Two days of testing the new Kawasaki ZX10 in preparation for the Le-Mans 24hr race is just what I needed to get myself up to pace on a Superbike after riding around on dirt-bikes all winter.

When Kawasaki Europe first called I wondered how the weather would be in Northern France, sure enough when I woke up on the morning of our first days testing the temperature was -1.

In typical French style the circuit opens at 9am but closes 12-2pm for a very long lunch.
We got out on circuit around 11am as the sun was now shining with a beautiful blue sky.
I rode their stock-sport version first which is actually very user friendly and much of an improvement on the old model.

Le-Mans first turn has been changed in order for more run-off at turn one for the Moto-gp guys, I much prefer the new turn and think it’s probably slowed the track by half to one second! It’s the first time this year the circuit has been used so was very dirty over the first kilometre of the track with the white lines being very slippery until the sun dried them out.

I rode the superbike just before lunch and was very pleased with the initial feel of the new model. It has changed in many ways this year with the same wheel but with the headstock 11mm longer and the swing-arm shorter meaning the engine is further back in the chassis making the bike turn much better.

After lunch we got to work finding a good base setting with the chassis and new Bitabu suspension. Never used it before but was very impressed, the team and technicians worked very well together ironing out many small problems in a short time.

Track temperature got up to 25 degrees, can’t believe how warm it felt being a very nice change.

Day-2 was very much the same being cold first thing but warmed up around mid-morning, didn’t quite reach the same temperature as day-1 but certainly wasn’t complaining.

Team Suzuki, World Endurance Champions last season and already completed two thousand kilometres of testing this year were the quickest day-1 but I was only just over a second off them. Not bad as the Kawasaki is brand new but day-2 was a different story.

The track was getting faster and faster and in all honestly I’ve never really gelled with the place. Now I was really starting to enjoy the place though.

All day-2 was looking for a Yamaha France R1 or a Team Suzuki bike to gauge how fast the Kawasaki was against them on the straights. Got tagged on with them both during the afternoon and very happy with the new Kawasaki’s pace, the engine isn’t quite up to full spec just yet but is already marginally quicker than the others at the end of the straight.

By the end of day-2 Suzuki were the fastest with a 1m 40.2, I was happy to clock a 1m 40.4 but felt quicker than them when lapping together.

Certainly very happy with my own performance, the new Kawasaki’s and good to get the miles in before BSB starts!

Next test at Le-Mans is April 4-5th where hopefully we’ll have more improvements making us a very competitive package for the 24hr!