PPIHC: Carlin Dunne Sets Outright Best Motorcycle Time at Pikes Peak Tire Test on a Lightning Motorcycle

The competitors for the 91st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb have just concluded a two-day tire test at the Colorado road course, and it should perhaps come as no surprise that our boy Carlin Dunne has posted the outright fastest lap for a motorcycle during the tire test (the Santa Barbara native set the outright two-wheeled course record last year on his Ducati Multistrada 1200 S). What is surprising about Carlin’s result at the tire test is that he was on the Lightning Motorcycles electric superbike. That’s right, the fastest bike so far for 2013′s Race to the Clouds is a 200+ hp electric superbike that is refueled with solar energy. Petrol heads, eat your heart out.

Report: Indianapolis “Opting-Out” of 2014 MotoGP Race?

Talking to the Indy Star, Mark Miles (CEO of Hulman & Co, the parent company to Indianapolis Motor Speedway) has put some doubt into the historic venue’s commitment to host the MotoGP Championship. Having a contract to run the race through the 2014 season, Miles said that IMS might opt-out of the final year in its agreement with Dorna (IMS apparently has this option for a brief window after the 2013 Indianapolis GP). However while the news has focused so far on IMS’s ability to opt-out, both Dorna and Indianapolis Motor Speedway have options in their contract to go through with the 2014 round, and with a bevy of variables in the air, we may or may not see three American GP rounds next year.

2014 Yamaha FZ-09 – Three Cylinders of Naked

Surprise! America will be getting a 847cc three-cylinder naked bike for the 2014 model year, the 2014 Yamaha FZ-09. Replacing the Yamaha FZ8 in the Japanese company’s line-up, the FZ-09 is the first motorcycle from the tuning fork brand to sport the Yamaha’s new line of three-cylinder engines. The Yamaha FZ-09 comes about as the MIC is reporting its second-consecutive year of growth in the 751+cc sport bike segment, as well as increase in commuter riding over short-distance sport riding. With those trends in mind, Yamaha has punched out the displacement on its middleweight naked bike, and focused on giving riders a comfortable, yet stout, motorcycle. Priced at $7,990 MSRP, we think Yamaha hit the nail pretty much on the head with this one.

Trackside Tuesday: The Mind-Killer

In the past few years I’ve come to believe that, while superior physical differences (their reflexes and fine motor skills) are significant, it’s the mental differences that are the most interesting. I suppose anyone who has ridden a motorcycle even a bit beyond one’s comfort zone can appreciate some part of the physical aspect of riding a racing bike. For most of us, even the speed of racers in local events is impressive compared to our street riding. While the skills with throttle, brakes, and balance are on a level similar to the best athletes in other sports, I think that what really sets motorcycle racers apart is their ability to overcome fear.

Video: Still Think Electric Motorcycles Are Slow?

The progress in the last five years on electric motorcycles has been astounding. Taking their first laps around the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, a 87.434 mph pace was the best an electric motorcycle could do at the prestigious road race in 2009 — a pace that was on par with the 50cc record set in 1971. In just five years after the first laps were taken by electric motorcycles at Snaefell, these machines have grown their average lap speeds by over 20 mph at the TT Zero race, setting a new record of 109.675 mph in 2013, and boasting a rate of improvement of roughly 5 mph each year since 2009. If hitting 142.2 mph down the Sulby Straight speed trap wasn’t further proof of the speeds these bikes are achieving, maybe some visual evidence will help support the notion.

Here’s Your Feel Good Moment of the Week — Now, What’s Your Excuse for Not Riding Today?

Darius Glover is a dirt bike racer. Like you and me, he lives to ride, and when he is on two-wheels he feels the freedom that only other motorcyclists can truly understand. The thing is though, Darius is paralyzed from the waist down. Where others would give up their dreams and this sport, Darius at the age of 15 instead pushed onward. No pity parties, no excuses, just simply a daily example of where there is a will, there is a way, and a reminder that you can achieve anything that you put your mind to. It’s hard not to get a bit choked up listening to Darius tell his story, but you walk away feeling uplifted after feeling his attitude come across the screen.

Erzberg Rodeo – Red Bull’s S&M Playhouse for Motorcycles

Any race where 1,500 riders start, 500 qualify, and only 14 finish, has got to be an epic competition, and considering the fact that the Erzberg Rodeo starts in the excavation pit of an Austrian mine…well, it takes a special rider to be enticed by such an event. One such special rider is Graham Jarvis, who was the first of the fourteen men to reach the 20th and final checkpoint. Taking 2 hours and 52 seconds to complete the course, Jarvis made the 2013 Erzberg Rodeo look downright easy. However, with one look at the race-day conditions from this past weekend, we know it was anything but.

Controlling the Uncontrollable – The Role of Ritual in Racing

While normally, MotoGP fans never get enough of seeing Valentino Rossi on TV, there is one shot they would (for the most part) gladly be spared. As he leaves the pits, Rossi stands on the footpegs, and pulls his leathers from between his buttocks, before sitting back down again and leaving. These rituals – part useful limbering up, part invocation of Lady Luck – are something many riders perform, in their attempt to exert control over themselves, and over their environment. In a fascinating press release – by far the most interesting we have received in many months – the Aspar team today provided a discussion and explanation of what riders are trying to achieve through the use of these rituals.

Up-Close with the 2013 MotoCzysz E1pc

Hoping to make it four wins in a row, it goes without saying that the MotoCzysz crew is working hard to close the gap to the John McGuinness and the Mugen team. However, having Team Principal Michael Czysz stuck back in the US, undergoing cancer treatments, must certainly add another level of motivation for the on-island MotoCzysz crew. Making time in their busy schedule, Asphalt & Rubber got to take some up-close photos of the 2013 MotoCzysz E1pc. The most obvious changes made to the MotoCzysz E1pc for the 2013 TT Zero race are the use conventional suspension pieces. Of course, it’s not a completely standard suspension setup, as MotoCzysz has developed its own adjustable triple clamp that incorporates tunable lateral flex parameters.

MotoGP: Max Biaggi To Test Ben Spies’s Ducati at Mugello, Michele Pirro To Replace Spies at Barcelona

Max Biaggi is to make a surprise return to riding a MotoGP machine. The former 250 and World Superbike champion will take a seat on Ben Spies’ Ignite Pramac Ducati as part of a one-day test at Mugello, as part of Ducati’s testing program, according to Italian site GPOne. Spies was scheduled to stay on at Mugello to take part in a two-day test, but after the first day of practice at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, it was clear to both Spies and Ducati that his shoulder was still too weak to ride a MotoGP machine. With work continuing on the Desmosedici, it was important for Ducati to get as much data as possible on their bike, and so Biaggi was offered the chance to ride the machine.

New MotoGP Rules for 2014: Spec-ECU, Spec-Software, Fewer Motors, Less Fuel, & Combined Weight for Moto2

11/10/2012 @ 10:57 pm, by David EmmettComments Off

After an almost interminable period of discussions and debate, agreement has at last been reached over the technical regulations to be applied in MotoGP for the 2014 onwards. The agreement has been a compromise, with both sides of the table being given something to satisfy them.

The new rules see the introduction of a compulsory spec ECU and datalogger, and the ECU now acts as a divide between the two classes of teams in the paddock. MSMA members will be allowed to use their own software for the spec ECU, but the punishment for doing so will be a reduction in the fuel limit from 21 to 20 liters for a race.

Teams electing to use the spec software supplied by Dorna will be allowed 24 liters. The MSMA members will also be limited to 5 engines a season, while the rest will be allowed 12 engines. The reduction in fuel and engines was made at the request of the factories, to give themselves an engineering challenge to conquer.

An engine development freeze was also announced, preventing engine development during each season, and in addition, the bore and stroke of the MotoGP machines will be fixed for three seasons, from 2013 to 2015.

The technical regulations are not final, however. The rules will only be made final if the MSMA members agree to supply teams with engines or complete bikes for the 2014 season onwards. This basically commits Honda to building its production RC213V and Yamaha to supplying engines to teams, subject to the penalty of a completely new set of rules for 2014 if they fail to do so.

A major change in Moto2 was also announced, but that too had been expected. A combined rider/weight limit of 215 kg was announced, a solid balance between the lighter and heavier riders. Given that the minimum weight for the Moto2 machines is 140kg, then theoretically, the average rider weight complete with gear is taken as 75kg.

Take away leathers, boots, helmet and gloves and that puts the average weight of a rider in the region of 65kg. Still a little on the light side, but better than the unregulated system that exists at the moment.

Below is the FIM press release announcing the new regulations:

FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix

Decision of the Grand Prix Commission

The Grand Prix Commission, composed of Messrs. Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna, Chairman), Ignacio Verneda (FIM Executive Director, Sport), Herve Poncharal (IRTA) and Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA) in the presence of Javier Alonso (Dorna) and Mike Trimby (IRTA, Secretary of the meeting), in a meeting held on 10 November 2012 in Valencia, decided on the following:

Sporting Regulations

Effective immediately:

Teams and their contracted or nominated riders become subject to all regulations with effect from the start of the “season”. The season is defined as starting on the day after the last race of the preceding season. The effect of this change is that all contracted teams and riders are subject to the same test restrictions.

In the case of an interrupted race then a penalty of starting from pit lane which had been imposed on a rider for the first part of the race will be replaced by a penalty of starting from the rear of the grid whenever the first part of the race has completed more than 50% of the original race distance.

The dispensation to allow MotoGP class “Rookie” riders to participate in one three day test during November/December is cancelled.

The penalty for speeding in pit lane has been increased from €70.00 to €150.00. However, subsequent penalties in the same event will also be €150.00 rather than the previous penalty of €370.00

Further detail sporting regulation changes were approved but publication of these will be postponed until after the next Grand Prix Commission meeting on 13 December.

Technical Regulations

Effective 01 January 2014:

MotoGP Class

The use of the ECU and datalogger provided by the Championship organisers is compulsory.

MSMA manufacturers, supplying machines for a maximum of four entries per manufacturer, will use their own electronics software but in this case are subject to a maximum fuel capacity of 20 litres.

All other machines must use the ECU, datalogger and software provided by the Championship organisers and these machines may have a maximum fuel capacity of 24 litres.

The maximum number of engines that may be used in a season is limited to:

MSMA manufacturers machines (Maximum four per manufacturer) 5 engines
MSMA manufacturers in their first season of participation 9 engines
All other entries 12 engines

Engines are frozen for all races of the same season.

In addition to the changes effective 2014, bore and stroke dimensions are frozen for the three year period 2013 to 2015.

Important Note: The above regulation changes are subject to the satisfactory conclusion of ongoing negotiations between FIM, Dorna and the Manufacturers concerning the supply of additional machines and engines for use by other teams from 2014. Contracts for the supply of these machines, engines, parts and technical support must be concluded between Dorna and the Manufacturers prior to the first event of 2013. Only then will the technical regulation changes be finally adopted.

Moto2 Class

Effective Immediately:

The minimum weight for this class will now be 215 kg being the combined weight of the machine and rider, including the rider’s protective equipment, on bike, camera, etc. Ballast may be added to achieve the minimum weight.

Further detail technical regulation changes were approved but publication of these will be postponed until after the next Grand Prix Commission meeting on 13 December.

Best Grand Prix

IRTA had agreed that the Best Grand Prix, previously decided exclusively by IRTA members should instead be nominated by the Grand Prix Commission representing all parties involved in the Championship. The Commission decided to confirm the Malaysian GP at Sepang as the best Grand Prix of 2012.

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.

Tagged under: combined weight, CRT, Dorna, FIM, GP Commission, Moto2, MotoGP, MSMA, rules, Spain, spec-ECU, Valencia, Valencian GP, weight

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