You may remember the news that Norton was preparing an entry into this years Isle of Man TT. Visordown has caught up with the British team at Donington Park recently, and has posted a video of the Norton team testing the rotary motor powered NRV588, and running it on their dyno. The bike sounds vicious, and the glowing exhaust pipes, menacing. It won’t be long now until we can see the fruits of Norton’s labor. Watch the video after the jump.
Entries for the upcoming TTXGP have been announced, and five teams have entered to run the Isle of Man on electric wheels. Mission Motors, EVO Design Solutions, Kingston University, Brammo, and Motorczysz will make up the field. The teams have just 64 more days to get their bikes ready for competition, which could be a tall order for some of them, whose bikes still only exist as CAD drawings.
We have a very reserved opinion on how TTXGP will go down. While these teams have been able to gain a great deal of attention in the blogsphere about their projects, it would seem virtually all of them haven’t actually built even a prototype yet (excluding Brammo). In the tech industry, we call this Vaporware, and with less than 10 weeks before race day, we have a hard time conceiving how all these teams will be able to deliver in this short of a time frame. Never-the-less, the TTXGP will be a big day not only for electric motorcycle racing, but also for electric motorcycles in general. Continue reading for a description of each team from their press releases.
Zero Motorcycles has made the logical next step in its bike line-up by now offering a Supermoto version of its electric dirtbike, the Zero X. Zero has added 17″ street tires and a projector headlamp to make the transition necessary from dirt-track to city streets. With 31 horses and 62.5 lb-ft of torque instantly available, the clutchless one-speed “S” should make it up to 60 mph. Its four kWh battery lasts up to 60 miles, and can be recharged with the integrated charger, which will charge the battery up in less than four hours.
Max Biaggi’s longtime girlfriend and former Miss Italy, Eleonora Pedron, is expecting to have the couple’s first child later this September. The couple revealed the news to Italian weekly magazine “A”during an interview:
“As soon as we knew that Ele was pregnant we told her mother, her brother Nicola, my father, my sister and my nephew. We don’t like to exploit our private lives to attract attention to our jobs, infact after this interview we won’t give any others. It doesn’t matter, boy or girl, as long as it’s healthy. Because it’s going to have a brother or sister later on.”
The Roman Emperor doesn’t seem to concerned about getting married anytime soon. When asked about it, he responded, “Marriage? It’s not a priority, I’d like things to go on as they are even if it’s not out of the question. Five or six years ago I never thought of a kid and now…”
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There’s long been an on-going joke that motorcycle journalists aren’t exactly known to be God’s gift to motorcycling when on the track. It would also be fair to say that some of us spend too much time behind the desk talking about bikes, rather out riding one.
Now, we here at Asphalt & Rubber don’t get too upset when Ducati doesn’t invite us out to warm and sunny Spain to test-ride the new Ducati Streetfigher. We get it…our invitation must have been lost in the mail. However, had we been invited instead of , we’re fairly certain video after the jump wouldn’t have happened.
Dani Pedrosa has confirmed that he will be racing at Qatar for the opener of the MotoGP season. Pedrosa has been sidelined since a crash while testing, which led to him needing surgery on his leg and arm. Speaking on his blog at repsol.com, the Spaniard announced that he had decided at the last minute to head to Losail, and to risk further injury by riding.
As we noted late last week, Jim Ziemer, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, will be leaving the Milwaukee company soon. Replacing him will be Keith E. Wandell, former COO of Johnson Controls. Along with Mr. Wandell, there is further shuffling and addition in the Harley ranks. Matt Levatich has returned from running MV Agusta, to become Chief Operations Officer. In turn, replacing Levatich at MV Agusta is the Italian Enrico D’Onofrio, former CFO at Ducati. D’Onofrio will take the position of Managing Director of MV Agusta. How about that for three letter bingo?
While we expect that these names have been gracing the lips of Board Members for some time, the announcement of their appointment happily coincides with harsh criticism made in the media of Harley-Davidson’s current financial problems, and general mismanagement. We can only hope that the timely appointments will also mean timely changes for Harley-Davidson.
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Norwegian site has gotten its hands on some of the sketches used in the process of designing the Ducati Streetfighter. While the drawings show a glimpse into the process of what it takes to bring a motorcycle to fruition, you can also see the evolution of the design itself. From rough polygons and shapes, to the detailed and shaded sketches, and finally the CAD drawing of the finished design, one can see the refinement and process that must be going on in the artists heard.
It would seem a new player has entered the American Sport-Tourer market. The Kneeslider broke this morning that Motus American Motorcycles, a company founded by Brian Case and Lee Conn a year ago, is well along in their development of an all new next-generation, sport-touring motorcycle with a proprietary V4 powertrain.
After his poor start in the first race, further pressure was put on Spies who now stood 35 points behind Noriyuki Haga because of his crash out in Race 2. Surely Haga felt the pressure too, knowing that the American wouldn’t make the same mistakes a second time. With the Championship already playing out in the third stop of the WSBK tour, Race 2 already had more than just a purpose. Continue reading for spoilers from Race 2 of the Valencia World Superbike Races, and to see how Race 2 sorted itself out.
The World Superbike Championship visited Valencia this weekend. With three poles and three wins in a row, all eyes were on Ben Spies at the start of the first Superbike race, wondering if the American could close the 10 point lead that Noriyuki Haga had over him. A sweep of the weekend’s races, could mean that Spies could be leading the series, or at the very least tied with Haga, depending on how the Japanese rider fared. Conversely, Haga with a strong showing could lengthen his early lead over the field. With Spies showing almost a full second on Haga at the Superpole, this would be no easy feat. Continue reading for spoilers from Race 1 of the Valencia World Superbike Races, and to see how Race 1 sorted itself out.