(Updated with high-resolution studio photos of the factory Desmosedici GP13 racebikes.)

Ducati factory riders Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso along with the junior Ducati Pramac team of Ben Spies and Andrea Iannone pulled the covers of the Desmosedici GP13, revealing the race bikes they will ride for the 2013 MotoGP Championship.

The four riders revealed their Desmosedicis on a snow-covered mountain in the Dolomites in Italy as part of Wrooom 2013, an annual ski event held jointly by Ducati Corse and Ferrari‘s Formula One racing program.

The 2013 season marks a number of changes for the Ducati MotoGP program. The biggest change is Ducati’s new owners Audi and the newly-appointed Bernhard Gobmeier who replaces Filippo Preziosi as general manager of Ducati Corse. The popular and charismatic Valentino Rossi is gone after two disappointing seasons, replaced by another Italian in Dovizioso. Another big change is the Pramac satellite team which will receive factory support. Continue Reading »

A one-off officially-endorsed Ferrari motorcycle has been sold at auction, taking in 85,000 British pounds (US$137,700). That’s a hefty sum for a motorcycle, but far less from the initial reserve price of 180,000 pounds asked for when the bike was first up for auction in 2008.

The Ferrari motorcycle was designed and built by former MV Agusta engineer David Kay in 1995 as a tribute to the Italian car-maker’s founder, Enzo Ferrari. Kay received the blessing of Piero Ferrari, Enzo’s son, to use the company’s famous prancing horse logo. Continue Reading »

Is Valentino Rossi once again not so secretly hinting at a shift from two to four wheels?

Seems so, as Vale has today completed two days of testing a 2008 Formula 1 car from Ferrari at Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain.

The Italian supercar maker has posted info on its website proudly boasting that even the online edition of the New York Times reported on Rossi’s testing on its homepage—a prominent location indeed considering the 9-time MotoGP champion’s limited notoriety here in the U.S. relative to his fame in Europe and much of the rest of the world.

Continue Reading »