Check out this beauty. It's BMW's first Supersports bike, the S 1000 RR.

Designed to compete in the World Superbike Championship alongside Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda and Ducati, the new bike eschews BMW's traditional parallel twin-engine layout and Duo-Lever front suspension in favour of a more traditional inline four-cylinder and fork format.

However, BMW has promised a 'number of special features, especially on the cylinder head', and a 'special traction control'. Sounds promising.

"The Japanese are some 20 years ahead of us in this class and have lots of experience," said Hendrik von Kuenheim, General Director BMW Motorrad.

"But even so, the spirit of this competition alone encourages us in our efforts. From the start we wish to be on par with our well-established competitors also in the Supersports segment."

On a par? Pah! Few doubt the BMW S 1000 RR will battle with the best when it makes its debut (on road and track) early next year.

Let's face it: what we're looking at here is BMW's first 'M' bike.

Nick Trott