Haslam my new BMW called me a 'TW*T'

New BMW WSB signing Leon Haslam was shocked by the message his bike displayed during the first day of testing onboard his new BMW S1000RR. Talking to MCN at Magny Cours, Haslam said:

“On my first lap of the day all the lights on the dash were flashing and the message on the dash was TWAT 2LOW. I was laughing as I thought the bike was having a go at me because I wasn’t going fast enough! but when I came in I found out that it’s the message to say the water temperature is too low.”

The 27 year old Brit rode in the wet this morning and was able to up his pace significantly by the end of the day as the track started to dry although there were still wet patches around the 2.741 mile circuit.

Over an hour after the final session was finished Haslam was still locked in an intense debrief with his team, BMW engineers and Ohlins technicians. MCN spoke with the 2010 WSB runner up during the lunch break when he gave the first impressions of the bike. He said:

“We’ve gone through the motions playing around with the riding position and the electronics. They’ve had the same two guys on the bike for the last two years so it’s good for me and them that I’ve come in with some fresh ideas. I spoke to Troy after my first exit and he was interested to hear what I had to say.

Team-mate Troy Corser spent his laps onboard the heavily revised 2011 S1000RR. The new bike features a new tank, sub frame, seat unit but the most obvious difference is the short stubby exhaust which now exits at the bottom of the bike.

Speaking to MCN at the end of the day Corser said: “There were still damp patches in places you didn’t want them so we weren’t really able to push. The bike does feel different, but it’s not doing anything strange. It makes a different noise especially on the over-run and I can feel the weight distribution is a bit different.”