:27So I got into the sort of the low 52s and then I went out with group three in my last
11:32session and zipped on out there.
11:34And I got a 49 one specifically working on breaking because I was leaving a lot on the
11:40table so far.
11:41So I really focused on that and track position and getting through some of those faster sections.
11:45The final section came together pretty well for me.
11:48It's a tricky, like kind of an S thing.
11:51And then you crest this kind of blind rise and you, you really got to ride right over
11:55that.
11:55You're not, you're not really slowing down too much.
11:57You got to ride right over that and get right into the next turn.
11:59And then you carousel around onto the front straight fastest times I've done of the day.
12:04They were all faster than my previous fastest and fast times.
12:06I was consistent with it.
12:08It was cool to ride with the Honda 750.
12:10It looks like a Dick Mann replica and it was, um, it had motor, you know, it made it more
12:14challenging, um, to, to keep up with that guy.
12:17Cause he had drive.
12:18I thought, Oh, I'll get them on the front straight.
12:19Cause that's where I was getting people before.
12:21Nope.
12:22He's cornering really well.
12:23I got on early.
12:25And boy, there's no way I was going past into one.
12:28So what do you say?
12:29It's racing, but everybody has a job.
12:31We're trying to be courteous, swift to have a good time.
12:34And then we'll see how it turns out on the track.
12:36So final practice session the whole weekend.
12:38I'm very happy.
12:38My goal was 49th and I've done it and I've done it consistently in the last session before
12:43we go racing.
12:44So I'm super stoked about that.
12:45Just tired.
12:48It's just exciting to come to terms with the bike, feel pretty good about the track and,
12:53and be ready to, uh, just, you know, do the deed in the morning.
12:56We got two races.
12:57Everybody I come across.
12:58It's just really cool.
12:59And there's so many, so many great bikes.
13:01It's cool.
13:01Like it's just such a cool mix.
13:03Really fun.
13:11We're going to go to the one sideways, three, boom, boom, boom.
13:15On your mark, get set, go.
13:17And they're going to use that cadence every time.
13:19Go have fun.
13:20Have a great race day.
13:23Make it exciting.
13:25We're getting ready.
13:26We're the first race green track, stiff, cold leathers.
13:30Just warm the bike up.
13:31Started the warmers an hour ago.
13:33Pretty frantic.
13:34First race of the day, eight o'clock.
13:36I am a last row on the left.
13:38I have no points from the season.
13:40So I don't, that's how you grid for all this race here.
13:43It's going to treat this like a warmup for bears, which is the third race.
13:46Cause no one's been on the track yet, but we're good.
13:49This is your learn how to do things race.
13:52It's my learning race.
13:53And also it's a green track.
13:55How exciting.
13:56Tires are warm.
14:09Awesome.
14:21147.
14:22That's three seconds, two and a half seconds better than he did in practice.
14:26Fifth overall.
14:26That's fantastic.
14:27If he runs the same pace, he should win it.
14:31And I'm not going to tell him that, but yeah, at that pace, if he can get down to the 47s,
14:36that's podium top of the podium pace for that race.
14:40Ran a 47.
14:43You got a fifth overall, man.
14:44That's awesome.
14:45Is that you bouncing off the red limiter at the end?
14:48Maybe once.
14:50I know you lowered it.
14:51Now, you know how the track is and couldn't have done better.
14:54You ran a 47, man.
14:57Awesome.
14:57Yeah, it felt good.
14:58And you learned how to wheelie.
15:03That came in pretty quick.
15:04I'm like, we'll think about that next time.
15:07Again, wave three.
15:08So you're going to have two go in front, and then you're going to be in the back.
15:13The really fast guys in wave one, I don't think they're going to catch you.
15:18So since you're last in the row, we're going to be working through some track.
15:26Super stoked.
15:27I won bears, and that was awesome.
15:29I had to start on the back of the grid because I have no points.
15:31The bike is so good.
15:33I can't thank Dan and Arma for having me here to do this because the bike's amazing.
15:37Like, there's no barrier from the motorcycle.
15:39So getting out there, I had my first race in the morning with F750.
15:43But I wheelied on the first start in the first race.
15:46This race, I'm like, just be cool.
15:47Just do what you always do.
15:49Just wheel it out strong, but not crazy.
15:52Man, I just hate people going into turn one.
15:54Made a few passes through there, and then it was traffic.
15:57And I had some guys chasing me.
15:58One guy passed me back.
16:00He got me going in the last turn.
16:02And I kind of came down, and then I was able to get him actually on the outside on the
16:06curbing.
16:07And then I just took it real deep into one.
16:09And as I recall, that might be the last.
16:11I think that was the last one of those.
16:14And then a guy on the Norton passed me.
16:16He was riding great.
16:17And I got him back, and we got into traffic.
16:19And I just really was like, I'm protecting my braking zones.
16:22Because when you're racing with somebody, and you're like, oh, I got to get that guy,
16:26you're like, I'll go a little deeper.
16:27When you're by yourself, that's when you're going to have a hard time.
16:30When you're by yourself, that's when you're riding the track.
16:32That's what you work on.
16:34When you go out and practice, especially a place you haven't seen before, you have to
16:38figure out your time versus the track, not other riders.
16:41Other riders can help you.
16:43But ultimately, it's in you.
16:44You have to figure out what the track is, and then ride it.
16:47And so that's what's hard, is that discipline.
16:50And obviously, there's still work to be done.
16:53That's what's great about racing.
16:54There's always work to be done.
16:56It was a really fun race.
16:57I can't wait to talk to the guys I raced with, because they were rad.
17:00They were congratulating me at the end.
17:01And they were, thumbs up, number one.
17:03I was like, thanks so much, guys, because it was fun racing with you.
17:07In first place, folks, believe it or not, this guy is from Cycle World Magazine.
17:12He is the chief editor of Cycle World Magazine.
17:15Has only ridden this bike a half a dozen times.
17:18He goes out, blows up the track, and gets first place.
17:22It bears Mr. Mark Hoyers.
17:27That's what's so cool about Harbor Vintage Fest,
17:29is we're celebrating the history of racing and motorcycling.
17:33BMW's here, and has a million bikes from their collection,
17:37and also all their new bikes, and a lot of fans.
17:39And of course, we just had Kenny Roberts, Kenny Roberts Jr.,
17:42Scott Russell, and David Aldana.
17:44I got them to sign my shirt.
17:48There's so much to celebrate here.
17:49And you get to go see your heroes.
17:51And that's what's so awesome about this place.
17:53One of the great things about racing with ARMA is track time.
17:56So after racing twice on Saturday, I got to do it again on Sunday
17:59with another win in Bears and a sixth in Formula 750.
18:02In Bears, it's Mark Hoyer over Jake Hall.
18:04It was a great cap to an amazing weekend.
18:07And in the morning, I'd be stepping 50 years into the future with BMW's M1000RR.
18:12Super stoked.
18:13So yeah, M1000RR at Barber the day after racing for four days.
18:19What a gift and what a unique opportunity to experience
18:22such a span of time and phenomenal superbikes, you know.
18:25And now we have this.
18:26We got Toprak leading the world championship.
18:28I've seen the track, but it's highly likely to feel like a different racetrack,
18:32even though I know which way the corners are going.
18:34Everything ought to be really, really different.
18:36When you come back in, you'll actually be able to go through
18:38and you'll see your basically you're setting your GTC
18:40and your brake engagement for your option to go through
18:42and see your max right to left lane angles.
18:44Oh, right on.
18:48This is big aero.
18:49Lots of stuff going on.
18:50Huge aerodynamics.
18:51We're going to start slow, of course.
18:52It's never going to be a race-based day.
18:54It's a track day.
18:54It's to have fun.
18:56It's to learn some things.
18:57I still have a lot to learn about the track,
18:59especially switching to this bike from a 72 BMW R75.
19:03The M1000 after a week of racing a vintage bike is like a spaceship.
19:06It's like no surprise.
19:07OK, yeah, book of duh, but no surprise.
19:09Getting back out on track, you know, basically the line is the same.
19:12Like I feel good about the line.
19:13I followed some of the instructors.
19:15I'm in the right place.
19:17What you have to be is incredibly patient before you pull the trigger.
19:21On the vintage bike, you know, you're dealing with 70, 75 horsepower
19:24and the direction you're pointed is important,
19:27but it's not as important as it is with the 190 rear wheel.
19:30Like you really have to be set up just right.
19:33You can roll out and stuff,
19:34but what you want to do is be confident in your direction
19:38and then just giving it as much throttle as you're comfortable with
19:42driving off a corner.
19:43Braking, obviously massively different.
19:46Lifting the rear wheel already like in the first session on the M1000
19:49just because they're just beautiful, strong initial bite
19:53and the light pulse.
19:55Tires are so different.
19:56Trail braking very much harder.
19:57Also, the M1000RR is strangely easier to ride and also harder to ride.
20:03It has Shift Assist Pro,
20:05so you can go up and down on the shifter and it grabs gear for you.
20:08It's seamless everywhere.
20:10You just do it.
20:11The brake effort is lower.
20:13The throttle twist is so light and easy to control.
20:17You just can relax your body a bit more.
20:19And weirdly, it's like equally physical,
20:21but in a different way,
20:22because the forces you're getting from the small amount of pressure on the brake lever
20:26are higher than what you're getting from like,
20:29giving it Hercules on the old bike.
20:31It's a really interesting combination.
20:33I think track position is strangely relative between the bikes.
20:37The direction that you're aimed up the track
20:40is obviously massively important with a bike that's as fast as the M1000.
20:44Ergonomics are great.
20:45It's a good foot position.
20:46I feel very comfortable on it at the speed that I'm going.
20:49I'm going faster than my race laps by quite a bit.
20:52No surprise there.
20:54And of course, we're dealing with a full suite of electronic rider aids,
20:58like top, top rider aids.
20:59So traction control exiting corners,
21:01you can feel it working.
21:02I have it set relatively high to intervene,
21:05just as I'm peeling on the throttle.
21:07And you know what I'm saying?
21:08Like, how much can I give it in these sections?
21:10And you can feel the intervention.
21:12You don't hear it, but it just isn't driving as much.
21:14And then you pick it up and then it's on.
21:16And then coming down the straight,
21:17holy cow, like, just wheeling.
21:19Like, we're not wheeling on the old bike.
21:21So there's just tons that's different.
21:23So engaging and soulful in their own way.
21:26Like, I love a ripping inline four.
21:28I always have.
21:28But I also like twins.
21:30And it's hard to beat the unmuffled sound of the flat twin.
21:32Like, that's near and dear.
21:34I'm, you know, I'm a vintage bike lover,
21:35but I've always loved performance as well.
21:37And so the opportunity to ride an M1000
21:40and experience the vast chasm of performance,
21:44but also how relatable the bikes are.
21:46It's still riding motorcycles.
21:48It's just different.