My Blog: June 2011

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Rossi to Race on Updated Ducati Desmosedici Version 11.1

With the 2011 MotoGP season not going as successfully as hoped, Ducati is introducing a number of significant updates to its Desmosedici racebike including features originally intended for the 2012 version.

Valentino Rossi, whose much heralded union with Ducati has produced just a single podium finish in six races, will be the first to race on the updated Desmosedici, dubbed the GP11.1. Rossi will ride the GP11.1 at the upcoming Assen. His teammate Nicky Hayden however won?t switch to the GP11.1 until the Laguna Seca round, July 22-24 as he has already gone through four engines this season and the GP11.1 would be his fifth of his allotted six engines with more than half the season to go.

The GP11.1 uses the chassis being developed for the 2012 season while the new gearbox, the ?Ducati Seamless Transmission?, is Ducati?s response to Honda?s transmission system that Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa have been using to great effect. As the name implies, the DST promises ?seamless? shifting. Honda has been using a new transmission system all season that allows for significantly faster gear changes.

?We decided to make the GP11.1, which is an 800cc engine in a GP12 chassis, in order to accelerate development on next year?s bike, and also to provide our riders with a potentially better base for the current championship,? says Filippo Preziosi, Ducati technical director. ?Considering that Valentino still hasn?t ever ridden the GP11.1, this decision could require some races for the team to completely take advantage of its potential, but we decided to move forward with it because we believe it?s an important step for our development process. The next-generation gearbox, on the other hand, is a solution that we think will be an immediate improvement. The Ducati Corse Department will continue studying further innovations, both for this year and for 2012. At the same time, we have developed an additional step for the frame for Nicky, and he?ll receive the GP11.1 at Laguna Seca.?

Related Reading
Honda Denies DCT Rumors on MotoGP Bikes

Press release after the jump.

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM AT ASSEN WITH NEW DEVELOPMENT STEPS

�

The Ducati Marlboro Team, continuing its development process with the Desmosedici, will introduce a variety of new updates at Assen. Valentino Rossi will take to the track with the next generation of the bike, called the GP11.1. The design process for this bike began after the Sepang tests, with construction beginning after the riders approved the GP12?s chassis during its first test, at Jerez.

For the GP11.1, the Corse Department prepared an 800cc engine that installs in the chassis that Ducati engineers are developing for 2012. The bike will also use a new gearbox, the ?DST- Ducati Seamless Transmission?, the design process for which began in 2010.

Nicky Hayden, who has already used four engines this season, will use a GP11 equipped with the step-2 frame, whose stiffness has been further modified compared to the step-1 version that was introduced at the Estoril test. According to the engine-rotation schedule, he will ride the GP11.1 at Laguna Seca.

Assen is a track that both Ducati Marlboro Team riders like very much, and one where both have achieved strong results: seven victories and three podiums across all classes for Valentino Rossi, one victory and a podium for Nicky Hayden.

VALENTINO ROSSI, Ducati Marlboro Team
?Assen is one of my tracks?one of those that I like most and where I?ve had some nice races in all the classes. We?ll try to take advantage of that good feeling and of our experience at this circuit because Thursday morning we?ll debut some updates to my bike that are very promising but also very fresh. Filippo [Preziosi], the guys at Ducati and the Test Team have worked really hard, and that has enabled us to make this new step with the development of our bike. We haven?t had the chance to test the 800 since Estoril, so we?ll do it during the race weekends, being aware that despite having very limited time, we?ll have to focus on two jobs: making basic adjustments to the new technical parts, and finding a general setup for the race on Saturday. We?ll have to do a good job on the track in order to get the most out of the work done at the factory. It will be hard, and we know it might take some time before we can completely reach the potential of the whole package, but we?re happy and motivated by the work we?re doing.?

NICKY HAYDEN, Ducati Marlboro Team
?There was no GP this past weekend, but the time went by pretty quickly, as I had a test at Mugello and a couple of PR appearances. Now it?s time for Assen, which is an awesome race. I have some good memories there, including a win, and it?s a place I really like, with a lot of history and tradition. The track has changed over the years, but I like the new section. We?ve had a big gap to the front lately, but now we have another new step with the chassis. The first step helped with the feeling, and hopefully this one will also help with the lap time. It?s clear that Ducati is working hard, and that?s motivating for me, for the team, and for all of our Ducati supporters. I look forward to getting my hands on a GP11.1 as soon as possible as well.?

FILIPPO PREZIOSI, Ducati Technical Director
?We decided to make the GP11.1, which is an 800cc engine in a GP12 chassis, in order to accelerate development on next year?s bike, and also to provide our riders with a potentially better base for the current championship. Considering that Valentino still hasn?t ever ridden the GP11.1, this decision could require some races for the team to completely take advantage of its potential, but we decided to move forward with it because we believe it?s an important step for our development process. The next-generation gearbox, on the other hand, is a solution that we think will be an immediate improvement. The Ducati Corse Department will continue studying further innovations, both for this year and for 2012. At the same time, we have developed an additional step for the frame for Nicky, and he?ll receive the GP11.1 at Laguna Seca.?

ASSEN CIRCUIT RECORDS

Circuit Record: Dani Pedrosa (Honda ? 2010), 1?34.525 ? 172.982 Km/h
Best Pole: Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha ? 2010), 1?34.515 ? 173.001 Km/h
Circuit Length: 4,542 km
MotoGP Race 2011: 26 laps (118,092 km)
MotoGP Schedule 2011: 15:00 Local Time
Number of laps: 26
Total race distance: 118,092 km

PODIUM 2010: 1st Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd Dani Pedrosa, 3rd Casey Stoner
POLE 2010: Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha ? 2010), 1?34.515 ? 173.001 Km/h

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM?S BEST RESULTS AT ASSEN
2010: 3rd (Stoner)
2009: 3rd (Stoner)
2008: 1st (Stoner)
2007: 2nd (Stoner)
2006: 12th (Hofmann)
2005: 9th (Checa)
2004: 8th (Capirossi)
2003: 6th (Capirossi)

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM ? RIDER INFO

VALENTINO ROSSI
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP11
Race number: 46
Age: 32 (born in Pesaro 16 February 1979)
Residence: Tavullia (Pesaro, Italy)
GPs: 247 (187 x MotoGP, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc)
First GP: Malaysian GP, 1996 (125cc)
Number of Wins: 105 (79 x MotoGP, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc)
First GP win: Czech Republic GP, 1996 (125cc)
Poles: 59 (49 x MotoGP, 5 x 250cc, 5 x 125cc)
First Pole: Czech Republic GP, 1996 (125cc)
World Titles: 9 (6 x MotoGP, 1 x 500cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 125cc)
Rossi?s MotoGP/500cc track record at Assen
2010: Grid: DNS; Race: DNS
2009: Grid: 1st; Race: 1st
2008: Grid: 3rd; Race: 11th
2007: Grid: 11th; Race: 1st
2006: Grid: 18th; Race: 8th
2005: Grid: 1st; Race: 1st
2004: Grid: 1st; Race: 1st
2003: Grid: 3rd; Race: 3rd
2002: Grid: 1st; Race: 1st
2001: Grid: 3rd; Race: 2nd
2000: Grid: 6th; Race: 6th

Rossi?s 250 track record at Assen
1999: Grid: 1st; Race: 2nd
1998: Grid: 3rd; Race: 1st

Rossi?s 125 track record at Assen
1997: Grid: 1st; Race: 1st
1996: Grid: 8th; Race: DNF

NICKY HAYDEN
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP11
Race number: 69
Age: 29 (born 30 July 1981 in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA)
Residence: Owensboro, Kentucky, USA
Number of GPs: 140 (140 x MotoGP)
First GP: Japanese GP, 2003 (MotoGP)
Number of wins: 3 (3 x MotoGP)
First GP win: USA GP, 2005 (MotoGP)
Poles: 5 (5 x MotoGP)
First Pole: USA GP, 2005 (MotoGP)
World Titles: 1 (MotoGP, 2006)

Hayden?s MotoGP track record at Assen
2010: Grid: 5th; Race: 7th
2009: Grid: 13th; Race: 8th
2008: Grid: 4th; Race: 4th
2007: Grid: 13th; Race: 3rd
2006: Grid: 4th; Race: 1st
2005: Grid: 5th; Race: 4th
2004: Grid: 16th; Race: 5th
2003: Grid: 12th; Race: 11th

Tags: 2011, 2012, Desmosedici, Ducati, ducati seamless transmission, gp11, gp11.1, gp12, hayden, MotoGP, nicky hayden, rossi, transmission, Valentino Rossi

Source: Motorcycle.com

Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/puDHJwvpWgI/Rossi+Race+Updated+Ducati+Desmosedici+Version

Stefan Brägger Vincent Braillard Ernesto Brambilla Wolfgang Brand Alessanro Brannetti

American Chopper Cadillac Bike "Paul Senior" Edition

The Teutel family, particularly Paul and Paul Jr., are most known for being the famous father and son team of Orange County Choppers. At least until their huge egos clashed.

A few years ago, Senior and Junior had a pretty serious falling out that resulted in the former firing the latter from Orange County Choppers. In turn, Junior set up his own company, the aptly named ’Paul Junior Designs’, to go head-to-head with his father.

The acrimony between the two was the perfect opportunity for Cadillac to put one against the other in a custom bike building contest for charity. With the opportunity to build a bike based on the Cadillac CTS-V, Senior and the rest of the boys at OCC decided to go old-school with their approach, clearly emphasizing power over style with a powerful V-twin engine that was given some extra doses of power courtesy of a shot of nitrous.

Design-wise, Senior’s take a lot tamer than that of Junior’s, which might probably be the reason why fans of the show have given an overwhelming stamp of approval to Junior’s work - 96% to 4% really isn’t much of a contest, to be honest - compared to that of Senior’s.

Despite the contentious relationship between the two, both Senior and Junior participated in the competition because the two bikes will eventually be auctioned off to benefit the Cure Duchenne charity.

Bids are now being taken for both bikes and, as expected, Paul Junior’s bike has been racking up bids compared to the dryness of bidders for Paul the Elder’s bike.

Check out Senior’s work in the photo gallery below.

gallery: 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe

American Chopper Cadillac Bike "Paul Senior" Edition originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 29 June 2011 22:15 EST.

Source: http://www.topspeed.com/motorcycles/motorcycle-reviews/american-chopper-cadillac-bike-paul-senior-edition-ar111903.html

František Bartoš Günter Bartusch Eric Bataille Franco Battaini Gerhard Bauer

Chip Yates?s Track Notes from Pikes Peak

The course for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is 12.42 miles long, includes 156 turns, and goes from 9,390 ft at the starting line to 14,110 feet at the finish. Learning the course can take years, mastering it even longer, and considering that many of the higher elevation turns have sheer drop-offs with no guard rails, mistakes are not an option. To keep all of the turns straight, and to come up to speed ...

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

Gilbert Argo Manuel Arias Ken Armstrong Reg Armstrong Arciso Artesiani

Aston Martin Pays the Price for All New Platform

Investors are getting more and more strict when it comes to allowing people to borrow their money and it seems as if Aston Martin is getting the short end of that stick. The British sports car maker has secured a �304 million bond - about $440 million at the current rates - from global investors at a rather high 9.25% interest over the next seven years. That’s a 3-4% increase over the typical interest rate. Desperate or not, Aston Martin now has the money to design an all new platform for their full line of sports cars, including the DB9, Vantage and Rapide. Expect the new line to debut in 2015 or 2016 with the first details of the new design and production engineering showing up in a concept car sometime in 2012.

Before the British automaker moves to the new platform, however, their current VH platform will have to be modified to obey the new Federal FMVSS pedestrian impact rules. This re-engineered platform will be used for facelift versions of all three models. The new models will also benefit from new skin panels, revised interiors, and tweaked chassis and engines.

gallery: 2011 Aston Martin DB9

gallery: 2011 Aston Martin V8 Vantage S

gallery: 2010 Aston Martin Rapide

Aston Martin Pays the Price for All New Platform originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 30 June 2011 17:00 EST.

Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/aston-martin-pays-the-price-for-all-new-platform-ar111925.html

Alejandro Aleman Eduardo Aleman Jaime Alguesuari Julien Allemand Dick Allen

World Superbike: Online WSBK Assen 2009 Videos

Source: http://sportbikeblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/world-superbike-online-wsbk-assen-2009.html

Manfred Bernsee Bruno Bertacchini Silvano Bertarelli Albert Bertholet Guy Bertin

Rea Fastest at Imola WSBK testing, Spies 3rd, Neukirchner Injured AGAIN!

Source: http://sportbikeblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/rea-fastest-at-imola-wsbk-testing-spies.html

Jean Paul Boinet Karel Bojer Juan Bolart Gerhard Boll Jacques Bolle

Pas de la Casa next location of FIM SuperMoto World Championship

After visiting the beautiful countries of Italy and Bulgaria, this weekend the 2011 FIM SuperMoto Wo...

Source: http://www.fim-live.com//en/media/news/news-detail/article/1309335698-pas-de-la-casa-next-location-of-fim-supermoto-world-championship/

Fergus Anderson Hugh Anderson John Anderson Kent Andersson George Andrews

2011 Assen MotoGP Post Race Round Up: It's That Man Again

Saturday's MotoGP race was either a real snoozer or a fantastic spectacle, depending on your point of view. For the racing purist, the kind of fan who appreciates seeing masterful riding, watching someone push the bike to the limit constantly and precisely for full race distance, there was plenty to marvel at. For the casual fan, someone who wants to watch several riders giving it their all in a close battle right to the end, it was dull as ditch water, the first-lap crash giving ultimate winner Ben Spies a gap that he could exploit, and one more pass for the podium positions on lap two settling the race.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/tQolUfw7fhY/2011_assen_motogp_post_race_round_up_it_.html

Jean Pierre Beltoise Felice Benasedo Gert Bender Ingemar Bengtsson Johnny Bengtsson

2011 Assen MotoGP Saturday Press Release Roundup

Press releases from the MotoGP teams after the Assen race:

Year:

2011

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/reh8kdGAxNM/2011_assen_motogp_saturday_press_release.html

Juan Borja Sergio Boroncini Gino Borsoi Luca Boscoscuro Gimmi Bosio

Dani Pedrosa Confirms He Will Race At Mugello In His Repsol Blog

The good news is that Dani Pedrosa has finally confirmed that he will be racing at Mugello. After missing three races with an injured collarbone - sustained in a race crash with Marco Simoncelli at Le Mans - Pedrosa now feels sufficiently confident that his collarbone has healed that he has decided at last to return to competing in MotoGP. The operations - Pedrosa had one a couple of days after Le Mans to put a plate on his collarbone, then another one shortly after the Silverstone round of MotoGP to fix a loose piece of bone in the collarbone - have been a success, and Pedrosa's collarbone now feels sufficiently strong for the Repsol Honda rider to feel comfortable competing again.

Source:

http://blogs.repsol.com/competicion/dani_pedrosa/-/blogs/con-ganas-de-vo...