Okay maybe I am crazy or missing something important, but is this SOT series supporting MotoGP this weekend? If so, that's way cool..especially with the Buell kicking so much ass
We are today doing round 6 of the Sound of Thunder and Pro BEARS.
Another great victory for Harald and the Erik Buell Racing 1190 RR yesterday. He´s running out of competitors, hunting laptimes now.
Robin our Rookie doing so great. Got the first pole of his life yesterday, than the XBRR gearbox in the XBR broke down and we needed to change engine(no Trapdoor). New engine had a shorter primary and a slipperclutch he never has droven with. So he needed in the race some laps to gettin back into rythem, than the leading 3pack was gone. But after he found new personal best laptimes he fight back the connection and missed his first Buellpodium with a couple of inches.
Good to see Robins progress, he have another Pro BEARS race today....
Great that's 2 victorys this weekend for the 1190! what's that total now for this bike, that the other guys can't touch!!!! Congrats that has to be the coolest thing to be on the top! you know they are crying every time they see this bike coming now!
...full story and the possibility for you guys to celebrate with us at the season end at Biketoberfest 7. - 10. October Motorsport Arena Oschersleben/Germany - see the 1190RR life racing - and if everything runs well you might share the moment with us when we win the SoT championship - there are 3 races left, 1 race in Schleiz in August and 2 races in Oschersleben where you might get 75points in total - and we want to get these points At the moment we have 150 out of 150 possible points... We're working on a special event parallel to Biketoberfest which might interest you guys...
Great job Guys! Harald makes it look so easy and is so smooth that it is "almost" too boring to watch
I can't fully appreciate his riding skill or what it takes to race at that level, but it is quite the ride just watching it!
I do have question; What is that high whine during de-acceleration? I found some other videos on YouTube that are not on-board and the whine is quite loud even from a distance. While I assume maybe some people wouldn't like that, I love it! It gives it a totally exotic sound.
If there is a level of healthy positive stress, this weekend was a real holiday. After the 1190 RR-B was struggling the last races on a problem with the headgasket, the Team was very keen to find out if engineengineers Alex Kucis ideas to fix it will work out. He was working the last days nearly day and night on that problem what was far from simple. In the end his tricky solution made the weekend. No raceweekend before we had so many track hours, including both races, made on the 1190 R engine like at this Festival Italia.
Beside the engine stresstest we also were looking forward to learn more about the Dunloptyres, who are an absolute keypoint of going really fast laptimes.
Harald declared after he was breaking the 1:32 Oschersleben trackrecord for Buell a couple of weeks before on a free training that he thinks that if all is in place, the bike with him should go later in the season a 1:29 high (more about this laptime here >>> );.
For the moment tracktime and Qualifying was in the focus. The Team was working now at the half of the season with great routine, everything is in place, everybody know his job. In the training was quickly to see that there will be also this weekend nobody on the track who can go Haralds Laptimes. The Buell 1190 RR-B and Harald Kitsch getting more and more a outstanding package. No wonder that he qualifyied to poleposition, funny that he used on the frontwheel a profiled Metzler Supersporttyre left from our Stocksport Nightmare at the 1000 Km of Hockenheim.
I swore it scares the s### out of you if you stand on the pitwall and see the bike breaking the 1:31 on a, friendly spoken, suboptimal tyrecombination. Harald came back and feels comfortable asking just for some tape for his hands.... Maybe it is not as easy as it looks.
Harald took on the saturdayrace the victory and after the good weather continued there was no questions that we go for victory also on the Sunday. Between we took a lot of Videomaterial including that Thomas Wanner was out with his brandnew XB12SX as camerabike. Stay tuned for some great entertainment including the full record of race 2 on the teams videochannel at youtube.
In race 2, where Harald also took the victory, he rode the Erik Buell Racing 1190RR-B to a 1:29.733 Laptime. Respekt!
# 489 Robin Taborsky, Buell XB-R - 4. / DNF
Robin Taborsky had a great weekend too. He is feeling more and more comfortabel on the XBR and was dropping his laptimes down to 1.39 over the days.
The Pro BEARS are leading by some quick guys with there Ducatis, the plan for the weekend was to get Robin into contact with the leaders that he could ride with them to learn and to pick up more speed.
Not only that he was going with the leaders, he also was fastest in Qualyfying and rode to the poleposition, that was more than expected and the Team was really cheering. Great to watch this progress. In the last Qualifying the gearbox broke and the team needed to change the engine. It worked in that limited time perfect, thanks to all who were involved. Bike was ready for the race but Robin never before was riding a Slipperclutch and also the primaryratio was a bit too short for the track. There was no more practicetime so he experienced the new engine first time in the informationlap direct in front of the start. That braked him a bit in, so he needed some laps to find back his rythem. At the end just a couple of inches were missing for his first podium. A great P4 finish, well done!
Second race he again needed some laps to pick up the speed of the 3 leaders, but than in the moment when he got contact the engine gave up and a major oilspillage on the reartyre let him badly slide through the Shell “S” turn. He managed that situation very well and parked the bike on the side.
The Team say sorry, but he got in both races the taste of podium, his speed is coming, very well done Robin!
What else the weekend had for us? We had a schoolclass for visit in the pitbox and is was great to see these kids listening to Robin when he was explaining how to race and how the protection equipment work.
Many friends and fans from the Buellcommunity found the way to Oschersleben, thank you all for the great support!
Thomas Wanner was with us and had a great time with his Team, thank you for all. A special thanks for all Teammembers for their precise and engaged work. Without you it would not be possible!
Next coming up now Most in Czech Republik and than the Schleizer Dreieck Race.
Stay alert for the Biketoberfest from 7th to 10th of October in Oschersleben. The team is organising on that date a Buell Trackday with Tracktime, a Buell only Race and a Buell Party. More info soon at www.art-motor.de and on this website.
The Erik Buell Racing 1190 RR-B Superbike is turning within some month after the first launch from zero into a real benchmark in Clubsportracing.
After H-D decided to shut down the Buell factoryplant at East Troy / Wisconsin many people say ok that’s the end for Erik Buell and his dream to built the ultimate american Sportbike. Even in the USA many sportbikefans anyhow believe in Gixxers, R1 and the other inline 4´s as the the real Sportbikes and and just a small minority of enthusiasts show passion for bikes like Ducati, KTM, Aprilia, MV Agusta or Buell. So in the end of 2009 not many people would give a cent for the idea that one of Eriks bike will ever running competetive in a open raceseries. Today, in begin of July 2010, 4 month after the first rollout, the Erik Buell Racing 1190RR-B is dominating the Sound of Thunderseries like no other bike ever before, leading at halftime the scoreboard with 150 of 150 possible points.
It was some days before Christmas 2009 when Pegasusraceteamprincipal Thomas Wanner and Teammanager Jens Krüper decided to show the flag by ordering two 1190 RR-B Superbikes from Erik Buell Racing. All who were involved know that it will be a concept what had a lot of work behind, but was never really trackproofed and that there could be a big risk to faile if the bikes would be not operated in a professional way. Long story short, there were showing up many challenges in the following months, but the performance speaks for itself and as the result of a perfect Teamwork, not one time bike or rider was out by technical failure.
Rider Harald Kitsch in combination with Engineengineeer Alex Kucis and Chiefmechanic Christian Hoffmann and the other Teammembers had done an outstanding job always focused to the result and the progress of the development of the bike. It was very early to see that Harald and the 1190 RR-B was running by its own, far in front of the competitors of the Sound of Thunder. So very early the Team started to compare laptimes with other non Twin competitions or higher level series. A first idea was giving the seasonstart at the Masters of Speed, were Harald was going with the Superbikes like S 1000 RR and the Gixxers. Some weeks before at the rollout in Alcarras / Spain he was in a second with some australien Superbikers from the german IDM (International German Championship), later in Assen he took the Poleposition in the dry over some real Assentrackspecialists.
Finally the team was coming to the Festival Italia in Oschersleben having, beside of winning the races, in mind to beat the magic 1:30 laptime. 8 weeks before on an open training Harald rode the bike first time there under 1:32 using old tyres, than later after more experience with the Dunloptyres and the bike, Harald stated that a 1:29.high should be possible in Oschersleben when all fits.
It fitted him on the 27 th of June at the Festival Italia when he rode in the Sound of Thunderrace round 5 with the Erik Buell racing 1190 RR-B a laptime of 1:29.733. Never a Buell was qicker there, maybe no Twin without tractioncontrol ever was under 1:30.
Fact is, that with these laptime Harald and the bike would able to go in the middle of the pack at the IDM race in Oschersleben 3 weeks before in a field with factorybikes using any electronic needed to go fast. Harald, ex IDM rider who winned the 2009 Sound of Thunderchampionship on a KTM RC 8 commented his laptime like that: “I think the 1190 RR-B is now on the level of the KTM and Ducati factorybikes used in the IDM. If you let one of the young quick guys race this bike, who are 35 Kg lighter and 30cm shorter than me, than a 1.27 laptime should be possible”.
By the way, if you understand how very near the 1190 RR-B is to the unfinished 2011 Buell Barracuda roadbike, you are getting really angry. Understanding that Buell had a real killerbike in the pipeline just when H-D decided to shut it down hurts and leave us with the problem that the 1190 RR is a prototype with no chance for now to get a homologation. So how is future heading?
The racing of V-Twins and other exotic sportbikes, homologated or not, requires additional passion and understanding. The challenge to race one of this special breed of bikes is in a way a very healthy elitethinking. Why should we race against lowbudgetbikes like cheap Inline 4´s if our passion belongs to enthusiasts bikes like Buell, Ducati, MV Agusta, Aprilia, KTM?
The financial situation im Motorsport is very tight these days. Without engaged Riders, Teamprincipals, Collectors and other Enthusiasts a top level Clubsportracing will be not possible. Operating a Ducati former Pascal Picotte or Steve Martin Superbike in a todays raceseries shows pure passion and you are only willing to do that if the level around fits you. Would you sent, as a passionated collector, your Desmosedici out competing against a Fireblade? Where is the top level platform for one of a kind or small numbers bikes, like a Aprilia RSV4, a Kalex AV1, the Vyrus or a Buell 1190RR-B? Where would a Britten found today an equal series to show up?
It´s time to bundle the forces, its time for return of the B.E.A.R.S. We need an excellence class of Motorcycle Clubsportracing.
The B.E.A.R.S (British-European-American-Race-Series) was originally founded in begin of the 80 th as an answer of the dominating inline 4´s from Japan. The idea was simple and brilliant: Why we should compete against bikes we don´t like?
How sound this? A new raceseries that offer a plattform for any enthusiasts and toplevelcollectorbikes from Europe and USA, not Twins only, also RSV4, Desmosedici and MV Agusta, Benellis, Triumph, BMW (except S 1000 RR what already overflodding the paddocks for small bucks and getting quickly now in a line with the Japanese).
A raceseries presenting the most awsome and interesting bikes of bikebilders and industry. Outstanding motorsport with a rulebook that allow in technical ways the maximum and that only limited rider/bike combinations that start to dominate the season by adding extra weight. Special rules like to put the 1-8 finishers from first race to the end of the grid for the Start at Race2 of the weekend, guarantee interesting motorsport.
For the bikeowners, industry and sponsors this raceseries could be a highlevel platform to show up with their bikes and businesspartners. A proper mediacoverage mainly by internet, including live- or for the begin videostreams, will be an essential.
Welcome the new BEARS. Fast, performant and exclusiv, the excellence playground for motorcycle ethusiasts.
Buell: There's life in longer - Pegasus shows HD where the hammer hangs
Yesterday we had reported that Harley-Davidson mentally gearing up for the reanimation of the Buell blast single cylinder class. As a beginner model... da this message fits well to: the German Pegasus race team is pushing his worst RR B on European race tracks with the Buell 1190 and deconstructs the competition - with a motorcycle, which comes from Erik Buells of new race forged and that, according to HD, were no longer should... There The results seem to prove what burden and pain are dropped by the good Erik after bitter parting from HD and the closure of the heavy iron forge. The fast flight of Pegasus is particularly impressive victories at the "Festival ITALIA" in Oschersleben and the Ducati home game "Sound of Thunder" at Assen at the slip. Fly, Erik, fly.
Here is a cool video: Fritz Spenner on a tuned Ducati Monster Camerabike featuring Ralph Schädel on the Ducati 998 RS and Harald Kitsch on the Buell 1190 RR playing around with their Superbikes in the Sound of Thunder Training at 2010 Festival Italia
Its sequences from the Sound of Thunderrace in Oschersleben at Festival Italia, including thefastest lap with 1:29.733, what is on the middlelevel of the IDM 1000cc factory Superbikefield. (-: