The story that surrounds Petronas and its ill-fated Petronas FP1 World Superbike project is one full of intrigue, and was seemingly put to bed long ago when the Malaysian oil giant folded its motorcycle business and racing plans in 2006. The story was brought back to life though when a bunker full of Petronas FP1 street bikes was discovered in the UK. The bikes have their own intriguing story of how the Malays did, or did not, “bend” the homologation rules for WSBK, and how the machines then found their way to be forgotten in a bunker in Essex. With that discovery, new life was spurred into the Petronas FP1, whose fire-breathing three-cylinder engine and powder blue paint scheme has tantalized the fancy of collectors worldwide for some time now.
The Ducati Scrambler work horse has made its way onto the internet again. While the machine hasn’t developed much further than from the last time it broke cover, we do at least get a better view of the Scrambler’s early lines, and can clearly spot the bike’s air-cooled v-twin engine. Absent however is a high-mounted level exhaust, though Ducati’s unit here seems to be anything but finalized. From this angle too we can get a better idea of wheel rim sizes, and a little Photoshop measuring reveals a front rim that’s just over 10% larger than the rear, confirming what our sources have said about a 19″ front wheel. More specific details on the Ducati Scrambler are sketchy at best though, with conflicting information abounding at this point in time.
Ducati has announced its World Superbike lineup for the next two seasons. For 2014 and 2015, Chaz Davies and Davide…
There have been occasions over the past few years when I have asked Nicky Hayden how he manages to find…
If it is connected by a series of tubes, we will find it; and thus here are photos of the still unreleased KTM RC125 & KTM RC200 street bikes — the kid-siblings to the recently leaked KTM RC390. Like the RC390, the RC125 & RC200 are visually similar, and share a common vein in their Made-in-India single-cylinder engines. No word on specs, but we foresee the 125cc and 200cc iterations sharing similar technical listings as their Duke counterparts. We should know more at EICMA, where all three of these street bikes are expect to debut. More photos after the jump.
MotoGP Race Results from the Japanese GP at Motegi, Japan