We make no secret of our motorcycle passion here at european car Magazine, despite our focus on four wheels. We’ll always grab any opportunity to throw a leg over two-wheeled transportation whenever the necessity arises.
And also the need arose at the recent Pebble Beach Concours week, where the prospect ofavailable to us, allowing us to skip to the traffic and obtain more time with the events. Although we also decided to skip some events and spend more time about the bike, as it turned out…
The BMW HP4 is a exclusive edition based on the S1000RR superbike. Only 175 are in the country and that we had the opportunity wreck 2 of them each time a deer decided to make an unexpected appearance!
2013 BMW HP4 side view 07
2013 BMW HP4 side view 08
2013 BMW HP4 rear view 09
Why do they jump looking at noisy vehicles instead of running from them? Quite how it escaped up a 30ft vertical cliff face, we’ll never know but it really got our attention, for certain.
Priced from $20525, the HP4 gets the same 193hp engine as the bike it’s based upon, but an Akrapovic exhaust ensures it’s delivered with increased mid-range as well as an ungodly sound. We also found the power delivery velvet-smooth, without having hesitation, even at low RPM. I could be wrong but it seemed smoother than the stock S1000RR, allowing you to hold onto higher gears in tight turns onblue and white paint scheme, the HP4 can also be identified by lashings of carbon fiber goodness plus a build quality that marks out BMW in the other liter bike manufacturers.
The suspension was pretty stiff for your very poorly paved roads we threw the bikes down. I’ll admit we left it in Sport for most of the ride because of the speed we were doing, although even the Dynamic Damping Control was not able to compensate for the harsh bumps. The reward was one of the sharpest turning bikes we’ve experienced if you could endure the big bumps. The truth is, it was surprisingly user-friendly for such an uncompromising sports machine. Our bikes were fitted with BMW’s ABS and adjustable traction control, which gave you peace of mind while riding, but only our deer scare called any of them into action. Or I simply didn’t sense the traction control working while powering out of turns. Certainly the anti-wheelie electronics were doing their job pretty well, keeping a hectic front end mostly on the ground.
Having ridden the normal S1000RR many times, I’d arrived at the conclusion it was rather edgy, a little bit nervous for my needs – more extreme than my 2008 Yamaha R1 even. But the HP4 proved a much more usable machine that was a pleasure to ride, and helps to justify its high price tagwe had been attending the swanky Pebble Beach week and riding such an extraordinary machine, we decided to splash out on new riding gear – we didn’t wish to rock approximately an event where entry might cost more than my first car in scruffy old gear.
Preferring Alpinestars clothing to almost anything else, we visited a number of local stores and made our selection, with our priorities being protection, style and luxury. Stop being compromised if one of them knocked us from the bike, although we wished to mingle together with the wealthy!
2013 BMW HP4 alpinestars summer clothing review 19
2013 BMW HP4 alpinestars summer clothing review 20
2013 BMW HP4 alpinestars summer clothing review 21
So we started together with the Jaws leather jacket having an optional hard shell back protector replacing the foam that comes with it. This augmented the shoulder and elbow protectors already fitted. The leather itself is 1.3mm thick, allowing for good abrasion resistance.
It’s available in white and black but we opted for solid black using the white A/Stars logos. To help keep you cool, the leather panels around the front and back are perforated. There are also fabric panels on the front and sleeve section plus zipped openings allowing more airflow. With the quilted liner removed, the Jaws jacket has good air movement, keeping you comfortable in hot weather.
For practicality, it has two zipped outer pockets and three velcroed inner ones. It will also zip into Alpinestar pants and possesses neoprene collar and cuffsa pricey leather jacket should help you get past most bouncers about the door, deciding on a pants is much more crucial. We had been torn between a good overpant that we could wear over smart pants, or a set of Alpinestars denim jeans. After several days of indecision we opted for the Axiom denim pants with knee and hip protection.
The darker denim looked more classic and the cut didn’t suggest you’d ridden on the venue. In fact, they worked very well. The only real snag we encountered was the comical leg length, requiring about 3 to be cut off the bottom, causing difficulties withthis business, we strapped motocross-style knee protectors underneath, in place of the Axiom’s foam pads. They were both more better and resilient placed than the foam, ensuring better protection.
Hot feet could cause your body temperature to rise rapidly, so we tried several different riding boots, eschewing our usual GP-style calf-length boots for Alpinestars low-cut S-MX1 boots. These still cover the ankles, which can be vital protection for riding but were more comfortable when walking the show grounds. They offer hard shells for your toes and heels as well as fabric sections across the front from the foot. These provide amazing airflow that keep your feet wonderfully cool while in motion – uncertainThe last piece of protection was the Alpinestars SP8 leather gloves. These replaced the GP Tech gloves I usually wear but are challenging to get off very quickly. However, the slightly shorter SP8 still offered good wrist protection, third to fourth finger bridge, foam padding, polymer knuckle suede and protection palms for better grip.With all of this gear, heat remains a factor, particularly if stationary, so Alpinestars underwear has been a revelation. The Summer Tech T-shirt wicks away all of your sweat, keeping outer layers dry. In addition, i use the padded shorts, both for another layer of protection as well as moisture control. Finally, A/Stars’ selection of summer socks is a godsend. They wick away moisture and help prevent heat accumulation. But Alpinestars changed that, before I found these things I was very uncomfortable riding in the California summer.
Offering good protection for high-speed riding, the new gear was well ventilated for summer temps and looked smart both off and on the bike. So, we was able to pull off the impossible dream about avoiding the traffic around the events and mingling with all the other visitors without looking like scary bikers. Mission accomplished.
For more information visit:
www.bmwmotorcycles.com
www.alpinestars.com
@@@@@ Continue. Admit it. You’re surprised to see a Porsche 911 here, aren’t you? Hopefully so, because we want to surprise you from time to time, and hopefully in a positive way. That doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate a fine bit of German engineering, and we suspect you feel much the same way, even though we are, of course, diehard Japanese car lovers and constantly will be. True car enthusiasts tend to appreciate a wide range of machinery, regardless of geographic or brand allegiances, so expect to see more domestic and European brands sprouting up in this once JDM-everything magazine.
Aaron Ochoco, owner on this beautifully massaged ’05 911 Carrera, got his start like lots of us, tinkering with Hot Wheels and R/C cars and also making a yearly trip to the L.A. Auto Show with his car-crazed father. Everything I played with had to be modified. I remember coloring the windows on my Hot Wheels with a Sharpie to tint them. Even my R/C car was completely hooked up with upgraded carbon and motors fiber, so modifying real cars was actually a natural progression. I got to the car scene during high school graduation when The Fast and the Furious first became availableended up being to keep things restrained and clean, deciding on quality parts from Japanese tuning superstars including Volk, Tein, and GReddy. Just before you assume he’s yet another bandwagon jumper who has graduated to Porsches now that he’s in a position to roll a little deeper, you need to consider that Aaron’s first project was really an ’85 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC, which he modified in more of any classic hot rod style.
F&F wasn’t Aaron’s only movie influence, either. He actually credits his interest in Porsche 911s to the opening scene of the modern remake of Gone in one minute, where a 996 Carrera races a Civic on the street. Following that, I always wanted a 911, and a few years later, the 997 became available and I enjoyed a great ability to sell my tuned G35 for near to what I paid for this Porsche, according to Aaron. I went for it and do not looked back.
Given his early project cars and cinematic influences, you have to admit that Aaron’s 911 build actually makes perfect sense, allowing him to fuse his passions for Japanese-style tuning and modified German machinery in one of the world’s most legendary sports cars. And as you’d expect, Aaron’s stayed with his clean and subtle approach to modifications, drawing inspiration from Germany’s top performance divisions and also from Internet blogs and forums like Speedhunters and S2ki.com user Diez along with histo create the car with an ‘OEM Plus’ state of mind. I really like and respect what the ‘M’,’S’, and ‘AMG’ departments do forAudi and BMW, and Mercedes, and so that’s the theme I’ve gone with the recent years. I don’t like cars that are modded to the point that it’s very obvious that they’ve been modified. I love subtle mods that flow with the original design language from the factory and that accent the vehicle rather than completely changing it.
To begin with, Aaron used a healthy quantity of Alcantara around the interior surfaces, and he accented that with carbon fiber, like the DCT Motorsport Alcantara/carbon-fiber controls and Rottec CGT carbon-fiber seats. The steering wheel was custom built to appear similar to a Lamborghini Superleggera’s, and the piano-black console had been a design cue taken from the Aston Martin DBS. Aaron also equipped his 997 with a Porsche factory rollbar finished beautifully in stainless-steel, which should tip you off that he enjoys this car on the canyon roads near Los Angeles and takes it to the occasional track day,too.
The exterior of Aaron’s 997 has seen some high-quality ‘OEM Plus’ treatment, too, in the form of a Porsche GT3 front bumper, GT3 Cup front lip, and Porsche Motorsports carbon-fiber dive planes, along with a Precision Porsche GT3 Euro rear bumper, a ’10 GT3 rear wing, and dry carbon rear ducts. Aaron hasn’t ignored his JDM roots here, opting for an RWB-inspired list of Work Meister S1 three-piece wheels covered with Falken FK453 rubber along with JIC/Cross coilovers to set the ride height and improve road holding.
2005 porsche 911 carrera custom work meister wheel
2005 porsche 911 carrera m96 boxer straight 6 engine
2005 porsche 911 carrera carbon fiber cover
Aaron’s 997 isn’t practically aesthetics and stance, though. He’s done just bout everything easy to his Carrera’s 3.6L M96 Boxer engine to squeeze some additional naturally aspirated jam from it, including Borla headers, IPD’s competition plenum, and a Porsche GT3 82mm throttle-body. Since he tells us, I really loved the purity in the NA engine but wanted to make it sound better and work more efficiently. The exhaust has been completely swapped out, along with the current setup is the fourth iteration and my favorite-sounding version, plus it’s been modified to exit out the core of the GT3 rear bumper. EVOMSit then tuned the ECU to tie in all the mods I made to the engine.
Sure, maybe Aaron could have obtained a 997 GT3 with the money he’s committed to his Carrera, but as he says, Building a completely custom, bespoke vehicle that reflects my personality was worth every penny and hour wrenching on it. My crew, The Encore Collective, has been a big part in pushing the other person to build our cars to the next level, and my best friend, Aaron-Ross, and my brother Ace always produce input over a mod before it goes about the car. I believe now that it’s at the height of its build, it’s time and energy to just take advantage of the car as it is. Is it faster than a GT-R or cooler looking than the usual Rocket Bunny S13? Who cares? This can be Aaron’s 997, and we think his superclean fusion of Japanese and Euro influences makes it one of the mostconsole, dash and headliner shift knob/shift boot and e-brake handle; piano-black center console; carbon-fiber armrest and ignition ring; DCT Motorsport Alcantara/carbon-fiber controls; Porsche Motorsports rollbar; Rottec CGT carbon-fiber seats w/Alcantara center cushions; billet aluminum pedals; rear seat delete; Pioneer avic z110bt nav head unit and 4-channel amp; Apple 160gb iPod; Bose component speakers and subwoofer
Numbers 368 305 and bhp lb-ft at the flywheel
Special Thanks The Encore Collective; Robert at Falken Tire; Mike and Brian at RSS; Matt and Ian at EVOMSit; Jay at Speed Alliance; BMC Filters; AASCO Motorsports; Meguiar’s; my closest friend, Aaron-Ross; my loved ones, girlfriend and friends for their continued support