The era of the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R is upon us. We’re at the Losail circuit in Qatar and as I type, seven green machines are firing round the red hot track. Yup, it’s hot out here – you’ve not seen this many journalists sweat this much since they last put in their expense claims…
The tech briefing lasted for ages, mainly because there’s so much tech packed into this tiny little machine. There’s a very clever traction control system, a very clever power mode system, very clever ABS and, well, me trying to ride the thing. The motor is all new, it’s the same story with the chassis, and, well pretty much everything else on the bike.
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One session down and it’s clear that Kawasaki is bang on it with the new bike. WSB star Tom Sykes is out here and no wonder he’s called The Grinner with a bike like this to ride in 2011. For the rest of us, £11,699 will buy you the most technological, most powerful, most accomplished bike to ever come out of Japan. It’s hard to be any more specific as the track’s a complete unknown to me, but there’s another three sessions today, and two in the morning.
Speaking of which, it’s getting pretty dark out here, things started off late and we’ve been struggling to fit everything in during the day. There’s only one thing for it – put the lights on round the track, a la MotoGP!
Head to www.kawasaki.co.uk for more technical info on the bike, and I’ll be putting stuff up on facebook throughout the rest of the launch.
