You can’t keep a good race team down, as talk in the World Superbike paddock this week has been swirling around the Alstare Racing team. One of several teams to be on the receiving end of Suzuki’s withdrawal from the major racing series, Alstare found its factory-support from Suzuki draw to a close at the conclusion of the 2011 WSBK Championship season. We use the words “factory support” loosely of course, as Alstare Suzuki had been developing the Suzuki GSX-R1000 almost exclusively in-house, receiving only production OEM parts from Suzuki when needed.

As Suzuki shut its doors to WSBK and MotoGP racing, in the hopes of saving money to buy its stock back from minority shareholder Volkswagen (among other things), the Alstare Team Principal Franics Batta vowed that he would race with the Japanese manufacturer, or not race at all. News then came out that linked Team Alstare to possibly taking over the Kawasaki Factory WSBK team, which would later be handed to World Supersport’s Provec Motocard Kawasaki team. Other rumors linked Batta as interested in campaigning with MV Agusta, though the Belgian team owner could not get a callback from Varese.

Progress has seemingly been made on that front though, as Alstare Racing is reportedly closing in on a deal with the Italian company to campaign an MV Agusta F3 in World Supersport, with the relationship possibly growing to include an MV Agusta F4 RR in a seaon’s time.

It looks like MV Agusta will be making a “historic return” to the Isle of Man TT, as the venerable road race has announced that the factory-backed of World Performance Racing (WPR) will be entering MV Agusta F3 & F4 motorcycles in the 101st running of the Mountain Course.

WPR, a family-run business based in Chesterfield will be campaigning the exotic Italian bikes with the help from Chorley’s Moto GB, though it is not clear what the Italian factory’s involvement is with the racing effort precisely. According to the TT, the last time an MV Agusta was raced around the TT course was in 2007, when the late Martin Finnegan finished 4th with a 125.685 mph pace in the Superstock TT race.

MV Agusta has made it no secret that it plans on bringing more affordable motorcycles to its product line-up, as the Italian company has simply no choice but to increase its production volume in a bid to attain profitability. Introducing more affordable versions of its already existing models like the MV Agusta F4R & MV Agusta Brutale R 1090, the 2012 MV Agutsa F3 675 and soon-to-be-debuted MV Agusta Brutale 675 are the first bottom-up new modesl to carry this ethos for the Italian brand.

MV Agusta must be feeling antsy about the upcoming EICMA show in Milan, as the Italian company first teased its MV Agusta Brutale 675 in a video last week, and today it has released the final specifications of its upcoming 2012 MV Agusta F3 motorcycle. While we’re sure the 126hp 675cc three-cylinder motor, with its 52lbs•ft of torque, will please the discerning supersport purchaser, MV Agusta is betting that its MVICS (Motor & Vehicle Integrated Control System) electronics package is what is really going to get you excited about the Italian machine (did we mention it looks gorgeous too?). Clearly reading our thoughts that electronics are the new horsepower, the MV Agusta F3 675 is now the only supersport to boast ride-by-wire & traction control, and also comes along with optional wheelie and launch control vehicle dynamics.

All is not well regarding the new MV Agusta F3, several sources have now told Asphalt & Rubber. Teasing the F3 motorcycle for almost two years now, the three-cylinder supersport has been on the radar of two-wheeled enthusiasts since well before its 2010 debut at the EICMA show. While the latest creation from Varese is undisputedly a stunner, and promises some more than peppy performance and features, eyebrows within the industry were raised with its very pre-mature debut in Milan, and its accompanying lack of any real concrete technical specifications.

With products traditionally launched at the November EICMA show going on sale immediately the next model year, MV Agusta made a shocking announcement in 2010 that the F3 would be a 2012 model. Obviously launched with the intention of generating immediate buzz about the newly re-acquired MV Agusta brand, and its goal of becoming a larger volume producer (and actually a profitable company for a change), the F3 and its progeny like the MV Agusta Brutale B3 are supposed to usher in a new era for the Italian brand.

Apparently teased early to help prove demand for MV’s new product offering, this new ethos unfortunately has apparently done little to sway creditors and investors on the viabiliy of the brand, especially since the names associated with driving MV Agusta into the ground are still associted with the decidedly not-so-new regime. Though the Castiglionis were able to negotiate a stellar deal with Harley-Davidson regarding the purchase of MV Agusta (they bought the company for one euro, and got an operating cash flow of 20 million in the bank), according to our sources that are close to MV, the Italian company has had a hard time raising additional working capital, and has also found negotiations with parts suppliers to be difficult, with the outside firms demanding to be paid up-front for their wares.

MV Agusta has officially taken the wraps off its collector’s edition MV Agusta F3 ‘Serie Oro’ motorcycle, showing the three-cylinder supersport machine in its final production trim. Producing only 200 units of the Gold Series, MV Agusta is building these bikes to each customer’s specifications, with a price tag upwards of €20,000 being the name of the game. Helping justify that high cost for the MV Agusta F3 Serie Oro, MV Agusta has made Brembo monobloc calipers, Öhlins forks, an Öhlins TTX rear shock, and forged aluminum wheels all stock on the 675cc supersport machine.

The premium F3 also boasts plenty of carbon fiber and a sophisticated electronics package, though some might find the price hard to swallow in the middleweight sport bike category (even if there are nice touches like painted mirrors and intake grills). Accordingly, MV Agusta has also announced the MSRP for the base model MV Agusta F3, with European pricing set at €11,990. Production for the MV Agusta F3 has also been moved up by four months, meaning bikes will be in the hands of dealers by the end of this year. Photos of the 2012 MV Agusta F3 ‘Serie Oro are after the jump.

MV Agusta brought out its new three-cylinder sportbike, the 2012 MV Agusta F3, to its annual international gathering of owners and enthusiasts, and as you would expect in this digital age, the cameraphones and video cameras were in full-swing as it rolled out of the truck. The F3′s design was clearly not complete in-time for the 18th annual gathering, as parts of the bike noticeably looked un-finished or were inoperable (there are no turn signals in the mirrors for instance, and we hear the LED tail light didn’t work).

But that all matters for not, as what we really want is to hear that triple purr, and these videos don’t disappoint in that regard. If anything actually, the MV Agusta F3 sounds subdued, likely because of noise and emissions standards in the EU becoming more and more strict. We imagine some aftermarket kit will help put some life into that exhaust note, but we’re sure MV fans will enjoy the silky smooth sound of the MV Agusta’s new three-cylinder lump. Two videos await you after the jump.

MV Agusta is hosting it dealers meeting this weekend, and it is expected that the Italian company will unveil details on its upcoming 2011-2012 model line-up. With information coming forth about its new smaller Brutale 675 “B3″, a naked version of the companies recently unveiled MV Agusta F3 three-cylinder supersport, MV Agusta is likely to have the bike on sale as early as February 2012, with a base price of €8,990.

This puts the MV Agusta Brutale 675 squarely in the Triumph Street Triple’s price range, but bests its British counterpart with a claimed 120hp (de-tuned from the F3′s expected 140hp output). Also expected to be announced at the dealer meeting is the company’s plan for the releasing the MV Agusta F3, and news of a 201hp MV Agusta F4 “Corsacorta”.

As far as we can tell right now, you can get the 2012 MV Agusta F3 in just about any color you want, as long as it’s white & red. While the F3 looks good in the classic MV Agusta livery, that fact didn’t stop some Italian fanatics from photoshopping the bike into a variety of other color schemes MV has used over the years. Big ups to our commenters for pointing them out to us, you can find a gallery of the photoshops after the jump.

Naturally with the new MV Agusta F3 supersport, which according to MV Agusta will be available in the Fall of 2011, comes the news that we’ll be seeing a naked version of the 675cc three-cylinder motorcycle. Dubbed the Brutalina by Castiglioni, the MV Agusta Brutale B3 675 seems a more appropriate and official name for the smaller Brutale, and is a sign the project is becoming more cohesive. While official details are still scarce, judging from how the larger predecessor compares to the venerable and iconic MV Agusta F4, we have some vague idea of how the Brutale B3 675 will compare to the now officially debuted F3.

Helping us form a more cohesive thought though is photoshop master Jérôme Vannesson, of French magazine Moto Revue, and thankfully he has done up some renders on what the MV Agusta Brutale B3 675 could look like. Vannesson’s work is flawless, and in the past he’s been spot on with the design cues used by the OEMs. Time will tell if MV Agusta follows Vannesson’s line of thought, but until the Brutale B3 unveils, we’ll have to drool over his renders instead. Check Moto Revue‘s site for all four of Vannesson’s photochops (we like the black and white bike with the red frame the most).

Source: Moto Revue