MCN is reporting that the days of 125GP may be numbered as Dorna and the FIM get ready to replace the small displacement GP series with what’s being called the new Moto3 race class. Drawing from the formula found in Moto2, Moto3 features prototype bikes with 250cc four-stroke single-cylinder motors. However instead of a single-spec motor rule, as found in Moto2, Moto3 appears to be open to multiple engine manufacturers.
UPDATE: GPOne.com (probably the most reliable source in the Italian Media) has gotten word from Livio Suppo that “no one has signed anything yet”, which probably confirms that Stoner is talking to HRC, but obviously hasn’t made his mind up about anything.
Silly season is officially underway starting today as the Italian press is full of accounts (all penning their source as being from Sportmediaset) that Casey Stoner has signed with the Repsol Honda MotoGP team, with a sub-headline that Valentino Rossi has been offered a two-year contract with Ducati. Sportmediaset cites the deciding reason for Stoner jumping ship as being the Australian rider’s disappointment in how Ducati backed him during his mysterious illness last year.
Despite headlining Stoner’s move, the bulk of their article concerns Rossi’s switch to Ducati, which may be a tip-off on the validity of the news, as the Italian press loves to pair the two marquee names together. We wade through the silly season possibilities further after the jump.
Yes silly season is well upon us now for MotoGP, and rumors are swelling after Livio Suppo spent time with Casey Stoner and his father during the MotoGP testing at Jerez, Spain. Suppo, who moved to HRC after 11 years with Ducati, is rumored to have met with Stoner in order to have the Australian rider make a switch of teams in 2011. The Honda marketing manager made it clear when he jumped ship from Ducati that he would be back for Stoner, a rumor that’s been confirmed by Loris Capirossi, and passed around the paddock more than a few times.
Available in Japan this December, Honda has announced it’s first electric two-wheeler: the EV-neo.
An electric scooter with under 20 miles of range (30km according to Honda), the EV-neo is pitched as an urban business scooter. It takes only four hours to charge the EV-neo’s Toshiba sourced Li ion batteries with a 100 volt source (an 80% charge can be achieved within 20 minutes if a 220 volt source is used!).
While electric scooters are certainly nothing new, and not likely to be of hugest interest to hardcore riders in the United States, what’s really compelling by the EV-neo is the fact that owners will have to lease the scooter, instead of outright buying it.
Honda has announced that it intends to build a second production plant in India in order to meet the rising demand in the world’s second largest motorcycle market. Located in western Rajasthan, the production facility will cost Honda over $100 million, but will also allow the Japanese firm to churn out an additional 600,000 units per year starting in the second half of 2011.
Back when men were men, and GP racing’s crowning event was contested on two-stroke 500cc machines, Wayne Gardner found himself carrying the factory Honda GP team on his NSR 500. This fantastic 1986 documentary, Lone Racer, follows Gardner one year before he won the 500GP Championship, and became the first Australian to win GP racing’s premiere racing class.
The film includes great behind the scenes footage of the Aussie, his fiancée, and his team. So grab a cold beverage, put your feet up, and get ready to spend the rest of your Saturday afternoon watching the 30 minutes of video in this three part series. Videos after the jump.
Honda’s factory in Kumamoto is a high-tech enviormentally friendly facility that might just be as innovative as the new VFR1200F. Churning out a new VFR every 90 seconds, Kumamoto’s wrenches are all digitally linked, and store build information for each individual motorcycle. Did worker X have a habit of over-tightening the connecting rods? If so Honda can track exactly which bikes were affected by his/her mistake, pinpointing the problem. That’s pretty cool in our book.
Check out the video after the jump for more information about the Kumamota plant and watch the VFR1200F get put together.
Because of our good friends at SoCal Buell Riders, we have to spend the rest of the day replacing the A&R office keyboards, which are now soaked with this morning’s coffee. You have to admit though, the headlight on the new VFR does borrow heavily from the Centurion’s jaw-line…enough to make one wonder if it’s from the 13th colony of Kobol. If you have no idea what we’re talking, you need to watch more Battlestar Galactica.
A few weeks ago we announced that the Honda VFR1200F would cost nearly €15,000 in the European market, and speculated that the price here in the US would be $15,000 +/- about a grand. Well it looks like we were right, as American Honda Motors has announced that the base model 2010 Honda VFR1200F will come with an MSRP of $15,999.
Honda Europe has announced the base model pricing for the 2010 Honda VFR1200F. In its manual transmission form, the new sport-tourer will set you back €14,990, while the pricing for the DCG equipped VFR1200F has yet to be determined. Honda has gone through other measures to make the new VFR more affordable, more on that after the jump.
Honda has released its second quarter financials, with the highlight (if you can call it that) being a 56.2% drop in their net income. Honda attributes this loss primarily to decreased car sales, and the currency exchange. For its part though, Honda’s motorcycle sales were down only 16.8%, with 2.4 million units sold during Q2.