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Brad Binder

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South Africa is an amazing country, and well worth the visit for the wildlife alone (mind the Hippos though, they’re faster than they look).

But for two-wheeled fans, we cannot recommend enough visiting the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and spinning a few laps. It’s divine, and one of motorsports best-kept secrets.

A beautiful sweeping track that flows with elevation, Kyalami is in my Top 5 tracks to ride around the world, and it should be on your bucket list as well. It’s certainly a circuit we don’t talk about enough.

Part of the reason for that is because it has been a long time since Kyalami has seen international motorcycle racing on its apexes.

Interestingly enough though, with the African track getting updates in 2015, the new layout technically doesn’t have an established lap record. That’s where Brad Binder and Red Bull come into the equation.

Not all team launches are the same. They vary in style, substance, length, medium. There are live presentations, long prerecorded presentations, and short videos.

Their length or content inevitably have no correlation to their information density. When you start, you never know what you are going to get.

The KTM MotoGP launch kicked off with a 4:35 video presentation that was all style and no substance, four minutes of spectacular images, dramatic electronic music, and empty cliches about racing.

After the launch, however, things got good. Really good. Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira gave a glimpse of where they felt the KTM RC16 was lacking in 2021, and what needed to improve. Interesting, but not earth-shattering.

Then newly appointed team manager Francesco Guidotti spoke, and a picture started to emerge of how KTM was trying to reshape itself, and address a fundamental weakness in their MotoGP project.

Guidotti spoke for 20 minutes in English and another 15 in Italian. And later in the day, the indefatigable Pit Beirer spoke to us for the best part of 45 minutes.

2021 is proving to be a more normal year than last year in many different ways.

One of those is the fact that in addition to racing at the more traditional MotoGP tracks, MotoGP’s Silly Season is kicking off pretty much on schedule.

Mugello is traditionally the point in the season at which teams and factories start to think about next year, and 2021 is no exception.

Can the 2021 MotoGP season match the weirdness and wildness of 2020? The circumstances are different, but the path that led to Qatar 2021 has laid the groundwork for another fascinating year.

2021 sees two trends colliding to create (we hope) a perfect storm. There is the long-term strategy set out after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 by Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, with support and backing from the many bright minds in Dorna and IRTA.

Episode 190 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a special addition to our weekly schedule (don’t worry, we’ll have another show for you on Wednesday as well).

On the mics, we have Steve English, David Emmett, and Adam Wheeler, and they are joined by factory KTM rider Brad Binder.

The four sit down to have a frank conversation about the MotoGP class, and how the South African riders has made the jump into the premier class from Moto3.

The MotoGP team unveilings continue, with now KTM showing its factory and satellite colors.

The livery on the Red Bull KTM Racing machines looks fairly unchanged from the previous season, but the new livery for Tech3’s KTM RC16 looks downright stunning in its low-key orange and black paint scheme.

Proof that less is more, the effect on the Tech3 KTM machines is palpable, and we are a big fan of the changes made to the fairing’s colors.

66 million years ago, an object somewhere between the size of Mt. Everest and the country of Luxembourg (or the island of Puerto Rico) slammed into what would become the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico at a speed of 20 kilometers per second, or 72,000 km/h.

The impact that an asteroid of that size moving at that speed made was unimaginably vast: scientists estimate that the energy released was around 100 million times that produced by Tsar Bomba, the most powerful hydrogen bomb ever built.

The devastation that impact caused, helped along by wide-scale volcanic eruptions and climate change, killed a large percentage of life on earth, wiping out virtually all land and amphibian species larger than 25kg in body weight.

It could happen again. Objects from outer space hit the earth with alarming regularity. 50,000 years ago, a nickel-iron meteorite 50 meters across struck Arizona, creating the aptly named Meteor Crater.

World championship motorcycle racing takes another step back to the season returning at Misano.

The next three days sees both MotoGP and WorldSBK teams testing at the Italian circuit, preparing for the resumption of hostilities at Jerez in July and August.

Present are the MotoGP teams of KTM and Aprilia, allowed extra testing due to their status as concessions teams. Aleix Espargaro and Bradley Smith are riding for Aprilia, the second test for the Italian factory.

The MotoGP season is closing ever nigh, and we know this because KTM just debuted its two teams in the MotoGP Championship, while giving us a glimpse at its 2020 machinery.

For a treat, we can see that the 2020 KTM RC16 stands out from its predecessor by its larger, more oval and more central air intake. The aerodynamics package on the machine continues to evolve as well, as KTM tries to spend its way to the front of the timesheets.

Mechanical bits aside, one of the highlights from the 2020 launch is the new livery (and quasi-new sponsor) for the Tech3 KTM squad, which is hocking Red Bull’s new cola product with a fetching orange, white, and blue livery.

KTM has finally found a solution to its rider lineup problem for 2020.

Yesterday, the Austrian factory announced that they will be taking Brad Binder directly into the factory Red Bull KTM team, to race alongside Pol Espargaro, while they have signed Iker Lecuona to race in the Red Bull KTM Tech3 satellite squad opposite Miguel Oliveira.

This is something of a shake up to KTM’s original plans, caused by the early departure of Johann Zarco.