HOT on the heels of the news that Team Classic Suzuki had created this stunning GSX-R1000 K1 endurance racer, the riders for round 1 of the European Endurance Cup have been announced.
The event will serve as round one of the series and takes place at the prestigious Paul Ricard circuit, Le Castellet, France. The four-hour endurance event for classic motorcycles will take place between the 5th and 7th of May 2023. Leading the two-rider team will be the experienced hands of Danny Webb, a rider with a long history of riding for Nathan Colombi and the Team Classic Suzuki crew. He’s previously contested the teams XR69 and RG500 at the Classic TT and already has a wealth of experience racing at the top of the motorcycle endurance racing world.
Joining Webb will be motorcycle journalist and 44Teeth co-founder Al Fagan, a man who is no stranger to taking on big-name competition on the international stage. Al will be standing in for FWR’s Bob Collins, who sadly injured his back in a nasty looking high-side crash at Castle Combe a couple of weekends ago.
Speaking about his chances on the frankly stunning GSX-R1000, Webb said, “I’m really looking forward to this weekend. It’s going to be quite an experience riding a GSX-R1000 K1 around the incredible Paul Ricard circuit. The team’s done another awesome job in preparing the bike and it really does look mint as well. We’ve got a good team around us, and the aim is to get a good setting in the bike on Friday ahead of the race. Of course, the goal is to win if we can and I think we’re in with a shout, but this is endurance racing and we all know that anything can happen.”
Al Fagan, who has previously raced BSB and on the Isle of Man TT, said, “I’m obviously gutted for my mate Bob but, at the same time, I’m honoured to have had the call to replace him on the Team Classic Suzuki GSX-R1000. When you get a call for this gig you don’t say no. I’ve never raced at Paul Ricard but I know the team and I know the bike will be more than up for the job, and I’ll be doing everything I can to help the team get a result.”
The team manager and the man behind most of Team Classic Suzuki bikes, Nathan Colombi, said, “I think we’ve got a strong lineup for this weekend’s event. Obviously we know Danny very well, he’s done a lot with us before, his CV speaks for itself, and he’s got a lot of experience. Alastair is joining us a bit last minute, as he’ll be deputising for an injured Bob Collins, but again, we’ve worked together before, he’s a fast, reliable, safe pair of hands with lots of experience on a range of bikes. It’s obviously the first proper outing for the bike so we’ll have a bit of work to get through in practice, but I don’t think we’ll be miles away in terms of setup. There are a lot of good, professional teams in this championship and a lot of fast riders, but hopefully we can have a good race, manage our pit stops well, and come away with a strong result.”
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NATHAN Columbi and his crew at Team Classic Suzuki might just have produced their most drool-worthy bike yet, the stunning Suzuki GSX-R1000 K1 endurance racer.
The new bike will take over competitive duties from the Suzuki Katana that has been so successful at the hands of John Reynolds and Pete Boast, as rule changes in the class have opened the door to the legendary K1.
Beneath the gorgeous designed fairing sits a freshly created and period-correct GSX-R1000 engine, benefiting from Yoshimura cams and full system exhaust. The standard frame of the bike is retained and mated to a factory GSX-R750 endurance racer swingarm, K-Tech rear shock and forks featuring F-Tech internals. The wheels for the beautiful beast are from OZ Racing, while the stoppers on the retro-racer are from breaking experts Brembo.
Speaking about the new machine, Team Classic Suzuki’s Nathan Colombi said:
“We enjoyed racing the Katana at a number of endurance events in Europe, and also at the Classic TT, however, once the rules opened up to allow GSX-Rs in, we had to get involved and build our own. To be honest, it came together quite quickly and we’re still finalising our plans for the season, but it’s great – if a bit terrifying that so much time has passed – that GSX-R1000s can go classic racing now."
“We’ve obviously used a lot of performance parts in the build, but we’ve been able to use Suzuki’s Race Parts Programme when we’ve needed genuine components, which will be of use for anyone else racing a GSX-R in this series, club racing, or at national level.”
Team Classic Suzuki will be confirming its racing activities soon, so if you want to see the new GSX-R1000 K1 racer in action, stay tuned!
