This Friday silly season rumor was too good not to publish, but according to GPone (usually a very reliable site) Ducat is at least pondering closing its World Superbike effort if it means securing Valentino Rossi on a MotoGP ride. It sounds like the work of fiction, but let’s take a minute, and forget the fact that Ducati rests its racing laurels on WSBK victories, and examine this rumor a bit further before we dismiss it.
The Italian press is buzzing about the latest silly season info regarding Valentino Rossi, and where he will be racing next year. According to Corriere dello Sport, Ducati has upped their offer to Rossi to €15 million and has included provisions that would allow the Italian to race later with either Ferrari F1 or Fiat Rally teams once he’s finished with motorcycle racing.
Now…you’d expect Yamaha to up its ante on the nine-time World Champion, right? Not quite. Instead Yamaha has reduced Valentino’s Rossi contract price from the €14 million they current pay him each year to €9 million. More on the reasoning behind that after the jump.
Team Spider Grips Ducati has qualified 1st & 3rd at this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, as the team gets set to race a pair of slightly modified 2010 Ducati Multistrada 1200S motorcycles up the 5,000ft ascent near Colorado Springs.
Taking the pole position is Pikes Peak veteran Greg Tracy, with a qualifying time of 5:22:659. Tracy won the 2008 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on a “skunk works” Ducati Hyptermotard, and is the favorite to win this years’ 1200cc class in the motorcycle division.
Taking up the third position is Alexander Smith, who qualified with a time of 5:45:470, just one second behind the second place qualifying Buell.
GPweek.com is reporting that Casey Stoner’s mechanics in the Marlboro Ducati garage have been warned “that they may have to seek new employment for next season.” If true, this is a strong indication that Ducati does not expect the Australian GP Champion to return to the Italian team for the 2011 season. While many sources are quick to make the link that this means Rossi is inbound to the Ducati team, we’re still hesitant to subscribe to that faulty logic.
Do you ever feel like your Ducati Superbike 999 just doesn’t go all the places you want to go? Are you more of a go anywhere, do anything sort of motorcyclist, but think GS-series BMW’s are for wussies? Have you ever killed a man just to watch him die? If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, then the Ducati 999 Testastretta Beach Racer might just be the all-purpose two-wheeler just for you.
What does racing to the clouds look like on a Ducati Multistrada? Well it looks a little bit like this if you’re Greg Tracy. At the helm of one of the , Tracy is looking in-form for the event after this practice session. Also spotted in the video is Team Spider Grips Ducati teammate Alexander Smith, who Tracy catches about a minute into the video.
After teasing us last week with just a shot of the motor NCR Millona M16 motor, NCR has finally released full pictures of their take on the Desmosedici RR. Weighting just 319lbs, and making over 200hp at the wheel, we called the NCR M16 a Desmosedici on steroids when we first saw the specs. Now looking at the detail shots of the bike, we see plenty to drool over. Photos and more after the jump.
Launching at the 2010 World Ducati Week at Misano on June 10th-13th, Ducatisti will soon be able to enjoy the official story about their favorite Bologna brand on DVD. Ducati: The Story covers the heritage of Ducati from 1926 to 2007, and features numerous personal accounts from the people that shaped the Italian company into what it is today. Although set to be unveiled at Misano, the DVD is now available at the Misano World Circuit, the Ducati Museum bookshop and Factory Store, and will be available in Ducati Stores around the world. Trailer after the jump.
We promised ourselves that we wouldn’t publish any more Ducati singles by Oberdan Bezzi, after the Italian designer set out with his pen and paper to imagine the Italian brand with a bevy of off-road inspired motorcycles; however Bezzi’s Ducati Desmolight 450 concept was just too great of a design to ignore, and thus here we are. With styling drawn from the current Monster line, Obiboi’s 450cc single looks delicious, especially with the coloring that’s reminiscent of Ducati’s Corse theme. This is the kind of bike that would go in our fantasy garage, and we’ll need a Prozac knowing it won’t be built.
NCR is known for its stunning renditions of Ducati motorcycles, our personal favorite being the NCR Corse Millona One Shot. Of course no bike in the Ducati line-up is safe from getting the once over from this performance-meets-aesthetics tuning brand, and thus the NCR Millona 16 was born. Expected to weigh 145kg (319lbs), make over 200hp (at the wheel), and include a carbon frame, the NCR Millona 16 is a Ducati Desmosedici RR on steroids (BALCO would be proud).
As teams look to the future of MotoGP racing, the rumors are beginning to fly on how the newly revised rules will affect the competitive landscape in the race series. With news already surrounding what opportunities exist for private teams, we focus now on the factory efforts. Making it clear recently that the Bologna factory is not convinced that 1000cc is the optimal displacement with the current fuel restrictions, Ducati’s Filippo Preziosi has hinted that Ducati is considering a 900cc or 930cc displacement for the 2012 race season.