The Suzuki Hayabusa has received its first major update since 2008. We put it to the test on the track and the street. (Photos by Kevin Wing)

Rewind the clock to 1999. We were approaching the end of the millennium, and it felt like the science-fiction future was just around the corner. The carefree among us were ready to party like Prince, while worrywarts feared a Y2K-induced doomsday for the world?s computers.

That?s the same year that Suzuki introduced a big, bulbous sportbike called the GSX1300R. Appended to its alphanumeric model designation was an unfamiliar name ? Hayabusa ? the Japanese word for the peregrine falcon, a bird renowned for its ability to exceed 200 mph. Was Suzuki?s 173-horsepower bird of prey capable of the same feat"
Not officially.

The Hayabusa has always had swoopy, aerodynamic bodywork. Designers and engineers spent time in a wind tunnel to massage the new model’s shape.

The top-speed wars of the late ?90s, with the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 defeated by the Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird, and the Blackbird defeated by the Hayabusa, caught the attention of European bureaucrats. To avoid regulation or an outright ban on powerful sportbikes, motorcycle manufacturers voluntarily agreed to a top-speed limit of 186 mph (300 kph).

With its slippery bodywork and long wheelbase, the big ?Busa wasn?t designed for roadracing. But that didn?t stop us ? back in the day I was part of a team that raced two Hayabusas in a WERA 24-hour endurance...