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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
AMA racing has been quite good this year …
Maybe you are right Lefty. But as it stands, who and where are the stars? If I wanted to go watch a bunch of no names, I would go to my local track. I wouldn’t spend my time or money paying for an AMA sanctioned event, and the attendance base would probably be about the same. The problem remains that all the talent has left, even the old ‘factory’ riders that are left (Hayden, Hayes, etc) should be cleaning up, but they are not. I also get tired of watching the same bike (GSXRs) make up the top 9 places out of 10. The AMA has succeded in killing superbike, as well as the support classes.
Sorry for the rant, I just needed to get that off my chest.
Actually these guys are in Daytona Sportbike class, not Superbike. Hayes, Hayden and Ben Bostrom are cleaning up the superbike races. VIR race 1 saw Hayden win by .004 of a second over Ben. Hayden almost tucked the front after crossing the line (finish is on a curve) and had to stand it up and run into the grass at 170 mph! Can’t say the series isn’t entertaining this year…
dp – who cares if there are huge names. Right now the most interesting racing has been AMA and Moto2. These kids may not be starts yet (in the Daytona Sportbike group anyway) but in due time, the best of the best will go farther just as Spies has. Watch the AMA racing at VIR and watch the Brno GP and tell me which was more interesting. GP is so boring I almost don’t care to watch the races anymore.
AMA Daytona Superbike VIR: Who Won Race 1? – http://aspha.lt/19v #motorcycle
dp – maybe if you take time to actually start watching the races, you could make an educated statement as to the current state of the AMA classes. I was at VIR; it was some of the best racing I’ve seen (well, in DSB anyway).
Are you and is everybody else entertained to watch a Rossi-like character come to a race & clean up??? Cleanup races are boring, I don’t want to watch some guy running up front all by himself. Give me a race like DSB last year @ MID-OHIO between Eslick & Hacking; now that’s excitement.
Oh, and for the record, the Eslick’s GSXR was getting owned @ VIR in terms of power by both the R6 and 848. Maybe if you started watching DSB you’d sing a different tune…
Wow, they need a better finish line camera.
^^ yeah i thought this was a picture from 1930 or something until i noticed it was new age bikes
The camera is actually very expensive it takes hundreds of photos and compresses them together at the finish line hence its grainy but accurate out come. It would be extremely tough to decipher one photo snapped at a given point instead they take 100′s and then bunch them together to make a whole image as the bikes cross the line. Heres a link.
http://www.finishlynx.com/products/finishlynx/overview/body.htm
That race was awesome! Far more entertaing than MotoGP. I don’t think dp actually watched it or he would have a much different opinion… I mean there were 3 848′s in the top 6 and only 2 GSXRs!!! :) and the finish was literally to the wire! Great race!
It looks like a slightly flat area was photoshop’d onto Martin’s tire. Nothing like a good conspiracy!
But I agree with Rob; Moto 2 and AMA have had spectacular racing this year much to my very pleasant surprise.
Anyone who thinks Eslick is not a racer’s racer is delusional. Watch that kid go on to more prestigious series. And Cardenas is spectacular to say the least.
Westy can go watch club races if that works for him, but having participated at that level, good as some guys were we didnt see that close of racing at the top. Not 20 to 40 spectacular passes per race, never!
Bottomline: If that racing doesnt make you wanna grab your chair arms, you better check your pulse.
OOOOPS sorry Westy!!!, I meant dp… apologies to all
Steveo,
I have no doubt you speak the truth, but I sure as hell can’t even tell from that picture!
After the debacle of last year I had given up on AMA racing, but this season has really changed my thinking, in particular the level of racing in Sportbike. These kids have delivered again and again; and is anybody doubting Eslick’s abilities now that he’s not “cheating” on an 1190cc Buell?
Even Superbike has been an eye-opener; enduring (rather than watching) the Yoshi/Mladin Show had gotten pretty damn old. And I’m old enough to remember Mladin on a Ducati, Duhamel on the HD VR, Russell, Polen, all the way back to the pre-NASCAR track configuration at Laconia.
And btw, Mr. Fong got it by a mile…