Hi-tec mechanic in F1.

F1 steering wheel.

KTM 690 Duke in EJC (European Junior Cup) spec. A bunch of KTM go-fast goodies, 140kg and 79hp. Looks interesting… gotta keep an eye on this series in 2012…

Do want! Now starting to get a bit excited to find out what the 1199 is actually like for a regular person to ride…

closer-2-the-edge:

 by JonnyLang1, on Flickr

Tokyo Auto Salon, January 2012.

I was keen to see what it is really like to sit on a MotoGP bike, so many people mention that they’re very small machines. And they’re right!

I consider myself an average size guy at 5’ 11”, maybe a bit heavier than average weighing in at 83Kg. I always used to think of MotoGP in terms of relating it to production sportsbikes, but now I’ve seen for myself - they’re nothing alike. Not that anyone really needed to be told that, but it’s shown me just how extreme MotoGP really is.

I tried to tuck in as best I could, but my backside is firm up against the rear seat pad, my elbows and knees are not fitting well together, and there was a really limited amount of room to move front-rear in the seat. This is a racing motorcycle at the extreme!

To help put the size in proportion I’ve posted a photo of Matt Mingay and Casey Stoner below. Mingay posted this on Facebook over the holidays when Monster Energy threw a bit of a beach party. I’ve seen Mingay in person and he’s pretty much the same size as me, but what’s really interesting in this photo is that we get a direct size comparison with Stoner. Think about that next time you see Stoner on his MotoGP bike.

(Source: sportbikedm)

It’s always interesting to get an inside look at the process a photographer goes through in decided which (if any) edits to make on a photo. This one was originally taken by Scott Jones at Indy last year, and after the edits that created the above photo it became one of his favourites of the year. He wasn’t thinking of Sepang at the time, but it turned out to be a much more poignant photo.