ROAD-BASED SUPERBIKES have dominated the Isle of Man TT for the past 30 years, repeatedly smashing the outright lap record.
In June 1992, Carl Fogarty established a new TT record at 198.925 km/h astride a Yamaha 0W01. Since then, the record has been broken a dozen times by ever-improving machinery, with Honda’s RC45 and Fireblade, Suzuki’s GSX-R1000, Yamaha’s YZF-R1, and BMW’s S 1000 RR all taking turns to be the fastest machine around the 60.75-km Mountain course.
The TT record now stands at a dizzying 217.983 km/h, set by Peter Hickman and his S 1000 RR during the 2018 Senior race. This year, Hickman returns with BMW’s latest M 1000 RR, equipped with MotoGP-inspired winglets, so will aero downforce help or hinder the 35-year-old Briton in his effort to go even faster?
THE MOTORCYCLES
The TT’s greatest game-changer motorcycles of the past 30 years are Yamaha’s YZF-R1 and BMW’s S 1000 RR.
The R1 came out in 1998. At the 1999 and 2000 TTs the bike won both Senior TTs, both Superstock races, and one Superbike TT, beaten only by Honda’s VTR1000 in the 2000 Superbike race.
‘The R1 was the first road bike that really handled at
