Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Photo of the Week: Hail to the King

Jorge Lorenzo has been deemed unfit to compete in the Australian GP, after injuring his finger during the Warm-Up session at Phillip Island. Encounter a major headshake, Lorenzo hit the ground hard as his Yamaha YZR-M1 rounded the corner onto the front straight. Grasping his left hand afterwards, it has become apparent that Lorenzo has injured his ring finger in the crash. Early reports state Lorenzo severed the tip of his finger, while reporters outside the Phillip Island Medical Center were briefed that the tip of his finger had been lacerated and split open.

Though he was most certainly breaking the law, we have to feel some sympathy for Swiss motorcyclist Boris Maier. The 38-year-old from Bern was recently caught speeding 107 km/h (66mph) in an 80 km/h (50 mph) zone, and accordingly received a ticket for his traffic violation. Where things get real bad for Maier though is the fact that he wasn?t even on his motorcycle at the time the picture was taken, as the Swiss rider had crashed, and was caught barreling down the highway by the camera.

Well get ready for another shockwave ladies and gentlemen, as the G.O.A.T. himself, Valentino Rossi, has hopped on this interweb bandwagon with full 0 & 1 force, first by finally creating his own official website, and now by signing up for a thing called Twitter. Tweeting, twatting, twittering so far in only Italian, Rossi was one of the last hold-outs of MotoGP riders to embrace the micro-blogging service (Randy de Puniet just got on Twitter this week too we might add. Thanks Lauren). Rossi?s move is sure to create a stir with the VR46 crowd, as his legion of fans can now take time out from their busy days of lathering neon yellow paint all of their bodies, and hang onto every one of Rossi?s 140 character messages.

After debuting the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R / 2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400, Team Green has been fairly tight-lipped about quoting specific performance figures on the company?s revamped hyperbike. Carefully gleaning the performance specifications from its US and UK websites, it looks like Kawasaki Motors Europe has spilled the beans on the ZX-14R?s horsepower figures. Perhaps letting down those who expected the ZX-14R/ZZR1400 to break the 200+ horsepower barrier, Kawasaki?s site quotes power figures just shy of 200hp.

True to its teaser campaign, the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R (2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400 to our friends abroad) finally got revealed today. Tweaking its hyperbike offering, Kawasaki has confirmed that the ZX-14R (note the added R to the name) will get a displacement bump to 1,441cc, along with a cosmetic overhaul and other basic features. Most notably added to the Kawasaki ZX-14R is the addition traction control, and ride-by-wire throttle control system. Kawasaki hasn?t spilled all the beans about the new ZX-14R, but power is said to be over 200hp at the crank with ram-air.

Ducati has a new flagship Superbike coming out soon, if you hadn?t heard the news. Powering the Ducati 1199 Panigale is a new 90� v-twin motor dubbed the Superquadro (Ducati mini-site here), which the Italian company officially unveiled today. Confirming the specs we released back in November of last year, the power plant boasts 195hp and 98 lbs?ft of torque, making the Ducati Superquadro motor a new direction for Bologna, in more ways than one. For starters, the Superquadro is the first production motor in the company?s history that?s is fully-integrated into a bike?s chassis, thus putting final confirmation that the 1199 Panigale will use the MotoGP inspired ?frameless? chassis design (not that we were really doubting this).

NCR has just unwrapped its latest creations: the NCR M4 and the higher-spec NCR M4 ONE SHOT. Based off the Ducati Monster 1100 EVO motor, the NCR M4 carries over the general aestheic of the popular Italian street bike, but at sub-300 lbs weights, the NCR M4 and the NCR M4 ONE SHOT, with their titanium parts and copious amounts of carbon fiber, are not your average Italian two-wheelers. A quick glance of the M4, and you?ll see the treatment is typical of NCR, with a titanium frame & sub-frame being the crowning jewel of performance added to the package.

KTM has finally given us a glimpse into its Moto3 class race bike, showing renders of the bike to journalists assembled at the company?s Hangar 7 press event. The Austrian company also officially showed its Moto3 race motor, and for those expecting to see a repurposed SX motor for the 250cc four-stroke Grand Prix racing series, abolish that thought. For the inaugural 2012 racing season for GP racing?s entry-level series, the Austrian company has started from scratch when approaching its Moto3 development.

Several sources have now confirmed that Erik Buell Racing is considering making a 250cc learner-style motorcycle to compliment its EBR 1190RS race/sport bike. Presumably filling the niche left behind by the crushed Buell Blast, the 250cc bike would be geared towards new and first-time riders, and would likely be MSF RiderCourse friendly. With bikes like the Kawaaski Ninja 250R / EX250 topping the sales charts as the best selling sport bike in the US, the folks at Erik Buell Racing are surely eyeing the market potential of a smaller, lightweight sport bike for the company?s growing product line.

I stumbled upon these drawings last week, and have been meaning to post them up ever since. These drawings from San Francisco illustrator/graphic designer Rich Lee, of appropriately named Rich Lee Draws!!!, made us smile when we saw them, as they?re the sort of thing you wish you?d see in a comic book, or pinned to a little kid?s bedroom wall. Check out some samples of Rich?s motorcycle work after the jump, and be sure to check out his portfolios for his non-moto stuff (Warning: you?ll lose a couple hours in your day if you do).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AsphaltandRubber/~3/ROSl6udkqrU/

Colin Edwards Toni Elías James Ellison Aleix Espargaro

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