Grab some popcorn, because this video from Ducati North America is over 14 minutes long. Telling the story of Ducati at the 2011 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), DNA has put together a great video that really captures how special the racing is at Pikes Peak, and how gorgeous the scenery is of the Colorado Mountains. With Santa Barbara Ducati’s Carlin Dunne winning the overall motorcycle category on his dealership’s Multistrada 1200 demo model, Alexander Smith from the Spider Grips Ducati Team made it a double podium for Ducati in the 1205cc class. If you’re new to racing at Pikes Peak, or wanted a quick re-cap of last year’s race, Ducati’s video pretty accurately sums up racing on the mountain and the anxiety around last year’s race.
Ducati has announced its factory team for the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), and the Italian company has secured the services of last-year’s winner and Rookie of the Year Carlin Dunne as well as six-time PPIHC winner Greg Tracy. Ducati has also partnered with the Spider Grips team, who will help prepare the teams Ducati Multistrada 1200 for the “Race to the Clouds” on July 8th. For 2012, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will be fully-paved to the top of the mountain, which will surely see the speeds of competitors increase, and lap times drop on the 12.42 mile long course that ends at 14,110 feet.
I was flipping through some photos from the 2011 EICMA show, and found these shots of the Ducati 1199 Panigale’s Superquadro engine. Unfortunately at the show, Ducati had its 1199cc v-twin motor behind a Lexan case, which created a bit of a glare, reflections, and of course had smudges from the touchy-feely Italian crowd. But still, the photos give a good idea of what’s going on in Ducati’s most-advanced production engine to date, and are better than just looking at the CAD renders. If you look at the shots very closely, you can almost see where the 195hp and 98 lbs•ft of torque is lurking inside.
In addition to testing the factory Ducati Desmosedici GP12 “Phoenix” this week at Sepang, Valentino Rossi is also trying out a new lid from AGV. Aside from the carbon fiber goodness, and of course the Rossi stickers (which add 5hp & $200), AGV’s prototype helmet sports a noticably pronounced rear spoiler. Tucked in behind the windscreen, it is obvious why the Italian helmet manufacturer designed such a large protrusion off the back of the prototype helmet, as it looks to be clearly helping the flow off the back of the helmet, across the rider’s hump, and down his backside.
While Ducati Corse is busy playing hide-the-Desmosedici at Sepang, HRC is all business in Malaysia this week, and has debuted its 2012 Honda RC213V MotoGP-contender. Honda isn’t saying too much about the RC213V, simply stating that the race bike is all new, but is also a continuation of the company’s design with the 800cc Honda RC212V. Testing the Honda RC213V over the course of last season, reigning-World Champion Casey rode the new 1,000cc machine three times in 2011, while teammate Dani Pedrosa swung a leg over the RC213V twice (missing one test because of injury).
You may have been misled by some eager journalists today and yesterday, if you saw a Ducati Corse livery-clad Ducati Desmosedici GP12 that some sites were passing off as the first shots of the “90% new” GP12. With the alleged new GP12 looking surprisingly similar to the aluminum-framed “GP0″ that was tested at Valencia, Valentino Rossi’s mechanic has now Alex Briggs confirmed that the photos taken were not of the all new “GP12 Phoenix” that the factory team will race this season. While the Ducati lords can taketh away, they can also giveth, and Valentino Rossi himself has posted the first photo of the factory Desmosedici GP12, and the bike is clearly different.
Zero Motorcycles has announced the full-commencement of production for its 2012 model line, which is expected to hit dealers in February & March of this year. First off the line was the 2012 Zero DS back in December, though the electric motorcycle company has recently started building the Zero S, Zero XU, Zero X, and Zero MX at its Scotts Valley facility as well. A story we broke back in November, Zero Motorcycles debuted its important 2012 electric motorcycle line up at the 2011 EICMA show in Milan, with the 2012 range being a substantial improvement upon the company’s previous offerings.
Getting a look at Dainese & AGV’s 2012 collection, Asphalt & Rubber was down in Orange County earlier this week to see the highly anticipated Dainese D-Air Racing leather suit, which has a four liter airbag system that helps reduce the risk of injury during a motorcycle crash. Dainese has been working on the D-Air Racing system for 10 years now, and after soft-launching the airbag suit in Europe, the Italian company is ready to bring the game-changing technology to American soil.
Us Danes, we’re a strange breed. From the culture that taught you how to rape and pillage, Scandinavia is making yet another contribution to the motorcycling world with this latest video. Featuring Danish Supermoto Champion Andreas Mikkelsen, we get a RoToR camera-esque perspective (this rig is actually home made) on the Dane’s practice session at the Als Supermotard Club in Denmark. It’s videos like this that are slowly eroding my will-power to resist getting into supermotard riding. Also, I don’t know who was in charge of the music selection on this thing, but my hat is off to him/her. I love the nightlife. I’ve come to boogie.
Our friends over at IndianCarsBikes.in were in attendance at the KTM 200 Duke launch in India this week, as the Austrian brand launched its somewhat bigger-displacement version of the popular KTM Duke 125. During the press event, KTM talked about the future of the mini-Duke line and its product roadmap for the emerging country, as well as abroad. With the Austrian brand confirming/clarifying that KTM would release a KTM 350 Duke for India in 2013, zie Austrians also confirmed that the KTM 350 Duke would be built locally in India by Bajaj, but would be exported worldwide — allaying fears that the KTM 350 Duke would be an India-only model.
Brammo will at TT Zero racing ?
I don’t think Brammo will be at the IOM this year. If they do appear, it’s one of the best kept secrets (at least from me).
Why Brammo and Mission Motors don’t run in famous races for example IOMTT?
there are significant media returns in these events! Sponsors , partnership ect……
Brammo Eyeing an Electric Sportbike? – http://aspha.lt/11x #motorcycle
Brammo Eyeing an Electric Sportbike? – http://aspha.lt/11y #motorcycle
RT @Asphalt_Rubber: "Brammo Eyeing an Electric Sportbike? – http://aspha.lt/11y #motorcycle"
The reason Mission and Brammo aren’t racing much is probably because they are past the “get as much attention as possible while developing the first couple prototypes” phase and into the “okay, if we are actually going to be a profitable company (and get desperately needed investment money) we need to manufacture and sell some bikes” phase. I think the resources required for racing are just too great for small companies who have already managed to get some media attention, and are at a point where they must begin production to prove their profitability. It’s a shame though!
Brammo and Mission perhaps are famous because they have much invested or their image?
Brammo and Mission perhaps have they too muchi invested in image?
they have ran one race seems very little to return the image and especially to develop the product.
I would argue that Brammo and the others need to keep racing now more than ever. They need to show clear proof they are still advancing if they ever intend to draw any of the grassroots motorcycle people over.
I was an early supporter of electrics simply because I saw them get out there and innovate at the track, far moreso than most ice models can anymore with their rigidly ruled race classes. The less I see the electrics competing the less interested I am in their products; it just suggests to me that they have no idea how to improve and are afraid it will show.
If Brammo really did compare performance with a BMW I suspect the only outcome would be a sudden realization of just how tall the mountain is and how close to the bottom they still are. Could explain the quick turn-around of that model, one ride was likely enough to realize they were nowhere close.
I don’t think Brammo bought an S1000RR to compare its performance to an electric bike; as you say, they would be nowhere close.
Attracting grassroots motorcycle people to electrics is important for attracting investors’ money, but so is proving that electrics can be profitable in the long run. I doubt either company will have trouble selling initial small batches of their bikes at very high special edition prices.
I’m willing to bet all electric bike companies can – and are fully aware of their ability to – improve their products/prototypes quite a bit. Even without jumps in battery technology. The problem is that they are pioneering an effort to develop a very new machine with unique (but not insurmountable) engineering problems, but they do not have the staff and money to develop the product, race it, show off to investors, etc. all at the same time. It’s a balancing act.
What will really be interesting in the next couple years, in my opinion, is what will happen to the pioneers as the big manufacturers start to get into electrics. Will their head start and ability to rapidly develop the bikes keep them ahead of the the slower, but better-equipped established motorcycle companies? Should be interesting.
Interesting. Of course it could be that Mr. Brammo bought an S1000RR, didn’t like it and is now getting rid of it. I’m sure its a brilliant machine, but its certainly not universally appealing with its demanding ergonomics, and ultra-high rpm powerband. Or maybe there are aspects of the chassis that are relevant to Brammo R&D.