Table of contents

• Technology: BMW S 1000 RR The BMW S 1000 RR engine in detail
• High, higher, highest – only speed brings performance
• It depends on the gram
• The trick: less friction results in more performance
• Videos of the running engine

BMW

13th pictures

Artist

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

Artist

2/13
The footrests are serrated so that the driver’s boots find a secure hold for all gymnastics exercises that are relevant to high-speed driving.

Artist

3/13
Lots of carbon and a graceful shape mean that the S 1000 RR has almost 1 hp per kilogram when fully fueled.

Artist

4/13
The rear compression level can be set in low and high-speed damping.

Artist

5/13
Shift up at lightning speed at full throttle: The shift assistant for 360 euros makes it possible.

Artist

6/13
Fast as an arrow: the S 1000 RR in the forest of pylons on the top test course.

Artist

7/13
If you want, you can switch off ABS and DTC. The testers didn’t want to, but switched modes more often.

Artist

8/13
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.

Artist

9/13
What you need: Large tachometer and gearshift light for the racetrack, useful displays for the country road.

Artist

10/13
The S 1000 is characterized by pleasant handling, high driving stability and steering precision.

Artist

11/13
The radially screwed Brembo calipers are not monoblocs, but bite powerfully and easily.

BMW

12/13
The prevention of violent wheelies or stoppies, also a function of the DTC, happens independently of the gyro sensors.

BMW

13/13
Lean and fire free. Everything else is done by the DTC. You just shouldn’t fall over the front wheel when entering the corner.

counselor

technology & future

Technology: BMW S 1000 RR engine in detail

Technology: BMW S 1000 RR
The BMW S 1000 RR engine in detail

With over 200 horsepower from one liter displacement, BMW sets a milestone in terms of engine performance with the S 1000 RR. MOTORRAD looked for the recipe from Munich – and found it.

Werner Koch

02/18/2010

BMW

The new four-cylinder in the BMW S 1000 RR. A milestone with over 200 hp.

The direction was already given in 2005, when BMW decided in favor of the S 1000 RR and at that time declared the almost 170 hp Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K5 to be the reference machine. Stronger and faster than any comparable production motorcycle, that’s how the super sports car from BMW was to come onto the market in 2010. The only question at the time was: How much performance can the Japanese mobilize in 2010? A question without an answer, and so the BMW engineers only had one option: to get the most out of it. Because at the time nobody could have guessed that the top performance of the super sports engines would stagnate in the years that followed.

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The way to the goal began with the conception of the new engine. V4 engine, Big Bang or other, elaborate solutions were discarded; in the opinion of the BMW technicians, 200 hp could only be achieved with an in-line four-cylinder engine that is optimized primarily with regard to friction losses. So no balance shafts or other power-guzzling bells and whistles, but as few moving components as possible. In addition, an in-line engine has advantages in terms of peripherals, weight, installation space, inlet ducts and exhaust ducts.

High, higher, highest – only speed brings performance

Sdun

The 48 throttle valves are operated by a servomotor. The signal for this is provided by the sensor, which is controlled via throttle cables and has an integrated reset mechanism.

The path to maximum performance begins where the combustible mixture is formed: in the intake throat, which, at 48 millimeters in diameter, is two millimeters larger than on the Honda Fireblade. Converted to the free intake cross-section, this means a tight nine percent more free area, which offers less resistance to the fresh gas. Relatively long intake funnels ensure that, despite the large duct cross-sections, an acceptable torque is available even at low speeds.

At 11300 revolutions, similar to the Yamaha YZF-R1 or Aprilia RSV4 Factory, the 60 millimeter long additional funnels stand out and, thanks to the now shortened intake paths, give the astonishing maneuverability. Only with this measure can the high level of performance be maintained over such a wide speed range.

The driver’s gas command is passed on to a sensor on the throttle valve body by conventional cables, but the throttle valves are actually operated by an electric servomotor. “Ride-by-wire” or “E-gas” this technology is called, which opens up undreamt-of possibilities. This is the only way to make the huge intake throats possible, otherwise the flow would simply collapse at low engine speeds and at full throttle. Another advantage: You can easily intervene in the performance curve, limit the peak performance or control the correlation between throttle and throttle position, performance characteristics and response behavior are more or less gentle depending on the selected mode (Rain, Sport, Race and Slick).

It depends on the gram

Sdun

Tiny, carbon-coated rocker arms direct the 16 titanium valves. In between there are interchangeable shims for valve clearance correction.

The significant difference between the Bavarian engine design and the Japanese four-cylinder engine is the valve control. In order to guarantee exact control times even at the highest speeds, a short inverted tooth chain is used, which is driven by an upstream pair of gears and reversed in the direction of rotation. This is why the chain tensioner on the BMW engine sits on the front of the cylinder block and the camshafts rotate backwards. That the gyroscopic forces of the rotating engine masses are reduced in favor of better handling is theoretically correct, but hardly plays a role in practice.

The low mass of the valve actuation is decisive for the speed stability of the S 1000 RR engine. Instead of the usual bucket tappets, extremely small, carbon-coated (DLC process) rocker arms operate two 33.5 inlet and 27.2 outlet valves made of titanium. Rocker arms were already used on the Honda CB 450 in the mid-1960s and on some four-cylinder engines (Kawasaki GPZ models, early Suzuki GSX-R models), but these solutions are not compatible with the extremely light and low-friction version of the S 1000 RR to compare. According to BMW, the advantages of the lower inertia forces compared to bucket tappets are a factor of three. This allowed larger valves to be used without reducing the maximum valve accelerations. In connection with the ultra-short stroke of only 49.7 millimeters with a 80 millimeter bore, the Munich-based company allows a maximum speed of 14,200 rpm, a full 600 rpm more than the shortest-stroke Japanese engine, the Yamaha YZF-R1 (78 x 52.2 mm).

BMW also shows extreme values ​​in terms of compression. The ratio of 13: 1 is only possible because BMW processes combustion chambers and piston heads. In the case of cast, unprocessed components, the risk of upwardly deviating compression is simply too great, which is why the Japanese sometimes stay well below the value of 13: 1. Small tolerances lead to correspondingly small variations in peak performance in series production; the machines measured by MOTORRAD moved within a narrow performance window between 196 and 203 hp.

The trick: less friction results in more performance

plant

On the interference pipe of the exhaust manifold (left), two flaps regulate the connection for more torque and maximum performance. As a result of the short geared lower gears and final drive, the rear wheel receives more tractive power at the same speed than the Honda CBR 1000 RR, although the CBR engine is more powerful between 5000 and 10,000 rpm.

In the piston / cylinder area, the issue of reducing friction is of course particularly important. The 0.8 millimeter thin compression rings run with little preload in specially machined cylinder liners. In this process, during honing, the cylinder block is clamped together by means of screwed-on glasses so that it is deformed as in the case of the assembled cylinder head. This is the only way to achieve perfect tightness with the least amount of friction.

The 34 millimeter small bearings (Honda CBR 1000 RR 36.5 mm) of the only 103 millimeter long steel connecting rods with their cracked connecting rod feet also guarantee less friction. Following the example of the Japanese engines, the crankshaft of the S 1000 RR is also well above the oil sump of the wet sump lubrication, which reduces the splash losses of the crank drive to a minimum.

The Bavarians used two simple tricks to ensure that there is enough sprint force on country roads despite the highest peak performance. On the one hand, manifolds number one and four, as well as two and three, are separated or coupled depending on the speed via flaps in the interference tube. The background: At medium speeds, the oscillating gas column is lengthened by keeping the individual bends closed. At high engine speeds and a correspondingly high gas throughput, the flap opens access to the manifold of the cylinder, which operates at a 360 degree offset from the crankshaft. The resulting reduction in exhaust back pressure increases performance and reduces fuel consumption.

Trick number two: thanks to the maneuverability, BMW can afford that S 1000 RR To translate very briefly, with the result that the actually available tractive power on the rear wheel is on the level of the more torque-intensive Japanese. But that doesn’t change the fact that the BMW engine doesn’t give the driver a really thrilling experience in the literal sense of the word.

Videos of the running engine

On the cut open engine you can see the valve actuation outside the cylinder by the rocker arm.

And here the valve movement within the cylinder.

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