Some people will say that a 200bhp motorbike is ludicrously excessive. And they?d be right. That amount of power, on two wheels and roughly 200kg is indeed, nothing short of bonkers. And whilst the majority of the time, 200bhp is more than enough for any occasion, I have, in the past, found myself desperate for some more. This is when 200bhp isn’t enough.

Because it doesn?t matter how shockingly fast a motorbike is, given enough miles in the saddle, you will get used to it. I can remember the first time I ever rode a superbike; it was a 2004 YZF-R1. I was 16 at the time, and probably weighed about 9 stone. The thing had about 175bhp, but it genuinely frightened me.

I remember thinking at the time that it must be impossible to ride anything more powerful than that, with any degree of commitment, whatsoever. But ten years later, I was racing a ZX-10R week in, week out, and with more commitment than I ever thought possible. In all fairness, that old ZX-10R wasn?t quite 200bhp (it was about 190bhp), but it was certainly faster than the R1 I?d made my ?big bike? debut on.
Whilst I didn?t have 200bhp to play with in 2016, I would have bloody killed for it. Most of the people I was racing with, in the British Superstock Championship, did have (at least) 200bhp, so I had to give it everything on the old ?Ten, just to score a point or two. And if you had given me 200bhp, I would of said it still isn?t enough.

And I know that because the first time I raced ...