The inner fork legs are coated with Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) to reduce stiction and will be more resistant to road debris during normal riding.

The big test was braking for the first-gear turn eight. Turn seven is a long, fast right-hander that has the bike entering the straight at the top end of second or around mid range in third, depending how brave you are feeling. Shutting down at the top end of fourth, it was time to lose more than 100mph (160kph) quick. The back wheel would go a little light and the bike would weave slightly left to right, but I felt no need to add any more pre-load.

Coming out of turn eight, I used second gear to avoid wheel spin. Here, getting on the throttle hard, the bike got a little unsettled crossing onto the Nascar banking. It also gave some headshake making the shift from second to third and again going into fourth at maximum rpms; a steering damper might be a good investment if you are going to be doing a lot of track days.

Out back, the rear shock gave me no problems, doing everything it was supposed to with no squat under hard acceleration. As with the forks, we were running close to showroom settings. In addition to the usual adjustments, the rear ride height is adjustable by removal and addition of shims. It also has a top out spring, as does the front fork, and is attached to the swingarm by a lightweight aluminium linkage.

The swing arm itself is heavily braced and extra long as is the norm these days. Built to be highly rigid, it looks more than capable of dealing with the extra power these bikes are going to be making in race trim.

As the end of the first day drew to a close, I sat out my last session. Not back to full fitness yet; I was feeing good to have gotten through the day without incident. The bike was remarkably well behaved for such a fire-breathing monster and, with a restrained throttle hand, surprisingly easy to ride. A word of warning to the unwary: This bike is not going to tolerate fools easily, so please make sure your riding abilities are really what you think they are.

Chatting a couple of days later with ex-AMA Superbike Champion Jamie James about the bike, he let out a long, low whistle when I gave him the stats. Just think; when he was battling the world’s top riders in the early nineties, full-blown factory Superbikes weren’t making numbers anywhere close to this baby. All you have to do is head down to you local dealer, plop down the money and have a machine Jamie could only dream about ten years ago. “How can it get any better.”?