HUNTING PRE
BIKE FEATURE
Words: Lee Allen
Photographs: Suzuki GB - Paul Currie - Lee Allen - Showcase Bikes Special thanks to James Sharpe and Tim Davies
It’s 1999 and Honda’s Super Blackbird holds the title of the World’s fastest production bike with a top speed of 178.5 mph - topping the Kawasaki ZZR1100’s 175 mph two years previously. Along comes the Suzuki Hayabusa and flies past at 194 mph. What makes this even more legendary, is the fact “Hayabusa” is Japanese for peregrine falcon, a bird that often serves as a metaphor for speed due to its vertical hunting dive with a speed of up to 202 mph, the fastest of any bird. Not only that, but they also prey on blackbirds! Suzuki created a legend that still stands today and is still spoken about regularly with stories of highly illegal speeds. This legend has now been updated this year with a third generation.
F
irstly, it is blatantly obvious the only reason DAF Driver has released me from my cage is due to my obsessive lunacy with two-wheels (thanks to my parents!) and the fact everyone else is plain scared with just the thought of sittng on this legal missile. Let alone hitting that start button and firing up all 190bhp! Even with roughly 40 years on two wheels and the last 30 of those riding on the road mixed with some off-road enduro racing, I was still apprehensive about what I was getting myself into. Back in 1999 I had a brief go on a mate’s brand new Hayabusa. It scared me – and I was running a ‘98 Blade that was by no means a slouch! Those extra ccs mean a lot and it just felt it had endless grunt
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DAF DRIVER AUTUMN 2021
and would just keep going and going. The third generation has received a huge list of updates and if the part has not been updated - it’s new. Ten days A picturesque train ride (would have preferred steam or diesel) from Stafford to Milton Keynes, followed by a dizzy taxi journey round one too many of MK’s roundabouts and I was stood in Suzuki GB headquarters, workshop, signing a disclaimer that I would be responsible for anything resulting in action from the boys in blue. Great. Now the nerves are bubbling! Aftersales Marketing Coordinator, Aftersales Operations Tim Davies eased my nerves by taking me on a tour of the workshop and warehouse,
where I got to see some of the Team Classic Suzuki collection, including a Kenny Roberts Jr GP bike, along with one of Barry Sheene’s race bikes kindly on loan from the Sheene family. The HQ is also the hub for the car and marine operations, which was really interesting to see - especially the £28k outboard motors! The parts department was also an eye opener and just as impressive. All this rapidly became a distant memory, once I sat on the bike and put the key in the ignition. The ‘dash’ quickly comes to life and the fuel pump starts whining, before I hit the starter button and the beast erupts into a roar of inline four music. Every part of your body can sense you’re sat on something insanely powerful, yet upon releasing
