Known only to us as “The Sparrow“, we just got some tips from our insider in the AMA. The Sparrow goes on to tell us that rumors of Miguel Duhamel making a return to AMA racing at Fontana are untrue, and the actual rider listed as “TBA” is instead Tyler Odom. The Sparrow also goes on to say that John Hopkins has been incredibly unhappy with the performance of his GSX-R1000, faulting the motor as having less power than the rest of the field. While indications seem to suggest that’s not the case, Yoshimura has put together a new lump for Hopper that looks to have plenty of juice, but will it pass scrutineering after the races? Continue reading for the full report from The Sparrow.
Spanish news site AS.com has an interesting story that breaks down the cost teams will have to bear in the new Moto2 600cc prototype series. Moto2 replaced 250GP for one main reason: money. The series was designed to be cheaper to enter and cheaper to compete in, as well as having bikes that were more analogous to what is making it into consumers’ hands on the showroom floor. So did Moto2 live up to these goals? The answer as AS.com found out is a resounding yes. Click past the break to see the price breakdown and comparison to 250GP.
After injuring his hand earlier this year, Jorge Lorenzo has been sitting out MotoGP’s testing days, trying to recover in time for the upcoming season. Now leaving a post on his Facebook page, Lorenzo confirms that he will be at the Qatar test later next month. Surely with this message, all eyes will be trained on the Middle-Eastern track, looking for the first signs that Lorenzo will be able to dethrone the reigning World Champion Rossi.
After crowdsourcing their rule book, TTXGP has set another unprecedented move in racing by allowing teams to own up to 70% of the series itself. The union (TEO), as TTXGP calls it, will be transfered stock in in TTXGP Ltd, the company behind the TTXGP series. Teams then who comprise of the TEO membership will be award individual “units” of TEO based on the number of races the teams enter and their position in the standings.
For 2010, 30% of TTXGP Ltd. will be transfered to TEO, and the goal is to have 70% of the company up for grabs by 2020. TEO will have a considerable amount of sway in how TTXGP is run, thus creating a more open atmosphere for the direction of the series. The move to give teams a vested interest like this also serves to encourage more participation in the series. More after the jump.
It’s not that new Suzuki MotoGP livery is bad, it’s just well…sort of what you’d expect from Suzuki’s factory racing team. When we first heard that Troy Lee Designs was going to give the old Rizla Blue the once over, we were excited to see what the talented company could come up with in the go fast/look good department.
Yet as we look at these pictures, we wonder what happened in the process. Powder blue? Check. Big Rizla Letters? Check. Nothing else that’s remote eye-catching? Check. We sure hope the Suzuki GSV-R performs better than it looks, but we’re not holding our breath. Check out the rest of the photos after the jump.
Along with the 2010 Yamaha FZ8, Yamaha Europe has finally officially released the 2010 Yamaha Fazer8 ABS. The 800cc cousin to the FZ8, the Fazer8 gets the obvious anti-lock brake treatment as the name implies. Drawing on styling cues from the larger FZ1, the FazerOcho distinguishes itself by what lies beneath its exposed motor. As was rumored, the Fazer8 borrows from the FZ1’s 998cc motor’s stroke length, making up the smaller displacement with a smaller bore diameter (68mm down from 77mm). Check out the full technical specifications and photos after the jump.
After teasing us time and time and time again, Yamaha Europe has taken the wraps off its 2010 Yamaha FZ8 (and it’s cousin the 2010 Yamaha Fazer8). As was expected, the FZ8 is a 779cc naked street bike that borrows its heritage from the FZ1, and replaces the FZ6 in the European line-up.
While the FZ8 looks well and good, Yamaha has proven that a copy of a copy never carries over well. The FZ8 motor is in essence a smaller bored FZ1 motor, which is itself a de-tuned R1 powerplant. As such the Yamaha FZ8 puts out a solid 104hp, which may disappoint many riders. Torque lovers rejoice though, the 2010 Yamaha FZ8 makes an impressive 62lbs•ft of wheel turning power from its 779cc’s.
Debuting at the Rome Motodays event this week, Bimota unveiled a very special bike: the 2010 Bimota DB6 Superlight. Unfortunately we weren’t there to witness this wonderful piece of carbon fiber mastery, but the good folks at OmniMoto were, and have a gallery full of delicious photographs that are sure to become your next desktop wallpaper. Why is the Bimota DB6 Superlight so special? It could be it’s carbon trellis frame, or it’s carbon trellis swingarm, or its feather light weight, or it could just be a combination of all of the above. Find out more about the DB6 Superlight after the jump.
Paginas Amarillas Aspar Team, the MotoGP team headed by Jorge “Aspar” Martinez, has just released it’s livery for the 2010 season. Now we’ve seen Ducati’s in yellow racing trim before, and it was no big deal. But for some reason, this goldenrod Ducati Desmosedici just doesn’t look quite right, and unfortunately for Aspar’s rider Hector Barbera, we’re starting the short bus jokes as of right now. Leave your own in the comments section.
The fine folks of Noale have finally added the 2010 Aprilia Dorsoduro Factory to their official line-up and removed any doubts that the good Factory name means less today than it used to in the good ol’days. Tacking on a €900 premium for the “upgraded” Dorsoduro Factory model, riders will see an increase in carbon fiber, but only a limited change to the performance of the street tard. Despite this, the 2010 Aprilia Dorsoduro 750 Factory makes a strong rival for the Ducati Hypermotard 796. See why after the jump, along with a bevy of photos and a video.
After a lively discussion on fully-faired motorcycles in his original post, including a lengthy post by Craig Vetter, Michael Czysz follows up the discussion by further delving into streamlining, dustbins, and the difference between the two. In his discussion Czysz explains the purpose and benefit of taking aerodynamics into account not only in electric racing but also in ICE applications, and then walks us through its use on the MotoCzysz C1.
The post is a good primer on the exponential force that streamlining tries to overcome, and well worth a read for that purpose. Michael Czysz closes his post with a hint that he’ll have a dustbin at the ready should the field warrant such a fairing, and should his rider Mark Miller feel comfortable using it. Check it all out here.