The Rompongz

The latest images show former WSB rider Akira Yanagawa (best remembered for wrestling outdated ZX-7Rs around to reasonable success in the 1990’s) lapping the Japanese circuit on a development race bike, gathering more data.

A new beam frame (wrapping around the engine, rather than routing over the cylinder head as on the current machine, an underbraced swingarm and different engine casings are visible. The current bike has a short swingarm and long frame – the new bike will be the opposite to solve the traction issues plaguing race teams across the globe.

Sophisticated traction control will be standard, and a state-of-the-art dashboard will have road and race modes – race mode will hide all non essential information, like speed and the odometer, in favour of making the lap timer, rev-counter and traction control information more prominent.