2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R race bike unveiled

Kawasaki have given the World superbike paddock a sneak preview of the all new ZX-10R race bike that they will campaign in the series in 2011.

Having been a backmarker in the class in recent years, Kawasaki is confident of success with the new bike which has been developed from the ground up as a race bike.

No technical details of the bike will be released until the official launch at the Cologne show on October 5th at 2pm, but it is clearly a completely new generation ZX-10R with the most notable features including a radical upside down swing arm and top mounted link, near horizontal rear shock and a much more compact and taller engine.

Team owner Paul bird said: “We want to get the brand back to the front of the grid. We’ve got members in the team from six nationalities with engineers and technicians from MotoGP, F1 and WRC and they all eat sleep and breathe motorbike racing.

“It was a massive honour for me when we got the deal to run the factory team and now its time to repay Kawasaki for their faith. We need to work hard and hit the ground running but we’ll be on the rostrum next year guaranteed and we want to win races.”

For the full story and technical insight from project leader Ichiro Yoda see MCN out Wednesday 8th September.