In case you missed the story last week, Kevin Schwantz is preparing to race in this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race. For the race, Schwantz will be riding on a team formed by Yukio Kagayama, who in addition to having raced in the MotoGP, World Superbike, and British Superbike Championships, is also a previous Suzuka 8-Hour winner with the Suzuki Endurance Race Team (also joining the three-rider team Noriyuki “Nitro” Haga). Releasing a Q&A about his team’s Suzuka 8-Hour entry, Kagayama-san walks us through how the team came together, what equipment the riders will use, and his outlook on the team’s competitiveness.
A single-cylinder hooligan-maker, the KTM 690 Duke is 330 lbs (curbside without fuel) and 67hp of two-wheeled fun, and we hope that the Austrians bring the KTM 690 Duke R our way as well. While we are on the topic of things missing from KTM’s American line-up, a decent supersport is painfully obvious, yet we can’t see the folks at KTM following the paths of other brands. That’s where our friend Luca Bar comes to mind with his latest concept: the KTM RC4. Using the KTM 690 Duke platform and its LC4 engine, Bar has designed a super-single full-fairing sport bike that takes the Austrian company’s “Ready to Race” DNA and applies it to an idea that is not all that disimilar to the Ducati Supermono.
When I sat down with Claudio Domenicali at the Ducati 1199 Panigale R launch, the now-CEO of Ducati Motor Holding was still just the General Manager of the Italian motorcycle company. Four weeks after our interview though, Gabriele del Torchio would leave Ducati for Alitalia; and Domenicali, a 21-year veteran of both the racing and production departments of Ducati, would take his place at the top of Italy’s most prestigious motorcycle brand. After reading our interview from Austin, Texas after the jump, I think you will agree too.
That Yamaha is working on a seamless gearbox is no secret, with Yamaha’s test riders currently racking up the kilometers around tracks in Japan. Recently, however, Spanish magazine SoloMoto published an article suggesting that Yamaha has already been using its new seamless gearbox since the beginning of the season. My own enquiries to check whether Yamaha was using a seamless gearbox or not always received the same answer: no, Yamaha is not using the seamless gearbox. To test this denial, I went out to the side of the track on Friday morning at Jerez to record the bikes as they went by.
After a very public father/son break-up between Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr., a steroid-ring scandal involving Paul Sr., and finally a bankruptcy proceeding, it appears that Orange County Choppers is the impossible to kill multi-headed hydra of doom that we all knew it was, as the custom chopper shop is once again headed to the small screen and recruiting some talent, on and off the show. Looking for “someone who will work alongside Paul Senior, running the shop and helping build some of the best custom motorcycles in the world,” OCC says it will be back on television with a new show later this month. Please for the love of god, will someone give this man the attention he craves so dearly??! Or, just shoot us in the face.
We love us some concept bikes here at Asphalt & Rubber, and we have featured more than a few pieces of stunning design and imagination on our pages. Though, we can’t remember the last time one of these works of art were brought to us by a legitimate racing team, but that is what we have here with the Team Alstare Superbike Concept. A nod to the former Suzuki team’s return to the World Superbike Championship as the Ducati factory squad with Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, Alstare has enlisted the help of designer Serge Rusak of Rusak Kreaktive Designworks to ink the shape of its futuristic Superbike concept, while Tryptik Studios handled the 3D modeling prowess.
If you didn’t watch Thursday’s pre-event press conference for MotoGP at Jerez, it is worth a viewing right to the end (assuming you have a MotoGP.com account). Building off the news about the NBA’s Jason Collins coming out as gay in a self-written feature in Sport Illustrated, my good colleague David Emmett had the courage to inquire about the culture and acceptance of the MotoGP paddock for homosexual riders. For the sake of accuracy, after the jump is a full transcript of David’s question, as put to riders Cal Crutchlow, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, and Scott Redding, as well as those riders’ responses to David’s inquiry.
News that Suzuki plans on returning to the MotoGP Championship in 2014 should be old information for dedicated Asphalt & Rubber readers, and the Japanese company’s inline-four race bike was already spotted doing test laps last year by the eager eyes at Cycle World. Well the American print-mag has another set of eyebrow-raising high-quality photos of the 2014 Suzuki GSV-R to mull over from the Motegi race track, along with some technical insights provided by the venerable Kevin Cameron.
A surprise addition to BMW Motorrad’s 2013 model line-up, zie Germans have announced a new middleweight adventure-tourer, the 2013 BMW F800GS Adventure. Like its larger predecessor, the BMW F800GS Adventure is a more travel-ready and off-road capable build of the recently updated BMW F800GS motorcycle. Featuring a larger windscreen, panniers, and a bigger fuel tank capacity (2.1 gallons larger, for a total of 6.3 gallons of fuel), the BMW F800GS Adventure keeps the same 85 hp, liquid-cooled, 798cc, parallel-twin engine found on the F800GS, as well as the same chassis configuration. Pricing in the US will be $13,550 for the base model BWM F800GS Adventure.
Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz has certainly been in the news a bit these past few months, mostly for his involvement and falling out with the Circuit of the Americas and the Americas GP, but also more recently for his comments regarding Dani Pedrosa — we also sat down with Mr. Schwantz in Austin, and the Texan gave us some sobering insight into the future of American road racing. As if all that wasn’t enough, Schwantz is making a return to two-wheeled racing, and has entered the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race with Team Kagayama racing alongside Noriyuki Haga and team owner Yukio Kagayama.
RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Lambretta Returns to 125GP Racing for 2010 http://bit.ly/amf1X7
Lambretta Returns to 125GP Racing for 2010 – http://bit.ly/amf1X7 #motorcycle
Lambretta is not returning to 125GP racing because they were never there. They announced a 125 racing bike in 1949 and even showed a prototype but it didn’t go anywhere. From 1951-53 they had a 250cc V-twin racing bike but it was a flop and didn’t made it to a world championship event, although it did race several times, plagued by mechanical failures. The last serious event it participated in was the non-championship Grand Prix of Locarno in 1952, but both the entries did not finish.
This is really just one of the organisations that now calls itself Lambretta sponsoring what last year was the Loncin Chinese-backed racing team – with what looks like the same hardware.
The “great Italian company” that was behind the Lambretta – Innocenti of Milan, disappeared long ago and stopped making two-wheeled products in the early seventies.
Eric
Great answer mate!
Thanks for the info!
I drove a Lambretta and it indeed showed me it had no succesfull racing history running through its veins :-).
RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Volkswagen Motorcycle Concept http://bit.ly/aGymER & Lambretta 125GP http://bit.ly/amf1X7
One hopes they persevere longer than the fiasco last year. And does Witteveen still have a place in the development team?
I suspect they’ll be persistent non-qualifiers or back markers this year again.
I presume Lambretta is a competitor to Aprilia (Piaggio) and Derbi(Piaggio) so they can’t go the rebadged Aprilia route.
Rotsa ruck, you brave fellows.
Witteveen did not work for Loncin, he worked for the even worse Haojue!
The ‘Lambretta’ was first called Malaguti, then Loncin, however they were
always among the last and slowest, and many times among the first to
break down.
There is no hope at all to do better in 2010!
I believe Romolo Ferri was entered in the 1951 Hockenhiem race on a 125cc Bitubo racing Lambretta. So it could be claimed Lambretta is returning to 125cc racing but whether these new 125cc could be called Lambretta is questionable
Peter.
First race: both retired in the first 2 laps.
As expected!
I suppose it is better than the 1951 Isle of Man TT when all 3 Lambretta entries failed to show!!
Peter
failing to show at least saves some money!
Le Mans: Same failure again, slow, unreliable, no progress at all.
Aprilia winnig hands down without developing their bikes for the last 2 years!
Shame on Lambretta!
Now that Dorna is making special regulations for Suzuki, why not do the same for Lambretta?
Let them start a minute ahead of the others and give them double pionts!
Now the sponsor finally understands the uselessnes of this project and pulls the plug
Two words guys,Danny Kent.
Ok maybe two more,Harald Bartol.
still 16 km short on topspeed! and 5.75 sec. on laptime
Kent seems to be an excellent rider
If Bartol works for this team his main attention should
be to getting paid as this is not one of this teams good habits!
big improvement at Philips Island:
last, and one lap behind!
slowest of them all!
again!
Dear Harald,
If you decide to work for this team, always keep your hand on your wallet!
And take care always to be paid in advance!
Rumour has it Bartol is working in the background,second rumour is the team may be under the Bartol name next year.Could be an all out assault on the fnal 125 two stroke title as it ends next year to be replaced by four stroke singles. Either way Danny Kent is just a little bit special and worth keeping an eye on.
Valencia: again no bike at the finish.
totally unreliable and slow!
Kent is a good rider.
hope he finds a better bike for next year!
Kent has already found a better bike for next year!
Does Lambretta want to be ridiculous one more year?
Yet another name chance coming?
So now the once Malaguti, once Loncin and once Lambretta named shitheap will now be called Mahindra?
Jan Thiel is one of the biggest two strokes technicians in 60′s-70′s-80′s decades. Your Jamathi was one of fastest 50 cc in this times in front of Derbi and Kreidler factorys; an then won de World Champ with Bultaco’s, Minarelli’s and Garelli’s in 125 cc; all bikes are made with his brain and hands allways toghether with his friend and briliant works mechanic Martin Mijwaert. Why not Mahindra takes Jan Thiel for another World Champ 125 in 2011?… is the last FIM-WCH two strokes and I’m sure Jan likes theese las title is your pocket for the history… ¿not realy Jan?