Shattered Expectations
The key to success in motorcycle racing is control. Teams, engineers and riders spend hundreds of thousands of hours every year attempting to gain control of the minutest detail of motorcycle racing. Each part of the engine is weighed, balanced, analyzed and tested, even down to the bolts and washers holding the engine together. […]

In A Tight Spot
It is perhaps an interesting irony that the MotoGP circus moves from one former street circuit to another this weekend, leaving the fast, flat sweeping turns of Assen behind to visit the tight, tortuous turns of the Sachsenring circuit. But where Assen’s transformation from public roads to closed racetrack was a long process […]

Resurrection
Before the start of the 2007 MotoGP season, the script looked pretty clear to most MotoGP followers. Valentino Rossi would dominate the championship from the word go, the Hondas would duke it out for the rest of the honors, and if Bridgestone were lucky, they’d win a couple more races than they did in […]

The Disappearing Cathedral
On the inside of the last turn of the chicane at Assen, the final corner before the finish line, there’s a strip of Astroturf, a material with some interesting properties. From the perspective of track management, its best points are the fact that it’s low maintenance, so you don’t have to keep digging […]

No Room For Doubt
If there’s one thing that racing a MotoGP bike does not allow for, it is doubt, and hesitation. To ride fast and win races requires complete concentration and utter commitment. There is no time to carefully consider all your actions as you approach each corner, you need to have complete confidence […]

The Heart Of England
There are many hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of racetracks around the world. Each of them is unique, and has a particular personality. Some are bland and faceless, like Shanghai. Others, like Barcelona, have plenty of character, but have no real tie to their location. But perhaps the best tracks are the ones […]

Signs And Wonders
Human beings are extraordinary creatures. Where the birds of the air and the beasts of the field simply take note of everything that takes place around them, accept it, and move on, we humans are always looking for symbols and signs. The one thing that marks us out more than anything is the […]

Fear And Loathing In La Caixa
From the soul of motorcycle racing, to it’s nerve center. While Mugello, the scene of last week’s MotoGP round, is close to Ducati, Montmelo, where the Barcelona track is located, is close to Dorna, the organization which runs MotoGP. But there is much more than just Dorna: many of […]

Italian Passion
It takes many things to make a great motorcycle racer: incredible reflexes, natural riding talent, immense courage, intense concentration, and outstanding physical conditioning are just the very start of it. Above all, it takes one thing to succeed: Passion. Without passion, it is impossible to put in the hours of tedious physical […]

Racing Soul
If Japan is the brains of motorcycle racing, the place where they design the machines that captivate us, and Spain is the heart of motorcycle, the humming, vibrant center, full of passion for all forms of two-wheeled racing, then Italy is the soul of motorcycle racing, the place where motorcycle racing is imagined, […]