(from Suzuki Press Release) American Suzuki Motor Corporation, an innovative manufacturer of a wide variety of vehicles, displays its new GSX-R/4 concept car and Formula Hayabusa race car for the first time in the U.S. at the Los Angeles Auto Show, January 5 - 13. Both cars combine the best of Suzuki automotive and motorcycle technologies, turning a two-wheel motorcycle into a four-wheel, high-performance concept car and an open-wheel race car.
The state-of-the-art multi-featured GSX-R/4 concept car is an ultra-light one-of-a-kind vehicle designed to unite driver to machine in a way no other conventional sports car has done before. It offers agile operation of the car and first-rate drivability distinctiveness, utilizing Suzuki's motorcycle expertise in producing high-performance small engines and Suzuki's weight-saving technologies as a manufacturer of automotive vehicles. The 1.3-liter engine of the GSX1300R Hayabusa motorcycle revs up to its 11,000 rpm redline and with 173 horsepower, the concept car's power is directed through a smooth, hand-shifted six-speed sequential transmission.
The Formula Hayabusa -- designed for a new Japanese one-make competition series -- is an open-wheel race car built to showcase Suzuki's advanced automotive and motorcycle engineering, and the firm's ability to build affordable high-performance products. The race car -- powered by the engine of the fastest mass-produced street motorcycle in history, the GSX1300R Hayabusa -- has 175 horsepower at 9,800 rpm, generated with the help of double overhead cams, 16 valves, an 11:1 compression ratio, liquid-cooling and electronic fuel injection.