SuperBike Magazine June 2020

42 TT WINNING BIKE
“In 2016 Smith’s got 21st and 24th in BSB,
then we came the next year and they got
fourth, with plenty of podiums in BSB and
at the TT,” says Hicky. “It’s cost them a lot
more money to do it, but look at the results.
They’re both enjoying it again.
“I had a few demands when I first went
to Smith’s. They were on K-Tech suspension,
but I don’t particularly like K-Tech, so I said
I’m not riding the bike unless it’s got Öhlins
in it, and Alan said, all right, I’ll buy Öhlins.
Straightaway that cost him a hundred grand
for forks and shocks.”
Smith’s next investment for Hickman was
six superbike-spec S1000RR engines, at
£24,000 each.
Last year Hickman raced the all-new,
third-generation S1000RR for the first time,
which he used to win the Superbike TT, at
an all-time record speed of 132.6mph, and
the Superstock TT.
“The new bike is a big step forward and
is much better overall,” he adds. “It’s very
different to the previous model, it’s not
really similar in any way. Some of the reactions
it has are similar to the old bike, but
in general it’s totally different. It’s better
everywhere because it actually goes around
corners and it’s got heaps of feel.”
Amazingly, Hickman runs almost identical
chassis set-ups for short circuits and
for the roads.
“Suspension set-up is very similar – we
just run a softer link at the TT,” says Jones.
“When we took our BSB bike to the Island
last year we hardly changed anything, even
ride-height. We used to run a higher rideheight
at the TT, but not anymore. Obviously
it’s a good thing if the bike stays the same
when we go to the TT, because then Peter
knows how it’s going to react.
“The only thing we do is fit a stainless-steel
sump guard to protect the engine
when the suspension bottoms out at Barregarrow.
Also, we do brace our chassis for
BSB, but we don’t for the roads. To be fair
we don’t know how much the bracing helps
in BSB – sometimes Peter can’t tell, but the
lap time is quicker
“The thing is with Peter that we never
really know if we’ve done a good job or a
bad job because he just rides it regardless!
If there’s an issue he rides around it, which
can be a good thing but can be a bad thing.
“As daft as it sounds, the biggest difference
for the TT from a preparation point of
view is that we use a lot more lockwire and
a bit more thread-lock.”
The third-generation S1000RR (after
the 2009 original and second iteration of
2015) does has its weak points. The superbike-spec
race engine has significantly less
Hickman 2020; S 1000RR
TT superbike 2019 engine
top end than the previous race engine: 220
horsepower at the rear wheel, against 234
from the old superbike spec.
“In standard spec the new engine is an
absolute weapon,” says Hickman. “But BMW
are struggling with superbike spec. At the
moment we don’t have anywhere near the
power we had out of the old one, which at the
TT and North West isn’t good because of the
big, long straights.”
Top-speed figures from the 2019 TT on
Sulby straight tell the same story: Hicky
reached 194mph aboard his superstock
2019 Superbike TT
Winner
S1000RR, just 2moph slower than the superbike.
BMW sell three different specs of race
engines from their Munich race shop: Type 1
is blueprinted for superstock racing, Type 2 is
for world endurance, with a kit gearbox, and
Type 3 is for superbike, with a kit gearbox.
Hickman and Jones learned plenty from
their first TT with the latest superbike-spec
S1000RR. Their biggest lesson came during
the week-ending Senior TT, which Hicky
led by 20 seconds, until the engine started
chucking water out.