Suter Reveals BMW-Powered MotoGP Bike

Unveiled at the San Marino Grand Prix, the race bike is powered by a modified BMW S1000RR engine which will be eligible for MotoGP in 2012 when new rules allow 1000cc engines. Suter plans to begin development with a stock engine and introduce further upgrades. BMW is not involved in the project.

Unlike some racing teams such as FB Corse that had previously announced plans to enter MotoGP, Suter has developed a strong track record in the Moto2 class, supplying 13 machines on the grid. After 11 rounds, three of the top seven riders in the Moto2 standings are on Suter motorcycles including the late Shoya Tomizawa who won the first ever race in the class on a Suter MMX race bike.

There are two or three good engine options around, but we decided for BMWs S1000RR engine, not only because it is very powerful to start with, but also because it is an in-line four-cylinder configuration with dimensions quite similar to the current Moto2 engines, says Eskil Suter, chief executive officer of Suter Racing Technology. There will be a lot of synergy between the two projects. Whatever we learn in the development of the MotoGP bike will also be a benefit to our MMX Moto 2 machine.

The Swiss manufacturer is also taking a measured approach to developing its MotoGP bike. Suter will use 2011 as a development year with the Marc VDS Racing Moto2 team helping to collect data. Rider Carmelo Morales is also scheduled to begin testing the Suter prototype later this month.

Our goal is to offer customers a competitive but affordable chassis package, and our first estimate are costs of something between 350,000 and 600,000 euro (US$380,700 - $761,000) for one rider with a set of two bikes per season, engines not included, syas Suter. This is obviously a higher price than our Moto2 offers, but developing a competitive MotoGP racer is also a much more complicated and costly task. Our calculation is also based on a maximum of four Suter bikes on the MotoGP grid and not on 13 bikes that we are currently running in the Moto2 class.

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