“This morning was not Mugello weather,” joked Pramac Ducati team manager Francesco Guidotti when we went to speak to him on Friday evening. It was cold, wet, and overcast, with a track still damp from the overnight rain.
The Tuscan sun stayed hidden behind the clouds, lending no hand in burning off any water on the track. It was that horrible half-and-half weather that teams and riders fear so much, a completely lost session in terms of preparing for the race.
It was also precisely the kind of conditions that had prompted the return of intermediate tires. Fearing empty tracks – and consequently, dead TV time – Dorna had asked Michelin to produce tires that might tempt riders out on track, give TV viewers something to watch, and TV commentators something to talk about.
It didn’t really work. At the start of MotoGP FP1, a group of riders went out on the hard wet tires, switching to intermediates as the track started to dry out a little.
But it was still only about half the field, the rest preferring to remain safely ensconced in the pits, only venturing out at the end of the session to do a test start or two. Why, fans and journalists alike asked, did the riders not make use of the tools they had been given?
The Honda VFR1200F isn’t exactly the most popular motorcycle in Honda’s two-wheeled lineup. This might be because the large and heavy sport-tourer shows Honda’s commitment to pushing the VFR brand farther away from its sport-tourer roots, much to the chagrin of VFR owners.
The package isn’t all bad though, it just doesn’t work for a bike billed as a sport-touring machine. The Honda VFR1200X is basically the same bike with longer suspension and different bodywork, and as an adventure-sport machine, it fits the bill quite nicely.
The chassis handles its 590-pound mass well, and the 1,27cc V4 engine has plenty of grunt , and this is what must have been what attracted Aldo Drudi to the machine for his first motorcycle concept.
Better known as the maker of various racer helmet designs, most notably Valentino Rossi’s (expect another Drudi custom helmet, later this weekend), Drudi and his team have dreamed up a VFR that couldn’t possibly exist in Honda’s conservative offerings. They call it the Burasca 1200.
Since we already reported earlier this week that Maverick Viñales had signed a two-year deal with Yamaha Racing, riding alongside Valentino Rossi in the Movistar Yamaha team for 2017 and 2018, we won’t rehash the details again for you.
Instead, for those who doubted the initial report, this post is merely a note in the official record that Yamaha has now officially confirmed the addition of Viñales to its factory MotoGP, just ahead of the Italian GP in Mugello. Officially.
Together with the contract-signing news of Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, and Andrea Iannone, this confirmation solidifies most of the silly season rumors for the top factory teams in the MotoGP Championship.
The MotoGP silly season has been rapidly developing this week. First, Dani Pedrosa renewed his contract with Repsol Honda, and then we heard that Maverick Viñales would be headed to the Movistar Yamaha team for the next two years.
Next, we got confirmation that Andrea Dovizioso would continue with Ducati Corse, with Jorge Lorenzo as his teammate for next year, which meant that Andrea Iannone would be leaving the Italian squad.
Iannone’s future was quickly decided though, as the Italian rider has just inked a two-year deal with the ECSTAR Suzuki squad, taking the seat of the departed Maverick Viñales.
The pre-event announcements for the Italian GP seem to keep rolling in. First, it was Dani Pedrosa re-signing with Repsol Honda for two years; then, we got word that Maverick Viñales had done the same with the Movistar Yamaha team.
Now, we get news from Ducati Corse that Andrea Dovizioso will be with the Italian team for the next two years, with Andrea Iannone making his departure from Ducati, as well.
With this news, good money in the MotoGP Silly Season betting pool would place Iannone in the ECSTAR Suzuki garage for the foreseeable future, but time will tell on that speculation.
There has been a great deal of smoke around this fire, but Maverick Viñales has finally inked a deal with the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team.
Though there has been chatter on the subject since Friday, the news was confirmed to Asphalt & Rubber today. Together with the news of Dani Pedrosa staying at Repsol Honda, all of these reports should end one of the largest focal points of speculation in the GP paddock.
It has been exactly two years since we lost Massimo Tamburini, the father of iconic motorcycles like the Ducati 916 Superbike and the MV Agusta F4.
Despite his passing, the Italian designer’s influence can still be felt in the motorcycle industry today, and his creations continue to be highly coveted pieces for motorcycle collectors around the world.
Many know that Tamburini was the “ta” in Bimota, which saw The Maestro team up with Valerio Bianchi and Giuseppe Morri, and together the three pillars of the industry would create countless exotic two-wheeled examples.
In essence, Tamburini’s name can be linked to the most lust-worthy motorcycles in the modern era, and we are about to add one more machine to that list.
It would seem that Tamburini apparently had one last design up his sleeve before he departed this world, and it is debuting today. Giving tribute to his name, the Tamburini T12 Massimo is a BMW S1000RR powered superbike that is meant purely for the race track, and maybe the museum.
