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.
This is bad timing. Peter Lenz a week ago, and now this?
Should have read the full article before posting that. lol.
Excuse me Asphalt and Rubber.
But Scott Redding AND Alex De Angelis collided with Tomizawa. Scott connected with his head and Alex with his Chest/Torso. Both were flung from there bikes with Scott Redding also going to the Clinica Mobile due to potential broken bones, however he was lucky and concussed. Alex walked away, with a 4th rider colliding with debris and also walking away.
This is a sad story and Tomi will never be forgotten.
It is a disgrace how the track workers handled the injured rider , rushing to get him on a back board, no neck brace, and dropping him . A EMT buddy of mine said after he watched the the video , I smell lawer. Dorna said they did not stop the race because of safety concerns.Let me ask a question , has anyone every been injured on the red flaging of any race anywhere. The race should have been stopped and aid on track. The time it took to get him to any type of aid was criminal. When NASCAR has a injury they have a med and extraction team at the site in seconds . Somthing must change in the way injured riders are cared for on the track . Dorna do something desides cover your ass. Terry lemmons
My heart goes out to his family, friends, and team. Tragic loss of such a young talent with a great future ahead of him. Rest in peace…
@ CBR600RR 09:
You got it backwards. DeAngelis hit Tomizawa first, in the head, then Redding ran over his torso. Doesn’t matter really. It’s tragic either way.
RIP Shoya Tomizawa
Great point on the ridicules method used in the these type of crashes by the workers. Stop the race. Get immediate medical aid to the injured rider and stabilize them. The way they handled it was absulte joke. They very well may have caused much more severe injury to the riders. Stupid. And yes…CRIMINAL!
Steve Lang
I’m afraid I agree with the points above about the way Tomizawa was treated. I admit I am not an expert so perhaps this is just my ignorance showing, but looking at the Video, it was shocking to see how roughly Tomizawa was tossed onto a stretcher and dragged away.
I thought that the race should have been red flagged immediately so that treatment could be safely given where he lay. A broken body is very fragile, you can’t just pick it up and dump it on a stretcher. This is how spinal cords can be torn, etc.
Surely at track side, a medical team can travel to the victim much faster than the victim can be carried to the medical team! If not then that also needs to be changed.
I was also disturbed by the way that race officials are already trying to deflect blame, saying how the best thing to do for the injured riders was NOT to stop the race. Now how is that possible! If a mistake was made, admit it damn it, and make changes! Otherwise the same darn stupid mistakes will keep happening.
John van Houten
R.I.P Tomizawa-san
My tribute:
[IMG]http://a.imageshack.us/img707/7938/48tomisan.jpg[/IMG]
Sorry
http://img707.imageshack.us/i/48tomisan.jpg/
I also agree with the fact that the race should have been halted. This being said, sadly, I don’t think that would have helped Shoya at all. Really, I was surprised that he was even alive right after the crash…
Either way, Reqviem In Pace, Tomi!
Just found out that he was only 19!!!!
R.I.P.
RIDER’S PROTEST !
Such an unlucky crash…
Tomi-san may he rest in peace!
Here’s Dr Macchiagodena view on the non-race stop and rider handling.
See.: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86429
Moto2 should have been red flagged!
A fellow dutchmen Tristan Lentink was hit in his abdominal too at the start of the Assen TT, Supersport 600! Recovering well…
See.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0XoHif9R40