This, race fans, is Danilo Petrucci, one of the brave souls trying his luck on the future of MotoGP hardware, in his case the doggedly underpowered Came IodaRacing Project machine. Not on a (relatively) zippy Aprilia ART, or a Honda-powered FTR, Petrucci qualifies on the same grid as Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo, and brings to this gunfight a knife that packs a whopping 185 bhp, compared to the factory prototype engines that are rumored to be around 260 bhp. As I photograph a race, I see a much different version of the event than TV viewers. I watch the recorded TV broadcast later, and can tell you that there is a lot going on with the Claiming Rule Team bikes that doesn’t make in onto TV.
We are now purely a “suck, squeeze, bang, blow” society, and while that suits many motorists just fine, there are some who enjoy the smell of pre-mix in the morning — you know who you are. You enjoy the sound of angry bees following you from apex to off-camber. You think a displacement for “serious riders” starts at around 250cc. You like your engine compression low, and your powerbands narrow. You sir (or madam), are a two-stroke junky, and we have just the fix you need. Having a bevy of intriguing two-wheeled projects within its walls, the Swiss bike that catches our eye today is the Suter 500 Factory V4: a two-stroke, 500cc, V4, track weapon that puts out over 200 hp and weighs 284 lbs ready to race — no, that is not a typo.
Blurred to protect against spoilers, we’ll just leave things simply by saying that World Superbike’s Race 2 at Donington Park is well worth a watching if you haven’t already seen it. Decided right down to the last few turns, race pundits surely will be discussing the race and its outcome over the next week. Unsurprisingly, geography is playing a major a role in how things are being viewed. Though in a race where a number of questionable passes occurred, it is hard to single out this one event from the plethora of others that occurred during the race, but of course this one had the biggest effect on the race outcome. Click past the jump for the he said, she said, and of course for some slightly sharper photos.
More news from Norton, as the British firm has begun track-testing its V4 road race bike, in preparation of the 2012 Isle of Man TT. Focusing on the bike’s handling, Norton has been working hand-in-hand with Öhlins and Dunlop developing the bike’s chassis. The trio has devised the highly sophisticated “165 mph no hands” test, which supposedly checks the stability of the bike, though we imagine Health & Safety would frown upon it. With the bike’s Aprilia RSV4 motor putting out 195hp at the crank, and with the total race package weighing 419 lbs (195 kg) when it is sopping wet, the Spondon-framed Norton may not be exactly what fans of the famous marques were hoping for after seeing the very appealing Norton NRV 588, though it does seem to be a potent package.
Launching in downtown Los Angeles, the 2012 Brammo Empulse R & 2013 Brammo Empulse broke their cover and officially debuted. Right off the bat from the designations, you can see that Brammo intends for the Empulse R to be a 2012 model, with the base model Emuplse coming out next year (more on that further down). As we expected, the Brammo Empulse R got quite the price bump after its 22-month marination, and will be $18,995 MSRP. Meanwhile when the Brammo Empulse becomes available next year, it will have a slightly more palatable $16,995 price tag.
While the EBR 1190RS race bikes were on the track, their $40,000+ street-legal counterparts were on display outside of the Erik Buell Racing garage. Rocking an American flag livery, I naturally took pictures of this show bike. Eye catching to say the least, nothing says “Made in ‘merica” better than a red, white, and blue color scheme, especially when it is laid over carbon fiber. And while I want to love this bike because of its nuances and outside-of-the-box technical design, I don’t.
If there’s one lesson we can take from Sunday’s race at Estoril, it’s this: “I’ve always said we know Casey’s the guy that’s the fastest guy in the world. Maybe over the seasons he hasn’t put the championships together, but by far he’s the best guy in the world.” Cal Crutchlow is not known for mincing his words, and his description of Casey Stoner pulls no punches. But given the fact that Stoner only managed to win the Portuguese round of MotoGP by a second and a bit, is that not a little exaggerated?
Brammo is back for electric motorcycle racing in the North American TTXGP series, as the Ashland-based company is set to defend it’s #1 plate this year with Steve Atlas on board ( Shelina Moreda is slated to join the team later in the season). Gaining a title sponsorship from Icon, Brammo arrived at Sears Point with some edgy graphics on the 2012 Brammo Empulse RR. Dropping roughly 35 lbs in weight, and gaining roughly 50hp over the bike they ran at last year’s season opener, Brammo is making most of those gains in its revised motor and power inverter for the newest Empulse RR.
As you can imagine, the bulk of the commentary, both from readers and from professional journalists, has centered around the absurdity of the claim, with even jokes being offered about how an aged BMW rider should be thanking the German motorcycle brand for saving him money on Viagra, etc. The situation reminds me of the McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit. You know the story, right?. A woman buys a cup of coffee at McDonald’s, spills it on herself while in the car, and sues the bastards for her incompetence. True to litigious American form, the unthinkable happened, and a jury awarded this gold-digging woman millions of dollars. It is repudiating, and it stands for everything that is wrong with the legal system, or so we would be lead to believe — especially by the media.
Never say never, but few are expecting Valentino Rossi to hang up his spurs at the end of the 2012 MotoGP Championship. Going out on a career low-point is certainly not the Italian’s style, especially as it casts a particularly dark shadow on a career that has enjoyed the bright-light superlative of “Greatest of All Time” from some of motorcycling’s most knowledgeable sources. Hoping to cast that phrase with an underlined typeface, and not with an interrogatory question mark, there is sufficient evidence to believe that Rossi will want to end his career in a way that will leave no doubt about the nine-time World Champion’s abilities. The question of course is how those final seasons will play out, and who they will be with.
I think thats probably a logical take on Bautista, Scott. But just for the sake of exploring the possibilities, what if it was THE BIKE that was coming good at the end? What if the machine only needed a top five rider to come into its zone?
Clearly as a very small company (and one that had invested very heavily in the expansion of it’s auto/suv division at the worst possible time!) they were finding difficulty in funding their traditional racing efforts, yet in the hands of Alstare development team for example, Leon Haslam had a fine year and won races. So it was easy to predict that the talented Haslam would rock steady with all of BMW might behind him- and yet it didnt happen (to my surprise as well).
Bottom line, I think sometimes we might tend to write off a brand (or call them great) when its the “package” that makes it- or not. That said, best of luck to Bautista but I wonder if Nicky, Dovi and Vale all share the sentiment after that fist turn hairball dive at Valencia…?
And dont forget that the 800 was much more like the 250 he excelled on than the 1 litre bike will be, no?
I like Bautista a lot and it was a shame that Suzuki pulled out of MotoGP this year. They were often competing with the factory Ducatis last year. They left just as they were showing promise.
Similar to what we talked about with their road bikes, they’re retreating when they should pull a Ducati and double-down.
I think Bautista will do very well this year. He’s got the talent, I think he just the support. Nice dude personally as well.
Photo of the Week: Dark Horse, New Steed – http://t.co/zwh9z6EK #motorcycle
I think he’ll top Dovi with no problem, this season is going to be interesting though, Bradl is taking to the Honda quite well and he is a very cerebral rider who adapts quickly. I do think Hayden will have a better go this year and clog up the race for 3/4/5 alittle more than years past. The one thing I know is that if Stoner stays healthy, he is going to clean house, period. Everyone is going to be playing catchup with him. Pedrosa is going to have a tough year, and Spies is going to get into it with Lorenzo. The thing I like about that last statement is that Lorenzo does not have the head of Spies, he is much quicker to boil so there should be some drama to chat about in between races.
I think the battles are going to be better this year for sure, just not for the win. Stoner has this group covered, Rossi could get his groove back and it still would not enough.
Rossi could get his groove back, but I think also put him on a factory Honda, and it would still not be enough to beat Stoner. I’d love to see Bautista in and fighting for the top 5, but that top 5 is going to be very tough this year. I think there is no one that is going to be able to match it with Stoner week in, week out, season long.
Really would like to see Spies step up and claim that 4th Alien title this year. Surely it no longer can be attributed to Rossi – thanks to the bikes that Ducati (can’t) make.