Despite dominating the UK’s National Super stock series in 2023 and claiming a prestigious win in the Superbike race at the Isle of Man TT races last June, racing success on the world stage has been conspicuously absent for Honda's Fireblade in recent years – especially in the all important Superbike World Championship. But rather than close the lid on production of its inline four-cylinder 1000cc superbike, as Suzuki and Yama ha (Europe) have done, Honda continues to push back against the Ducati V4 Paniga let hat has so dominated on the world stage with a heavily revised and race-focused CBR1000RR-R SP.
Redraw naero bodywork aside, it ’s easy to assume the 2024 model is a fairly routine update but Honda has given its performance flagship a serious injection of cutting-edge electronic technology. This includes separate twin-motor ‘split’ throttles and a raft of developments, such as lighter engine internals, a revised frame and swingarm, and is squarely on improving racetrack performance, a new riding position, a stronger midrange and revised gearing should be welcomed by road riders as well.
We headed to one of the fastest and most challenging tracks in Europe, Portimão in Portugal, to put the new and highly advanced Blade through its paces.
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HRC engineers could undoubtedly have created an even more powerful beast than the outgoing 2023 Fireblade but opted instead to focus on producing a package that drives harder out of corners. It does this with more
