Andy Sills of Hunter Sills Racing rode a San Diego BMW Motorcycles-built BMW S 1000 RR to an average speed of 224.190 miles per hour across the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah on Friday, August 16, at SCTA Speedweek, making it the world’s fastest BMW motorcycle.
San Diego BMW Motorcycles teamed up with Shane Kinderis, owner of Alpine Performance in Australia, and crew chief for the Australian Superbike team Next Gen Motorsports, to tune the engine to 220 horsepower while still conforming to SCTA 1000 cc requirements. The bike also employed a new style fairing design created by Mike Verdugo of Catalyst Composites in Escondido, CA.
Hunter Sills Racing has a combined 21 years of Landspeed Racing competition, having set 20 world and national landspeed records on motorcycles, ranging from a custom-built 50 cc streamliner to the 215 horsepower, 220 mils-per-hour BMW S 1000 RR.
“We are coming to Laguna Seca to race the World Superbike event in a month, so the engine development was good for us,” taid Kinderis.
“BMW has always been our first choice manufacturer for landspeed racing bikes,” said Andy Sills. “Having set records with the K 1200 S in 2005 and the S 1000 RR in 2010 and 2011, it was the logical platform for our 2013 season.”
“This was our first opportunity to test the Alpine Performance tuned motor and new Catalyst fairing design for the S 1000 RR, and were delighted by the results,” said Gary Orr, owner of San Diego BMW Motorcycles. “We worked with both companies while roadracing the S 1000 RR and we knew we could make the S 1000 RR really fast. After nine passes on the Bonneville salt course, we set a new SCTA record and Andy earned a spot in the 200 mile per hour club.
The team were planning to race this bike again, along with a more traditionally faired BMW S 1000 RR, at the International Motorcycle Speed Trials by BUB, held at Bonneville Salt Flats august 24-29. They're aiming for two international FIM records and multiple national AMA records.–– Paul Duchene
