Raceday. The scene is Northland Mall, which sits precisely on the border between the Dirty D and "The Center Of It All" Southfield. With a trademark pop, the Ducati rumbles awake as we glide through the front doors.

Snap forward to turn three near the Dollar Dog, just past Detroit Gator Shoes. The Ducati holds the line tight as my soles drag on the polished tile. Barely on the edge of traction, an octogenarian piloting a hopped-up Amigo electric wheelchair veers sharply into my path and the game is on. We duel; Italian racing purebred versus Prius-shaming high-voltage horsepower. One thing is for certain: After this knock-down-drag-out Battle Royale, one of us is going home to eat applesauce. The pace heats up as we vie for position before the next curve. I pour on the power, 134 horsepower flowing through the semi-slick rear. She jabs me in the helmet with her cane and my balance is violently unsettled.

Thinking fast, I use my steel-toed boots to kick the Commemorative Matlock Collectors Edition DVD Box Set out of her basket and into the ether. She glances back, mourning for a brief moment, before continuing the fight. Now it's personal. We shoot for the quickly approaching turn when; catastrophe! The Amigo loses rear grip and goes into an uncontrollable slide. We haven't seen a wreck this intense since April of 2009. The driver seems to be uninjured as she straightens her wig and takes off her Nomex gloves. I glide through the predetermined finish, which stands as the visual line connecting the TJ Maxx and Payless Shoes. Victory is mine. Defeated, the old biddy turns slowly off into GNC to pick up the 3-gallon bucket of Metamucil she so desperately desires.

That's the risk we take living this life of speed. Sometimes you get the champagne — other times it's the stool softener. We both lived to fight again; only honor has traded hands this day which will live on in the annals of racing history.

Special thanks to TT Motorcycles and Rosenau Powersports!

Photo Credit: Alex C. Conley

Like all great stories in motor racing, Mercedes’s dominating debut is a story of timing, innovation and resurgence, with a healthy sprinkling of treachery on top. It began on a November day in 1953.

It was at the conclusion of the fourth season of Formula One, a mere eight years after the war situation in Europe had developed not necessarily to Germany’s advantage. Dominated by Alberto Ascari in his tiny Ferrari 500, the young sport was about to go through its third major rule change in four years: the 1954 season would drop the Formula Two regulations in place for 1952 and 1953 and dictate a maximum displacement of 750 cc for supercharged engines and 2,500 cc for naturally aspirated ones.

Mercedes-Benz, on the heels of their successful victory with the 300SL Gullwing in the Carrera Panamericana, decided to enter Formula One. The old team which ruled the European Grand Prix Championship with the supercharged Silver Arrows was back. Team manager Alfred Neubauer—the man who invented pit signaling—returned with his hat, trenchcoat and stopwatches, while London-born technical director Rudolf Uhlenhaut was tasked with creating a new car from scratch, codenamed W196 R.

And what a car it turned out to be! The engine a straight-eight, fuel-injected, naturally aspirated 2.5-liter marvel, with power taken off at the middle of the crankshaft, running on a cocktail of benzol, methylene, gasoline, acetone and nitro. It was driven by desmodromic valves—only seen today on Ducati motorcycles—which enabled higher revs than allowed by 1950s springs. The whole assembly was canted 37º to the right to make for a lower hoodline and a smaller frontal area. The car was wrapped in sheets of Elektron, an ultralight and very flammable alloy of magnesium.

By the time Uhlenhaut’s team was done, the 1954 season was already underway, with Juan Manuel Fangio racking up wins in the brand-new Maserati 250F. But the lure of the new Mercedes proved too hard to resist for the Argentine, and after winning two of the season’s first three Grands Prix, Fangio swapped his Maserati for a seat in the W196. After a 15-year absence, the stage was set for Mercedes-Benz’s debut on July 4 at the French Grand Prix, held at the ultra-fast circuit of Reims-Gueux.

Tweaking and testing continued even after Fangio and teammate Karl Kling—who had taken a vulture through the windshield of his 300SL Gullwing two years before in Mexico at 130 MPH—secured the first two positions in qualifying. Fuel consumption was higher than expected, and in a wonderful move, technical director Uhlenhaut hopped in his own Gullwing and raced it all the way to team headquarters in Stuttgart to have expanded fuel tanks manufactured overnight for the W196’s. No vultures were encountered on the Autobahn and at 2:45 the next afternoon, off went Fangio and Kling to begin the 300-mile race.

It was a massacre. The streamlined cars outpaced the rest of the field by 4 seconds a lap. As Fangio took the checkered flag half a car length ahead of Kling, they were the only two cars on the leading lap. Two Maseratis, two Ferraris and a lone Gordini driven by Jean Behra limped in long after them, the rest of the field decimated in the grueling race.

Incidentally, it was on this very day that Germany’s national squad beat what was perhaps the greatest football team ever in the finals of the 1954 World Cup: the Hungarian Aranycsapat, stopped in its tracks after an unbroken string of 33 wins.

The W196 would go on to win 8 of the next 11 races it was entered in. The streamlined body was replaced with an open-wheel version for the more technical circuits, and a young Stirling Moss joined Fangio for the 1955 season.

Mercedes-Benz also entered the car in sports car racing as the 300SLR, with an engine bored out to 3 liters, producing 300 HP. This was the car that carried Stirling Moss to his famous victory in the Mille Miglia—and which, a few weeks later, got catapulted into the crowd at Le Mans, where it became all too clear just how flammable that Elektron chassis was. Over eighty people perished in the flames, including racing driver Pierre Levegh.

The accident spelled the end of the W196 and its brethren. Neubauer withdrew the 300SLR’s from the lead several hours after the accident. At the end of the season, with Fangio claiming the Formula One World Championship in the W196 and the team taking the World Sportscar Championship in the 300SLR, Mercedes-Benz withdrew completely from motor racing.

Fangio would become World Champion two more times. His victories came in cars he had defeated in his Mercedes: the Lancia-Ferrari D50, and for his final championship in 1957, the very Maserati 250F he had abandoned three years previously for the W196.

The 300SLR lived on as Rudolf Uhlenhaut’s daily driver. It was made into a street-legal coupé which Uhlenhaut commuted to work with.

A hyper-Gullwing, capable of reaching speeds of 180 MPH in a sad, gray, post-war Europe, blasting down empty highways at warp speed, forever chasing a racetrack it would never set wheels on again.

On the other hand, it must have made for a memorable childhood for Uhlenhaut’s son Roger:

Photo Credit: Daimler AG, Autocar

TUNDRA/DUCATI TRANSPORTER

The Ducati Desmosedici RR is the only street legal MotoGP bike ever produced. The ultimate track day bike requires the ultimate transport; that’s where Toyota comes in with the 2009 Tundra Ducati Desmosedici transporter. The Tundra/Ducati Transporter is built on a Tundra CrewMax, which has been modified to accept a 6.5-inch bed. The transporter is tied thematically to the bike, incorporating Ducati Corse style along with high tech materials and execution to create synergies for two companies obsessed with quality and performance. Additional features include major bed innovations such as flip up bedsides, a motorized loading ramp by Rampage, integrated tool and spares storage, and popup solar panels for accessory power. Performance is enhanced through the full catalog of TRD Performance
parts such as supercharger, exhaust, intake, suspension and brakes. The interior treatment by Fast Ed’s Interiors combines high tech style with Italian flair.

TUNDRA/DUCATI TRANSPORTER FEATURES

• Ducati Corse Exterior by Focus On Cars
• Custom fabricated seats, sewn carpet, suede headliner by Fast Ed’s
Interiors
• Seat Massagers by In Seat Solutions-Relaxor Massage Products
• Rampage Powerlift Ramp
• Alcoa 22” custom forged aluminum wheels
• Pirelli Scorpion Zero Asimmetrico tires
• CarriageWorks Rear Roll Pan
• Toyota Racing Development Performance Parts
o TRD Boost Gauge and Pod
o Big Brake Kit
o 5.7L Supercharger (500HP/550TQ
o TRD Lowering Kit
o TRD Dual Exhaust
o TRD Sway Bar
• USAG 526V ToolBox (Official Tool Supplier to Ducati)
• RockBlocker protective light films
• VIS Racing Carbon Fiber hood

Ducati
• 2008 Ducati Desmosedici RR Motorcycle
• Ducati Corse Racing Suit by Dainese
• Ducati Corse Helmet by Arai
• Ducati Corse Boots
• Ducati Corse Gloves

[Source: Toyota]

The Ducati Edition flash drives are available in up to 4GB capacities and includes a 20MB read/write speed which conveniently makes the Ducati drive the fastest consumer flash drive from SanDisk.

The cherry atop this flash-drive sundae has to be the "SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition lanyard," which recognizes this flash drive as being officially licensed by Ducati. Hooray, a lanyard! Anyone else think this looks like a Dust Buster of years past? [Gadgettastic]

What makes his time all the more impressive was that Mikey wasn't even using super powerful carbon brakes. The F1 star instead decided to run steel brakes normally used in MotoGP in the rain because, you know, he enjoys the challenge. Schumacher insisted he had no desire to compete in a MotoGP race in the future — but we're thinking one should never say never! We're just waiting to see when he decides to jump into a Nastruck. (Hat tip to GT!) [news.com.au]

Photo Credit: Superbikeplanet

The 1098 is the latest in superleggera motorcycles from Ducati. This one is a black S version - currently the most leggera (that means light) of Ducati superbikes. Following up on the controversial design of the 999 with a return to the visual references of the 998, the machine not only looks the part of a purpose-built racing motorcycle, but acts it too. So much so that riding it demands a vital measure of respect for the machine — a respect hovering above machine lust. Not the airbrushed phantasy robot girl or similar message board style machine lust, either. The 1098 is very real, and it will act upon your corpus in a very real way. Of course, the 1098 also delivers genuine entertainment.

Hit the starter button on the 1098 and the sound of a churning electric motor gives way to that of infernal combustion. At idle the Ducati sounds like a cement mixer full of volcanic rock and grade eight lag bolts. Blip the throttle and the tune instantly changes. The Testastretta Evoluzione L-twin is the culmination of the decades long Ducati exploration into desmodromic valvetrains. The Ducati twin contains no valve springs, instead employing positive valve control at all times. There is never an instant where any valve isn't held mechanically to its task by a set of camshaft lobes - from idle all the way to a near 11K redline.

The next few rides on the 1098 went up into the Angeles National Forest and came with the realization that the 1098 should come with a couple of free coupons to Freddie Spencer or Keith Code riding school. Positive valve control gave way to untold engine revolution. The torque of the 160 horsepower L-twin arrives early and stays around all the way to a peak at the 8000 rpm mark. Top horsepower hits soon after that at 9750 rpm. A planned couple of hours up through Big and Little Tujunga canyons turned into days of countless many more. Look. Lean. Roll on the throttle. Do it again. And again. Grin wide.

On a stopover at the well-known riders' haunt Newcomb's Ranch, the telltale wail of an inline four ripping up the hill silenced the hangers-out momentarily. A second or so later, some hotshot was dragging knee-puck through the corner out front at a mean clip — at least a century, if not more. When he pulled back around to the parking lot and shed his helmet, another rider offered a friendly jab that he take his skills out to Willow Springs. Riding at the limit of adhesion is where a motorcycle like the 1098 begs to be ridden, even if I didn't feel like exploring the boundaries of that limit atop sheer cliffs or in the company of asphalt trucks.

This is the 1098. A racing motorcycle with turn signals and vestigial rear-view mirrors making up its very thin street disguise. A two-wheeled suspension of disbelief. A set of brakes that with the slightest pull of two-fingers scrub velocity at a tremendous rate, while making the sound of a decelerating TIE fighter. Compromise is not part of the 1098 equation. The motorcycle is simply brutal in its finesse. One wrong move, one fleeting split-second of target fixation, one pull over the line on the brakes, and it's over. The 1098 can be ridden on the street, but calls out for the track with every revolution of its desmodromic core.

Ducati 1098 Specifications and Details [ducati.com]

Related:
Jalopnik Drives The Can-Am Spyder!; Beverly Hills Ducati Hypermotard [Internal]

Related:
Patrick Dempsey to Drive Indy 500 Pace Car [Internal]

Synchronize your Tamagotchi clocks, kids. Today's the first show in Spinelli's new Sirius satellite radio show, RPM, which he'll be hosting with Maxim's zany-brainy Jon Wilde. It'll be a supercharged hour of extreme machines and the hottest hoo-ha! Yes! Grrrr! show about cars and related conveyances. Today's guest will be Michael Locke, CEO of Ducati. Leave your questions in the comments.

That's ...
RPM: 2:00 pm on Maxim Radio Sirius satellite 108

We love motorcycles, but we admit that we will probably never own a Ducati. They, like their four-wheeled bretheren from Ferrari and Lamborghini, make an absolutely glorious noise. But after years of crashing BMX bikes and having managed to flip a quad, we will most likely buy a vintage Britbike to putter down to the beach on, rather than something that goes really freaking fast on two wheels. Harry Callahan's famous adage, "A man's got to know his limitations," rings true with us when it comes to sportbikes. However, the late Dr. H.S. Thompson suffered from less in the way of two-wheeled fear than we do, and as such, he hooned it up on a Ducati 900SS and scared himself pantsless. And then he went back for more. [Thanks to Cole for the tip.]

Song of the Sausage Creature [Proitalia]

Related:
Bullrun '06: Las Vegas to Lake Havasu [Internal]

What's the difference between a Ducati Monster 695 motorcycle and a Fiat Panda? Let's see: they've both got around 70 hp and they're both Italian (Ducati's ownership being back in old-country hands). Other than that, not so much, especially since the Ducati measures its zero-to-60 times in single digits and the Panda in double. The connection is this: Fiat's ready to release a limited number of tricked-out four-wheeled Pandas that are an homage to the two-wheeled Monster. Shown as a concept at last year's Bologna motor show, the Panda Monster will get the same, 70 bhp 1.3 16v Multijet engine as its brethren, but will be tricked out with four-wheel-drive, a black-on-black paint scheme, tinted windows and gold brake calipers. Only 695 of the Pandas will be built, and they'll be sold via an undefined approval process that we hope has nothing to do with the Black Hand (or a sacrifice to the Chimaera).

More at Italiaspeed.

Related:
James Bond to Give Up Aston Martin for a Fiat Panda? [internal]