Lewis Hamilton-designed MV Agusta F4

Despite Mercedes recently selling its 25 per cent share in MV Agusta, Mercedes’ three-time Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has remained tied with the Italian firm with the unveiling of a Hamilton-inspired F4.

Dubbed the F4 LH44, it’s basically a F4 RC with a titanium silencer, a ECU to up the power slightly and a paint job which features a few of the driver’s personal logos.

“I am very excited to continue my partnership with MV Agusta,” Hamilton said.

“I love working with Giovanni and the guys at MV Agusta, their passion for engineering and attention to detail produces stunning, original looking bikes. My projects with MV Agusta are a great way to combine my love of riding bikes with my interest in creative design process so I am very much involved with the CRC design team throughout.”

The electronic control unit boosts power by seven horsepower, to 212hp, while the candy-apple red fairing is complemented by a pearl white chassis, black anodised fork legs and logos and a smoke-coloured screen.

Like the F4 RC, the F4 LH44 uses a top-shelf Öhlins USD NIX 30 TiN-coated fork matched to a TTX36 rear shock, there’s a flurry of carbon fibre components and, according to MV Agusta, Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP tyres designed specifically for the F4 LH44.

“It looks quite stunning and I had the pleasure of riding on track a few weeks ago in Italy, it feels great and combines the best of both worlds, a racebike for the road,” Hamilton said.

“There will be 44 bikes produced so I hope the lucky owners will love it as much as I do”.

With one no doubt earmarked for Hamilton and one headed to Castiglioni’s collection, that leaves 42 units for the rest of us. There’s no word at this stage if or how many may be headed down under, or how much the bike might cost.

We expect the first answer to be quite low and the last one to be quite high! Stay tuned.