Time on my hands...
Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:29 pm
In the unlikely event of me winning the lottery, I would run a HP2 Sport race team in international road racing (TT, etc.). This scenario is rather unlikely though, because I don't buy lottery tickets.
I've always wondered how well the HP2 Sport (or R1200S Rennboxer, as it was known) would fare at the TT. Obviously it wouldn't win, but just how far could we push cutting-edge obsolete air-cooled technology? So, using finger-in-the-air research and back-of-fag-packet mathematics, this is what I came up with.
Looking at the fastest lap times of the 2007 and 2008 endurance championships, the Rennboxer was on average 4.15% slower than the winning bike (usually the SERT Suzuki). If we compare this to the winning TT bikes of the period - the McGuinness and Martin Hondas - their average fastest lap was 17m 29.79 / 129.39 mph. Using our 4.15% ballpark figure, all other things being equal (which they won't be!), the Rennboxer would have a lap time of 18m 13.36 / 124.23 mph, which is pretty decent and would give roughly a top 20 finish. This figure seems about right, as it's similar to Michael Dunlop's then-record Classic TT lap of 18m 01.762 / 125.562 mph on the fast-yet-dinosaur air-cooled XR69 Suzuki.
But it's not quite that straightforward! Works rider Richard Cooper said that the Rennboxer was very economical and they could get 30-45 minutes more track time between pit stops than the works superbikes; this opens up the possibility that the Rennboxer could complete a 6-lap Senior TT with only 1 pit stop (rather than the usual 2)! (This used to be allowed, although I'm not sure if it is nowadays.) A good TT pit stop is just under a minute, so if you took a minute off a Rennboxer's theoretical race time, you could be looking at a top 10 finish!
Maybe I should start buying lottery tickets...
I've always wondered how well the HP2 Sport (or R1200S Rennboxer, as it was known) would fare at the TT. Obviously it wouldn't win, but just how far could we push cutting-edge obsolete air-cooled technology? So, using finger-in-the-air research and back-of-fag-packet mathematics, this is what I came up with.
Looking at the fastest lap times of the 2007 and 2008 endurance championships, the Rennboxer was on average 4.15% slower than the winning bike (usually the SERT Suzuki). If we compare this to the winning TT bikes of the period - the McGuinness and Martin Hondas - their average fastest lap was 17m 29.79 / 129.39 mph. Using our 4.15% ballpark figure, all other things being equal (which they won't be!), the Rennboxer would have a lap time of 18m 13.36 / 124.23 mph, which is pretty decent and would give roughly a top 20 finish. This figure seems about right, as it's similar to Michael Dunlop's then-record Classic TT lap of 18m 01.762 / 125.562 mph on the fast-yet-dinosaur air-cooled XR69 Suzuki.
But it's not quite that straightforward! Works rider Richard Cooper said that the Rennboxer was very economical and they could get 30-45 minutes more track time between pit stops than the works superbikes; this opens up the possibility that the Rennboxer could complete a 6-lap Senior TT with only 1 pit stop (rather than the usual 2)! (This used to be allowed, although I'm not sure if it is nowadays.) A good TT pit stop is just under a minute, so if you took a minute off a Rennboxer's theoretical race time, you could be looking at a top 10 finish!
Maybe I should start buying lottery tickets...