2012 Aprilia Tuono V4 R Aprc on 2040-motos

Moto blog

The Japanese oddity to naming teams

Whenever the calendar shifts to a major Japanese race, such as the Suzuka 8hr, one of the more amusing things to do is glance down the team sheet This years highlight for me has to be team Moto Bum, with other stand outs including aprilia D.D.BOYS, Team Etching Factory Yamaha and MITO MOTO & e'freaks Honda. Looking back through the ages some of the great Japanese team names have been Burning Blood Racing Team, Dog Fight Racing and Team Moto Space amongst others. Credit to a member of the Twitterati @temalive

Death of a sailsman

Former Apple head honcho Steve Jobs liked his bikes, so when he fancied a great big yacht, it's probably not too surprising he asked French design guru Philippe Starck to pen it. You may recall that Starck, who has designed everything from juicers to hotels, also drew up the Aprilia 6.5 Moto (pictured, right) back in the 90s - a motorcycle whose main achievement has been polarising opinion ever since. (You say minimalist icon, I say F650 wearing a blanket. An orange blanket.) Anyway, when Jobs met Starck, minimal, yacht-shaped sparks evidently flew and the result - after six years of hard work at Dutch builders Feadship and Mr Jobs' passing into the Great Docking Port in the Sky - is this sleek, 80-metre superyacht named Venus. The interiors that are all flat teak decks and walls of glass, with a bridge sporting an array of iMacs.

WSBK 2013: Jerez Race Report

Eugene Laverty did everything he could, scoring a pair of race wins but it was not enough as Tom Sykes rode smartly and conservatively at the season finale in Spain, securing his first ever World Superbike Championship. Sykes landed in Jerez with a 37-point lead over Laverty and a 38-point lead over Sylvain Guintoli. While Laverty battled Marco Melandri to win Race One, Sykes coasted comfortably in third for most of the race to score 16 points, enough to clinch the title.