Own a Castrol Honda racebike for £17000

IF you think the chances of getting your arse in the seat of a pukka race bike are about the same as winning the Lottery, think again. This time it really could be you.

At £17,037, the CBR600F Sport Race doesn’t come cheap, but it’s well this side of rollover territory. And when you realise it has been taken by Castrol Honda and given the kind of kit normally seen on a World Supersport 600, it starts to look a bargain.

This is a race bike that virtually any of us could get our hands on following a session of form-filling at the bank. It would make the ultimate track day 600, but most are likely to fall into the hands of national championship race teams.

To create it, Honda takes a standard CBR600F Sport and gives it…

HRC ” Power-up ” kit, which involves Dutch tuner D’Hollander blueprinting the engine and adding high-compression race pistons, a new camshaft, stronger valves and springs and racing spark plugs. HRC ignition, close-ratio gearbox, tachometer and wiring loom. Dynojet Power Commander IIIR. Arrow race exhaust. Ohlins shock and steering damper. Honda Racing Products oil-cooler and rearsets. Pace radiator. Ferodo race brake pads and Goodridge steel hoses. Carbon-fibre race fairing, seat unit, air intake covers and undertray.

For your £17,000, you also get a kit with two wheels and tyres, one front sprocket and six rear sprockets complete with gearbox ratio charts for all British and World Supersport tracks, different-sized fork springs, a decal kit, a full spec sheet and a dyno printout.

Honda launched the bike last week at a wet and windy Croft circuit, in North Yorkshire.

I can’t wait to find out what it’s like, but first I do a few laps on a stock CBR600 with standard road tyres so I can compare it to the race-kitted bike.

There’s nothing wrong with a CBR600 or its tyres when you’re commuting to work or going for a Sunday blast, but the rubber isn’t grippy enough to deal with track abuse in this weather. Things feel plain wrong – as if there’s an extra 100psi in them – and I have an unpleasant time as the bike skitters into corners.

Thankfully, while I’ve been tiptoeing through the puddles on the track, the Castrol Honda mechanics have been changing the wheels on the race-kitted bike for some with full race wets on. OK, the mechanics don’t come with the bike, but you do get spare wheels and, for anyone racing, that’s vital.

It’s hard to tell this is the same bike as the stock CBR. The kitted machine feels a lot lighter even when you’re just wheeling it around. It’s built to the same spec as the bikes Chris Vermeulen raced last year in World Supersport, which means it’s down to the 167kg (367lb) class minimum.

A stock CBR Sport weighs 169kg (372lb).

Get on and you realise straight away it’s a racer. The seat is tall and hard – no hint of padding. The low bars and high rearsets pitch you over the tank in a crouch that makes it tricky to look over your shoulder.

After a bit of shuffling with my arse, elbows and feet, I settle into a position that feels right and get the bike rolling. We didn’t have tyre-warmers on the wets, so it’s a bit of a gamble to go straight out. But I’m impatient to see what the bike is like so I risk it.

My first impression is how quickly it steers. The CBR600 is no slouch in road trim, but with rough race settings it’s a whole lot quicker. The team hasn’t had time to test and set up this particular bike, but with a wealth of settings from last year, they had enough to get it in the ball park.

At the first turn, on cold tyres, splashing through the puddles, I’m not too happy to find myself going a fair bit quicker than I had on the road bike. But there’s no drama – I just feel the wets grip and go with it.

That, of course, is what wet tyres are for – they grip in the wet and getting your knee down on them is a strange experience. But feeling what the tyres are doing is down to the bike. And feel is something this thing gives you in spades.

Before I know it, my allotted six laps are over and the flag is waving to call me in. Never mind, there’s one more bike to ride before I get to repeat the whole process.

And that bike is the one John McGuinness will be running throughout this season on the world stage. The team admits it has had some development and power output is a few bhp higher than for the Race, which makes 124bhp. But they also suggest there isn’t a huge difference. Well, I’m about to find out.

While the factory bike does feel a little stronger – most noticeable by its tendency to try and stand on its back wheel in first gear – the real difference is in the set-up. McGuinness has it just how he likes it. And the result is rather odd. The suspension is softer than the kit bike and it sits a little lower. That makes it more stable down Croft’s bumpy back straight, but you can do the same with your bike.

It’s the bars that throw you – almost over the front. They’re wide, flat and straight out at each side, so it feels as if they’re bent forward. But it makes you take command, and turning is a doddle. Rivals might also struggle to steer around your elbows in a race!

Back to the kit bike, and the mechanics have made some small changes to the suspension. I can feel them, but with the track drying it’s not enough – my speed is up and the acceleration is beginning to get the head shaking over the bumps.

However, the feedback is certainly better. With the track dotted with dry patches and big puddles, the tyres are having to work hard. Getting on the power and hitting water, I can feel the back spinning for a moment, before hooking up again and driving. But the amount of feel makes it fun to play with, rather than a scary lottery of whether you stay upright or not.

So, is the bike worth £17,037? To a serious racer in the Supersport class, you’d have to say yes. It’s also a bike a serious club racing addict should definitely consider. At first your mind recoils at the thought of spending that kind of cash on a 600. After all, you could have a top-spec Ducati for that. But your 998 wouldn’t be ready to go, with all the settings to hand, nor would it be capable of much more than the 170mph Honda reckons this can manage.

One thing is for sure – if you find yourself getting creamed by a race-prepped CBR600 on a track day,

it may not be McGuinness at the bars, but it could be his bike.