NEW SUZUKI GSX-R1000R 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION | CHRIS' LAUNCH RACE!

The GSX-R is back. It's better than ever in a very subtle way. Now, if you're looking for the ultimate in litre bike performance, go elsewhere. This isn't the bike for you. If you're looking for a damn good track experience on a 1,000cc bike, this thing is worth your attention. Here's why. The GSX-R is back, and it was an absolute joy to hear that it was happening. 40 years of the GSX-R, and this update was primarily to get it through the Euro 5, 6, Euro 1 million emissions regs, whatever they are now. That was the point. That was the whole project. In the process, Suzuki took the opportunity to enhance what's there from a track point of view, from the race team's point of view, and make an already really strong endurance racing bike a little bit better. It's got updates to the camshaft and the finger follows on the cam, updates to the exhaust ports. It's got a different crank with a stiffer crank and bigger journals. It's got different pistons. It's got loads and loads of really subtle internal changes that don't make a huge amount of difference to you and me when we buy one, but to the cert endurance racing team, it gives them that little bit more ability to push the power higher without losing reliability. That's what a lot of the changes have been about. Now, one of the big changes from our side of it is the ABS system has been updated as well as the traction control system and all the various supporting rider aids. They're still not the very latest absolute cutting edge stuff, but that for me is what makes the GSX-R special because in a world of ever more digital sports bikes, bikes that cosset you, bikes that ride around the track, help you get into corners, help you come out of corners from a first gear hairpin on full throttle, bikes do so much for us now. That's fantastic for doing quick lap times, but it's taken something away from us, away from our hands. It's one of the reasons I've always liked riding Yamaha's R1 because it feels direct. It feels like it's in the palm of your hand and the seat of your pants and your foot pegs. That's what this bike does really, really well. I spoke to some of the engineers earlier today and they were saying that in the lowest traction control settings, it gives you 80% of the torque. In fact, some places more. There's only 20% that it's controlling. 80% of it is on you. It feels like that when you're on track. You feel like you're in charge. You can crash. We had a broken Japanese-English conversation with one of the Japanese engineers about, is it possible to crash it? He said, once you start it sliding in those low traction control modes, like one, it's on you. It's down to you to hold the slide, control it, and not crash. That, I think, is quite unique and quite a relief, I think, is the best way of putting it. The GSX-R is not the most powerful litre sports bike, but it is so usable and such a friendly bike to push hard. Now, to launch it, Suzuki went a little bit nuts. They brought us to Monte Blanco Circuit in Spain and they've put on an endurance experience because Suzuki are hugely successful in that world. Suzuki's won more endurance world championships than any other manufacturer. The GSX-R 1000 has won 15 world titles. It's an incredibly successful endurance racing bike. It's happening. Are we going to go endurance racing? Ah, not racing. Don't forget, it's not racing. We are all kind of lined up on the grid, ready to go. Our bike seems to be down the front somewhere, which is suspicious. I think it's because we are team number one. I don't think there's any other reason. But yeah, ready for a six-hour endurance race. This is the freshest and unswettiest I'm going to look for the rest of the day. It's going to be awesome. The nerves are building now. Everybody's clearing the grid. It's not a race. There just happens to be a Le Mans start and a flag, and a chequered flag at the end. But it's definitely not a race. So we've got cold tyres, so going to be careful on this first lap. Get the tyres some temperature in them. Nothing sexier than a motorbike covered in bits of rubber, brake dust. Okay, I had a good chat with Dan then for between sessions on those few laps together. And his advice was to stop rushing into the corners, which is always a bugbear of mine, and let the exits come to me. So they brought us to this track and they put on a six-hour endurance, not a race, definitely not a race. It fully turned into a race. We had three rider teams, we had a Le Mans start, and we had a full experience of what it's like to go endurance racing. I have absolutely loved it. And it's really showed the bike in a different light to your normal track day spec, five sessions of 20 minutes, because I've been riding it exhausted. After my third session, I was a broken human being. And then you get back out on the bike and you find something, you dig deeper, you push harder, and the bike kind of works with you. I've ridden other 1,000cc bikes, some of the really top-end stuff. They sort of frown at you a bit. They sort of make you feel like you're not worthy. And you get a bit tired, and they sort of look at you like, come on, man. What are you messing around? Whereas this, even when I was knackered, it worked with me. It let me make mistakes. It let me slide. It was forgiving. And still, OK, maybe not the fastest, but ballistically quick. Look at the state of this. I've just finished my last stint. Well, I haven't. I've got changed because I was boiling. It's a difficult thing to describe. Endurance racing doesn't have the popularity that MotoGP and Superbikes does. From a spectator point of view, you've got to be quite dedicated to watch an entire race. But there's something magical about it. There's something about bikes going for that long. The bike's coming in covered in bits of rubber, and looking really hardly used, and battered, and crashing, getting back in the race. The fact that it's a whole team working together, a whole team of riders all helping each other out, instead of all the riders fighting, trying to be better, you've got a team of riders all trying to work out how to get quicker, and how to be consistent, and how to set the bike up to suit all of them. It's a different sport. That little taste that we've had today has been really, really special. After the third stint, I got really, really hot. I had a couple of big moments. Got myself in a fluster, got boiling, came in. Ordinarily, you would just call it a day there. If it was a track day or anything, you would just go, yeah, I'm done. I've had enough for today. Because it's an endurance race, and you don't want to let your teammates down, you're going to dig in. Then I ended up doing my fastest lap of the day in the last stint. I sussed some stuff out with my riding, thanks to Dan Linford, who's been here helping, giving a bit of advice throughout the day. I improved my riding. I did my best lap times when I was completely knackered. My previous best lap time, I could do with low effort, just knock them out almost in a cruisy way. That kind of ability to get into a bit of a flow and enjoy it, that has been so special. I think it does paint a picture of the GSX-R1000 pretty well. Because the GSX-R1000, this update, there's a bunch of changes that have been aimed at making it better for the endurance racing team, and obviously to get it through the latest Euro emissions. The big change from a us consumer's point of view is that the ABS now, when you trigger the ABS, it doesn't feel like the brakes are not working. Even here with this big hard stop into turn one, ABS has been really good, and the lever comes back after that initial trigger. So, where I would have on the old bike been wanting to pull the fuse straight away, it's been really good all day. There's still more you can do with a normal race brake, but it's a really big improvement. The other improvements have just enhanced what the GSX-R does well. It makes you feel confident. It gossips you, not with electronics, not with loads of fancy tech, but just in the feeling of the bike, and the way it steers, and the way it rides, and the way the engine makes its power. There is tech on it, but they've tried to make sure that as much as possible is in the rider's hands. It's not pulling all the control away from you. It's letting you do as much as possible. It's putting a lot in your hands, and I think that makes it nicer to ride, especially when you're on a worn tyre, and you're just trying to put laps in. It feels nice. It feels like it's not fighting you. It's never going to be the fastest bike in a group test of elite sports bikes these days. That's a sad fact, but if you're looking for a bike to give you that thrill of 1,000cc power, but with a really nice riding experience, a riding experience that feels a little bit old school, but gives you that confidence to push hard, the GSX-R is a solid, solid bike for that. I have had an absolute blast today. I think you have to ask yourself, what's more important? The experience, the feel, the ability to try and get the most out of the bike you're on, or the outright speed and lap time? Because if it's the first one, this thing is an absolute peach. I have absolutely loved every minute riding it today, and it doesn't match up to the other top-spec stuff in terms of specification, the horsepower, the weight, all the fancy stuff, but it's kind of got an old-school vibe to it, and in a world full of electronically-assisted things, I love it. The GSX-R 1000 is back, and I'm going to say it's better than ever. What a damn good motorcycle. Bikes are awesome.