RideFast Aug2020

Bimota BB3
Arguably one of the stranger
episodes to unfold in recent years
was the brief return to WorldSBK
by – once again – Bimota.
A company which, like a lot of
the Italian motorcycle firms,
had been sent down the path
of destruction only to reemerge
with new investors and
promises of a return to the glory
days, Bimota’s latest owners
wanted to use WorldSBK to
publicise that everything was
just fine with the marque.
Except everything wasn’t ‘just
fine’ and it’s hard to believe
exactly how WorldSBK played
along for such a lengthy period
of time. In short, Bimota planned
to enter a pair of BMW-powered
BB3s in WorldSBK’s new (and
shortlived) EVO class for 2014,
but in order to do so it would
need to meet the homologation
demand of 1000 roadgoing
models.
As a company with traditionally
low production capabilities this
didn’t seem at all possible from
the outset but WorldSBK bended
the rules to allow the team to
compete in the meantime without
being allowed to register points.
As it happens, the bikes –
campaigned by Ayrton Badovini
and Christian Iddon and prepared
by former Suzuki WorldSBK
champions Alstare – were
competitive and picked several
de facto EVO class wins and even
a few overall top ten finishes
between them.
However, not
only were
Bimota nowhere near that 1000
bike total, they weren’t even
close to the much-reduced 125
bike quota WorldSBK had later
proposed. In fact, only 30 Bimota
BB3s rolled off the production
line.
The team was thrown out of
WorldSBK by the mid-summer
break.
Unfortunately it was a fleeting
high for all with Bimota
struggling for finance before
the lifeline of a proposed
sponsorship deal with Levis fell
through (via an unscrupulous
businessman who quickly
stopped answering his calls) and
the team folded having started
just ten races.
and test some of its more
unusual features, such as the
under-seat radiators.
As it happens, the bike – in the
hands of experienced Australian
Peter Goddard – was modestly
competitive, it’s 2001 midseason
arrival yielding a handful
of points that could have been
greater had the series not
enjoyed such huge grid numbers
at that time.
A fuller season followed in 2002
– despite missing some of the
opening rounds – and Goddard
became a fairly regular pointsscorer
with the bike proving
more reliable on track that it
arguably was off it.
However, despite that solid
platform, Benelli didn’t invest in
the WorldSBK project any further
even if the Tornado stayed on
sale until 2010.
Bimota SB8R
While the Yamaha-powered
Bimota YB4 was one of the
founding ‘fathers’ of the inaugural
WorldSBK Championship in 1988,
it’s easy to forget that the Italian
marque not only returned to the
series in 2000 but even went on
to win again.
Using the Suzuki-engined SB8R,
Bimota rocked up to the start of
the season with minimal testing
but did have the wildest of
wildcards in its armoury through
rider Anthony Gobert. The
Australian’s off-track exploits
may go on to overshadow what
he could achieve on-track, but
there was no denying his fierce
talent when the stars all aligned.
And that’s exactly what
happened during round two at
Phillip Island when he swept
to an astonishing win on home
turf in treacherous conditions.