25/07/2026
Throw back preview ✊🏻
In the early 2000s, BMW explored a MotoGP entry by secretly developing a prototype to meet the new 990cc four-stroke regulations. They outsourced the engine design to Oral Engineering, an Italian firm led by legendary former Ferrari Formula 1 technical director Mauro Forghieri. Between 2003 and 2006, the team developed an inline three-cylinder engine that essentially utilized architecture derived from a BMW F1 powerplant, featuring pneumatic valves and producing over 210 horsepower.
Grand prix veterans Luca Cadalora and Jeremy McWilliams handled the private track testing. The 990cc triple proved incredibly aggressive. McWilliams famously described it as the most "untamed" engine he had ever ridden. While the first iteration was heavy and uncompetitive, BMW began sorting out a second-generation chassis just as MotoGP announced the shift to 800cc engine rules for the 2007 season. BMW dutifully built and tested an 800cc version of the triple, but never formally entered it into a race.
Ultimately, BMW executives pulled the plug, calculating that the production-based WorldSBK Championship offered a better direct marketing return to launch their upcoming S1000RR sportbike. The MotoGP project's legacy lived on, however: the massive ECU and traction control systems developed by a 20-person team for the Grand Prix prototype directly formed the basis for the S1000RR's WSBK electronics. Additionally, the orphaned 800cc Oral engine briefly resurfaced years later to power the ill-fated FB Corse privateer MotoGP entry in 2010.
