Anybody that has ever questioned the importance of racing helmets should take a step back and watch this video.
The scene is the British Superstock 600, where riders Josh Wainwright and Johnny Bradshaw were involved in a ridiculous crash that could’ve been far worse than the injuries they sustained - if it weren’t for their helmets.
In the 11th lap of the race, Wainwright lost control of his bike and as he stumbled into the track, Bradshaw’s bike literally clips him on the head, forcing the former to catapult out of his ride and into the track.
Read that again: Bradshaw’s bike literally clips him on the head.
If it weren’t for the helmet Wainwright was wearing, Bradshaw’s bike would have done far worse when it clipped him on his head. We all know where this story would then go.
Miraculously for the two riders, both of them escaped the harrowing accident with nothing more than a cracked rib and a broken collarbone for Wainwright and some minor injuries for Bradshaw.
If you’ve ever ridden a bike, or anything that involves needing one, heed caution and just put those helmets on. You never know when it’s going to save your life.
The name Jorian Ponomareff may not be all that familiar to some. In fact, we’ve never heard of him before this video, but his amazing drifting skills have made him quite a sensation and we decided it was time to learn a little something about him.
Jorian Ponomareff started his motorcycle training when he was 14 years old and got his first two-wheeler. Since then, he has become one of the best stunt drivers in the world. He became so good that he is now traveling all over the world performing his skills in shows that can only be described as amazing.
After years of training and no doubt, thousands of falls, one can perfect a skill and Ponomareff’s dedication to the craft has made him an impressive stunt driver and entertainer. Enjoy the video!
It seems that every time there’s a discussion about a hot lap around the Nurbugring, we immediately assume that another edgy supercar is at it again. The list of manufacturers that have taken stabs at the ’Ring is as long as the course itself so excuse us for being a little excited watching a motorcycle take center stage around the track.
The lap comes courtesy of Bridgestone test driver, Tim Rothiq, and a Kawasaki ZX-10R. We won’t have to remind you about the face-morphing characteristics of the Kawasaki superbike because Rothiq was able to do it for us.
The ’Ring offers plenty of challenges even for the most astute of riders so watching Rothiq navigate around the track and blast through it in spectacular fashion is a sight to behold.
Don’t be fooled by the 7:50 time being way short of the record 7:14 lap time of the Lexus LF-A; the latter is a supercar after all. It’s about as impressive a bike lap as you’ll find anywhere.
And a big kudos to Tim Rothiq for his incredible effort coercing the Kawasaki ZX-10R to behave during the lap time. Lord knows the slightest mistake can lead to a pretty nasty spill.
There’s a saying that records are always meant to be broken and Bill Warner recently proved that in scintillating fashion.
With a high-powered Suzuki motorcycle, the resident of Wimauma, Florida used the Loring Timing Association Land Speed Race as the site of his record-breaking run, becoming the fastest man on a motorcycle with a top speed of 311.945 mph.
What’s more impressive than Warner breaking the record at such a sprightly age is the fact that he completely blew away the existing record of 273.356 mph with relative ease.
The event was organized to host a number of record-setting attempts, but none came in a more convincing fashion than the way Warner blew past the existing mark, even if the attempt brought some certifiable danger to it. It certainly goes without saying that breaking 300 mph on a motorcycle presents certain dangers, including the ability to keep the bike in control at such high speeds. "The bike was bouncing, hopping, skipping and sliding," Warner said. "Needless to say, I got it stopped safely. It was a little scary."
Congratulations to Warner for his record-setting achievement. Just goes to show that with a lot of hard work, coupled with some luck, any record can be broken on any given day.
The Aprilia RSV4 has raced and been compared to a number of different things over the years so it’s a little refreshing that for a change, Aprilia USA is taking its competitive juices aside to pay tribute to the the of man’s greatest technological achievement: the space shuttle.
When the first shuttle mission launched back in 1981, it opened the gates for a golden age in technological advancements that coursed through various industries, including the automotive and motorcycle segments. The space shuttle program made so many things possible in this world and opened our eyes to a world full of never-before-though-of possibilities.
Now that the space shuttle is nearing its end, the folks over at Aprilia USA have released a pretty cool video paying tribute to the space shuttle program and all the men and women responsible for designing, building, and operating the very machine that made space travel possible.
As part of the video, Aprilia uses facts from both the space shuttle and their very own RSV4 superbike to note how the former set the precedent - in more ways than one - for the latter, and so many other machines, to become the technological marvels that they are in their own right.
It’s not so much a comparison video this time around for the RSV4, but more of Aprilia tipping their helmets off to one of mankind’s finest achievements as it makes its final voyage into the cosmos.
Whether its by design or just a case of trivial coincidence, there seems to be a growing trend towards the development of new and powerful trikes these days. Sure, this is how the auto industry works; concepts come and go frequently. But in the case of trikes, there appears to be renewed interest in the segment, one that has spurned manufacturers to come out with their new models.
We already saw what Scorpion Motorsport did with the P6, and now we have a concept trike model coming straight from the Land Down Under.
This is the Trike Strike by Design+Industry, a concept design that illustrates just how much potential there is in the trike segment. It’s far from being green-lighted into production, but it does give us an idea of the future that lies in front of us, one that could very well be defined by a multitude of high-powered trikes running around our streets in the future.
The Honda CB450 Cafe Racer "Bonita Applebum" started its life as a 1971 Honda CB450 bought from eBay, and believe it or not, the bike was built in a small apartment. After buying all the items needed from eBay, Pepe Luque - the guy who now owns the bike - started to clean, paint, and spit polish every piece before installing them on the frame.
Besides some minor fine-tuning, Luque worked on this project all by himself, including upsizing the main jets to compensate for the airflow in and out of the motor and replacing the Pirelli tires for some Firestones. As for the exterior paint, it was inspired by a CB450 Armadillo, while the handgrips and seat color was suggested by his flatmate. Why is the fact that he built the whole thing by himself so noteworthy? Well, Pepe Luque is colorblind.
When explaining how he came about picking the colors and getting everything just right for the bike to work, he said: "The main section I really struggled with was the wiring of the bike. As you could imagine, being color blind did not help with the colors of the wires. I was very fortunate that my girl and my brother’s wife helped with labelling the wires. For instance, yellow with a white trace, I labelled FLB (front left blinker) and so on. It took me by surprise that I nailed the wiring on first go."
Using a little girl as an eerie voiceover for a scary flick is not something new, however, using the same eerie little girl as voiceover for the new Kawasaki Z1000 ad, now that’s new!
You’ve got to give props to the guys behind this ad campaign for thinking out of the box. Who would’ve thought a 1000cc Jap bike, and a child, and some neat sound effects would create such a captivating advert? One thing is for sure – it makes, even us, want to get on one of these and wreak havoc during after dark escapades involving “bending” the law and disturbing the peace. Just looking at it after watching the video awakens the sinister side inside you – and it should. Priced at a reasonable $13 199, you get all the evil you can handle in the form of a 4-cylinder that summons 128BHP from the bowels of hell, belching it through a 4 –into-2 lightweight exhaust. Not-so-dark features include fully adjustable front forks and instrument binnacle and an equally dexterous windscreen. Making sure the nightmare comes to a halt when absolutely necessary are 300mm ventilated discs with 4-pot calipers. Long live the darkness!
After a day riding the jet sky on the local lake, there’s nothing like a good buddy coming to help you load up the thing and get going home. But for everything to go well, make sure the guy in cause isn’t an absolute idiot that will have you drowned. Obviously, this is the case here. The driver of this Ford Econoline gets the rear end in the water and the wheels lose traction right when the jet sky rider is in the back struggling for a breath of air in the water-filled van. Thanks to God, he made it out alive.
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Simply put, this is a spectacular video resuming the 2010 edition of the Tourist Trophy, a memorable year for the five victories of Ian Hutchinson. That’s a first in the 103 years of racing on Isle of Man.
High-speed curves, jumps and even saves – not to mention the crazy moves of those copilots in the sidecars – don’t recommend this video to the faith hearted.
