Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle

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Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Jahn

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle

13 photos

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

1/13
The on-board tool kit of the BMW almost ties in with old traditions. With the help of the nine-piece set, you can strip the motorcycle, tension the chain, replace defective lamps and fuses, and adjust the spring preload front and rear.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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The footrests are serrated so that the driver’s boots find a secure hold for all gymnastics exercises that are relevant to fast driving.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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A lot of carbon and a delicate shape mean that the S 1000 RR has almost 1 hp per kilogram when fully fueled.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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The rear compression level can be set in low and high-speed damping.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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Shift up at lightning speed at full throttle: the shift assistant for 360 euros makes it possible.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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Fast as an arrow: the S 1000 RR in the forest of pylons on the top test course.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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If you want, you can switch off ABS and DTC. The testers didn’t want to, but switched modes more often.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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The ignition key fits into the heads of the adjusting screws on the fork and the low-speed compression stage of the shock absorber. Most of the damping functions can be quickly adapted to different circumstances.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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What you need: a large rev counter and shift light for the racetrack, useful displays for the country road.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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The S 1000 is characterized by pleasant handling, high driving stability and steering precision.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
Artist

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The radially screwed Brembo pliers are not monoblocs, but they bite powerfully and easily.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
BMW

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The prevention of violent wheelies or stoppies, also a function of the DTC, happens independently of the gyro sensors.

Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle
BMW

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Lean and fire free. Everything else is done by the DTC. You just shouldn’t fall over the front wheel when entering the corner.

Sprint duel: BMW against VW

BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle

In 2009, MOTORRAD won the rivet cup in an acceleration duel. Brushed the quarter mile from a 1973 VW Beetle. Who has the edge when it comes to rematch??

Who doesn’t remember the incredible sprint duel in 2009? On the former US airbase in Bitburg, Thomas Kemp challenged the quarter mile with his visually harmless, but technically extremely hot VW Beetle MOTORRAD. Quartermile means: traffic light on green, open fire, and the winner is whoever reaches the final mark after 402.34 meters first. Simple, clear, clear – just dragster sport.

D.he editors took on the challenge with confidence and relied on the season’s acceleration cracker, a standard Yamaha Vmax. And with test driver Karsten Schwers, the editorial team sent the absolute acceleration professional. What else should go wrong? But it did. Because even if the Yamaha junk rolls down almost everything that has two wheels when the traffic light starts, it was not enough for the wonder beetle at the front (attention, traffic light) or at the rear (oops, finish line). An embarrassing setback for the two-wheeled guild. Canned by a VW Beetle!

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Sprint duel: BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle

Sprint duel: BMW against VW
BMW S 1000 RR against VW Beetle

S 1000 RR out. As a reminder: the Beetle presented 10.35 in 2009. The "Bug trick" Karsten had seen through anyway. These are the first few meters. Like those little toy cars that you move back and forth on the floor while pulling a spring? How crazy they shoot at their top speed, only to roll out and then quickly stop.


Jahn

The Kempsche Beetle is a real, classic tuning cream. Perfection, lightweight construction and over 300 hp. Family owned since 1973.

This is how Thomas Kemp does it with his Beetle, which is built up to the very last detail. Claw into the asphalt, launch like a thunderbolt and then somehow save the lead over the 400-meter mark. The usual values ​​like zero to two hundred, horsepower or top speed are pure theory. You don’t catch up with the red Herbie anymore and just look stupid into the exhaust pipe.

The only question is: what else does the miracle beetle have on the pan? 10.21 was his record so far, can Thomas Kemp squeeze something off that? So that the story doesn’t come back a second time "Bikebashing" ends, after a short discussion on the MOTORRAD side there was a clear requirement: The 9.9 should be in place, reliably reproducible, always and everywhere. Top performance is available in abundance, weight is also okay. Other problem areas had to be worked on: traction and wheelie inclination. BMW itself, which of course was happy to make its current performance dominator available as a mobile advertisement, offered the following conversion measures: shorter gear ratio, Akrapovic exhaust system for more steam in the middle, lower the front a bit and push the rear wheel in the swing arm all the way back. Actually that should be enough. But the dragster sport is a huge puzzle game in which you cut the pieces yourself. Sometimes they fit together, sometimes it’s just a mess.

The BMW conversion achieved the best value in the test run in 9.9 seconds. However, only under optimal grip, it was sometimes 10.2 on the clock. So MOTORRAD ignited the next stage of the strategy, some fine-tuning was still needed. A call to Hubert Hofmann and his company HH Racetech. The Hans Dampf in all the conversion lanes, where a metalworking machine is running at all times of the day and night, naturally took part. Complete fork conversion to lower the front even further, milled swing arm adapters to further enlarge the wheelbase. But Hubert wouldn’t be Hubert if everything wasn’t finished in the last second. Install, invite, departure. Testing? For free. A throwing puzzle with no guarantee.


Jahn

To prevent wheelies, you need a long wheelbase and a low center of gravity. The conversions by Hubert Hofmann do just that.

Saturday 3rd July. 37 degrees, but only in the shade, the asphalt is burning in Bitburg. Thomas Kemp seems a little tired and only finished on the last groove. Quite a few of the ordered tuning parts either did not come or could not be tested. The tension boils at the boiling point. Can the Beetle repeat the fantastic 2.44 seconds from zero to one hundred, improve the 10.35 seconds on the quarter mile? Karsten steams in his leather suit. The first trial gallop has to show what the conversion brought about. On the left side of the road there is little grip for Karsten, a lot of rubber abrasion, heat. The result: Wheelspin, the rear wheel comes across. A tedious 10.30.

Now it’s getting serious. This time the BMW is on the right. Karsten is looking for the optimal line. Beetle and BMW click. The car has the better start. It was clear that Herbie is unbeatable on the first few meters. But the BMW comes, pulls away like a jet fighter. After 400 meters Karsten wins by a huge margin. 9.82 on the quartermile with an almost standard motorcycle, without "Adhesive tires" and on asphalt with little traction, even in the open dragster classes. Thomas Kemp creates "just" 10.48 seconds. But that’s the dragster sport: As a magician, you’re only as good as your last trick.

Who is faster?


Drawing: archive

The Beetle is unbeatable on the first few meters. The BMW arrives late, but powerfully, is 40 km / h faster at the finish.

The dragster sport is not primarily about speed, but about meters. Therefore, the usual acceleration figures can easily be misleading. The Kafer and S 1000 RR are good examples of this. Take, for example, the acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h. Both are roughly the same with 2.7 and 2.8 seconds respectively.

However, that does not mean that both are accelerating in lockstep on the road side by side. Because when both speedometers reach the 100 mark, the Beetle is way ahead due to its brutal acceleration from a standing start. It doesn’t take a second to go 50 km / h, the BMW 1.5. But at 200 km / h the Beetle is over three seconds slower than the BMW.


Drawing: archive

Only after 125 meters can the bike overtake the powerful Beetle, but clearly prevails in the finish.

The distance-time diagram illustrates the stark difference. The BMW needs around 5.1 seconds to catch up on their initial deficit after 125 meters. Then, however, it pulls past the Beetle with a brutal excess of speed and can distance it by more than half a second at the end of the quarter mile.

At the finish, the S 1000 RR catapulted it to over 240 km / h, while the Beetle literally starved to death at higher speeds due to the relatively poor engine power in relation to the aerodynamic drag and in the end only managed just over 200 km / h. The 300 hp Beetle could only get significantly faster with more power – much more power.

What is important?

In order to accelerate a motorcycle optimally, you first of all need a lot of power. But the decisive factor in the first few meters is the traction on the rear wheel, the power must be able to be transferred to the ground. At the same time, it is important to prevent the front wheel from lifting, because in both cases the pilot has to turn off the gas.

Let’s assume that the coefficient of friction is 1. Then an acceleration force can be transmitted which is exactly as great as the weight force transmitted by the rear wheel. If, in the ideal case, the entire vehicle weight is shifted to the rear, the acceleration force can be as great as the weight. A maximum acceleration of 1 g then results from the equation F = m x a. This corresponds to 0 to 100 km / h in 2.77 seconds, but only works if the resulting force at the center of gravity does not hit the ground behind the rear wheel. Otherwise the front wheel lifts off, see picture above. As a countermeasure, you can lower the center of gravity or extend the wheelbase (lower picture). If the resultant hits in front of the rear wheel, a higher acceleration force could be transmitted. This in turn only works if the power is sufficient and the coefficient of friction is higher. Without special adhesive tires, the rear wheel spins, which was the problem with the MOTORRAD-BMW S 1000 RR. With such dragster tires, values ​​of around 9.4 seconds appear realistic.

The beetle duels


archive

The VW Beetle against the BAR-Honda-F1.

Beetle 10.93 sec – Ferrari 430 12.89sec
Beetle 10.89 sec – Hillclimb car 12.50 sec
Beetle 10.66 sec – DTM Audi TT 11.92 sec
Beetle 10.82 sec – BAR-Honda-F1 9.46 sec
Beetle 10.35 sec – Yamaha Vmax 10.55 sec
Beetle 10.48 sec – BMW S 1000 RR 9.82 sec

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