BLOW ME PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON INDUCTION

The supercharged Kawasaki Z H2 is the latest of the company’s forced induction models to come to the market and, while it was only relatively recently that Kawasaki launched their supercharged sportsbike when the H2 was launched in 2015, the supercharger is actually a tuning device that has been around for nearly as long as the concept of motorcycles has existed.

Kawasaki actually demonstrated a supercharged inline four-litre capacity engine at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2013, claiming at that time that it was ‘the first supercharger designed by a motorcycle manufacturer’. Wrongly, because it seems that not only is nothing ever new in the world of motorcycling, but Kawasaki had already used a supercharged four-cylinder powerplant in a jet ski. Besides, not only were there several supercharged scooters built shortly after the start of the 21st century, there are numerus accounts of other manufacturers having built, and raced, supercharged bikes in the past, perhaps most successfully by BMW. In fact, it was thanks to the success of the supercharged BMWs when they were being raced in Grand Prix (with Georg Meier being the first non Brit to win a TT in 1939 on his 500cc supercharged BMW Type 255) that led to the FIM deciding to ban forced induction in all racing classes when racing resumed after the Second World War. That, in itself, was something of a pity, as various other manufacturers had supercharged bikes not only in the planning stakes, but also as race-ready machinery, such as the Gilera Rondine that had already set a 173.68mph land speed record in