Video: 2011 AFM Banquet Film – Death to Second Place

The oldest racing organization in the country dedicated soley to motorcycle road racing, the AFM is a Northern Californian non-profit racing organization that has helped hone the skills of riders like Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts, and Steve Rapp — not mention a weekend warrior or two. Each year the racing league comes together for a banquet, and lately the tradition has been to include a highlight film of the year’s racing. I’m not sure what films in the past have been like, but if the latest AFM banquet video doesn’t give you goosebumps, you might want to check your pulse. Bonus points for the including the Versus “Second Place” monologue — it’s very apropos.

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2011 – The Ducati Story

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 Announces Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Team with Carlin Dunne & Greg Tracy

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.

Cutaway Photos of the Ducati Superquadro Engine

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.

AGV, Please Make This Helmet!

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.

2012 Honda RC213V Debuts in Malaysia

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).

No, This is the “90%” New Ducati Desmosedici GP12

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 Commences 2012 Model Line Production

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.

The Dainese D-Air Racing Airbag Suit Comes to America

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.

I Love the Nightlife. I’ve Come to Boogie.

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.

Piaggio Working on a 600cc Aprilia? Gilera?

Sun, July 12th, 2009 @ 12:45 am, by Jenny Gun3 COMMENTS
Home » Popular » Piaggio Working on a 600cc Aprilia? Gilera?

Piaggio Working on a 600cc Aprilia? Gilera? aprilia rsv4 usa 1

This week, the Piaggio group, which owns several brands including Aprilia & Gilera released its 2009-2012 strategic plan, where it told investors that the company intends to develop a range of sports bikes with mid-sized engines for the American market.

What that means exactly is fairly vague, as no other details beyond this simple statment were given, “The Group intends to work on the growth of different brand names, also through the development of sport bikes with mid-sized engines.”

Many have speculated that this means that Aprilia will be releasing a 600cc sport bike to go along side its RSV4, and that seems like a fairly logical conclusion.

And then, we remembered this rumor from last year, Gilera 600cc Supersport 2009 Fact or Fiction?

It is possible that rumored 600cc we reported on back in November might have in fact been an Aprilia, and not a Gilera (or someone in Piaggio changed their mind on branding…). The other possibility is even more interesting to us, what if this new middleweight isn’t an Aprilia at all, what if this is Gilera’s entrace into the US market. Afterall, the announcement did also include the provision that it was going to work on growing different brand names. No name in the Piaggio portfolio could use more growing than neglected Gilera.

One advantage of bringing Gilera to the US is that it allows Piaggio to keep the Aprilia mark for Superbike level motorcycles, without diluting it down to 600cc (or…*gasp*…in-line cylinder motors). It would also mean that Piaggio could start anew in the US, with a brand that doesn’t have a wanning dealer network, and a past spotted with shoddy support and difficult to find parts. With an Italian racing petidgree, Gilera still has the chops to cut it as a higher-end, and yet also diminutive, product offering.

The move could also signal a larger shift in the Piaggio Group, with its brands focusing more on core-competencies and tighter market segments. If you’re bored this weekend, try and count how many different Piaggio brands sell scooters.

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Tagged under: 600, 600cc, Aprilia middleweight, Gilera, Piaggio, Piaggio Group, report, rumor, strategy, United States

Comment:

Asphalt_Rubber says:
July 12, 2009 at 5:41 AM
Piaggio Working on a Aprilia or Gilera Middleweight – http://bit.ly/iTy6o #motorcycle
Ducati Desmo says:
July 12, 2009 at 7:45 AM
Piaggio Working on a Aprilia or Gilera Middleweight – Asphalt & Rubber http://bit.ly/doASk
Jaybond says:
May 13, 2010 at 11:47 PM
Piaggio must continue to expand the brands in high perfomance segment rather than just concentrating on Aprilia. Gilera is quite a legendary name, so it’s about time to bring it out of the scooter confinement. The supersport class (perhaps a V4 600cc Gilera) is definitely the ideal class for this brand, while Aprilia maintains its assault in the 1000cc 4 cylinders superbike segment to take on the Japanese and BMW. And hopefully Piaggio should consider, a liquid cooled V-Twin, 1200cc Moto Guzzi superbike (it’s about time also) to take on Ducati & KTM. Piaggio could be the Volkswagen of the superbike world.