Clear the Track!
CLEAR THE TRACK!
Bike vs Car, MV vs. M-B
For drinking companions of the petrol-head persuasion, it always comes down to one question: Which is faster, car or motorcycle?
Today, we’ll see if we can answer that question. In this corner, our MV Agusta Brutale 1080 special, ridden by Dirk Raudies. The 42-yearold is Germany’s last motorcycle GP champion, winning the 125cc crown for Honda in 1993. He retired in 1997 after 14 GP victories. Today he works as a commentator for Eurosport TV, reporting live from MotoGP races all over the world.
In the other corner, from Mercedes-Benz, the CLK DTM AMG Cabriolet, a factory tuner car billed as the “world’s fastest open-air four-seater” and patterned after the missiles running in the German Touring Car championship (a.k.a. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, or DTM). Its supercharged 5439cc V-Eight churns out 580 horsepower.
A favorite of F-1 aces like Juan Pablo Montoya and Mika Häkkinen, just 100 of the cars are available worldwide and they’re snapped up quickly, despite a $360,000 price tag.
Chauffeuring the pricey Merc is Kurt Thiim, a 47-year-old Dane with more than 30 years of car-racing experience and two DTM championships, the last in ’92 with AMG Mercedes.
Straightaway sprints first. Thiim boots the Cabrio from 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) in 4.0 seconds, to 200 kph in 13.0 seconds. Like big sportbikes, European supercars are electronically limited to 300 clicks, or 186 mph.
Despite giving away almost 400 hp, the Brutale scales-in some 3675 pounds lighter than the car, so the 1080 catapults its rider from 0 to 100 kph in 2.9 seconds, and from 0 to 200 in 8.7 seconds. With a full fairing, the MV would also run 186 mph; as is, Raudies is doing all he can to hold on at the Brutale’s top whack of 170.
Out on the ’Ring, Thiim puts his speed advantage to good use. In most other corners he’s faster, too, thanks to the car’s four fat tires.
But Raudies gains ground back at all the corner exits, using the bike’s better acceleration. His left boot rows deftly through the six-speed gearbox, while Thiim is changing the five gears of his automatic gearbox with quick fingers on the shift-paddles behind the steering wheel.
Baaam-baaam-baaam, like torpedos they both gas it down the front straight, the MV zinging to its 11,500-rpm redline, the car running hard to 7000 revs before shifting. An extraordinary concert of motorsport.
But as his tires get hot and greasy, Thiim is sliding wildly, search-
ing for grip. The kompressor V-Eight generates torque in superabundance (590 ft.-lb. at 3500 rpm!) and easily overpowers its stock rubber. “Semi-slicks would be a much better choice,” Thiim says later. “Also, the brakes faded significantly.”
No such concerns with the Brutale. The Italian Stallion flies around the course as if on rails, no tire slides, no brake fade.
And believe or not, on the lap-timer, both are equal! Car and motorcycle each record a best lap of 2 minutes flat, a dead heat (sporting gentlemen do not haggle over hundredths of a second).
“Of course,” offers Thiim, “with softer tires and better brake pads, I’d have been a few seconds faster.” To which Raudies counters, “And with stickier tires, I’d be faster, too.”
Let the arguments rage on. Who’s buying the first round?
-Jüergen Gassebner
The preceding two stories were excerpted from CW's SportBike annual, on newsstands May 1, or order from shop.cyclewor!d.com.
