Archive: Yoshimura Hayabusa X1R

For a couple of years there’ve been rumors suggesting there’s a new Hayabusa on the way, and with that old warhorse currently MIA from Suzuki’s list of returning 2021 models, the buzz has grown a bit louder that Suzuki’s fixing to spring a new World’s Fastest Production Motorcycle on the world. This time we’ll be a bit less unsuspecting than we were in 1999, and this time, it won’t be so easy a feat for Suzuki to pull off, given the existence of the Kawasaki H2 Carbon, which made an honest 206-rear-wheel horsepower on our dyno last November.

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Top 10 Motorcycle Endurance Records

A week ago Evans Brasfield and I scratched an item from our respective bucket lists when we finished an Iron Butt SaddleSore 1000. Satisfied with our accomplishment (which Evans will be documenting in a soon to be published memoir on MO), curiosity of other motorcycle endurance records had me searching the internet. What I found was a variety of increasingly peculiar endurance records comprising this week’s Top 10.

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Evans Off Camber - Racing at Night

Close MO readers will have figured out that, between the six-day Sport-Adventure-Touring ride and the actual publication of the shootout, we took a tricked out Grom and raced it for 24 hours in a UMRA event. I won’t step on Troy’s story about the event by giving away any specifics, but I will say it was… an adventure. This was my third 24-hour endurance race (You can read about my second 24-hour race here), and in the hours after each one, I vowed that I will never do anything this foolish ever again. Of course, over time, the itch returns, and hopefully, after an appropriate length of time for my family and myself to forget the pain associated with a 24-hour, I’ll get another opportunity to scratch… on the track… at night.

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Top 10 Storylines From 2015 Suzuka 8 Hours

The 2015 edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race has come and gone, and while the event doesn’t hold the same prestige it once did, there was still plenty to talk about this year. The racing was as dynamic as ever, but also interesting were the bikes, teams and characters that show up to this event. Nearly every rider who has spun a lap around Suzuka sings its praises, though most of them also acknowledge how dangerous the circuit can be with its lack of runoff (just ask Casey Stoner). Still, this year’s race has offered plenty of talking points, and now that I’ve had some time to absorb everything the iconic Japanese race has to offer, here are my Top 10 storylines surrounding the 2015 Suzuka 8 Hours.

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