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Don't Race a Tuned C63 AMG if Your Yamaha R1 Is Still Limited to 300 KM/H

Today’s lesson is that racing a tuned C63 AMG while riding a motorcycle which is still “factory locked” is one of those things with a rather small chance of success. That is, if you’re looking forward to some shoulder-to-shoulder fun and not providing one more piece of evidence supporting the “one doesn’t simply race a superbike” saying.
Yamha R1 racing on the highway 1 photo
Photo: Facebook capture
Now, after tens of thousands of showdowns on almost every stretch of highway around the world, rumors have it that one must drive a car which produces north of 900 hp in order to smoke a liter-class bike, give or take. Problem is that many riders are playing this game with their bikes in stock trim, and this doesn’t exactly work to their benefit.

The 299 km/h gentlemen’s agreement in the bike world

You’ve most likely seen this on so many occasions: the bikes’ ignition cutting out at 299 km/h (just under 186 mph) and preventing the riders from showing who’s the boss, even though there is still plenty of grunt left in their engines.

This limitation is often referred to as a gentlemen’s agreement in the bike industry. For a reason which eludes us, we fail to understand in which way is 299 km/h less dangerous than 340 km/h in real world conditions. The limitation seems only an arbitrary limit imposed just because, with no reasonable motivation to back it, and we’re totally ok with riders “unlocking” their machines.

This is obviously a C63 that's had some serious work performed on it. The AMG shouldn't be able to outrun the bike in the first place, let alone hit 300 km/h (186 mph)

Is it an R6 or an R1?

Now, there is a dispute of whether this bike is an R6 or an R1, most likely generated by the fact that the dash boards of the two bikes looked the same in certain model years. However, the official top speed of the R6 is around 260 km/h (161 mph), and even if the bike was modified, there is no point in modding it with a cut-off at 299 km/h, is it?

Plus we searched for pictures of the R6 dash which looks similar to this bike’s instrument cluster, as most of them had a red R6 emblem in the left half of the rev gauge, whereas the R1 don’t seem to have the counterpart. So this is why we’d rather go for the YZF-R1 version instead of the R6, but anyone with deeper knowledge in this could correct us with evidence.

Anyway, a point was made: when racing top-drawer sport cars, the simple fact that you’re behind the bars of a stock-trim superbike may not be enough. So if beating these drivers at the speed game is your ultimate goal, you’d better forget about the gentlemen’s agreement and unlock your bike. Your street cred may depend on this…

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