Carlos Checa is to retire from racing. The 41-year-old Spaniard had been forced to skip the last four rounds of the 2013 World Superbike season after crashing heavily during practice at the Istanbul Park circuit in Turkey, fracturing his pelvis. That injury, and the lack of a strong offer for the 2014 season, caused Checa to decide to retire.
Those Italians in Varese are getting their EICMA machine ready, and have sent the international press invitations to see the new MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800. As the name implies, the machine is a sport-tourer, likely based off the still unreleased MV Agusta Rivale 800 platform and its 800cc three-cylinder engine.
Details beyond this are unknown, though the Turismo Veloce 800 is likely to look like sex on two wheels, as all MV machines tend to do. We hope that the MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800 looks like the MV Agusta Tricruiser concept we saw back in 2011. Photos of that rolling piece of art are after the jump.
Ask any Grand Prix rider for his top three circuits, and you can bet that two names will figure on almost everybody’s list: one will be Mugello, and the other will be Phillip Island.
The order which the rider in question will put them in may vary, but the two appear so often because they share something special. Three factors make the two tracks such magical places to ride: they are both fast, they are both naturally flowing, and they are both set in spectacular locations.
Though their settings may be equally stunning, there is one major difference between the two. While Mugello sits amid the Mediterranean warmth of a Tuscan hillside, the Bass Strait, which provides the backdrop to the Phillip Island circuit, is the gateway to the cold Southern Ocean, with little or nothing between the track and Antarctica.
The icy blast that comes off the sea will chill riders, fans, and team members to the bone in minutes, gale force winds often buffet the bikes and trying to blow them off course, when it isn’t throwing seagulls and larger birds into their paths. The fact that the the track has a corner named Siberia tells you all you need to know about conditions at the Australian circuit.
Not content to have only the Honda CBR250R as its small-displacement offering, Honda Motor Corp. announced at the China International Motorcycle Trade Exhibition in Chongqing yesterday that the 2014 Honda CBR300R would be its latest “world model” motorcycle, with production set to start at Honda’s Thailand factory.
Details on the small-displacement motorcycle are next-to-nonexistent, with Seiji Kuraishi, Chief Operating Officer for Honda China simply stating that “Honda is exhibiting the world premiere of the CBR300R, a global motorcycle model for which Honda is planning to begin production in Thailand in the future. The market introduction of this model in China will be discussed in the future.”
We have featured the work of Peirobon on Asphalt & Rubber before, as the boutique firm from Bologna makes some intriguing air-cooled Ducati-powered sport bikes for discerning buyers, among other things.
Pierobon is also one of the companies we are looking forward to seeing at this year’s EICMA show, as the firm has something special this year for its booth display: a trellis frame kit for the Ducati 1199 Panigale.
When it was announced that the claiming rule was to be dropped and the rules would be changed for 2014, one of the main questions was what to call the new class. After some complaining early on, MotoGP fans had become used to the CRT name, and understood what was meant by it.
With the choice of software now determining how much fuel and how many engines a team can use – 24 liters for the spec Dorna software, 20 liters for factories using their custom software with the spec Magneti Marelli ECU – there was no easy and obvious nomenclature for the bikes.
Under the first draft of the rules, the bikes were divided into two categories: “MotoGP” and “MotoGP with factory option”. That appears to have encountered resistance, however, and so a new name has been found for the non-factory bikes: for 2014, non-factory bikes will be referred to as ‘Open’ entries.
As expected, the Aspar team today announced they would be switching from Aprilia to Honda for the 2014 season in MotoGP. The team has signed a two-year deal with HRC to race the Honda RCV1000R production racer, and will field 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden on one of the bikes.
The reasons behind dropping Aprilia and their highly successful ART machine are simple: after the departure of chief engineer Gigi Dall’Igna, the future of Aprilia’s MotoGP program is in severe doubt. American Honda had lobbied hard to have Hayden back on a Honda, and his signing came with the blessing and support of HRC.
Having a top level rider on the production racer – and one with many years of experience on a factory bike – should help to develop the bike, providing valuable input for HRC. American Honda’s financial contribution in getting Hayden on the bike was also a key factor.
The final realization of the BMW LoRider concept, a modular roadster design project, the BMW R nineT debuted in Munich today as a commemoration of 90 years of BMW motorcycles.
Powered by the German company’s venerable air-cooled 1,170cc boxer twin, the nineT is likely the last motorcycle in the OEM’s range to use the motor, as BMW Motorrad shifts its attention to its new “precision-cooled” boxer. That nostalgia probably only adds to the retro roadster’s mystique though, and if our comments section is any indication, people are likely what they see here.
Built with customization in mind, BMW has gone to some length to make a chassis that builders and hobbyists can easily build-off of to suit their individual tastes — a basic tenet of the original LoRider concept.nIt doesn’t hurt of course that BMW has a litany of genuine accessories and parts to help in that endeavor as well.
Because we know you just can’t get enough of this bike (we certainly like it, though the name is a bit cumbersome), we have 170 high-resolution photos for you after the jump. Enjoy!
If there was any doubt that Race Direction in MotoGP is trying to impose a stricter code of behavior on riders in all three Grand Prix classes, the bumper crop of penalty points issued at Aragon and Sepang makes their intention clear.
At Aragon, three penalty points were awarded: One for Alessandro Tonucci in Moto3, for staying on the line during qualifying, and one for Sandro Cortese for the incident in the Moto2 race, when he touched Alex De Angelis, causing the Italian to crash.
The most discussed penalty was of course the one issued for Marc Marquez, who was penalized for the touch on Dani Pedrosa, which severed the cable to Pedrosa’s rear-wheel speed sensor, confusing the electronics and causing the unlucky Pedrosa to be ejected from his Repsol Honda.
Debuting today at the AIMExpo in Orlando, the 2014 Erik Buell Racing 1190RX superbike is already the talk of the event. Based off the company’s uber-pricey EBR 1190RS racing machine, the EBR 1190RX is the RS’s more affordable, yet still potent, street bike sibling.
Featuring 185 peak horsepower in a 419 lbs bulk (sans fuel), Erik Buell Racing is posting some impressive numbers with the EBR 1190RX, though we think the $18,995 is the figure that will really get people excited. Putting the Erik Buell Racing 1190RX in “Ducati territory” for potential buyers, EBR is now a serious street bike company for enthusiasts to consider.
