Hyundai N, the Korean sports cars on the track in the WSBK championship

Hyundai N

For some years now Hyundai, thanks to its range of sports cars of the “N” line used as Safety Cars, has become the official partner of WSBK, the World Superbike championship run with series-derived motorcycles; last weekend we were guests of Hyundai at the Misano Adriatico circuit to attend the weekend of races in the SBK and Supersport categories, and above all to fully enjoy the sporting characteristics of the Hyundai N, which we also had the opportunity to drive on the Romagna circuit named after the late Marco Simoncelli.



Hyundai's 'N' range was born in 2016 as an internal division of Hyundai Motor Company; the meaning behind the letter N is triple, with the former referring to the Namyang district in South Korea, where this division was born. Furthermore, 'N' indicates the Nurburgring, the famous German track where Hyundai tests all its models in the 'N' range; and finally, the shape of the N recalls the shape of the chicane. Many meanings, but a single element in common, sportiness in driving.| ); }
More at the two races in the SBK category, both won by the Spaniard Alvaro Bautista, as far as I'm concerned the Hyundai i30 N was the absolute star of the weekend: in addition to having had the opportunity to use it on the track, an environment where it can shine at its best thanks to its distinctly sporting characteristics, I had the opportunity to get to know it better by driving it from Milan to Misano Adriatico and back. Even on the motorway, the i30 N is able to transmit strong sensations, without forgetting driving comfort: thanks to the refined adjustments in the suspension and steering offered by the car, you can travel comfortably but still keeping the exhaust open in "mode". N ", enjoying the rumble it emits with each acceleration.




Thanks to the position of main sponsor of the event, Hyundai gave us the opportunity to explore the WSBK world behind the scenes by involving ourselves in unique and exclusive experiences: on board a brand new Hyundai Tucson hybrid we had the opportunity to explore the "service roads" that go around the track, of the Misano circuit, being able to enjoy very particular points of view on the Superpole that was taking place at that time.

The experiences continued in the studios where Dorna, the Spanish company that owns the Moto GP and WSBK brands, among others, realizes the direction of the races before supplying it to the local networks: here we have been able to admire the work of the direction team which, led by the director, constantly monitors the dozen of cameras scattered along the route to give life to a story of the race that is compelling and sensible for those who are at home and have only one monitor available - against the several dozen monitors in the control room. Coordination and the ability to read situations are fundamental in directing a motorcycle race, and being able to admire professionals at work has been a great privilege.






With Hyundai, we also had the opportunity to explore the Superbike pits and the starting grid of the two SBK races, experiencing very closely the frenzy of those moments in which the riders are intent on concentrating for the upcoming race, while the mechanics run around to make the last adjustments in time for the green light. An unforgettable experience for people like me who grew up watching motorcycles every Sunday, made even more memorable by the sighting on the grid (obviously in civilian clothes) of a motorcycling legend like Max Biaggi.



Before concluding our weekend on the circuit, we had the opportunity to discover two other very important organizational aspects for the success of the whole; the first concerns the tires that all motorcycles use, supplied by Pirelli which has a real open-air workshop in the paddock where all the teams must go to have the tires chosen by the rider installed on the rims. The quantity of tires that Pirelli brings with it to each of these events is absolutely impressive, but it is also a very important and fundamental experiment to create ever more performing tires, also for road use.



Finally we went to visit the lap times control room; in this room the time technicians carefully follow the entire race through the monitors and telemetry detectors, and on some occasions when the times are not sufficient to evaluate a position in the standings, they also find themselves having to use the expensive camera dedicated to photofinish, a tool capable of taking pictures at 3000 frames per second to evaluate - in terms of centimeters - which rider finished in front of the other.

Hyundai and World SuperBike will continue to work together to make activities in track increasingly safer and more exciting for the public, also thanks to the extraordinary quality and power offered by the Hyundai Kona N and i30 N, which we had the opportunity to review in more detail and complete already a few months ago.