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Ducati Superquadro Motor in Photos

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I’ll admit, I’m pandering to the crowd on this one. When we brought you the first images and details of the Ducati Superquadro motor, a recurring theme in the comments was how the motor bordered on art. While I’ll agree that a finely-built motorcycle has an aesthetic worthy of the MoMA (I fully expect the 2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale to be jaw-dropping beautiful), a motorcycle engine might be a tall order.

Content to let that one go and move on, Ducati ruined the whole thing by posting a bunch of artsy fartsy images of the 90°, overly-square, 195hp v-twin motor. Now, even I’m not bull-headed enough to avoid putting two and two together, so here you go you Ducatisti Asphalt & Rubber readers, more images of the Ducati Superquadro engine for you to drool over. Enjoy.

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Harden the F*ck Up America – Australia Knows How to Promote Motorcycle Safety

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You have to spend some time around Australians to fully appreciate the culture that has been fostered on the ass-end of the world. Having spent more years than I can count competing in sports against Australians, I already had an appreciation for the direct no-bullshit approach to personal communication that comes from the land down under. It is the same trait that gets Casey Stoner in trouble with fans, as when the former (and soon-to-be?) World Champion calls a spade a spade, well…it rubs them the wrong way, especially us Americans (case in point, the 2011 Indianapolis GP asphalt debacle).

You see, Americans in a broad-stroke generality don’t like to be told our babies are ugly, or that the Emperor has no clothes. Similarly, when it comes to our highway safety campaigns, we are coddled with cute public service announcements that do little to speak honestly about the reality of situations. That’s not the case in Australia however, as for the past month I’ve been assaulted with healthy & safety messages concerning motorcycles that do anything but mince words.

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Aspar Drops Ducati for 2012 MotoGP Season

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MCN and GPone are both reporting that the Mapfire Aspar team has decided to drop Ducati for 2012 season, after being incable of coming to terms with the Italian motorcycle manufacturer. Unable to negotiate an amicable lease price on the Ducati Desmosedici GP12, the Aspar MotoGP team has instead opted to cut its costs dramatically, and run a CRT machine for the 2012 season.

With close ties to Suter, which helps power the Aspar Moto2 effort, a BMW/Suter machine is at the top of the speculation list, though MCN says Aspar has also expressed interest with Aprilia (another company Aspar has close ties to) regarding using a RSV4 motor.

FTR has been working on an RSV4 CRT race bike, though there is also talk that the engineering firm has shelved that project. Idle-speculation could see the two parties linking up and reevaluating the concept, especially since many in the MotoGP paddock view the Aprilia RSV4 as a MotoGP bike built to meet World Superbike specifications.

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World Superbike Updates Its 2012 Provisional Calendar

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World Superbike has released presumably its final revision to the Provisional World Superbike Championship Calendar (still with us here?). Announcing that Portimão will now be the penultimate round on the calendar, the Portuguese Circuit has been moved up to earlier in the year, and now makes Magny-Cours the production series’s final stop. Other changes include confirming Imola as the series’s second stop, which comes as no surprise to us.

What is surprising though is that this latest updated schedule by Infront and the FIM shows that the round originally scheduled for March 4th, rumored to be at Sepang, has been sacked. Originially intended to help World Superbike breakout from its Euro-centric schedule, the loss of a possible round in Malaysia certainly is a blow to the series in that regard, though there is some consolation in the fact that a round will be held in Russia, at the Moscow International Raceway. Check out the calendar after the jump.

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Moto3 Technical Regulations Released

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Two-stroke racing has been living in a four-stroke world, and the death blow to the smokers in GP racing has already been dealt by the GP Racing Commission. With 2012 set to see Moto3 replace 125GP as MotoGP’s introductory class, the FIM has released the full technical specifications of the up-coming, 2500cc, single-cylinder, four-stroke racing class. Designed not only to bring GP racing into the 21st century, Moto3 also aims to end the Aprilia domination that’s currently taking place in the class’s two-stroke predecessor. With companies like Honda and KTM building complete Moto3 machines, and engineering firms like Kalex working on custom chassis for the prototype 250cc engines, there certainly looks to be a bit of diversity coming to the introductory GP series.

Another issue plaguing 125GP, and GP racing as a whole, is the rising costs of competing in the sport, as evidenced by the diminishing grid size in MotoGP. With Moto2 boasting a healthy 40 bike grid, Dorna and IRTA believe they have found the secret recipe to making prototype racing work, and have applied that methodology to the new Moto3 class. Unsurprisingly then, the vast majority of Moto3’s technical regulations concern keeping costs down, especially when it comes to the series’ claiming-rule style engine & parts restrictions. It’s actually interesting to read the level of detail the GP Commission has gone through in order to head-off attempts to circumnavigate the spirit of the cheaper four-stroke series, though we might point out that water always finds its level. Check out the full Moto3 technical regulations after the jump.

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Rider Gets Ticket as Speed Camera Catches Him Crashing

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Though he was most certainly breaking the law, we have to feel some sympathy for Swiss motorcyclist Boris Maier. The 38-year-old from Bern was recently caught speeding 107 km/h (66mph) in an 80 km/h (50 mph) zone, and accordingly received a ticket for his traffic violation. Where things get real bad for Maier though is the fact that he wasn’t even on his motorcycle at the time the picture was taken, as the Swiss rider had crashed, and was caught barreling down the highway by the camera.

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Ducati: Ads That Make You Go Hmm…

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UPDATE: Ducati North America sent me a note explaining that these ads were not a part of corporate-initiated ad campaign. Their best guess is that they are spec-creative, or something done by the company’s Ecuadorian distributor.

Talking in generalities, Ducati is one of the better companies in the motorcycle industry when it comes to handling its market communications, and in an industry that’s generally abysmal at making creative advertisements, you can make of that praise as you will. Of course every now and then Bologna produces a dud campaign, and well…through each others’ failures, we can hopefully make progress. It’s not that the concept being used here is a bad one, it’s just not readily apparent (it’s also averaging below a 2.5/10 rating on Ads of the World right now).

Trying to make a statement about how owning a Ducati motorcycle is as fantastic of an accomplishment as becoming invisible, turning into other objects, walking through walls, and levitating, we’re not sure that the comparison, though clever, is readily apparent when these photos stand on their own on a page. Better pitched in the idea room than executed on the paper, after the third advertisement or so it finally hits you (the walking through walls one was the “ahh-ha!” moment for us). But as for a clearly communicated message, there is a bit left wanting here from Ducati and its ad agency, The Grey Group…that and the teapot thing is just damn silly. More examples after the jump.

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Valentino Rossi Finally Joins the 21st Century & Twitter

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For being a motorcycle mega-brand in his own right, Valentino Rossi has been slow to adapt to this crazy new thing called the internet. A series of tubes, the internet has been a remarkable breakthrough on a variety of levels, changing the paradigm of how we eat, sleep, and waste our lunch breaks at work. Helping teenage girls gossip about their latest crushes, aiding in the massive distribution of pornography to middle-aged men who hide in their basements from their wives and children, and allowing no-talent journalistic hacks to masquerade around as proper motorcycle journalists, there is literally no telling how the internet will change our lives next, and what industries it will turn on their head.

Well get ready for another shockwave ladies and gentlemen, as the G.O.A.T. himself, Valentino Rossi, has hopped on this interweb bandwagon with full 0 & 1 force, first by finally creating his own official website, and now by signing up for a thing called Twitter. Tweeting, twatting, twittering so far in only Italian, Rossi was one of the last hold-outs of MotoGP riders to embrace the micro-blogging service (Randy de Puniet just got on Twitter this week too we might add. Thanks Lauren). Rossi’s move is sure to create a stir with the VR46 crowd, as his legion of fans can now take time out from their busy days of lathering neon yellow paint all of their bodies, and hang onto every one of Rossi’s 140 character messages.

So far, Rossi has tweeted about go-karting, his injured finger, and traveling to Melbourne. We wait with bated breath to see what photo the nine-time World Champion first tweets from his account. Bellissima.

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The Six Ways Casey Stoner Can Clinch the 2011 MotoGP Championship at Phillip Island

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MotoGP is coming to Phillip Island this weekend, as the premier motorcycle racing series gets set for the Australian GP. With only three more races left on the 2011 calendar, it is possible that Phillip Island could decide the 2011 MotoGP Championship, and points leader Casey Stoner is keen on winning the title in from of his home crowd. After a bobble at Motegi, Stoner saw Jorge Lorenzo claw back four more points in the Championship, thus leaving some margin for the Spaniard to prolong the Championship run (Lorenzo still has a mathematical chance at winning the Championship, we might add). With that being said though, Stoner is the betting favorite for the title, and could still very well clinch at home in Australia. To do so, one of six outcomes needs to occur.

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The 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R / ZZR1400 Makes Under 200hp

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After debuting the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R / 2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400, Team Green has been fairly tight-lipped about quoting specific performance figures on the company’s revamped hyperbike. Carefully gleaning the performance specifications from its US and UK websites, it looks like Kawasaki Motors Europe has spilled the beans on the ZX-14R’s horsepower figures. Perhaps letting down those who expected the ZX-14R/ZZR1400 to break the 200+ horsepower barrier, Kawasaki’s site quotes power figures just shy of 200hp.

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Suzuki MotoGP Decision Expected at Phillip Island

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Talking to GPone, Lucio Cecchinello, the LC in LCR Honda, let it slip that at the Australian GP Dorna expects to hear  from Suzuki regarding its 2012 MotoGP plans. Cecchinello of course has a vested interest in what Suzuki decides to do for 2012, as the Italian racing boss is keen on poaching Álvaro Bautista from the factory Suzuki team should it disband, especially now that Andrea Dovizioso has signed with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha squad.

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