This lot of homologated road bikes embroiled in legalese from the early 2000s will see the light of day and will be presumably for sale thanks to Lanzante.
A lot of road bikes commissioned and built by Petronas has been sourced and found by Lanzante Motorsports and will be brought to 100 percent working order, road legality and will go on sale soon. As per Lanzante Motorsports on Instagram earlier today (Dec. 4, 2018) they made an announcement that they are partnering with former racer Andrew Bruce in bringing dozens of Foggy-Petronas FP1 road bikes “into full working order and made available with all spare parts backup.”
Check out the amazing highlight reel showcasing this wonderful-looking bike with an surreal history that begins its next chapter below.
The Foggy Petronas racing team’s history and its foray into World Super Bikes is one of just getting the timing wrong, which in motorsports, can be everything. Originally Petronas and Sauber Petronas Engineering developed a 1-liter superbike for MotoGP but a last minute decision saw the bike racing in the Superbike World Championship instead where the bike was reduced to 899 cc.
Petronas teamed up with Superbike World Champion Carl Fogarty to form the aforementioned Foggy Petronas racing team. Unfortunately, rules changed to allow 1-liter bikes in World Superbikes and the FP1 was never really competitive, competing with such a power disadvantage.
Petronas needed to make 150 road bikes for homologation purposes. 75 were built in the UK and another 75 were built in Malaysia. In 2010, Motorcycle news reported that 60 FP1’s from the UK batch that were supposed to ship to Malaysia were never shipped. Later in 2016, they reported that Momoto and Petronas, the two partners who were supposed to market and sell the FP1 in Malaysia, were still in “legal wrangles” with themselves and the Malaysian government over unpreviously paid taxes and duties. Lanzante doesn’t say where he got these bikes but I’m betting that this lot from Malaysia are the same bikes.
Knowing nothing about bikes, one thing is for certain, these bikes are beautiful to look at and hint at a combination of function and form that comes together so beautifully. One of the available colors, Panache Green, is undeniably one of the coolest colors you can choose for anything on wheels and by the looks of the video above, is the only choice you’ll get from Lanzante.
Carl Fogarty went on record with Bike-Curious to say that,
“There is no doubt that this will be the most beautiful bike on the roads. It combines cutting edge technology with real elegance and has set new standards at the top end of the road bike market,”
And I have to agree.
The Roadbikes made a decent 127 HP from the angry triple which was more than enough to propel the 399 pound frame.
Enjoy some footage of the Foggy Petronas FP1 on a racetrack and regular roads below.
This bike is special, has a racing pedigree, is in limited numbers, and should sell like crazy. Back in 2016 Motorcycle news estimated that a Foggy-Petronas FP1 could fetch upwards of $32,000. A black FP1 that found its way on the market had an asking price of $38,000. With Lanzante in the story now, I reckon they can auction for much more.
Source: Lanzante.
