Guintoli tests how fast a Suzuki street bike is on track

Suzuki MotoGP test rider and 2014 World Superbike champion Sylvain Guintoli has answered a familiar question to any track day enthusiast or motorsport fan – just how fast is a street bike on the track?

Having previously revealed the secrets behind the MotoGP leg dangle, the ultra-experienced 37-year-old headed to his local circuit Donington Park – before the coronavirus shutdown – to put the Suzuki GSX-R1000R through its paces to see how quick he could go compared to the dedicated race bikes.

Guintoli sticks to a completely standard Suzuki Superbike, only changing the tyre pressures from the required pressures on the roads, to provide a safe level of grip when flying around the Leicestershire circuit. The Suzuki rider puts in a best lap time of 1m 37.50s despite the chilly and windy conditions.

“My best lap time was a 1m 37s which is a pretty good time around Donington Park with conditions not great as we had about five degrees track temperature and it was quite windy. I reckon on a great day I could have maybe shaved a couple of seconds off.

“How does it compare? Well, we’ve got World Superbike lap times from last year around 1m 27s-1m 28s during the race and the MotoGP lap record is a 1m 27.6s set by Dani Pedrosa back in 2006.

“So we are about 10 seconds off which is not a lot considering we’ve got a road bike on road tyres, it is not a lot at all, we didn’t do any modifications on the bike at all, no setup or suspension changes. I was really surprised to be so close.

“We adjusted the tyre pressures because that makes a huge difference, you have really got to do that when you go to the track as it is very, very different from the road pressures. That is the only thing we did.”

Check out the highly informative video on Guintoli’s YouTube channel as he offers up unique insight into racing from his own experiences – an ideal way to spend time during the ongoing shutdown until racing and normal life can resume.