It was over thirty years ago when Top Gun was released starring young Tom Cruise as Maverick. The movie was a blockbuster. Not only it gave a boost to Tom’s career but also ignited a spark in the motorcycle community. Why? Because Maverick rode a Kawasaki GPZ900R in the film and there was one particular scene of him racing a fighter jet astride his Kawasaki, that went viral.
Now, after all those years, Top Gun 2 is in the making and its trailer just came out. And guess what? Maverick is still flying planes and riding motorcycles, again a Kawasaki, a Kawasaki Ninja H2 to be precise.
There’s a glimpse in the trailer of the new movie where we see Maverick once again racing with a fighter jet on a runway with a Ninja H2. Apparently, the Ninja H2R (track-only machine) has actually been raced against an F-16 fighter jet and a private jet in the real world. It was a quarter-mile drag race which also had a Formula 1 car and a couple of other sports cars. And you’d be glad to know that the Ninja won the race!
The Kawasaki GPZ900R that Maverick rode in Top Gear was one of the earliest members of the Kawasaki Ninja family and was manufactured by Kawasaki from 1984 till 2003. It had a 908c, in-line 4-cylinder engine with 115bhp and 87Nm of torque. Now, the Ninja H2 that we’ll see in Top Gun 2 is much more powerful. It has 210 horsepower and is one of the fastest production bikes in the world.
By the trailer, the new movie seems to be pretty thrilling. And Tom is looking as dashing as always. It will be in the theatres in summer 2020.
