Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2011 – The Ducati Story

Grab some popcorn, because this video from Ducati North America is over 14 minutes long. Telling the story of Ducati at the 2011 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), DNA has put together a great video that really captures how special the racing is at Pikes Peak, and how gorgeous the scenery is of the Colorado Mountains. With Santa Barbara Ducati’s Carlin Dunne winning the overall motorcycle category on his dealership’s Multistrada 1200 demo model, Alexander Smith from the Spider Grips Ducati Team made it a double podium for Ducati in the 1205cc class. If you’re new to racing at Pikes Peak, or wanted a quick re-cap of last year’s race, Ducati’s video pretty accurately sums up racing on the mountain and the anxiety around last year’s race.

Ducati Announces Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Team with Carlin Dunne & Greg Tracy

Ducati has announced its factory team for the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), and the Italian company has secured the services of last-year’s winner and Rookie of the Year Carlin Dunne as well as six-time PPIHC winner Greg Tracy. Ducati has also partnered with the Spider Grips team, who will help prepare the teams Ducati Multistrada 1200 for the “Race to the Clouds” on July 8th. For 2012, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will be fully-paved to the top of the mountain, which will surely see the speeds of competitors increase, and lap times drop on the 12.42 mile long course that ends at 14,110 feet.

Cutaway Photos of the Ducati Superquadro Engine

I was flipping through some photos from the 2011 EICMA show, and found these shots of the Ducati 1199 Panigale’s Superquadro engine. Unfortunately at the show, Ducati had its 1199cc v-twin motor behind a Lexan case, which created a bit of a glare, reflections, and of course had smudges from the touchy-feely Italian crowd. But still, the photos give a good idea of what’s going on in Ducati’s most-advanced production engine to date, and are better than just looking at the CAD renders. If you look at the shots very closely, you can almost see where the 195hp and 98 lbs•ft of torque is lurking inside.

AGV, Please Make This Helmet!

In addition to testing the factory Ducati Desmosedici GP12 “Phoenix” this week at Sepang, Valentino Rossi is also trying out a new lid from AGV. Aside from the carbon fiber goodness, and of course the Rossi stickers (which add 5hp & $200), AGV’s prototype helmet sports a noticably pronounced rear spoiler. Tucked in behind the windscreen, it is obvious why the Italian helmet manufacturer designed such a large protrusion off the back of the prototype helmet, as it looks to be clearly helping the flow off the back of the helmet, across the rider’s hump, and down his backside.

2012 Honda RC213V Debuts in Malaysia

While Ducati Corse is busy playing hide-the-Desmosedici at Sepang, HRC is all business in Malaysia this week, and has debuted its 2012 Honda RC213V MotoGP-contender. Honda isn’t saying too much about the RC213V, simply stating that the race bike is all new, but is also a continuation of the company’s design with the 800cc Honda RC212V. Testing the Honda RC213V over the course of last season, reigning-World Champion Casey rode the new 1,000cc machine three times in 2011, while teammate Dani Pedrosa swung a leg over the RC213V twice (missing one test because of injury).

No, This is the “90%” New Ducati Desmosedici GP12

You may have been misled by some eager journalists today and yesterday, if you saw a Ducati Corse livery-clad Ducati Desmosedici GP12 that some sites were passing off as the first shots of the “90% new” GP12. With the alleged new GP12 looking surprisingly similar to the aluminum-framed “GP0″ that was tested at Valencia, Valentino Rossi’s mechanic has now Alex Briggs confirmed that the photos taken were not of the all new “GP12 Phoenix” that the factory team will race this season. While the Ducati lords can taketh away, they can also giveth, and Valentino Rossi himself has posted the first photo of the factory Desmosedici GP12, and the bike is clearly different.

Zero Motorcycles Commences 2012 Model Line Production

Zero Motorcycles has announced the full-commencement of production for its 2012 model line, which is expected to hit dealers in February & March of this year. First off the line was the 2012 Zero DS back in December, though the electric motorcycle company has recently started building the Zero S, Zero XU, Zero X, and Zero MX at its Scotts Valley facility as well. A story we broke back in November, Zero Motorcycles debuted its important 2012 electric motorcycle line up at the 2011 EICMA show in Milan, with the 2012 range being a substantial improvement upon the company’s previous offerings.

The Dainese D-Air Racing Airbag Suit Comes to America

Getting a look at Dainese & AGV’s 2012 collection, Asphalt & Rubber was down in Orange County earlier this week to see the highly anticipated Dainese D-Air Racing leather suit, which has a four liter airbag system that helps reduce the risk of injury during a motorcycle crash. Dainese has been working on the D-Air Racing system for 10 years now, and after soft-launching the airbag suit in Europe, the Italian company is ready to bring the game-changing technology to American soil.

I Love the Nightlife. I’ve Come to Boogie.

Us Danes, we’re a strange breed. From the culture that taught you how to rape and pillage, Scandinavia is making yet another contribution to the motorcycling world with this latest video. Featuring Danish Supermoto Champion Andreas Mikkelsen, we get a RoToR camera-esque perspective (this rig is actually home made) on the Dane’s practice session at the Als Supermotard Club in Denmark. It’s videos like this that are slowly eroding my will-power to resist getting into supermotard riding. Also, I don’t know who was in charge of the music selection on this thing, but my hat is off to him/her. I love the nightlife. I’ve come to boogie.

Confirmed: KTM 350 Duke in 2013 – Moto3 Inspired 350cc Sport Bike in 2014

Our friends over at IndianCarsBikes.in were in attendance at the KTM 200 Duke launch in India this week, as the Austrian brand launched its somewhat bigger-displacement version of the popular KTM Duke 125. During the press event, KTM talked about the future of the mini-Duke line and its product roadmap for the emerging country, as well as abroad. With the Austrian brand confirming/clarifying that KTM would release a KTM 350 Duke for India in 2013, zie Austrians also confirmed that the KTM 350 Duke would be built locally in India by Bajaj, but would be exported worldwide — allaying fears that the KTM 350 Duke would be an India-only model.

TTXGP Practice Starts At the Isle of Man – Fastest Around the Mountain is…

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Tue, June 9th, 2009 @ 4:30 pm, by John Adamo3 COMMENTS
Home » News » TTXGP Practice Starts At the Isle of Man – Fastest Around the Mountain is…

TTXGP Practice Starts At the Isle of Man Fastest Around the Mountain is... firsteverttxgppracticeonthettcou 49 560x420

UPDATED: Pictures and results after the jump.

Team Agni and rider Robert “Bullet” Barber turned the fastest lap beating out favorites MotoCzysz, Mission Motors and Brammo. Barber propelled Agni’s modified Suzuki GSXr 600 to an average speed of 84.8MPH, with a speed of 102.6 recorded at the Sulby Trap. Agni Motors builds electric motors for many applications including electric vehicles, so it is not too much of a surprise they did well.

Here is a breakdown from Agni Motors on the specs of the bike:

The bike we are converting for the TTXGP is a 2007 Suzuki GSXR 600 fitted with two Agni 95 Reinforced motors and Kokam lithium-polymer battery of 63 cells of 70AH each, total about 16 kilowatt-hours of energy. This will give 40 to 50 horsepower averaged over the length of the race, which should be good for about 200 km/h (120 mph) top speed. Riders for this race are required by the rules to be fully-qualified racing motorcyclists. Our rider is Robert “Bullet” Barber.

A flurry of pictures hit twitter this morning as the TTXGP electric race bikes hit the 38 mile circuit. Most bikes gave off a quiet hum as the crowd laughed in anticipation of a boring practice session. We would have loved to hear the reaction as the first bike crossed the line in 26 minutes, just a few minutes slower than the average gas powered entry.

Today is one of two practice sessions for the electrics. The first electric race at Isle of Man will be held June 12. There has been much anticipation by the motorcycle media, and mixed feelings from the hard core IOM TT fans. Most were expecting a race whose only merits are promoting the green agenda. The readers here who have seen MotoCzysz, Brammo and other TTXGP entries knew we were in for a great show. Stay tuned.

 In the Open class, teams who built their TTXGP racer under £30,000, Team ManTTx and rider Dan Kneen are leading the way with an average speed of 70.677mph on their modified 748R Ducati-based machine. As you can see from the results from the first practice, there seems to be little difference in times between the PRO and OPEN class. We can expect further stratification in the results likely in the next practice session, which was originally scheduled to happen tomorrow. Hearing from a few teams, some had extra power leftover after today’s lap, and we can expect them to adjust their measurements, and beef up their bikes for the next round.

Results from Practice 1 at the TTXGP

Pos.TeamRiderClassTimeDiff.
1Team AgniRob BarberPRO26:41-
2ManTTx RacingDan KneenOPEN32:01-5:20
3Barefoot Motors RacingChris PettyOPEN33:35-6:54
4Mission MotorsThomas MontanoPRO33:45-7:04
5XXLThomas SchoenfelderPRO34:07-7:26
6BrammoRoy RichardsonPRO35:47-9:06
7BrammoMark BuckleyPRO35:52-9:11
8Electric MotorsportChris HeathOPEN36:26-9:45
9NSR – Kingston UniversityGeorge SpenceOPEN40:44-14:03
10HTBLAUVA – TGMPaul DobbsPRO41:53-15:12

TTXGP Practice 1 Pit Lane

TTXGP Practice 1 Starting Line

Photos: Amadeus Photography

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  4. First Look: Brammo Empulse RR Race Bike for TTXGP

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Comment:

  1. Tino Rossini says:
    June 9, 2009 at 1:32 PM

    RT @Asphalt_Rubber: TTXGP Practice Starts At the Isle of Man – Fastest Around the Mountain is; – http://tinyurl.com/nunh6v

  2. Brammofan says:
    June 9, 2009 at 1:40 PM

    Nice wrap-up of TTXGP Practice by@skadamo on Asphalt & Rubber http://bit.ly/145aZv

  3. Brammofan says:
    June 9, 2009 at 8:40 PM

    Nice wrap-up of TTXGP Practice by@skadamo on Asphalt & Rubber http://bit.ly/145aZv