How Fast Is Fast?

HOW FAST IS FAST?

Streetbikes vs. MotoGP

Having ridden three MotoGP bikes at Valencia last November, I was naturally curious to see how the latest production sportbikes compared when I rode them at the same circuit in April.

My seat-of-the-pants impressions, fuzzy from the five-month gap between, suggested that there was a vast difference in performance, even the mightiest l000s feeling relatively tame going down the front straightaway. But looking at the data collected at the Valencia Grand Prix and at Master Bike revealed just how much faster the MotoGP bikes really are. Where the Kawasaki ZX-10R's best lap time was a 1:42.315, the polesitting Honda RC211V of Makoto Tamada circulated the 2.2-mile circuit in an astonish ing 1:32.815. Perhaps more impressively, the ZX-10R's top speed on Valencia's half mile-long front straightaway was 164 mph. whereas the Ducati Desmosedici of Troy Bayliss recorded a mind-boggling 199 mph. Now that's fast!

Sportbikes may be closer than ever to their racing brethren, but they've still got a ways to go. -Brian Catterson