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.

Confirmed: KTM 350 Duke in 2013 – Moto3 Inspired 350cc Sport Bike in 2014

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.

Yamaha R1 to Get Dual-Clutch Transmission?

Tue, June 8th, 2010 @ 1:51 pm, by Jenny Gun8 COMMENTS
Home » Rumors » Yamaha R1 to Get Dual-Clutch Transmission?

Visordown is reporting that Yamaha is planning an electronically controlled dual-clutch transmission for a future version of its YZF-R1 superbike. Taking a page from the Honda VFR1200F’s DCT setup (check for our ride report on this in the next few days), Yamaha is looking to implement a simpler DCT system than the one found on the Honda VFR, with a clutch on either side of the motorcycle gearbox.

Yamaha’s DCT is different from the Honda unit, which employs an input shaft the runs through the other input shaft, and has the clutches all on one side of the motor. Instead of this all-in-one arrangement, Yamaha is using a split input shaft that’s half the normal length, with each half attached to an opposing clutch. The overall affect is a much simpler arrangement, but is not as compact or light as the Honda DCT.

The justification for this trade-off is that while the Yamaha DCT is bulkier and heavier than the Honda DCT, it allows the weight of the dual-clutch system to be evenly distributed across the motorcycle. We didn’t notice any lateral bias when we rode the 2010 Honda VFR1200F last week, but the YZF-R1 is a very different animal than the VFR, and weight balance plays a more important role as such, so there may be something to that reasoning.

Visordown is reporting that the current prototype of the Yamaha dual-clutch transmission has been tested on a ’07 R1, suggesting that Yamaha has been working on their DCT setup for nearly three years now. It’s not known when Yamaha will bring out the DCT R1, but considering the rumor (also from Visordown) that Honda is working on DCT CBR1000RR, it would seem that sport bikes do not have to wait long for the new technology to make it to the race track.

We’re still iffy on this rumor as we have not been able to confirm with Yamaha that they are working on a dual-clutch transmission for the YZF-R1. Considering that Visordown seems to be making a lot of DCT connections with sport bikes this week, and with their general reputation for being hit or miss with rumors, we’re not overly optimistic on this one. However, it’s very clear that dual-clutch transmissions will make their way into sport bikes eventually, the question is just how soon that future will be for us. More as we get it.

Source: Visordown

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Tagged under: 2010 Honda VFR1200F, DCT, dual-clutch, dual-clutch transmission, dual-clutch yamaha, Honda VFR1200F, rumor, Yamaha, Yamaha YZF-R1

Comment:

akatsuki says:
June 8, 2010 at 2:01 PM
Now all they need to go is get away from that creepy as hell eyeball/vent front end and back to some styling.
Mike Perham says:
June 8, 2010 at 2:04 PM
It would be nice if you actually explained to readers what the benefit of a double clutch is.
Jenny Gun says:
June 8, 2010 at 2:10 PM
Mike, there’s a link in the article that explains the Honda DCT very well, which is a good starting point (http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news/2010-vfr1200-dual-clutch-transmission-details/).
In essence though, each clutch is responsible for half the gears, (1-3-5) & (2-4-6). This makes sequential shifting extremely fast as the next gear has already been selected before the rider has shifted (electronics figure out if you’re going to shift up or down). So the benefit is having a rapidly shifting transmission.
When we took the VFR1200F for a spin this weekend, the DCT also meant an extremely smooth ride when shifting. I hope that clarifies it a little.
Lee says:
June 8, 2010 at 4:23 PM
I think the Honda DTC basically allows clutchless down shifts since the ECM controls the clutch engagement, like semi-automatic shifting.
Kevin White says:
June 8, 2010 at 6:32 PM
So this one will be heavier than the Honda unit? And the Honda unit already adds 22 pounds? And the stock/fully fueled R1 is already 472 pounds? Is the next R1 going to tip the scales at 500 pounds or what?
Asphalt_Rubber says:
June 8, 2010 at 8:51 PM
Yamaha R1 to Get Dual-Clutch Transmission? – http://aspha.lt/12e #motorcycle
Sean says:
June 8, 2010 at 11:55 PM
Surely a quickshifter would be more appropriate for a sports bike?
Whats next, panniers?
Peter says:
June 9, 2010 at 11:54 AM
I do not like this either. Although I can see the benefits, I think a manual transmission is one of the last vestiges of a device that connects rider to machine. Same with cars.
Now TC, that’s something I could agree with. I’m also starting to agree with ABS.
A manual transmission is where I draw the line.