Aprilia's RSV4 was a long time in the making with the 65 degree V-4 engine being shown years before the complete motorcycle was unveiled in 2009. It went on to win races and magazine comparisons until the BMW S1000R was released. Since that time it has won 2 of the last 3 World Superbike Championships and yesterday won the first 2 opening races of the season in Phillip Island. Not only did it win, but the Aprilias swept the podium of the first race and took the top two spots in the second race.This same engine is the engine of choice for the privateer teams in the MotoGP Championship and has even beaten a couple of the prototype motorcycles.What is it about this engine (which was designed 6 or more years ago) that allows it to keep winning? The 78 x 52.3 cylinder dimensions are not even close to the most radical and the 65 degree engine requires a counterbalancer which uses a certain amount of horsepower to help quell vibrations. The power it produces is almost 20HP down on the class leading BMW and yet it continues to win comparisons against it. I believe Aprilia has found a near perfect balance between weight distribution, power, and handling to create a competition motorcycle that may finally break the Ducati stranglehold on the World Superbike series.
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