American Suzuki is posting $4.2 million in race contingency for the 2012 U.S. road racing and motocross season.
The contingency program is open to amateur and professional racers riding 2011 or 2012 Suzuki GSX-R600, GSX-R750 or GSX-R1000 sportbikes and RM85/85L, RM-Z250 or RM-Z450 motocross racers.
Suzuki has updated its GSX-R1000 sportbike for 2012 with Brembo monobloc calipers and a new single-pipe exhaust system.
Last updated in 2009, the 2012 Suzuki GSX-R1000 also receives a number of updates to the the engine to the wiring harness to even the front tire to to reduce overall weight by 4.4 pounds. The new GSX-R has a claimed curb weight of 447.5 pounds.
The 999cc engine receives new MotoGP-derived pistons, now 11% lighter than the previous version. The new pistons are also largely responsible for a slight boost in compression, from 12.8:1 from 12.9:1. Cam followers are each also 2.5 grams lighter, and revised exhaust cam profile provides less valve overlap. The higher lift exhaust cam profile allowed engineers to boost midrange (roughly between 5500 to 7500 rpm) without sacrificing horsepower in the top of the powerband. New pentagonal-shaped crankcase ventilation holes, just like those first seen earlier this year on the all-new GSX-R600 and 750, reduce pumping losses and is a key contributor to improved mid-range grunt and 8% better fuel economy.
Here is a stop-time short video showing a Suzuki GSX-R assembling all by itself. According to the YouTube page was shot over 30 hours and the bike started up on the first try, well done! Now how do we get IKEA to take up this concept?
Two weeks ago, I took a break from my regular duties gathering news for Motorcycle.com to fly to Germany to cover the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show for our sister site AutoGuide.com.
For two hectic days, AutoGuide editor Colum Wood and I scrambled across the massive 6.2 million square foot Messe Frankfurt trade fair compound, running from press conference to press conference to get the latest on exotic sport cars, futuristic concept models and international unveilings from the automotive world.
It was heaven for car lovers, but for me, it meant fighting my way through hordes of photogs, auto-journalists and car show models to get the first photos of four-wheeled goodies from MINI, Ferrari and Lotus. Okay, I didn’t mind the car show models that much.
But I didn’t forget my day job with MO. Through this Cagers’ Paradise, I managed to find some gems for the loyal Motorcycle.com Readers.
Check out the photo gallery after the jump.
UPDATE: Poor sti2gsxr has made it on to the Comedy Central website.
I’m shaking my head right now but I’m also thinking “Kudos, NOS, for making your energy drink so convincing that someone thought you actually use it as a fuel additive”.
Poor poor sti2gsxr over on the Gixxer.com boards posted:
My bike was running like crap on my way home from work so I stopped at a gas station to get some NOS. I poured in 2 bottles and rode it home. Well I don’t think it helped because it ran even worse on the way home and now it won’t start. Any ideas?
When shown pics of actual NOS performance enhancer and NOS energy drink, our dear friend sti2gsxr replied:
are you f@#king kidding me! now what do I do?
His post was followed up by 900+ forum members posting to make fun of him and almost 300,000 people just watching and laughing.
An Epic Fail, if I do say so myself.
Head over there to have a laugh, or better yet, SIGN UP and show sti2gsxr some love!
See the rest of the post for a collection of pics and a keyboard cat video dedicated to sti2gsxr and his NOS energy drink additive.
