NOTE All the longer articles in the Akrapovič magazine include a text that will be marked with the // Si sign and placed in a special frame. The Akrapovič company is based in Slovenia and this is why we decided to keep this part of the text in Slovenian as well.
Cutting-edge solutions every day
One of the greatest pleasures of working in a competitive environment is being able to focus on innovative solutions made with the aim to win. Racing and competition continuously drive us forward, day in, day out, and recharge our technical enthusiast batteries with breakthrough products that hit technical milestones.
When developing a new product, we look for solutions that would give its users something extra – better performance, lower weight, more pronounced sound characteristics, and a unique and attractive design. And how do we react if we do not get the desired result, get limited by new, stricter regulations, different views of people surrounding us or any other complication, because there’s a surprise lurking behind every corner? We see it as the next opportunity!
When we are searching for cutting-edge solutions, results cannot be achieved in a single attempt, nor solely by using technological and production solutions that standards suggest. Our key goals are to understand the product’s function and operation under boundary conditions, apply perfectionism and use perseverance to get to the final version. We currently have various engineering tools at our disposal to help us expand our accumulated experience of exhaust systems and apply it more widely. However, an algorithm, even if updated by using artificial intelligence, will not take steps towards another pioneering solution. In order to push the boundaries, we require engineering innovation and intuition, underlined by facts and measurements.
I have never in my life kept looking at the clock; quite the opposite – the evening always seems to arrive too quickly. I get my biggest satisfaction from seeing a solution work in practice – whether it is a final product or just a modest technological or production step. The charm lies in making small advances towards the goal, although these are often not recognised as definitive at the time. But when looking back, we often notice how certain small steps and decisions ended up being the key turning points that took us to the finish line.
As a motorcyclist myself, I have often felt first-hand that you cannot allow the motorcycle to ride you, because that inevitably ends in a crash. Things are no different in the business world – all employees must strive as a whole towards the solutions needed by the racing teams or users of our products. It is essential to know how to detect an obstacle in time and avoid it. And if we come to an unexpected turn in the road, we simply ride through it, because we are constantly practicing this skill and know how to respond to unforeseen obstacles.
Tomaž Ilovar Chief Technical Officer Technical Sector
More than 200
The number of world champions who have won the title on a motorcycle or in a car with an Akrapovič exhaust system stood at 190 at the end of last year’s racing season. It increased for the first time this year in September, when Simon Längenfelder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) became the FIM Motocross World Champion in the MX2 class. The FIM Endurance World Championship season was a tight affair until the very end, with the biggest smiles after the final race of the season at the Bol d’Or painted on the faces of Marvin Fritz, Karel Hanika, Jason O’Halloran, and the rest of the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team, who celebrated their third Endurance championship title. Marc Márquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) meanwhile staged one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the sport, winning the FIM MotoGP title with five races to spare. Also, in a class of his own this year was José Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo), the new FIM Moto3 World Champion. Daniel Sanders, who won this year’s Dakar Rally, put the cherry on top of his spectacular season by donning the crown of the 2025 FIM Rally-Raid World Champion, with the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team celebrating two more Enduro titles as Josep Garcia won in both the EnduroGP and Enduro 1 classes. The E2 Class went to the defending champion Andrea Verona (GASGAS Factory Racing), while Hamish MacDonald (Sherco Racing Factory) became the FIM Enduro 3 World Champion for the first time at the very last race of the season. Axel Semb (Fantic Factory Racing Enduro) claimed the Junior Enduro World Championship at just 22. Toprak Razgatlıoğlu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) successfully defended his title in the FIM Superbike World Championship. Yamaha put a new race bike on the track this year and Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) made good use of it, becoming the FIM Supersport World Champion in his very first season on the R9. Since not all racing has finished before this issue went to press, we cannot name all of the 2025 world champions. Some additional names are sure to appear on the list while the total number of titles, won on Akrapovič-equipped machines, has passed 200.
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
José Antonio Rueda
Daniel Sanders
Josep Garcia
Andrea Verona
Simon Längenfelder
Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team
Marc Márquez
Stefano Manzi
Hamish MacDonald
2025 BMW Motorrad Days
As a BMW Motorrad Days partner, Akrapovič attended the three-day event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, for the 17th time in a row, exhibiting its range of products for BMW Motorrad motorcycles. BMW Motorrad Days is a must-see event for the fans of the Bavarian motorcycles, as evidenced by the large number of visitors from all over the world. The Akrapovič showroom was also visited by Superbike World Champion Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Michael van der Mark (both riding for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team for the last time this season) who, among other things, inspected the latest products for the BMW R 1300 GS, including the titanium protection bars.
Wyman is King of the Baggers
Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Race Team rider Kyle Wyman was crowned 2025 Mission King of the Baggers champion during the MotoAmerica double-header at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, with two races left on the schedule. Wyman, capping a dominating season in the series, secured 2025 King of the Baggers championship aboard a race-prepared Harley-Davidson Road Glide motorcycle with a lightweight titanium Akrapovič exhaust system. He closed the 14-race season with a commanding 70-point lead in the King of the Baggers standings, with seven race wins and three additional podium finishes.
Harley-Davidson/Josh Kurpius
The TITAN
A small group of BMW Motorrad employees embarked on a very special project they named the TITAN. Its design incorporates the basic styling elements of the new R 1300 R, translating them into the aggressive lines of a sprint racer. Visually, the weight is pushed over the front wheel to keep it on the tarmac for as long as possible when starting off, while the machine resembles a predatory cat, patiently waiting to pounce even when stationary. The motorcycle’s overall proportions are compactly built around the centrepiece: the 1300 cm 3 boxer engine, inseparably linked to an Akrapovič lightweight titanium exhaust. A nitrous oxide bottle sits between the two rear mufflers, releasing nitrous oxide into the injection system at the touch of a button.
18th time at the top
Akrapovič has been named the best brand in the exhaust system category for the 18 th time in the PS magazine readers’ vote for 2025. The globally renowned exhaust system brand, based in Slovenia, received over 80 % of the vote, repeating last year’s result.
BEST BRAND 2025
Kategorie: Auspuff
Akrapovic on the latest set of Bentleys v
Bentley and Akrapovič engineers have partnered to offer an optional Titanium Akrapovič Exhaust for the latest Continental GT, Continental GT Convertible and Flying Spur line-ups. Compared to the standard exhaust, the new sports exhaust is up to 10 kg lighter and is acoustically tuned to enhance the exhaust note at start up and throughout the rev range. Distinctive quad tailpipes carry branding of both partners, confirming the exclusivity.
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Record-holder in attendance
Domen Prevc, serial podium finisher, holder of the small crystal globe for ski flying in the 2024/25 season, and the current ski flying world record holder with 254.5 metres, went to his first-ever MotoGP event at the San Marino GP. “I’m thrilled,” Domen said after visiting the paddock in Misano and taking a peek behind the scenes at the Honda HRC Castrol racing team. The Slovenian speed and sound enthusiast, who also took to the track as a passenger in the safety car at Misano, compared the seemingly completely different sports, motorcycle racing and ski jumping, and highlighted the importance of trust in equipment and mental preparation.
Victory in the Green Hell
Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn, Raffaele Marciello and Kelvin van der Linde drove to a sensational victory for ROWE Racing at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring 2025, the 21st for the Bavarian brand, with Akrapovič, as an Official Partner of BMW M Motorsport, also sharing in the win. In front of a record crowd of 280,000 spectators, the BMW M4 GT3 EVO made it to the top spot after starting in 17th place, making the achievement of the #98 car at the legendary racetrack even more impressive.
His final WorldSBK season
Pata Maxus Yamaha rider Jonathan Rea completed his last season as a WorldSBK full-time rider and left the Superbike paddock as the most successful rider in the championship ever. The Northern Irishman has secured a record 119 career WorldSBK race wins and a record 6 WorldSBK titles (2015–2020), two more than the next best rider. “After an unforgettable journey in WorldSBK, I’ve made the decision to step away from full time racing at the end of this season,” the record-holder said in August. Jonathan’s successes are also linked to Akrapovič, as he won all of his six titles and 104 wins with the Kawasaki Racing Team, whose Ninja ZX-10R and ZX-10RR race bikes came equipped with exhaust systems made in Slovenia.
Titanium makes the product lightweight and durable, while giving it high mechanical strength and a very stable construction.
by Mitja Reven photography Akrapovič
LIGHTWEIGHT STRENGTH
Adventure Footpeg Set
Hephaestus, the ancient Greek god of fire and blacksmithing, used his divine hands to forge objects for gods and heroes – the shield of Achilles, the winged sandals of Hermes and even the thunderbolts of Zeus. Were he around today, crafting accessories for modern motorcyclists, he would surely be using titanium.
And not by coincidence, as the element Ti was named after the Titans of Greek mythology. These pre-Olympian gods, children of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky), were known for their greatness, strength, and toughness.
It was precisely their power, endurance, and indestructibility that the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth had in mind when naming a recently discovered chemical element titanium in 1795. Klaproth was not its discoverer, though; that honour belongs to William Gregor, who after finding the ore in the Cornish parish of Manaccan in 1791, named it ‘manaccanite’. It didn’t catch on.
The Greek gods and both titanium forefathers were, however, long gone when the metal’s major breakthrough occurred. Titanium remained mainly of interest to chemists as a compound until 1910 when Matthew Hunter, using the Hunter process, became the first in the world to isolate it as a metal and make it usable in industry. Many inventions can be said to have changed the world and made the sky the limit, but not titanium – the sky is too low for Ti, as it had found considerable popularity in the aviation and space industries.
Back to Earth
To Ivančna Gorica, to be exact, the home of Akrapovič for almost 35 years. The Slovenian company has gained worldwide fame with its high-performance exhaust systems, and
those familiar with the brand’s products know at least two things: they are mainly made from titanium and their quality has been confirmed time and again by numerous world champions. The development and production of exhaust systems for powerful motorcycles and cars requires a lot of knowledge, experience, constant technological upgrades, and being on the lookout for new solutions. The result of this wealth of knowledge regarding titanium moulding and reshaping, and out-of-the-box thinking has resulted in a new aftermarket product: the Adventure Footpeg Set (Titanium), initially available for selected adventure motorcycles from BMW Motorrad, Ducati, GASGAS, Honda, Husqvarna, KTM, Triumph and Yamaha. If you want to learn more about the supported models, please visit the Akrapovic.com website.
Details Count
Designed completely from scratch, these one-piece footpegs, meticulously cast in the company’s in-house foundry, are constructed from lightweight Grade 5 titanium, which combines superior strength and low weight with a high strength-to-weight ratio and exceptional corrosion resistance. To further reduce vibrations when riding on the road, the package includes a pair of optional rubber pads, which can be removed without the use of tools, depending on your needs regarding grip. Excellent grip when both on- and off-roading was a main design goal when creating this new octagonal-shaped product that also surprises with a host of interesting details, including a Y- shaped reinforcement element.
In addition to its versatile layout with a wide surface that provides stability, comfort and grip, the use of titanium in the ABE typeapproved Adventure Footpeg Set (Titanium) makes the product lightweight and durable, while giving it high mechanical strength and a very stable construction. Thoughtful design with central teeth ensures efficient weight distribution and control and the footpegs are designed not to affect the rider’s gear. Enough already, get into your riding kit and put your feet on titanium. Adventure awaits.
Ten years ago, it was still quite simple. MotoGP prototypes had to withstand wind pressure on the straights, and their fairings shouldn’t get too much in the way of cornering. In addition, it was necessary to supply the highly stressed engines with sufficient cooling air without generating too much air resistance. As a result, the bikes looked sleek and aerodynamic. Today, however, they are covered in wings and resemble flying machines from sci-fi movies. But because we have become so accustomed to them, they make their predecessors look really old.
photography Rob Gray, Polarity Photo, Ducati Corse, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
Fabio Quartararo
Francesco Bagnaia
Luigi Dall’Igna
Joan Mir
“We are always looking for the best compromise between the downforce that supports acceleration and braking, and the inboard force that pulls the motorcycle into corners and supports turning at the apex.”
- Wolfgang Felber
Complexity of the Aerodynamics of a Motorcycle
The use of wings to generate downforce and thus achieve faster lap times began in motor racing as early as the late 1960s. It was therefore no surprise that MV Agusta tried out fairings with wings on the ultra-fast Spa-Francorchamps circuit in 1974, and two years later Suzuki also experimented with wings on the fairing of Barry Sheene’s bike. However, as in both cases they brought more disadvantages than advantages, they disappeared back into the annals of motorsport history. It was not until around 2010 that they were revisited. “The reason it took so long is that the aerodynamics of a motorcycle are much more complex than those of a car,” says Romano Albesiano, Technical Director of Honda Racing Corporation, responsible for HRC’s MotoGP project. “While a car moves in two dimensions, a motorcycle moves in three dimensions, and the rider is part of the aerodynamics. This results in so many variables that in the past, computers did not have sufficient processing power to calculate them. In addition, the racing departments were far too small and did not have the capacity to deal with such details. All that has changed in recent years. We have the computers and programs, and the racing departments are much larger.”
Wolfgang Felber, Technical Director Advanced Engineering at KTM Motorsport, explains just how
complex the aerodynamics of motorcycles are. “The aerodynamics of a motorcycle are even more complex than those of a fighter jet because, in addition to all the three-dimensional movements, there is also the airflow under the motorcycle and the change in the rider’s position, which constantly alters the aerodynamics. Even the size of the rider alone has an influence on the aerodynamics.”
Pioneers from Italy
It was Ducati that brought wing development to MotoGP. “We had already conducted initial trials in 2008,” recalls Massimo Bartolini, who was with Ducati at the time and is now Technical Director at Yamaha Factory Racing. “But they only came into use when Luigi Dall’Igna took over the racing department.”
“In 2015, we had a completely new motorcycle and realised that the tendency to wheelie was the biggest limitation,” recalls Dall’Igna. “Even though we were able to increase the engine power by 15 kW or 20 hp, we couldn’t improve the lap time. So, we added wings to generate downforce and counteract the tendency to wheelie. When we already had many wings for downforce in 2016, we realised that we had improved the motorcycle on the straights, but had clearly worsened its behaviour in the middle of corners. We had to compensate
for the problem we had created by using other aerodynamic aids there. We learnt that we had to examine the motorcycle in different positions, and we discovered how to use aerodynamics to make the motorcycle faster in corners as well.”
Cost and Value of Aerodynamics
But all this came at a price. Complex calculations, wind tunnel tests, and test rides are required to achieve the right wing shapes in the right places. KTM Motosport Director Pit Beirer recognised the additional cost factor that aerodynamics brings to MotoGP and attempted to limit it as far as possible through regulations. Other manufacturers, on the other hand, were in favour of aerodynamics because it represents a large field that is still unexplored even in production motorcycles, and so racing can benefit production. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teamed up with Red Bull Advanced Technologies, which conducts research for the Red Bull Formula 1 team. “At first, I was against aerodynamic development, but now I really enjoy it with the right people,” Beirer admits.
“Working with Formula 1 engineers is a learning process that is still ongoing and will probably never be complete,” says Wolfgang Felber. “We have tried to communicate our wishes and ideas to Red Bull Advanced Technologies. We now hold
regular meetings, currently two days a month at our premises at KTM. We are gradually approaching our goal, but it is always a learning process, also on our part. This raises a lot of questions: What do you really need? How much downforce is ideal? When do you need it? In which direction do you need it? Where on the motorcycle do you need it? What do you have to do to achieve the best compromise?”
Felber also reveals the goals of aerodynamic development. “The goal is always to generate downforce. First, for the acceleration and braking phases, but we also want to generate forces in the lean angle that pull the motorcycle into the curve and thus help the rider when turning in.” Knowledge in this area is now extensive, and six phases are distinguished in development.
Phase 1: Straight line speed, when the motorcycle is riding completely upright on a straight line.
Phase 2: Straight braking, when the motorcycle is braked from 0–10 degrees of lean angle.
Phase 3: Corner entry, when the motorcycle is still decelerating at 10–60 degrees.
Phase 4: Corner Situation, when the maximum lean angle is reached at the apex of the corner.
Phase 5: Straightening up and accelerating at an angle of approximately 35 degrees.
Phase 6: Drive Situation, when the Ride Height Device drops.
“We are always looking for the best compromise between the downforce you need in an upright position to support acceleration and braking, and the inboard force that pulls the motorcycle into corners and supports turning at the apex,” Felber continues.
Complex process
Achieving improvements requires a complex development process. When engineers have an idea, they first use CFD (computational fluid dynamics) to perform flow analysis and thermal calculations, as cooling plays a major role in aerodynamics. The CFD calculations are then verified in the wind tunnel, and if
Marc Márquez
The goal of aerodynamics development is always to generate downforce.
21 20
Massimo Bartolini (right)
Joan Mir
the wind tunnel delivers similar results to the CFD, track tests are carried out with MotoGP test riders.
“That’s when it gets really complicated, because now the rider’s feelings come into play,” says Felber.
“There are configurations that deliver good values in the calculations, but give the rider a bad feeling and are difficult to control.”
The Europeans, who were the first to start working on aerodynamics, still have the biggest advantages today. The Japanese, who were late to the game, are trying to catch up and are making major investments to do so. “Honda already has very impressive facilities for aerodynamic development, which are currently being expanded, and the exchange of knowledge from automotive aerodynamicists is being utilised,” reveals Romano Albesiano. Massimo Bartolini sees the same development. “Yamaha initially sought help from external partners, but management understood that it was necessary to build up its own knowledge. So, an aerodynamics department was set up. We have engineers there who came from a motorcycle background, from Formula 1 or other motorsports, but also aerospace engineers. There are also thermal specialists, and we try to combine all their knowledge.”
All of this is already having an impact on series development, and Luigi Dall’Igna also reveals why the investments have already paid off: “The engineers who are currently working on the aerodynamics of series motorcycles such as the Multistrada and the Panigale at Ducati all come from the racing department. Our aerodynamics group works not only for Ducati Corse, but also for Ducati Motor Holding.” And so, one day, production motorcycles without aerodynamic aids will seem just as outdated as MotoGP bikes without wings do today.
// Si
Aerodinamika v MotoGP: Veter daje krila
Pojav aerodinamičnih pripomočkov za povečanje potiska k tlom je v zadnjem desetletju izrazito spremenil videz motociklov MotoGP in ustvaril pomembno novo področje aerodinamike. Njihovi oklepi so bili sprva zasnovani za zmanjšanje zračnega upora in hlajenje motorja, zato so bile njihove oblike videti zelo elegantne. Uvedba krilc, s katerimi so prvič eksperimentirali že konec 60. let, pa je kasneje privedla do vizualno kompleksnih motociklov, s številnimi krilci. Evolucijo sta spodbudila napredek v zmogljivosti računalniške obdelave in povečanje dirkalnih oddelkov. To je zagotovilo natančne tridimenzionalne izračune, ki jih zahteva aerodinamika motociklov, saj kot dinamično komponento vključuje tudi dirkača. Pionir na področju razvoja krilc v MotoGP je nedvomno Ducati. Z njihovo pomočjo je želel ustvariti potisk k tlom, s čimer bi preprečil dvigovanje motocikla na zadnje kolo in hkrati izboljšal zavijanje. Pri Red Bull KTM Factory Racing izvajajo zapletene izračune, teste v vetrovniku in uporabljajo povratne informacije dirkačev, da optimizirajo oblike in položaj krilc za različne faze vožnje. Medtem ko so bile pri razvoju sprva vodilne evropske ekipe, sedaj tudi japonski proizvajalci veliko vlagajo, da bi nadoknadili zaostanek.
GLORY TIMELESS
EVEN BEFORE THE START OF THE RACE AT SUZUKA RIDERS FACE EXTREME HEAT AND STIFLING HUMIDITY THAT ARE SURE TO FURTHER AGGRAVATE THE ALREADY DIFFICULT EIGHT HOURS THEY WILL HAVE TO FIGHT AGAINST RELENTLESS COMPETITION. THE FUMES ARE WAFTING, AS THE ASPHALT HEATS UP TO MORE THAN 50 °C (122 °F), THE CREW ARE DOING THE FINAL PREPARATIONS IN THE PITS, TEAM LEADERS ARE NERVOUSLY GOING OVER TACTICAL DETAILS, THE SMELL OF GASOLINE AND HOT RUBBER MIXES WITH THE CHEERING SPECTATORS IN THE STANDS. AND THIS IS MERELY AN INTRO TO WHAT MADE EVERYONE COME TO THIS PRESTIGIOUS AND SPECIAL RACE.
by Primož Jurman
photography David Reygondeau, Good Shoot
The first Suzuka 8 Hours race was held in 1978, the time when Japanese motorcycle manufacturers Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha were fighting for dominance in the world markets. It quickly became a proving ground for new technologies and racing skills. The TT-F1 machines of the day were untamed and wild beasts, the racers rode at breakneck speeds, what counted was endurance and sheer power. But what really sets this race apart from others, is the frequent appearance of MotoGP and WorldSBK riders. Famous names such as Valentino Rossi, Mick Doohan, Colin Edwards, and many others competed on John Hugenholtz’s famous track, which should tell you that Suzuka is definitely not for the faint of heart.
The race features two competition classes: the Formula EWC (FIM Endurance World Championship) class, where both factory and other teams are allowed to use state-ofthe-art technology and are given a certain amount of freedom in development, and the Superstock (SST) class, which uses machines that are practically identical to production road motorcycles with limited modifications, making this category more accessible to private teams. Both classes take to the track simultaneously with separate scoring, which creates an interesting dynamic, as the EWC teams battle in the foreground while the private teams vie for glory a bit further away from the limelight.
ENDURANCE RACING HOLIDAY
The race being heated is not just a metaphor, with the track surface heating up to 50 °C (122 °F) as the race is scheduled in the middle of summer. The riders, wearing leather suits and with heart rates at the limit, have to endure up to an hour of riding before handing over their machine to a teammate. Timing during a pitstop is precisely measured – changing tyres, refuelling, minor mechanical repairs –everything happens in less than half a minute. A mistake by any team member means laps are lost and often puts an end to the dream of success and victory. Along the track, spectators fly flags of the teams they are cheering for and fight back against the heat with handheld fans and umbrellas. Although an endurance event, the racing rhythm is not much different from classic shorter races. Riders persistently set lap times with the way they distribute their strength playing a pivotal role. Multiple factors play into team tactics as
well – when is a rider called into the pits, the amount of fuel that is added, risk by staying on the track longer on increasingly worn tyres, if there’s enough fuel left in the tank… The teams have run their own computer models and scenarios, but it’s the human factor that decides in the end.
A team usually consists of three riders, who generally switch places every 40 to 50 minutes, but this year Honda HRC entered only two, which meant longer stints and a greater effort for each of them. The extreme heat and the need for constant focus also causes riders to lose a lot of fluids, meaning having to fight cramps as well as fatigue.
SUZUKA 2025
This year’s race was held in unprecedented heat, making careful tactical planning even more important. Honda HRC wrote a very special story with Johann Zarco and Takumi Takahashi, whose combination of experience and speed allowed them to maintain the lead practically from start to finish. Their victory, the 31st win for Honda, the fourth consecutive with an Akrapovič exhaust system, is far more than just a sporting achievement. “Honda values this event as one of the pinnacle races for mass produced vehicles. We also believe that participating in this race is an important opportunity to develop racing talent, including team staff, mechanics, and engineers. One of the key challenges on the race was achieving a balance between fast lap times and fuel efficiency – an area that demanded precise strategy and execution. Additionally, the race was held under extremely hot and humid conditions, which made health management for both riders and team staff a critical factor throughout the event,” the company said afterwards.
SUPERBIKE AND SUPERSTOCK
Although BMW Motorrad focuses mainly on its BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team, which finished this year’s Suzuka in a very respectable 5th place, it also competes in the Superstock class, where bikes bear a greater similarity to production models. This year brought a surprise in this class as Team Étoile, racing with a BMW M 1000 RR and sporting home-grown talents Motoharu Ito, Hikari Okubo and Kazuki Watanabe, rode to a not entirely expected victory. “The Suzuka 8 Hours is one of the most prestigious endurance races
“PARTICIPATING IN THIS RACE IS AN IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP RACING TALENT. ONE OF THE KEY CHALLENGES ON THE RACE WAS ACHIEVING A BALANCE BETWEEN FAST LAP TIMES AND FUEL EFFICIENCY.“
- HONDA HRC
“ALL THE TEAMS WANT TO SHOW THEMSELVES IN THE BEST LIGHT. THE RIDERS COME FROM MOTOGP, WORLDSBK AND ENDURANCE, THEY ARE IN THE SAME TEAM JUST FOR THIS RACE.”
- YART YAMAHA TEAM MANAGER MANDY KAINZ
in the world and achieving success there is a very strong statement for BMW Motorrad Motorsport. It proves the competitiveness, reliability, and performance of our bikes in one of the toughest racing environments. For us as a company, it reinforces our engineering excellence and shows customers worldwide that BMW Motorrad delivers premium performance not only on the road, but also on the most demanding racetracks. The circuit itself is challenging, with its technical layout and high-speed sections, but what makes it truly special is the atmosphere – the fans in Japan bring an incredible energy and deep appreciation for motorsport. For riders and teams, Suzuka is not just a race, it’s a test of endurance, teamwork, and spirit. Winning or even performing strongly there is a badge of honour in the world of motorcycle racing,” said Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport Sven Blusch.
Akrapovič exhaust systems were fitted to many of the race bikes, including those of the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team, Honda HRC, Kawasaki Plaza Racing Team, SDG-Ducati Team Kagayama, Yamalube YART Yamaha Official Team EWC. Mandy Kainz, YART Yamaha Team Manager, believes everyone in the motorcycle world sees Suzuka as the highlight of the season. “I always say that when we win at Suzuka, my work is complete and I can retire. All the bosses, especially of Japanese brands, come here, all the teams want to show themselves in the best light. The riders come from MotoGP, WorldSBK and Endurance, they are in the same team just for this race. Technology has advanced a lot in recent years, and our team can boast a record of completed laps. Well, we share this record. Last year we did a record 220 laps and were only 7 seconds away from victory, though we unfortunately didn’t finish the race this year.”
The race emphasises the importance of teamwork, because an individual could never maintain such a high racing rhythm for eight hours straight. The pit crew is what allows the strategy to show its worth in the total time
and number of laps. “The Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race is not only about speed, but also about strength. In recent years, the extreme summer heat has placed an even heavier burden on the racers, which is why most teams compete with three riders. Each member of the trio must consistently maintain sprint-race speed, while the team is required to send them back out with flawless pit work. Only when the riders, the machine, and the team complete the entire eight hours without mistakes or issues does the possibility of victory finally come into view,” believes Yoshihito Yasuoka of Kawasaki Motors Japan.
Let me just briefly mention the Japanese SDG-Ducati Team Kagayama, which rode a, well, Ducati. “Under difficult circumstances, and not having enough knowledge of running an Italian motorcycle properly, we managed to finish fourth at Suzuka 8 Hours in 2024 battling for the podium until the last moment. We are very pleased and honoured that Akrapovič showed interest in our project and agreed to support us in this new endeavour. We are aiming to win Suzuka 8 Hours next year for the first time with Ducati, Akrapovič and with our partners as this has been my life dream for a very long time and we keep working hard for it!” said Team Principal Yukio Kagayama. The Suzuka 8 Hours is not just a motorcycle race; it is a test of human limits and technical endurance, a festival of motorsport and tactics. It resembles a kind of motorcycle chess. Winning the race means that the riders enter the ranks of legends, and for Japanese brands in particular, winning the race is a badge of honour like no other.
Dirka v Suzuki: osem ur pekla za brezčasno slavo
8-urna dirka v Suzuki je zaradi vročine in vlage eden najzahtevnejših izzivov za dirkače. Od leta 1978 velja za poligon novih tehnologij in združuje dva razreda – Formulo EWC in Superstock, ki tekmujeta hkrati z ločenim točkovanjem. Poleg hitrosti odločajo natančni postanki, spopadanje z utrujenostjo in timsko delo, kar dirki daje prestiž, voznikom pa možnost, da dosežejo status legende. Letos je huda vročina zahtevala še boljše strateško načrtovanje. Za ekipo Honda HRC sta namesto običajnih treh nastopila le dva dirkača – Johann Zarco in Takumi Takahashi, ki sta vodila skoraj brez prekinitve in Hondi prinesla že 31. zmago, četrto z Akrapovičevimi izpušnimi sistemi. Ti so bili nameščeni na številnih dirkalnikih – med njimi je uspeh dosegel tudi BMW Motorrad z ekipo Team Étoile. // Si
Why Superbike – BMW Motorrad and bimota
BMW Motorrad stands for prestige and technological perfection in the motorcycling world. Its results in World Superbike (WorldSBK) have continued to improve in recent years, with the 2024 and 2025 WorldSBK Championship titles its crowning achievement. The story for bimota is quite different. This traditional brand returned to WorldSBK in cooperation with Kawasaki, taking part in the 2025 season as the bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team (BbKRT). Why do these two manufacturers compete in this particular class, what do they have in common and what makes them different? Read on to find out.
The Bavarian manufacturer introduced its first production motorcycle, the R 32, in 1923, laying the foundations for the brand’s identity with its boxer engine and cardan shaft drive. In 1956, the BMW RS 500 Typ 253 finished second overall in the World Championship, followed in the ‘70s by the R 90 S, which won the 200-mile Daytona race and the Production 1,000 cm 3 class at the Isle of Man TT race in 1976. The Bavarians were serial victors at this legendary TT race between 2014 and 2019 with the BMW S 1000 RR and have continued their winning streak with the M 1000 RR. “Motorsport is deeply embedded in BMW’s DNA. It is where we prove the performance and quality of our engineering, but it is also a source of inspiration for our entire brand. For BMW Motorrad racing is about passion and excellence – it challenges us to innovate and motivates our teams to push boundaries. The spirit of motorsport is the same spirit our customers experience when they ride a BMW motorcycle,” said Sven Blusch, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport.
BMW Motorrad has been competing in the World Superbike Championship since the 2009 season. The series is an ideal platform for demonstrating the capabilities of production motorcycles, as WorldSBK is based on models that can be bought by everyday riders. “WorldSBK is the most relevant global championship for productionbased motorcycles. That makes it the natural choice for BMW Motorrad, because it
allows us to showcase the direct connection between our race bikes and the motorcycles our customers ride on the street. The level of competition is incredibly high, which motivates us to constantly improve and ensures that success in WorldSBK has real meaning for riders and fans around the world,” Sven added. In the 2010 season, Ayrton Badovini won nine out of ten Superstock races on a BMW S 1000 RR and secured the cup title after the seventh round, but the German brand’s crowning success was winning the WorldSBK World Championship title in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, courtesy of Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and his M 1000 RR.
Racing means progress and development
BMW Motorrad sees WorldSBK as a laboratory where it can test and develop technology, mechanical and electronic parts. This philosophy allowed the company to continuously improve its road bikes and become increasingly competitive in racing. WorldSBK presents the ideal venue for the Bavarian engineers to combine tradition, innovation, and passion for motorcycles. “In WorldSBK, our primary goal is to consistently fight at the front and demonstrate the true potential of the BMW M 1000 RR. The championship is extremely competitive, which makes it the perfect arena for pushing the limits of technology. Racing is an important development platform for us, because many innovations that we test under
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
racing conditions eventually find their way into our production motorcycles. It’s a direct link between the racetrack and the road, ensuring our customers benefit from everything we learn in competition,” Sven concluded.
Together in WorldSBK – bimota and Kawasaki
The Italian brand, whose unique combination of design and performance had dazzled the public decades ago, has returned to the WorldSBK championship – this time in cooperation with Kawasaki. The Italians are competing as the bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team (BbKRT) in the 2025 season – a project that goes beyond the usual competitiveness and combines Italian design precision with Japanese technical perfection. “BbKRT is not just a project, it is a vision,” the team stresses. “The aim is to combine tradition and innovation and inspire fans all over the world. This is not just a competition; it is a demonstration of what is possible when two legendary brands come together.” The development process took place in three key centres: Barcelona, Rimini and Akashi, where engineers and experts designed every detail of the motorcycle to the highest standards. The return of bimota also had a symbolic value. In 1988, the marque won the first race in the history of WorldSBK, and in line with the saying that history repeats itself, bimota returned to the track, this time with an eye on the future. “It’s more than just a partnership,” the team added. “Together bimota and Kawasaki want to raise the level of
competition and once again excite motorcycling fans.” The main character of this tale is the KB998 Rimini, combining bimota’s frame with Kawasaki’s engine and electronics.
From past to future
Three motorcycle enthusiasts – Valerio Bianchi, Giuseppe Morri and Massimo Tamburini, whose surnames’ first two letters spell out bimota – started their motorcycle activities with the first prototype, the bimota HB1, in 1973. This was followed by the YB1 and YB3, with which Jon Ekerold won the 350 cm³ World Championship in 1980. Virginio Ferrari then went on to win the TT Formula 1 World Championship for bimota in 1987, and in the 1988 season the team won seven races in the World Superbike class with the YB4 E.I.R.. In 2000 bimota competed in the same class with the SB8 K model, which propelled Anthony Gobert to a race win at Phillip Island. In 1978, bimota’s KB1 used a Kawasaki engine for the first time, placing the corner stone that allowed them to start writing a new chapter in 2025. Their philosophy that combines passion, design and cutting-edge technology is now a global story. The BbKRT project is not just a return to the track; it is a demonstration of what can be achieved when tradition meets innovation. The 2025 season was therefore not just a race, but also a demonstration of what happens when two legends – one from Rimini, the other from Akashi – come together with a clear goal: to conquer the WorldSBK class.
Alex Lowes
Alex Lowes
by Mitja Reven photography Ferrari, Hoch Zwei
Chess, anyone?
Communication in the FIA World Endurance Championship
FIA World Endurance Championship races last from 6 to 24 hours, the latter being the famous French classic in Le Mans. In principle, racing is done at full speed at each race, from the rolling start to the chequered flag, but it is also very calculated, making endurance racing resemble a game of chess in which radio communication plays a major role.
“Did you do a track limit in this lap?” the Ferrari AF Corse race engineer asked at the end of qualifying for the opening race of this year’s FIA WEC season in Qatar, wanting to know whether the Ferrari Factory Driver pushed his car out of bounds at any of the corners while chasing the fastest lap time on the Lusail circuit, which could allow the race stewards to delete his lap time. “No, mate,” Antonio Giovinazzi radioed from car #51. “In this case, I’m afraid it’s pole position, mate,” the race engineer responded playfully, his voice heard on TV screens by viewers around the world. Such conversations between the driver in the car and the crew on the pit wall during free practice, qualifying and races have in this millennium become an indispensable part of motor racing, especially endurance racing.
The teams most often talk to their drivers about strategy (stint length, possible driver change, energy use, tyres...), inform them about the traffic (an impending overtaking of
cars from a slower group...), incidents on the track (accidents...), the condition of the car –while the team is forbidden from manipulating the car remotely, it can instruct the driver what to do – and safety updates (safety car, virtual safety car, full-course yellow procedures), though Race Control usually sends messages about that. The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) and ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) are explicitly allowed to listen to, record and transcribe car and pit-crew channels at any time and for any purpose, with the most interesting conversations often becoming part of race broadcasts and social media posts.
From planes to automobiles
Already in the period between the two world wars, teams were thinking about ways to use more than just hands to communicate with drivers during a race. Thus began the era of pit boards, which provided racers with basic information, such as pit stop
notifications. Pit boards have until today remained an indispensable part of racing in many competitive categories, such as MotoGP and MXGP, where they serve as the main communication channel between the team and the rider, while the latter is on the track. They are a generally reliable way of providing information, but only allow one-way communication and have their limits – a rider can only see one on the home straight and thus information can come (too) late, its relevance and interpretation is questionable, and riders might also fail to see it.
A major communications revolution was taking place in the skies over Great Britain in the early 1940s. Military strategists in bases on the ground communicated with fighter pilots via radio, and the Brits successfully introduced this technology to car racing after the war. Peter Clark put a two-way radio connection in his HRG at the 24 Hours of Spa in 1948, and the invention debuted with all its labour pains at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
a year later. This gave birth to an era of analogue communication in real time between engineers and racers, which was only superseded at the turn of the millennium by the digital age of pit-to-car and car-to-pit communication that brought excellent range and extraordinary sound clarity, courtesy of noise-cancelling headsets.
Every word counts
It’s not only the thousandths of a second and efficient use of energy by a Hypercar on each lap, every word counts in endurance racing as well. Two-way radio communication plays a vital part in a team’s toolbox today, as real-time communication between the team and racer allows the exchange of information about the car’s performance and allows the driver to immediately execute strategic decisions that can ultimately decide the winner.
Racers are living beings, and like to hear encouraging words and praise when they do something magical on the track, like when Alessandro Pier Guidi overtook two cars in one go in Spa with his race engineer joyfully exclaiming “Well done! Come on!” over the ether. In the wheel-to-wheel battles, a rival of the #51 Ferrari 499P once again overtook the racer from Piedmont, but the engineer reassured him, “Ok Ale, so the BMW in front of us is on new tyres. We are faster, stay
behind, it’s going to come to us.” Pier Guidi was pushing hard on the track and replied, “Mate, I am giving everything,” as he was trying to set fast times, paying attention to optimal energy consumption, effectively overtaking the slower LMGT3 cars and fighting with his Hypercar competitors for victory in the prestigious race in the Belgian Ardennes. At the same time, he also trusted the engineer’s reassurance that his car will sooner or later get ahead of its rival. When operating a 500 kW (670 hp) race car, the racer is aided by a slew of buttons that they can use at high speeds – the top speed of the #51 Ferrari 499P in the race was 318.7 km/h! Antonio Fuoco completed the Hyperpole lap with its sister 499P at an average speed of 210.9 km/h.
Not only do very few racers have the ability to think about strategic decisions at the pace of modern racing, drivers on the track also do not have the additional data known by the crew in the garage and at the pit wall. Engineers have key data on the speed of their rivals, they know what tyres they are on, what their energy consumption is, how they are doing with their stops, how fast they are in comparison... They also have a better overview of the weather and extraordinary events on the track such as accidents, which can cause a safety car to come out and in turn cause a quick change
of tactics, for example by issuing the “Box, box, box!” message. Engineers also closely monitor various parameters of the racing car via telemetry, have an overview of the team’s other car and its strategies, and can, if necessary, adjust the tactics in favour of one, the other or both. Endurance racing is in many ways reminiscent of a game of chess, where defeating your opponent comes from executing a series of moves. Ferrari’s crew did exactly that, concocting a strategy that allowed Pier Guidi’s final pit stop to be extremely short. “We optimised all the lap times, it’s going to be really short,” the race engineer told Pier Guidi before ordering him to “Box, box, box! Short splash,” at exactly the right moment. The Ferrari spent less time at that pit stop than its rival for the win and returned to the track in the lead. “Last lap, you are doing amazing! Ale!” was transmitted to Pier Guidi who celebrated the win with teammates James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, who both made significant contributions to the victory. A victory that would have been far more difficult without the team’s chess-like tactics.
Endurance racing is a team sport, and one where races are not won in the first lap but rather over the long haul. Watching from a chess-like perspective, the races can become even more interesting.
As a Technical Partner of Ferrari Hypercar, Akrapovič is proud to work alongside the team to enhance performance and power.
SAME, BUT
by Matevž Hribar
World Endurance Championship (WEC) races, under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), and WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (WTSC) races, overseen by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), feature the same cars. Well, at least they look the same. That means that the races themselves can’t be much different either, right? Well, not quite. We met with Valentino Conti, Head of Track Engineering at the BMW M Motorsport, and Marco Wittmann, who pushes the same technology to its limits on the track to talk about the tiny differences, from the barely noticeable technical ones to those caused by the venue, the track, the fans and, last but not least, the rules.
photography Hoch Zwei, BMW M Motorsport
DIFFERENT
I apologised to both of them in advance for perhaps asking a silly question, since I am primarily a motorcyclist, and more off-road oriented at that, even though I also know a thing or two about cars. Valentino and Marco – in separate interviews – smilingly waved away my fears, saying that there’s no such thing. I wanted to know about the racer’s feelings, the atmosphere on the track, the stands, and we very soon came to the conclusion that feelings are massively important and differ depending on the venue, the racetrack, the fans, the local racing tradition and, last but
not least, the rules with their minute differences in articles and paragraphs. All of the above can cause a big difference in how everyone involved feels at the event.
To put it shortly: the FIA organises the races under the WEC banner, composed of 6- to 24-hour endurance races, held all over the world: in Qatar, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, USA, Japan, Bahrain and of course France – the venue of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. On the other hand, the WeatherTech
SportsCar Championship races, held under the IMSA umbrella, solely take place in USA and Canada; none of them lasts more than 24 hours, but unlike WEC, WTSC also features shorter, sprint races, which are only 100 minutes long. Sebring in Florida was the only venue to host both championships until the FIA moved its USA race to Austin, Texas.
To meet differing regulations, BMW developed the BMW M Hybrid V8 race car with an Akrapovič exhaust system for both series.
Built to comply with LMDh regulations and, as its name suggests – Le Mans Daytona hybrid –it is a race car designed to compete across championships: in the GTP class of the IMSA WTSC and the Hypercar class of the FIA WEC. Both represent the top category in their respective series.
Differences are determined by… the wind tunnel
I mainly wanted to ask Valentino about the differences between the race cars, but he quickly disappointed me. “The cars are not 100 % identical, but the differences are almost invisible. If I put both cars side by side and pointed the differences out with my finger, you would notice them, otherwise you wouldn’t.” The differences are caused by type-approval, which must be carried out in the USA for IMSA regulations, and in Europe for WEC, which is why downforce and drag measurements differ. “Even that will change soon, because type-approval will be done in the same wind tunnel after this season.” Valentino added that there are no differences in the performance of the hybrid-powered race car, but different venues require different
“The cars are not 100 % identical, but the differences are almost invisible. If I put both cars side by side and pointed the differences out with my finger, you would notice them, otherwise you wouldn’t.”
- Valentino Conti
telemetry. “In general, I would say that the tracks in the US have more character, but are also bumpier, while WEC races are held on new, very well-built and maintained circuits.”
Akrapovič brand ambassador and BMW M works driver Marco Wittmann confirmed that he doesn’t feel any difference in aerodynamics as a driver. He was able to say more when we turned to the feelings on and at the track. “Racetracks are more old-fashioned in the States, run-off areas are shorter, which is quite a challenge. Detroit even holds a street race.” If you Google the Detroit Street Circuit’s layout, it looks as if someone drew it with a ruler, without a French curve or compass. Just plain old streets. There are practically no run-off areas, only high fences bracketing the straight avenues. Marco gets to know the new tracks in a simulator, as testing opportunities are limited. He also has a lot to say about the differences in the atmosphere. “In America, show is very important, the fans love it, there are parades before the race, opportunities to sign autographs. I like that, I think fans deserve to get something back. On the other hand, at Le Mans you feel the history, the importance of this
unique race, which is watched by large crowds. Some WEC races have fewer spectators, for example in Bahrain and Qatar, and those who come are less enthusiastic. Japanese, on the other hand, are nuts about cars, the atmosphere there is really something special.”
Small differences in the rules, big difference in the show Marco and I touch on a very important, perhaps the key difference: in races organised by the IMSA, there is always the possibility of a safety car, even towards the very end of a 24-hour event. This means that even a poorer start does not take away your chance to fight for victory at the end. This specific rule aims to keep the tension going until the chequered flag. It’s different at WEC races. If you’re slow or have a technical problem, you can merely try to limp to the end, but you won’t be fighting for the top anymore. “Success at WEC races depends more on the capabilities of the car and abilities of the driver, but WTSC races provide many opportunities if you use a smart refuelling strategy, or if the safety car makes an appearance. It’s sometimes not completely fair, but it keeps the race interesting. After
“Success at WEC races depends more on the capabilities of the car and abilities of the driver, but WTSC races provide many opportunities if you use a smart refuelling strategy, or if the safety car makes an appearance.”
- Marco Wittmann
24 hours you could still be fighting in the last 20 minutes. Another difference is contact between cars. At WTSC races you won’t be penalised immediately if you collide a little with a competitor or use a slightly wider line. I think such racing is closer to the way racing was in the ‘80s and ‘90s, a bit more back to the roots.”
Having heard all that, I could not but feel that it sounded a bit on the dangerous side, but was quickly reassured. “I wouldn’t say dangerous,
we’re all professionals racing at the limit. We fight hard, but keep it fair. Motorsport is always dangerous, at the end we race at a high level. We all know where the limits are, but cars are super safe nowadays.”
Marco can’t help himself, he is a racer through and through. If you cannot understand that, you cannot understand Marco. But perhaps you have at least learnt more about the two championships.
Marco Wittmann
Akrapovič is Official Partner of BMW M Motorsport.
A racing weekend with Fabio Quartararo
MEETINGS THAN RACES MORE
Have you ever wondered what a MotoGP racer’s weekend looks like? We had the opportunity to witness the schedule and work style of the 2021 MotoGP World Champion Fabio Quartararo – riding for the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team – as we shadowed him throughout the racing part of his week – from his arrival at the racetrack on Thursday to his departure back home on Sunday. We silently followed at his heels and dutifully recorded his every move. A racer’s schedule is planned down to the last minute and all the activities are meticulously specified in advance.
by Gaber Keržišnik
_THURSDAY
_7:32 am
Fabio Quartararo heads off to a race. If the event is taking place somewhere in Europe, he usually takes a private jet in the company of his closest friends, typically a group of three. Here and there a family member joins them. But when flying further afield, they use regular flights. Usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday, in extreme cases even on a Monday. If the races follow each other, they often go straight from one venue to another –without a detour home.
_10:01 am
Arrival at the track. He first changes his Fabio trousers for his team clothes, the mandatory outfit when at the circuit. Yamaha colours are obligatory from the start until the end of the weekend. His first port of call is the Yamaha motorhome, followed by a visit to the garage crew, who have been there for a while now getting the bike and everything else ready for a smooth start to Friday’s free practice.
_12:40 pm
Time to meet the press. Thursday is media day, peppered with interviews and recordings for TV shows, social networks, the championship organisers and, seemingly always, at least one unplanned media event in between. These are immediately followed by a media debrief, where Fabio meets journalists at the media centre. First in English and then in French. Every pre-race Thursday comes with a strictly allotted number of interviews, otherwise it would simply be too much. Every pre-race Thursday that is, except for his home French race at Le Mans, where the time set aside for the media doubles at the least.
_6:50 pm
When the day turns towards the evening, he usually does a track walk. This is sometimes done with the entire team in order to discuss possible tactics, ideal lines, and/or problems with the track and safety, which they warn the organisers about.
photography Rob Gray, Polarity Photo, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
_8:01 pm
He doesn’t dine too late before leaving the Yamaha motorhome for his camper, brought to each race by the driver of a company from which he rents the camper for the entire European part of the season. A friend or two might pop in to see him there, including Moto2 racer Tony Arbolino, his very close friend. They like to watch TV together, often Netflix series like Squid Game, Break Point, Drive to Survive and others. He usually falls asleep around midnight.
_FRIDAY
_7:30–8:00 am
On Friday, the action moves from the circuit to the track. If the night is quiet and the fans around the circuit are not too boisterous, Fabio wakes up between half past seven and eight, and has breakfast in his camper.
_10:45 am
The first free practice session starts, lasting for 45 minutes. After the session, he stops for a short chat with the technical crew about the events at the session, the behaviour of the bike, where improvements are still needed...
_12:35 pm
Lunchtime, followed immediately by a more serious and longer meeting with the crew before the day’s second session.
_3:00 pm
The second free practice is longer than the first. Riders stay on the track for 60 minutes. Following that, he has another talk with his closest colleagues about how the bike ran at the two free practice sessions. They mainly talk about possible improvements before Saturday’s qualifying and sprint race and this talk can sometimes be quite short, or sometimes also quite long. Late in the afternoon comes another obligatory meeting with the journalists, with the conversation focused on impressions from the two free practice sessions.
_5:55 pm
Fabio returns to the garage for the main meeting with the mechanics and engineers, where the crew chief plays an important role. If necessary, Fabio checks the telemetry data and analyses his ride, which means that creating a rough draft of the tactics and any other particularities for Saturday’s race has officially begun.
_7:50 pm
After dinner he always savours his peace, friends, and TV. Similarly to Thursday, the lights go out around midnight.
_SATURDAY
_8:11 am
Saturday is when racing begins for real with a sprint race on the schedule. Breakfast is followed by a briefing with the team before important decisions are made.
_8:47 am
The longest meeting about what happened on Friday takes place on Saturday morning, and Saturday’s race will similarly be analysed on Sunday morning. These meetings are used to review all the findings made so far and discuss how to set up the bike for the qualifying and sprint race. These two differ greatly and the bike must be meticulously prepared for both.
_10:10 am
Before qualifying, the riders get another 30 minutes of free practice. Everything must go without a glitch here. There is not much
EVERY PRE-RACE THURSDAY COMES WITH A STRICTLY ALLOTTED NUMBER OF INTERVIEWS, OTHERWISE IT WOULD SIMPLY BE TOO MUCH.
_SUNDAY
_7:46 am
Sunday is the highlight in the world of motorsport racing. The atmosphere has been more tense and the beat at the track has been hitting differently since the morning, with restlessness and expectations in the air. After breakfasting and meeting the crew, a ten-minute morning warm-up is scheduled for 9:40, followed by another meeting, meant to finalise race tactics.
_10:55 am
Riders take good care of their fitness, and that includes a regular Sunday massage at the mobile clinic at the track. Fabio always watches the Moto3 race during his massage. With that race (and the massage) finished, he briefly stops by the garage to check if everything is going as planned. This stop probably isn’t necessary, but in Quartararo’s case it’s a kind of a ritual.
_12:11 pm
Time for a light lunch, followed by a short rest in the camper to relax and mentally prepare for the race. During this break, he watches the Moto2 race, and then listens to music until the time comes to head off to the track. He loves American rap with Travis Scott being his favourite artist.
_1:06 pm
After the finish of the Moto2 race, Fabio walks to the team truck, which houses his own office and a small changing room. He puts on his racing suit, protectors, and boots. His gloves and helmet have been laid out for him in the corner of the garage where his chair is.
_2:00 pm
MotoGP race is go! Races in Europe almost always begin at that time.
time, and all the changes and improvements on the bike must work if the team is to have any hopes for a successful race. Qualifying begins at 10:50 for the first and 11:15 for the second qualifying group. Each group is on the track for 15 minutes.
_3:00 pm
The first highlight of the weekend comes in the guise of the sprint race, which is 14 laps long on this racetrack. What will happen later on Saturday depends on the results of this race. Generally, there is another meeting with the crew, a well-worn schedule, time for the press...
_7:11 pm
Due to the abundance of events, Saturday flies by in a flash for the riders and another evening, similar to the previous two, has already arrived.
_3:01 pm
The race has been over for a few minutes and the race weekend is almost over as well. If Fabio finished on the podium, he has a long afternoon at the track ahead of him, otherwise he just has to answer a few questions before going to the garage.
_4:33 pm
Fabio stops by his mechanics and engineers to evaluate the race and the weekend overall. He greets everyone with a high five and goes to change.
_6:12 pm
He is usually already on his chartered plane by then. At European races, Fabio almost always gets back home between eight and ten in the evening. He analyses the racing once more, but being more tired than usually, he goes to bed a bit earlier. When he wakes up on Monday morning, his mind is already on the next race. 43
DON’T OVERHEAT – IN EVERY ASPECT
Preparations for races with Lamborghini Squadra Corse
by Tina Torelli
Endurance racing is a discipline that tests more than just engineering limits. For endurance racers, the challenge marked with high pressure and often extreme exhaustion is far from being just about lap times. One of the most complex motorsport disciplines is all about pushing a human body to extremes, while resisting the erosion of focus, relying on the gut instinct, and synchronising with teammates. Lamborghini’s factory drivers Daniil Kvyat and Edoardo Mortara opened up about their intense physical and mental preparation behind endurance racing with the SC63 GTP car –a futuristic beast roaring unmistakably with the Akrapovič exhaust.
photography Automobili Lamborghini, Hoch Zwei
“A lot of it is instinct, especially in traffic. It helps if you’ve raced in the other classes. Then you know what those drivers are dealing with.”
- Edoardo Mortara
Nothing works without the work, so training to become the strongest version of yourself, both physically and mentally, is a condition sine qua non of the endurance game.
“During long periods in the car, often during double stints, your body goes through immense physical stress, so a high degree of fitness is essential,” says Daniil Kvyat, whose background in Formula 1 now influences his endurance career. “We go through a lot of G-Force, so neck and head training are particularly important, as is cardio because we are expending lots of energy.” Basically, Kvyat’s training regime combines cycling and weight training, putting special emphasis on neck strength and cardiovascular resilience. But nutrition is just as vital. “It’s all about optimising the body for sustained energy. I need a lot of protein to boost training, carbohydrates for slow release, and plenty of water with electrolytes to keep muscles from cramping.”
On race days, nutrition becomes science. Every meal is calculated as Lamborghini Squadra Corse’s in-house nutritionist customises each driver’s intake to ensure maximum efficiency. It looks simple on the outside, but in reality, it’s all about a subtle balance between too much and too little, too early, and too late. “You don’t want too much food right before your stint, but you do need enough to fuel a long session,” Kvyat explains. “I’ll usually have carbs, fruits, and an electrolyte drink. Then I’ll stretch, warm up my neck, and do some reaction tests with a tennis ball.”
Supercharge your brain, boost your memory
While physical endurance is visible and measurable, what goes on in the brain is harder to define – yet perhaps even more important. “Even though the brain isn’t a muscle, it functions like one,” Kvyat says. “You can train it to take in more, process faster, and stay sharper under fatigue.” Everything – from strategy calls to steering wheel layouts – has to be second nature. In the race, there’s no time to second guess. Simulator work plays a big role, but for Kvyat also has its limits. “The simulator helps with memorising the corners and understanding how the car reacts to specific set-up changes, depending on the track conditions. Something like a bump in the braking zone – that’s a detail you need to store, because real track time is limited.” Even so, Kvyat admits, nothing can replace the real thing.
Trust
your instinct and stay present
It’s during the long, isolating night stints, when endurance racing really shows its teeth. The whole aim is to become comfortable with the uncomfortable. When monotony kicks in, it’s crucial to stay anchored in the moment. “In any case, racing at night it’s actually easier than people think. With the headlights, there is quite a lot of visibility. However, the night stints can be long, especially at Daytona and sometimes it does feel like time stands still,” Kvyat recalls. “At Le Mans last year, we spent many hours under safety car during the night and, while we were not racing at full speed, it
Daniil Kvyat
was incredibly difficult to stay focused. A few of us desperately needed the bathroom and one of our team-mates started to feel quite unwell, so it was certainly not easy.”
Edoardo Mortara, a veteran of both singleseaters and touring cars, brings a different dimension to the discussion – particularly when it comes to the multitasking chaos of endurance. “A lot of it is instinct, especially in traffic,” he says. “Multi-class racing means we’re constantly overtaking slower cars. The faster car has to pass safely. That’s on us.” Still, the risk is ever-present. “It helps if you’ve raced in the other classes. Then you know what those drivers are dealing with. You know where to pass and where to wait.” Mortara admits that it’s obviously easier to pass the slower cars on the straights, but sometimes he does take calculated risks in the corners. When imagining for a second the fever before the stint, a thought of lucky rituals pops up. “I have no rituals, no superstitions before the stint,” says Daniil Kvyat. “I just stretch, get a physio session about 30 minutes before my turn, and talk to the engineers. I listen to my teammate’s radio – that’s crucial to know what’s happening in the car. Then I put on my balaclava and my helmet and I am all set. I don’t like talking much before getting in the car. I need a silent moment to enter in the zone.” Mortara adds: “If a teammate has a great stint, you’re pumped to keep that momentum. If they struggle, you’re motivated to pull it back. Pressure is constant – it’s how you use it that matters.”
Keep cool – in every way
And finally, let’s talk about the elephant in the cockpit: the heat! How to stay ‘cool’ when the car turns into a sauna? “This is the difficult thing for sure,” Mortara says. “At Sebring or Watkins Glen, ambient temperatures are already high – but inside the car, it gets much worse. We don’t have cool suits or AC, so it’s brutal!” That said – an efficient recovery after the stint is so important. The moment the driver gets out of the car, it’s straight into ice baths, hydration, breathwork … you name it! “Yes, everything you can to bring your core temperature down! If you overheat, it affects your focus, your stamina – everything!” Mortara concludes. It’s only thanks to some new old-style biohacking tricks that the driver can wait for his next stint with a cool body and a cool mind.
“You need to know where every button is – brake bias, drink, pit limiter, flashers. One wrong press at 280 km/h and it could end the race.”
- Daniil Kvyat
Edoardo Mortara
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Entering the halls housing Éric’s motorcycle collection in a small village in northern Normandy feels like entering a museum that breathes with a passion, echoes with the sound of racing bikes and smells of two- and fourstroke combustion. The former President of Yamaha Motor Europe is a businessman and an avid collector, and his private collection constitutes a personal journey through the 70 years of Yamaha’s history – from the first two-stroke machines that sped along Japan’s roads in the ‘50s, their high-revving successors that came 20 years later, the beasts of the ‘80s, associated with the Dakar, all the way to the modern, high-tech MotoGP and Superbike machines. Each motorcycle in the collection tells its own story, and Éric de Seynes is connected to every single one of them.
A PERSONAL JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
Founded in 1887, Yamaha initially manufactured musical instruments before adding motorcycles to the mix after World War II, under the then company president Genichi Kawakami. Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., was established in 1955, the year when its first production motorcycle, the 125 cm3 two-stroke YA-1, also known as the Akatombo or Red Dragonfly, rolled off the line. Becoming an instant hit, it swept the podium at the 1955 Mount Fuji race, giving prestige to the brand and garnering the attention of the emerging Japanese motorcycle industry. This model has a special place in the collection, right at the entrance.
When Éric talks about Yamaha, he sounds as far removed from dry business-report speak as possible; he is passionate, respectful, and brimming with experience. “Yamaha has always transcended the mechanical,” he tells us right at the start. “Our goal is not to make something that just rides. It is to create a bike that gives riders a sense of freedom and connection, allows them to become one with the machine. The motorcycle must have a soul.” As the first European at the helm of Yamaha Motor Europe, Éric understands European motorcycle culture well. “When I was a kid,” he recalls, “we had motorcycles at home because my father was a keen rider. I watched with open mouth as Saarinen, Agostini, and later Sarron and others became legends on Yamaha’s two-stroke rockets. The ‘70s were a turning point for Yamaha, and represented true freedom in motorcycling.”
Among more than 300 motorcycles in Éric’s collection, there are three bikes, ridden by three different riders, that mean the most to him: the Yamaha TZ350 on which the legendary Jarno Saarinen won the Daytona 200-mile race in 1973, the Yamaha YZR500(OW23) that helped Giacomo Agostini become World GP Champion for the 15th time in the 1975 season,
and the Yamaha YZR500(OWA8) from the 1989 season, ridden by Christian Sarron when he finished third in the 500 cm3 world championship. Éric believes that all three riders were special: Saarinen rode intelligently, Agostini brought his experience and renown to Yamaha and proved that a Japanese bike could beat the European giants, while Sarron was approachable and friendly, but ruthlessly fast on the track. He also mentioned Patrick Pons, the first Frenchman to win an FIM world championship, and Fabio Quartararo, the first French MotoGP World Champion. Their bikes are, of course, also part of his collection.
MODELS THAT MADE HISTORY
Yamaha consolidated its position in the ‘70s by introducing models that are now considered legendary. YZ250 remains the longestrunning production dirt bike model in history, XS1100 took Yamaha into the big four-cylinder class, YZF-R1 with its sporty notes marked the beginnings of the R1 family in 1998, and the XT500 won the first two races of the ParisDakar Rally, firmly establishing Yamaha in the off-road category. These bikes were not just technical masterpieces – they became symbols of Yamaha’s innovation and perseverance. Each of them underlined the company’s drive for perfection, whether in motocross, rally, or in bikes for everyday use. Yamaha internalised the philosophy that technology, developed for racing, should also be brought to serial production models, and become a part of the experience for everyday riders. During this period, two-stroke 500 cm3 motorcycles reached the pinnacle of technological perfection, with Yamaha using the TZ500 and TZ750 to experiment with lightweight aluminium frames, two-stroke engines, and aerodynamic improvements. These were brutal, unpredictable, and demanding machines, but this was the exact mixture that forged legends. “Every victory was a test for the racer and the engineer,” Éric recalled those times as we slowly paced through his collection. “The sound of those machines, the smell of burnt racing fuel and the excitement before the race – that was Yamaha in the ‘70s.”
YAMAHA RACING HERITAGE CLUB –KEEPING RACING HERITAGE ALIVE
Yamaha Motor Europe’s launch of the Yamaha Racing Heritage Club (YRHC) at the 2021 EICMA show in Milan, was met with a positive response from the two-wheel community. The club is more than just another gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts; it’s an organised network of owners, mechanics and legendary racers who work together to ensure that Yamaha’s rich racing history does not sink into oblivion. YRHC is open to owners of historic Yamaha racing bikes, meaning two-stroke prototypes made
“
“OUR GOAL IS NOT TO MAKE SOMETHING THAT JUST RIDES… THE MOTORCYCLE MUST HAVE A SOUL.”
- Éric de Seynes
between 1955 and 2003, superbike rockets manufactured between 1985 and 2009, motocross motorcycles produced before 1998 and Dakar rally models that competed in the desert before 2007. Registered members have access to an exclusive community that provides both technical support and information on the availability of genuine parts, both of which are crucial in keeping these legendary bikes running. But the club’s biggest draw are its ambassadors – former and current riders who, together with owners and fans, share their memories and get to again ride on the machines that so marked their careers. Events such as the Sunday Ride Classic in France, the Sachsenring Classic in Germany or the Yamaha Racing Experience in Mugello and Jerez, allow visitors to meet the names that wrote the history of motorsport. These include nine-time Grand Prix world champion Valentino Rossi, whose charisma continues to attract the crowds and makes him the most recognisable face of the modern era. Giacomo Agostini is there, proudly introducing the Yamahas that added to his world champion tally, Christian Sarron, the 1984 250 cm3 World Champion, is regularly in attendance, as is Johnny Cecotto, whose versatility has left a mark both in road and endurance racing. Among off-road riders, Yamaha’s legacy is preserved by three-time
motocross World Champion Alessio Chiodi. These are not just icons, but a living link between the past and the future. Their presence gives the club authority and soul – proof that Yamaha is not just a motorcycle manufacturer, but a family that connects generations.
CELEBRATING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
Yamaha has made great strides in the past 70 years. From its humble beginnings as a musical instrument manufacturer to its current status as a global motorcycle giant, it has left a strong and lasting impact on the world of motorcycling. Seven decades after the YA-1, Yamaha remains among the leading motorcycle brands. When you think of Yamaha, the past, present and future come together – from the racetrack to the road, from technology to passion. “Seven decades of innovation is a good time frame to look back on these achievements. But our gaze must also always be directed towards the present and the future. We want our motorcycles to not only stand for technology, which is extremely important and without which there is no progress, but also be a source of inspiration for new generations of riders,” Éric de Seynes concluded his thoughts as we were finishing our stroll through his magnificent collection.
//Si
70 let Yamahinega motociklizma
Podjetje Yamaha, ustanovljeno konec 19. stoletja, je sprva izdelovalo glasbene instrumente, po drugi svetovni vojni pa je začelo izdelovati tudi motocikle. Zgodovina njihovega motociklizma se razteza čez 70 let in združuje tehnične inovacije ter strast ljudi, ki so oblikovali to znamko. V Normandiji smo obiskali zasebno zbirko Érica de Seynesa, prvega Evropejca na čelu Yamaha Motor Europe. Z več kot 300 razstavnimi primerki ponuja edinstven vpogled v razvoj Yamahinih motorjev in nas popelje od prvih motociklov, ki so se podili po japonskih cestah v petdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja, preko dirkalnikov iz osemdesetih, povezanih z Dakarjem, vse do sodobnih, visoko tehnoloških strojev razreda MotoGP in Superbike. Leta 2021 je bil ustanovljen Yamaha Racing Heritage Club, ki ohranja dediščino ter povezuje lastnike zgodovinskih Yamahinih motorjev.
MARC MÁRQUEZ’ SECOND LIFE
IT’S MORE THAN A CHAMPIONSHIP
by Simon Patterson
photography Rob Gray, Polarity Photo
“Off the bike, my approach to life has shifted. I train differently and listen to my body. Now, I just enjoy life.”
“For sure it’s a special year. I’ll never say the most important, because the first MotoGP title, that’s something amazing. But this is the most important in my second life. I’ve had a good comeback since last year, and winning the title at the end of it is just amazing.”
The phrase ‘second life’ crops up again and again. It’s not a branding slogan. It’s a simple, personal truth. After a five-year stretch marked by injury, failed surgeries, and a nearly catastrophic derailment of his career, Marc Márquez is racing again –not just with speed, but with enjoyment. Injuries are part of the job, of course, but few in the MotoGP paddock – hell, few pro athletes in any sport – have endured what Márquez has since 2020. A compound fracture to his right arm, multiple surgeries, infections, nerve damage, and ultimately the heartbreaking decision to step away from the only life he’s ever known and he tries to reflect for us again?
“In 2020 and 2021, it was a nightmare, I lost some years of my career – in my racing life I lost two, three years. But with that experience I learned a lot for my personal life, and that one is longer.”
Most great champions are defined by their highs, but after the pain of the past half decade, it might be that in the future Marc Márquez is as much defined by how he survived his lows, a part of his story that he says can’t be told without mentioning MotoGP race winner, double world champion, and little brother Álex.
“For two years I stopped racing. It was hard being at home. But honestly? The biggest help at that time was my brother. Not because he helped me directly, but because he was still racing. That meant I never disconnected from MotoGP.”
While the physical recovery was brutal, it was the emotional struggle, the ache of absence, the haunting possibility that it might all be over, that very much seems to have left a deeper scar, one that he says needs to remind us all that despite the suit of armour he wears every weekend on track, he remains human underneath.
“Six years ago, I didn’t know what suffering was. I had only tasted the glory of my career, since 2010. It’s true that I had some injuries, but it was always three months, four months, then winning again. When you have four years with four different surgeries in the arm, then breaking other bones during that time, two times suffering from double vision, it was super difficult. We are humans. In this, I’m like you.
You have some talents, I have this talent, and others will have a different talent, but we are humans trying to do our best.”
One thing that really emphasises that is the warmth with which he speaks about brother Álex. Not just a rival but Marc’s best friend off the track, he credits his successful return to MotoGP in large part to having Álex close to him during the hardest times.
“Sometimes when you are at home, in this nightmare, you don’t want to see any racing. But because my brother was there, I never disconnected from the adrenaline. It’s like when you have chocolate in the fridge. If you don’t eat it for a month, maybe you forget it. But if you take a bite, you want more. My brother was my chocolate.”
It’s one of MotoGP’s most compelling storylines: two brothers on the grid, both racing at the sharp end. But, after his incredible success in 2025, Álex Márquez is
no longer just the little brother, he’s been a genuine title contender many times during the 2025 season, the only racer on track able to even come close to consistently matching Marc... In another family, that might breed friction. Not here.
“Of course, during the weekend, he’s working with his technical team and I’m working with mine. We can share some comments, but in the end, I have my schedule and he has his. We’re competitors now, but I want the best for him. If someone has to beat me, better it’s my brother.”
Their relationship is competitive, yes, but in a way, Márquez insists it is different from the rivalries that have defined his career. There is no psychological warfare, no cold silence in the garage, no petty drama played out in the press.
“Normally with opponents, there’s love-hate. They help you raise your level, but you also
want to destroy them. When I was teammates with Dani Pedrosa, we had a very good relationship in 2014, 2015, 2016. But during the season, there was this kind of tension, we can say. We were talking to each other, but we were not friends. In the end, you can have a good relationship with your teammate, but it’s cordial. With Álex, that hate never arrives. It’s only good things.”
That doesn’t mean the intensity is lacking, of course. In fact, Marc claims his training sessions are tougher than ever.
“The level was increasing, even on training days. Because it’s competition, but it’s healthy competition I’ve never had before. Not as with other opponents, with whom the relationship is a bit colder and more distant because you want to beat each other. However, it’s always your opponents who help you improve.”
Ask any rider what’s the hardest part of a comeback, and most will talk about
the physical pain. For Márquez, it was the decision that nearly tore him in two: walking away from his first team in MotoGP.
“It was the hardest one. You have the physical pain, sure. But the emotional part, that made it super difficult to take the correct decisions. The results never arrived. But my priority was always the same: how to improve.”
For most of his career, Marc Márquez was the very definition of ‘all-in’. Watch any highlight reel and you’ll see it: the impossible saves, the elbow-down saves that redefined how to ride a modern MotoGP bike, the aggressive riding style that made him a fan favourite and the constant foil to both his rivals and to MotoGP’s stewards. Not anymore. Now, Marc Márquez rides smarter. Not slower, not always safer. Just smarter.
“I try to minimise the risk. Before, I was full risk from FP1 to the race. Now I try to control it. You still take risks, of course. But if you have the speed, you can manage it. It’s not just a track-side transformation. Off the bike, my approach to life has shifted. I train differently and listen to my body. I don’t bomb downhill at full speed on my bicycle just for the adrenaline anymore. Now, I just enjoy life.”
He credits some of that to his girlfriend Gemma Pinto, who he started dating in 2023.
“An important person in my life. Before, I was winning, but I was living like a teenager. Now it’s a more stable life. A bit quieter. Still instinct on track, but at home I grasp things more.”
Given that his teenage years ended, by his own admission, well into his twenties, and that he’s been the focus of an intense media spotlight for half his life, does he look back on his wild youth and wonder at his younger self?
“Of course! It’s the best and worst thing about being a top athlete. You grow up in front of cameras. People hear you say things at 18 years old and ask, ‘Why would he say that?’ But you’re 18, just off a race, heart rate 150, adrenaline maxed out. It’s normal. At 32, I know better. But at 40 I’ll look back at 32 and think, ‘What was I doing?’ That’s life.”
He’s sure about one other thing that middle age is likely to bring, too, though. Márquez says it’s highly unlikely that we’re going to see him still be racing at 40. Then again, he says he’ll never say never. It all depends, on speed, on motivation, on the grid.
“It’s super difficult to stop at the top. But one day, two guys will be faster than me. Then three. Then I’ll realise I’m not on the podium anymore. That’s the moment to stop.”
We talk about both Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner, two champions who made very different exits from MotoGP – one at the top, and one after he hadn’t been quite at the peak for a few seasons – and admits there’s no perfect formula.
“One would say they should’ve stayed longer; one would say they should’ve left earlier. There’s no right answer. It depends on your body, your injuries, your motivation.”
What comes after the leathers are hung up for good?
“I would like to be involved. In my life, I know MotoGP. I don’t know about opening a shop. I don’t know how to manage money. I have people who do that. But MotoGP? That, I know. If I feel motivated, I feel I can contribute.”
Whatever it is that Márquez finds himself doing in a post-racing life, one thing is for sure; it’ll be in the paddock, where he’s pumped all of his life’s passion for so long.
Just a few days after our chat, though, all thoughts of retirement are banished in dramatic style as he stands on the specially-constructed podium on Motegi’s main start finish straight, to add his name once again to the top of the MotoGP trophy. Ending a win drought and once again establishing himself as the master of all that he surveys by completing one of the greatest comeback stories in modern MotoGP.
“This year, I do realise what I’m doing. Because I suffered before I arrived here. I know where I came from. It’s one more championship, yes. But inside of me, it’s more than a championship.”
Drugo življenje Marca Márqueza: Več kot le prvenstvo
Z Marcom Márquezom, sedemkratnim svetovnim prvakom v MotoGP smo se v intervjuju pogovarjali o zahtevni poti nazaj v aktivno dirkanje po hudih poškodbah, ki ga spremljajo že od leta 2020. Poudaril je, da je bilo okrevanje bolj boj za preživetje in ponovno iskanje smisla v dirkanju kot običajna vrnitev. Veliko moč in motivacijo mu je pri tem dajal brat Álex, s katerim je globoko čustveno in športno povezan, saj sta obenem tekmeca in prijatelja. Opisal je fizične in čustvene izzive, ki so zaznamovali zadnjih pet let, ter priznava, da so bile psihične preizkušnje hujše od telesnih. Zdaj dirka bolj premišljeno, bolj osredotočeno in z več zrelosti. Svojo vrnitev na vrh MotoGP vidi kot pomemben simbol vrnitve v življenje in v svet dirkanja.
FANTASTIC
FANTASTIC
by Alenka Birk
1980 ART CAR
Start Your Engine – and say you love cars without saying a word. B.R.M Chronographes unleashes the Bolides Art Car Keychains, where pop art meets precision mechanics. Inspired by the legendary Art Cars of the ‘80s, these aren’t just keychains – they’re miniature machines of style and speed. Crafted in France from titanium, stainless steel, or Fortal, each aerodynamic piece channels the curves of vintage race cars and the bold pulse of modern design. Vivid, fearless, and meticulously made – this is wearable adrenaline for those who live fast and drive louder than words.
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STAY HYDRATED
JOTA has built a cult following with its Le Mans triumphs, punchy social media game, a factory deal with Cadillac – and yes, Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button behind the wheel. Now, fans can rep Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA in true style – with this gold stainless steel water bottle, engineered for performance and elegance.
Double-walled insulation keeps drinks hot for 12 hours or cold for 24. Two lid options let you choose your flow, while the official team logo proudly marks your allegiance. Delivered in a sleek gift box, it’s the ultimate blend of luxury, utility, and race-day energy.
grandstandmerchandise.com
POLE POSITION
Thought you couldn’t buy pole position? Think again. Introducing the Pole Position Limited Edition Relic – featuring a genuine piece of asphalt from the No. 1 grid slot at Monza, collected in January 2024. There are only 1,922 pieces available worldwide. A tribute to legends. A relic of speed. From the heart of Monza – to the hands of true motorsport fans. Crafted by Mongrip, known for transforming racing heritage into wearable art and collectibles, this piece embodies the spirit of competition in its purest form.
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ON THE SLEEVE
For those who live for the roar of the engine and the elegance of design, Chopard delivers the ultimate racing statement in miniature form – the Classic Racing Cufflinks. Crafted from polished stainless steel and accented with black carbon fibre – a material synonymous with speed and performance – these cufflinks channel the power of the racetrack straight to your wrist. The edge, subtly engraved with the Chopard name, is refined down to the last detail. Because true passion doesn’t hide – it shows up on your sleeve.
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EXCLUSIVE MEMORIES
Own a piece of Ayrton Senna’s legendary 1990 engine. Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) has launched an exclusive memorabilia program, offering fans and collectors around the world the rare chance to hold a piece of racing history.
The debut collection features authentic components from the iconic Honda RA100E engine, which powered Senna and Gerhard Berger during the 1990 Formula 1 season. Faithfully disassembled by the original engine builders at HRC’s Sakura factory in Japan, each item – from pistons and camshafts to connecting rods – comes beautifully displayed with an official certificate of authenticity. Bring home an unforgettable piece of Honda’s racing legacy.
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UNTAMABLE
Fuelled by the raw energy of the racetrack and Ralph Lauren’s legendary obsession with automotive excellence, the RL Racing collection is a high-octane fusion of speed, style, and heritage. Precision-tailored jackets echo the aerodynamic lines of racing machines and the bold graphics of vintage pit crews. At its core: the iconic Café Racer Jacket – a rebel classic, reimagined. Cut from washed full-grain leather with a perfectly broken-in feel, it’s emblazoned with bold patches and appliqués that channel the spirit of old-school sponsorship glory. This is Polo in overdrive – made for those who live fast, dress sharp, and never look back.
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NOSTALGIC LITTLE DEVIL ON WHEELS -Goni Pony * -
* Pedal the Pony
As a photojournalist, I am often asked by curious souls about the most offbeat event that I have seen in my travels around the world. What made the biggest impression on me? My answer to that is an instant “Goni Pony!” “Why is that?” is the inevitable follow-up. You see, Goni Pony is an annual uphill bike race on Slovenia’s Vršič Pass. I consider myself an amateur, enduro cyclist, so I know, that even such rides have you go up many slopes, some so steep that they can easily tire you out. But with an extremely climbing-friendly gear ratio these challenges are short. Add to that a pair of 29-inch wheels that love to turn as soon as they get at least a little momentum and you have a proper climbing bicycle. But what is a Pony bike then, you ask? It is a retro-style city bicycle with 20-inch wheels, one fixed gear and an upright sitting position which is far from friendly for pushing on the pedals up an 11-km hill.
by Jure Makovec
photography Rad Bull Content Pool, Jure Makovec
Vršič Pass. The Holy Grail of Slovenian cycling climbs. It rises 1,611 metres above sea level, entails 11 kilometres of uphill madness, 24 hairpin turns, most of them paved with strength-sapping cobblestones. You fight your bike and yourself throughout its 801 vertical metres with an average gradient of 7.25 %, and the maximum of 10.8 %. Enough to mutter to myself “don’t be stupid” and to immediately stop thinking about riding up there at all. By asking our increasingly popular friend ChatGPT about the fastest time going up Vršič, I was told that it is 31 minutes and 55 seconds, set in 2013 by Matej Lovše. The popular Strava app meanwhile lists Martin G. with 31 minutes and 50 seconds as the fastest.
The pre-race buzz
Enough about the landscape, records, and various numbers. This year I set off on a Friday for Kranjska Gora, where the race would start
the next day. On the way, I overtook quite a few cars on the highway with Pony bicycles mounted on them in one way or another. I even overtook a Fičko, a Fiat 600, license-built in Yugoslavia, carrying not one but two of them on its roof. Many simply say these people are crazy, to which my reply is simply “Goni Pony!” The vibe in Kranjska Gora was nostalgic and fun already on Friday evening. The most popular means of transport at that time in the ski resort was, of course, a Pony. Some just rode it to the pub for a glass of cold beer, others, more serious and determined, made sure that everything worked as it should. Saturday morning started with registration and a technical inspection to see if the bicycles met the rules and regulations. If they did, they got the famous Red Bull Goni Pony sticker and could go on to a mechanic to tidy up this or that before the race. This year I was looking in vain for a Pony with all 11 stickers (equalling the years this
event has been taking place), but I did notice quite a few with a single one which means it was their riders’ first time up the pass. That is how I met Aleš from Celje whom I asked what possesses a person to set out to conquer Vršič on these tiny, 20-inch wheels. “It’s something new, a challenge, and also a bet that we are now settling. This is my first time. But it won’t be the last.” A unique retro atmosphere ensures that Goni Pony truly is a special event. A rustling Yassa tracksuit, worn in Yugoslavia in the '80s? Tito’s youthful Pioneers from the socialist era? An aerobics leotard? Tiger leggings? Startas and All Star sneakers? The more retro, the more in you are. Anything from Grandma’s old closet will do splendidly. Well, some people went a step further and dressed up as Pikachu. Even a bear could be spotted. As was the evil mountain poacher Bedanec, straight out from a favourite Slovenian children’s novel. No need to guess the reason for the costumes –
A unique retro atmosphere ensures that Goni Pony truly is a special event. The more retro, the more in you are.
a special panel chooses the best retro outfits. While photographing the event, I notice three girls and simply must wander over. “Why would three girls ride a Pony to the top of Vršič on a beautiful Saturday?!” Neža from Ljubljana was short and sharp “Because we’re crazy enough!” Darja from Savinjska dolina added “Because it’s absolutely necessary to do this for our 30 th birthday!” And Barbara from Brežice concluded “Because we’re hot stuff.”
Ride the little devil
The closer we got to the 3 pm mark, the more the tension grew. The start was approaching, and despite the fun and retro feel, this was still a race for many. A race where they “ride the little devil to the top of Vršič,” as the announcer put it while the 1,664 competitors were proceeding
towards the start. With the famous Yugoslav police variant of the Fičko driving out in front of them, the competitive spirit fully manifested itself. The faces turned serious and the tension rose as the riders waited for the green light to start pedalling. And when it was go time, they really took off. There was no room for fun, at least at the front of the race. My motorcycle rider and I had to ride very carefully so that I could do my job of documenting the race and still catch up with the fastest. How serious this race is to some was proven by the pace – the competitors overtook several people on e-bicycles, who watched in disbelief as guys on the small, 20-inch city bikes flew by. Hard to imagine, but yes, flew by. Unbelievable. Time was the ultimate proof of their pace. Luka Kovačič, a mountain runner and a serial winner, made it to the top
of Vršič in a record time of 39 minutes and 10 seconds, despite the roadworks in the final tens of metres. Maja Mencigar was the fastest female, needing 53 minutes and 31 seconds, if you are into race statistics.
The sweet aftermath
Happy faces abounded at the top. Despite the long climb, everyone was happy and cheerful. They proudly took photos next to the blue sign ‘Vršič, 1611 m’. All the pain and suffering were forgotten, and were I to ask them then if they planned to return the following year, most would have answered with a resounding yes! Judging by the experiences of past Goni Pony events, most of them actually do. But every year also brings plenty of new faces – and their Pony bikes.
PONY BICYCLE SINCE 1965
Manufactured in the Slovenian bicycle factory Rog from 1965 onwards, Pony was both a status symbol and an everyman’s bicycle for the generations growing up in Yugoslavia between the ‘60s and the ‘90s. It was mainly given as a present to the youth for their report cards and on other special occasions, though it was also used and liked by adults. Pony was a very user-friendly bicycle. It held a similar significance for Slovenians as the Vespa did for the Italians, but without an engine. While not a Slovenian invention, as folding bicycles had appeared way before the mid ‘60s, it became the only recreational bicycle to achieve cult status in Yugoslavia, and was sold throughout the rest of Europe and even in the USA. Slovenian designers took a careful look at the Italian Graziella folding bicycle, manufactured in Pistoia, Tuscany, altered it a bit and changed it into a best-selling success story. Not without teething problems, though. The Italian manufacturer warned the Rog factory that it had a patent on its rear steel rack, so the Slovenians quickly innovated, made a prefabricated version, and simply called it the ‘Slovenian’. In the three decades following its introduction, the company produced five Pony generations, labelled P1 to P5. P5 was no longer foldable, and P2 was the first sporting the ‘Slovenian’ rack. The bicycle with its 20-inch wheels was referred to as Eurobike on the US market and was mainly bought by owners of sailboats, yachts, and motorhomes, because its foldability made it very convenient for storage aboard small spaces. The break-up of the former Yugoslavia halted the story of the versatile Pony, before the brand and the legendary bicycles were revived by the Slovenian company Turna in a new and modern guise. The Pony thus lives on, 60 years after its creation.
by Alenka Birk
STARRY NIGHT
UNDERGROUND DINNER
Embark on a truly unique culinary adventure in Slovenia’s deepest dining room, located 160 meters below ground. Step into a time machine and experience an underground journey along one of the world’s thickest coal seams. After the traditional miner’s greeting, Srečno! (Good luck!), you will descend in Slovenia’s oldest lift to a remarkable subterranean setting, where a four-course gourmet menu called Štajgerjeva južna awaits. Paired with fine wine and live music, each dish offers a refined twist on classic miner’s fare. Offered several times a year by reservation only –unforgettable, unique, and unexpected.
A magical nighttime experience on two wheels awaits. Why not ride your bike along the Van Gogh–Roosegaarde path in North Brabant, Netherlands? Inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night , this unique cycling trail glows in the dark with swirling patterns created by solar-powered LEDs and photoluminescent stones. Designed by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde, the path combines art, technology, and sustainability. As part of the Smart Highway project, this one-kilometre route offers an eco-friendly alternative to traditional lighting – and a ride like no other.
studioroosegaarde.net/project/van-gogh-path
Do you remember Before Sunrise , Richard Linklater’s iconic film set in Vienna? Released 30 years ago, it became a cult classic of the 1990s. This romantic city walk, starring Julie Delpy (Céline) and Ethan Hawke (Jesse), is still celebrated – not least for its stunning Viennese backdrop. Now, movie lovers can follow in the footsteps of the film and explore eleven iconic locations. From Westbahnhof station to Prater’s Ferris wheel and hidden cafés, the ivie city guide app (available in English and German) brings the magic of the film to life.
Download ivie and start walking!
wien.info/en/travel-info/ivie-app
For a taste of vintage Slovenian charm, dive into the story of olive oil on a coastal ride like no other. Cruise through olive groves and vineyards in retro cars with olive wood details, from Koper to the breathtaking Belvedere viewpoint above Izola. Savour Istrian prosciutto, house sparkling wine, and the views from the Adriatic’s highest cliff. The journey ends in the hilltop village of Krkavče, with a warm welcome and a bowl of bobiči, the hearty Istrian stew. A soulful trip through taste, tradition, and timeless style.
lisjak.com/en/sue-experience/
by Matevž Hribar
photography Bor Dobrin
* A masterpiece.
MERCEDES-AMG G 63 ON VELEBIT ROAD
CROSSING CROATIA’S VELEBIT MOUNTAIN RANGE ON THE OLD MAJSTORSKA ROAD IN THE POWERFUL MERCEDES-BENZ G-CLASS CAUSED ME TO DEVELOP AN INTERNAL CONFLICT. PARTLY BECAUSE I WAS FIRMLY CONVINCED BEFORE THIS TEST DRIVE THAT THE G WAS BEING UNFAIRLY TREATED BY ONLY BEING DRIVEN ON SMOOTH ROADS AND PARTLY BECAUSE I STARTED DREAMING ABOUT MANY IRRATIONAL PURCHASES AFTER THE DRIVE. IS THIS AN OFF-ROADER? WELL, YES, IT IS. BUT ISN’T IT TOO LORDLY FOR OFF-ROADING AND POOR ROADS? TRUE THAT AS WELL. SO, WHAT THEN? IT’S COMPLICATED... I’M NOT SAYING THAT READING THIS STORY WILL GIVE YOU THE FINAL ANSWER. BUT YOU WILL LEARN MORE ABOUT A GLOBAL FOUR-WHEEL LEGEND AND THE ROAD THAT CONNECTED THE ADRIATIC COAST AND VIENNA IN THE 19 TH CENTURY BY CUTTING ACROSS A RUGGED LIMESTONE MOUNTAIN RANGE.
50
THE MERCEDES-AMG G 63 (W465) CAN BE UPGRADED WITH AN ECE TYPE
APPROVED AKRAPOVIČ LIGHTWEIGHT EVOLUTION LINE (TITANIUM) EXHAUST SYSTEM, WHICH IS 44.5 % LIGHTER THAN THE STANDARD VERSION. IT FEATURES
CUSTOM-DESIGNED TAILPIPES AND A DURABLE SURFACE COATING. THIS
UPGRADE RESULTS IN A POWER INCREASE OF 8.1 KW (11 HP) AT 4,500 RPM AND A TORQUE BOOST OF 19 NM AT 4,000 RPM. ADDITIONALLY, A PAIR OF EXHAUST
VALVES BEHIND THE REAR MUFFLERS ALLOWS FOR CONTROL OVER THE EXHAUST TONES, DELIVERING A DEEP, SPORTY SOUND.
Josip Kajetan Knežić was born in 1786 in Petrinja, about 50 kilometres south of Zagreb. As the son of a teacher, he was already an assistant teacher at the age of 15, and, aged just 16, designed mountain roads as a self-taught engineer. He later oversaw the irrigation of rivers, draining of swamps and the construction and renovation of ports. Austria was already a very modern and, in many ways, advanced empire at that time. One of Josip’s greatest accomplishments is the gravel road across Velebit, a mountain range towering above the northern part of the Adriatic Sea, which was built between 1825 and 1832, an era when the internal combustion engine was still in its infancy. And since the carriages of the time were still pulled by real horses, usually one or two, the gradient had to remain manageable. This was not easy at all in this harsh world of rocky outcrops and strong winds, which is why the project earned the name Majstorska Road –from the German ‘meisterstück’ meaning a masterpiece.
GENTLE GRADIENT FOR FOURLEGGED ‘ENGINES’
The Majstorska Road connects Sveti Rok in Lika with Obrovac in Dalmatia, linking northern with southern Croatia, and, if looked at from farther away, the port-town of Zadar with Vienna. At the time when roads in the area were few and far between, it constituted an important trade, postal and military link. The 41km road reaches a maximum gradient of 5.5 %, and the bends are relatively gentle given the mountainous environment. This is also because it was used to transport (wooden) jamborees from the wooded Lika region to Dalmatia. For comparison: the famous Transfăgărășan Road
in Romania averages 5.2–5.5 %, with the maximum incline of 9 %, while the road towards the Stelvio Pass in the Alps climbs with a 7.5 % average. That is why the Majstorska Road is so popular with cyclists, who – like horses, mules, and donkeys of centuries past – get their potential energy by using up their own reserves rather than, and not, oil. After the construction of the coastal Adriatic Highway in the middle of the last century during the Yugoslav era, and even more so after the 5.7-kilometer tunnel on the highway to Dalmatia was opened in 2003, the road has been left to the tourists and recreational users. Embraced by Tulove Grede, a white rock ridge above the Mali Alan pass and with a view of the sea lapping the coast of Novigrad and, in good weather, stretching all the way to the nearby Adriatic islands of Pag, Dugi otok and some others, it is considered the most beautiful mountain road in Croatia, as well as one of the most desirable routes for riders on adventure motorcycles. But this time I had neither a bicycle nor a motorbike under my backside, let alone a horse, though more than 500 of them were controlled by my right foot.
RESULT OF GERMAN, AUSTRIAN AND – IF WE GO BACK FAR ENOUGH – SLOVENIAN TECHNICAL HERITAGE
The Mercedes-Benz G-Class is certainly the most angular vehicle you will see in Zurich, Dubai, or Monaco. Well, it is rivalled by the Tesla Cybertruck in terms of boxiness and ability to catch the eye, but that’s a different beast altogether… Today’s Mercedes G, if seen at a distance and through nostalgic eyes, is not much different from its grandfather, the Austrian Puch G, sold under that name in some
markets until 2000. The Puch company was founded back in 1899 by the Slovenian inventor Janez, or, in German, Johann Puch, though he had nothing to do with the MercedesBenz G, as he died long before the German company designed an off-road military vehicle at the request of Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In order to meet the idea of an indestructible military machine, it was tested not only in German mines and in the Arctic, but also in the Sahara. Another interesting fact: the Mercedes-Benz G enjoys the second longest production run among all Mercedes models, surpassed only by the versatile Unimog off-roader. In this roundabout way, we have come from the Puch G and the Mercedes-Benz G-Class to the cherry on today’s cake, the Mercedes-AMG G 63, proudly staring at you from the pages of this issue.
I think that the G is one of the most original cars and has remained true to its roots. When it comes to maintaining its design style, we can draw parallels with, for example, Porsche 911 or Jeep Wrangler, as opposed to the new Land Rover Defender, which only contains a few details of the sturdy old off-roader in its silhouette. If not the most elite Mercedes – that distinction naturally belongs to the S-Class –it is certainly the most versatile. It can be driven by a landowner on a deer hunt or the main star of a hip-hop video. It is an icon of German technical heritage and a symbol that communicates your success to those around you. Though, in today’s era of instant fame, it can also be driven by overnight sensations such as reality TV stars and celebrity wannabees, but this is something that cannot be changed.
YOU STILL HAVE TO CLOSE THE DOOR FIRMLY
The G still has round lights. The outer rim glows with LEDs, emphasising their classic shape and signalling to the car in front that it is time to pull out of the overtaking lane. The bulging turn signals still protrude from the edge of the bonnet. Opening and, even more so, closing the door still results in a mechanical click, and yes, you have to use serious force when closing it – our photographer Bor had to learn that lesson quite a few times. The tailgate still opens sideways instead of lifting upwards. The windscreen is still flat and, unusually for 2025, verges on vertical, and the same is true of the boxy grille. I am quite convinced that G’s designers suffer a bout of heartache every time they have to alter its design to keep up with the times, though, fortunately, that does not happen too often. I remember how designer Vitalis Enns explained the problem of overly boxy car shapes 15 years ago, when he was working on Bentleys, which were then also known for their angular grilles. And, wouldn’t you know, that same Mr Enns now oversees the design of AMGs. I don’t know how involved he was in bending the G’s sheet metal, though.
UNIQUELY BIPOLAR
But why would anybody want a car that looks like the only tool used in its creation was a ruler, with the compass only used for the lights and wheels, not that any other shape would be practical for the latter. Precisely because! Because it has no equal and because
it reminds us of the times when practicality, both regarding production and maintenance, reigned supreme in car design, rather than aerodynamics and pedestrian safety. But is the G still an off-road vehicle? To be frank, even a 45-year-old Mercedes W123 could easily take on the Majstorska Road. We’re not talking serious off-roading here. The rims are fitted with tyres that would not do well in mud, but looking at it from the side, we see a healthy height, with the electronically controlled shock absorbers perhaps slightly exposed. It has something that is rare in the world of off-road vehicles, let alone soft SUVs: the option to lock all three differentials. If you don’t know what this means, don’t worry, and just leave those three switches on the centre console alone. You will get to Val Thorens in France on suitable tyres without engaging differential locking. So, yes, the Mercedes-AMG G 63 is an off-road vehicle in many ways, but who would take a car worth up to EUR 300,000 through mud, forests and over rocks? Regardless, let’s get back to Majstorska Road. Our G with an AMG pedigree drives like a professor; a little stiffer than I would expect from an off-road car, but with authority. The engine, the car’s heart, is the main reason why it is worth paying a few euros or bitcoins extra for an AMG. Every four-litre V8 biturbo is hand-assembled with the badge bearing the mechanic’s signature located under the bonnet. The one you’re now looking at was handcrafted by Steffen Heikenwälder. I drove it so gently on the gravel that the ‘boost’ screen, which shows the turbo in action, remained blank at all
times. There was no need for the turbo and it felt somehow unbecoming to let gravel bounce off the polished black sheet metal. The answer to the question whether the G AMG is an offroader is thus a definite yes… With a subjective caution. Those who really need a car to go deer hunting will be just as, or even more, satisfied with the half-priced Mercedes G 450 d or G 500. But my place here is not to judge the feasibility of buying one or the other. I found a beautiful G on the Internet, made in 1991, price EUR 26,000…
The view towards the sea was a bit blocked during our trip. The direction the large Croatian flag on Tulove Grede was fluttering told us that westerly wind turned increasingly into a southerly, bringing the first signs of autumn to the area. But even worse than the southerly Sirocco for Velebit and the coast below are the days of the north or north-easterly Bora, which can reach hurricane-force speeds. The high stone wall that hugs part of the Majstorska Road at its most exposed point is actually a burobran – a wall serving as a windbreaker. Velebit presents a main geographical dividing line between the Mediterranean and the flatter continent, and it is not uncommon to be surprised by a considerable temperature difference after passing through the Sveti Rok tunnel or, for example, to see snow in April on the northern side. Someday, when you are returning from Dubrovnik or Split, take this engineering masterpiece and soak in the natural beauty around it.
Z Mercedesom-AMG G 63 na Velebitu: pravi terenec ali statusni simbol ...
Z Mercedesom razreda G smo se podali na Majstorsko cesto čez Velebit, nekoč povezavo med jadransko obalo in Dunajem. Zasnovana je bila že na začetku 19. stoletja, danes pa je predvsem turistična in rekreativna znamenitost, ki ponuja slikovite razglede. Pri vožnji so se nam porajala vprašanja o primernosti tega terenca za asfaltne ceste. Po drugi strani pa se zdi skoraj škoda, da bi ga izpostavili bolj neutrjenemu terenu. Mercedes-Benz razreda G ima nostalgične korenine, povezane z nemško, avstrijsko in celo slovensko tehnično dediščino. Znan je po svoji vzdržljivosti in vojaški preteklosti. Čeprav je klasificiran kot terensko vozilo, je pri najnovejših različicah poudarek vse bolj na udobju na cesti. Predstavljeni AMG G 63 je izjemen model, ki pa ga je marsikateremu lastniku verjetno škoda zapeljati na prava brezpotja.
MILLIONAIRE WITHOUT THE MILLION
Carlo Pernat –Maestro of MotoGP Paddocks
A long pink shirt rolled up to the elbows, sporty sunglasses, an obligatory cigarette. He’s leaning on the balcony railing in front of the press centre, blowing grey puffs of smoke. This was Carlo Pernat at the racetrack. Always ready for a chat, always with an interesting opinion, the other side of the coin or a fascinating tale from his early years. The legendary Carletto is one of the most famous racing managers of the modern age, a connoisseur, guru, commentator, and one of the last remaining rock and roll stars of racing. A man who doesn’t mince his words. He’s been mainly staying at his apartment now that he is retired and watches racing on the telly. So, we went to see him in Genoa on the Mediterranean, where the 77-year-old opened up enthusiastically.
You’re no longer a manager. But you still follow the sport.
Correct. Since last year. I quit after my health began declining. I called the guys I was managing at the time and told them I was calling it quits. I didn’t think I could continue doing my job to perfection. Enea (Bastianini), Tony (Arbolino) and everyone else understood immediately. We remained friends.
How did you get into bikes and racing? You’ve never raced yourself, right?
I never raced, but I was a passionate motorcyclist. I had a serious accident and haven’t ridden bikes since. After finishing school, I got a job at Agip, my father was a director there. Office work wasn’t for me, so I went to Piaggio. They were looking for someone good with languages who loves travelling. Piaggio was located in Genoa, they were investing a lot in marketing and offered me a job as motocross racing manager. Are we doing motocross on Vespas, I wondered aloud, before being told that they’d just bought Gilera and I became the head of the racing team. In 1983, Cagiva owners, the Castiglioni brothers, asked me to come over. That was a turning point, because they were into motocross, Dakar, rally, and road racing. The brothers wanted to win, they invested a lot, we were serious contenders. Italian politics also helped us. I remember Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, we travelled in luxury, used private planes and helicopters… We once went to Bologna in the middle of the night. What for? A Ducati, sold to us by Romano Prodi, later Italy’s Prime Minister, and President of the European Commission. Those were the golden days of the Italian motorcycle industry.
You had success with Cagiva in the 500 cm3 class...
The bike was good, but Castiglioni made several poor decisions. In 1988 Randy Mamola unexpectedly signed for Cagiva. Michelin immediately offered us free factory support, but Castiglioni quietly and overnight made a deal with Pirelli. Italians sometimes stay Italians. Pirelli was in its infancy then; their tyres weren’t as good as Michelin’s. We wanted to switch a year later, of course, but it was too late; the insulted French rejected us. Had we acted otherwise, Cagiva’s story might have turned out differently... We had a very advanced bike, the first with a carbon chassis. Magneti Marelli worked closely with us to develop the electronics. The Japanese helped us a lot. Few people know that. They didn’t like racing alone, they wanted European competition.
Sounds like a dream, but you still moved to Aprilia. Why?
I was asked by owner Ivano Beggio. Our engineer Jan Witteveen went there and convinced me to join him. We’ve remained friends until today, I really trust him. Cagiva had already sold Ducati by then, financial issues were emerging. It felt things won’t remain stable for much longer.
You met Valentino Rossi at Aprilia for the first time. Do you ever regret not having been his manager?
I was the first to have a contract with him, though. I saw Rossi at the European Championship in Misano while working for Aprilia. He was riding a Cagiva Mito 125, which was lent to him for the race by former racer Virginio Ferrari. Watching him, I thought to myself, this kid is crazy. He’ll either kill himself or become world champion! Beggio and I fell in love with him immediately. We offered him a three-season contract. Beggio was unhappy about the price, and Fabrizio Guidotti was more interested in the physically more robust Max Biaggi, but my support for Rossi eventually convinced Beggio. Rossi didn’t do well in the first races; many have forgotten that. It was only at the race in Brno that he really got going and began to win regularly from 1997 onwards. He came to my office once, wanting to move up to the 250 cm3 category, and also hiring me as his
manager. I turned him down, because I didn’t want to jeopardise my position at Aprilia. Had I only known… (laughs).
You also left racing, moved to football for a while.
After my stint with Aprilia, I was offered to work for Genoa, Italy’s oldest football club. I started working half for Aprilia, half for Genoa. That didn’t work out, so I quit Aprilia to focus solely on football. What a mistake. I left after three months. I was unlucky, I didn’t meet the right people, they didn’t honour the agreements, they weren’t honest. I gave up. That’s when Loris Capirossi told me he needed a manager. I stayed with him for 14 years.
Can a manager single out a racer or is that just not done?
My most genuine relationship was definitely with Loris, because it wasn’t just professional; we became friends. I could tell many stories about what kind of a man he is. For example, in 2003 he was given a sporty BMW for setting the fastest lap in a special qualifying session. He sold the car immediately and brought the 50,000 euros in envelopes to distribute among his team, because he wanted to share.
What’s happening today in MotoGP?
I’m afraid tough times are ahead for Francesco Bagnaia. I think he’s not very happy riding at the
moment. He’ll have to score another resounding result, like the one at Motegi. I was at Mugello last year when he found out Marc Márquez would be joining the team this year. I felt that his world had collapsed a little. I knew that Márquez, if his arm and shoulder don’t act up, will be very difficult to stop. Which is true, right? I think we should watch out for Quartararo and Acosta in the future. But I have another, hypothetical, idea that should work well for the paddock. I think Martin could blossom if he returned to Ducati, and Bagnaia would face an interesting challenge if he went to Aprilia. That would be really fascinating, in my opinion.
What do you see in MotoGP’s future, now that it was acquired by the American Liberty Media?
They are centred on Formula 1 and MotoGP. I think there will be a bit less emphasis on Moto2 and Moto3, they might not exist in their current shape in the future. I think Formula 1 and motorcycling do not share the same fans. Formula 1 is about technology and top-tier racing, true, but it’s mainly show and glamour on the surface. Many spectators, especially VIPs, are not that interested in the race. What matters is that they are part of the spectacle. Motorcycle racing is different. Most fans are passionate. A lot of them ride motorcycles. They don’t follow the races holding a glass of bubbly. They bring sunscreen, a backpack, a bottle of water and a mortadella sandwich. I get along well with
“I saw Rossi at the European Championship in Misano. Watching him, I thought to myself, this kid is crazy. He’ll either kill himself or become world champion!”
Formula 1 Group CEO Stefano Domenicali, we talk occasionally and speak about these things. I think he knows my opinion. 2027 is likely to bring huge changes to MotoGP rules, some teams will get new owners. Formula 1 drivers are interested as well. I know that Hamilton is, as is Verstappen, apparently. They follow MotoGP enthusiastically. I think many things will soon change.
You were never a part of car racing, regardless of the amount of money in the top flight?
I wasn’t interested. I could have gotten involved, because Piaggio used to be a Formula 1 and Ferrari sponsor decades ago. I know Bernie Ecclestone well, we worked together when he was into motorcycle racing in the ‘90s, because I was vice president of IRTA. When problems arose between Ecclestone and Dorna in 1992, Bernie called me to his London office and told me that if he bought motorcycle racing, I should become IRTA president. IRTA had its own bus in
the paddock at the time, he called everyone together and introduced me as the new president. After I slept it over, I decided to reject the offer. Bernie respected my decision and we remained friends.
You remember all these events from decades ago really well...
Yes, I’ve got a good memory. I don’t forget anything. And if I could start over again, I would probably do everything in much the same way. I jokingly say that I’ve lived like a millionaire, just without the million.
Edi Orioli on the Cagiva Elefant with Cagiva’s Claudio and Gianfranco Castiglioni
Carlo Pernat (left), next to him Loris Capirossi with Spanish King Juan Carlos I (in a brown jacket).
Graziano Rossi, Valentino Rossi and Carlo Pernat
Carlo Pernat with Marco Simoncelli
Loris Capirossi, Sito Pons and Carlo Pernat
Georgian Peaks Private Ski Resort
COMMUNITY WITH A LONG WAITING LIST
Skiing is a popular pastime in areas with mountains and a suitable climate. But what can one do if the slopes are packed during holidays and weekends? Could one have a ski resort almost entirely to themselves? This is often impossible due to numerous restrictions, but that’s not the case everywhere in the world. Canada’s Ontario province is home to several private ski clubs, where there are no crowds, chairlift queues are unheard of and other restrictions in place at public ski resorts do not exist. We visited Georgian Peaks, located on Lake Huron, approximately a two-hour drive north of Toronto.
by Miran Ališič
As a befitting means of transportation, especially if going to a private ski resort, it is recommended to drive in Canada in the winter. Our new test BMW X3 was perfect for the icy Canadian roads, as its four-wheel drive and plentiful space provided the comfort and safety on both the highway and the local road leading to Georgian Peaks. We opted to visit on a Sunday, when the club was quite busy. It was a cold, windy, and partly sunny day.
Behind the scenes
So, what kind of a ski resort is Georgian Peaks? A fairly steep hillside alongside Georgian Bay, an inlet of Lake Huron, is home to four chairlifts, some steeper and some gentler slopes and an imposing glass-clad clubhouse, thoroughly renovated a few years ago, residing at the foot of the hill. The club has about 800 members, meaning around 2,400 people including immediate families. “Our members are also club owners, but without the right to vote,” General Manager Tim Oliver begins the
conversation in his small office. “The members elect 12 people to the management board, which oversees the club’s management and is led by a general manager,” explains Oliver, adding that the waiting period for joining the club is quite long. “We don’t want to increase the number of members, we only recruit new ones through natural selection. This means we can only accept between 25 and 50 new members a year.” Money plays an important role on the American continent. So how much is the membership fee once you finally get your turn? “The initiation fee is 49,000 CAD (almost 31,000 EUR) and is adjusted for inflation, but paying it only gives you permission to enter the resort,” the manager explains. “If you are a regular with a family of four, ski passes will add about 10,000 CAD (about 6,200 EUR) a year, your children attending our ski club will set you back around 10,000 CAD more, then there’s the food and drinks from our excellent kitchen and an even more popular après ski bar... In a nut shell, the total annual skiing budget for a family, in addition to the initiation fee, is around 20,000 to 25,000 CAD.” Quite a considerable sum, it seems.
photography Kirsten Schollig, Town + County Collective Inc, Miran Ališič
The decisive benefits
And what do the members get for their money apart from what was mentioned above? Oliver has the answers ready. “Some members prioritise safety, because, as you can see, the slopes are mainly empty and there are no crowds to be seen – and the resort is quite busy today. The tracks are groomed all the time, we have three to four times more staff than public ski resorts.” Perhaps even more importantly, many members feel the need to socialise with others like them, it is a kind of community, as almost all members also have apartments or chalets near the slopes. But the most decisive factor, according to Oliver, is the proximity to Toronto. “It only takes you two hours to get here, an unbeatable advantage. You can easily come and ski for just a day.”
A dream job
Canadian born Tomaž Šenk, the resort’s Director of Alpine Programs and Head Coach, is a descendant of Slovenian emigrants, whose father was initially a ski jumper and later a ski instructor at Georgian Peaks. “I’ve been skiing since early childhood, it’s always been my great passion. I do what I love doing.” Šenk was very busy this Sunday, as he was managing more than 200 children competing in the final race of the season and receiving awards and trophies. “I started out as a children’s coach, then I became the head coach, and now I’m the head of the sports program. I have a dream job surrounded by nature and people.” There are about 600 members in Šenk’s sports program, mostly children, while the club employs more than 200 seasonal workers. During the winter, the slopes are open from Thursday to Sunday, except for special events, while the clubhouse is available for rent in the summer for private events, such as weddings and other business or closed meetings.
FIS sport beginnings
“These slopes hosted the first FIS Alpine Ski World Cup competition held in the Americas, and are the only ones in the province of Ontario with a FIS homologation for giant slalom and slalom,” Šenk proudly explained, as we toured the slopes in front of the club house. He also mentioned
Many members feel the need to socialise with others like them, it is a kind of community, as almost all members also have apartments or chalets near the slopes.
the many Canadian skiing stars who made their first turns here and spent their childhoods on these chairlifts and among the gates of the Georgian Peaks club. “The winner of the famous downhill in Kitzbühel in 2025 was Jack Crawford, who comes from our club. Larissa Yurkiw also trained on the slopes above us and ski lovers will surely know Erin Mielzynski, who also grew up here...” Despite the intense chatter on the walkie-talkie, Šenk simply couldn’t stop telling us the sports tales originating at his place of work. “Many of the children you see racing today will continue their training in a university program in the USA and later join the national team, with World Cup competitions coming into their lives soon after that, also the ones in Slovenia,” Šenk concluded, once again emphasising his origins. After excusing himself to attend to other duties, he added, “Please go and try the slopes for yourself,” as he directed us to the nearest chairlift.
The feeling of belonging
There are no queues in front of the chairlifts here and there’s no electronic pass control. I have to admit that, despite the cold, I enjoyed the few hours I spent on the slopes of Georgian Peaks, doing my wide carving turns and enjoying the space I had for some fun, as well as conversing with club members on the chairlift, where I learned that they too are attracted to the club primarily by the feeling of belonging to a community with many of them second- or even third-generation members. Even passionate skiers will have had enough of skiing by 4:00 pm, when life moves from the ski slope to the après ski bar, as they will have spent more times going down the slopes in a single day than in three days at a public ski resort. The only thing you need is 49,000 CAD for the initiation fee and the patience to perhaps be accepted into the club a few years down the road.
Tim Oliver
Speedbooks
Matthew Kelly: Slowing Down to the Speed of Joy
“I was living my life like a Ferrari with no brakes,” says Matthew Kelly, an internationally acclaimed speaker, best-selling author, and business consultant. “I spent thirty years rushing from one thing to the next. Leaving one thing early, arriving at the next thing late – always striving for more, better, and faster.” The book that sold millions of copies is deeply personal. The author reveals his own struggles with being busy and urgent till one day he wakes up from a deep metaphorical sleep and realises something has to change – radically. Because the faster you go, the more likely you are to crash, but we just keep going faster. We think if we get all the urgent stuff done, we will have time for what is important. The truth is that we never do. Busy is a toxic lover that leaves us feeling anxious, resentful, and overwhelmed. It is time for a new strategy, and slowing down is how we get in charge of our life.
bluesparrowbooks.org
No other figure in history was as creative in so many areas – today he might be labelled with ADHD, but he would still, after 500 years, be the most modern man in every room. Isaacson’s story reveals numerous contradictory versions of Leonardo: a true polymath, an incredibly talented artist, a scholar of hermetic wisdom and a normal human being who just liked to try a bit of everything. Unlike Michelangelo, who kept focus on his art, Leonardo got easily distracted. Did multitasking prevent Leonardo from achieving more? And, on the other hand: is it even possible for one man to achieve more? That is for you to judge as you venture into a masterly written biography. Isaacson is a bestselling author of biographies of Elon Musk, Jennifer Doudna, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger, and Albert Einstein. Successful people have always learnt most from biographies, and this one is truly one of a kind. Hit the brakes!
Walter Isaacson: Leonardo Da Vinci
The way of self-discovery
Ernesto Che Guevara: The Motorcycle Diaries
You surely know the story about the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, who became Fidel Castro’s chief lieutenant in the Cuban revolution, Cuba’s minister for industry and later a guerrilla in Bolivia. While still a medical student, Che set out in 1952 on a vintage Norton motorcycle together with his friend, a biochemist named Alberto Granado. Che’s journal, part selfdiscovery, part fieldwork, is fuelled by the exuberance of his youth and a testimonial of a revolutionary in the making. The present edition of this high-spirited travel diary, also including 24 pages of photos taken by Che, takes a reader on an eight-month motorcycle journey across Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. Che’s writing might as well inspire you to write your own travel diary (using AI) or simply start with daily journaling; science has proved it enhances mental clarity as it encourages reflection and personal growth.
simonandschuster.com sevenstories.com A portrait of a genius
Stuart Codling, James Roberts, James Mann: Formula 1 75 Years
Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motor racing: these are top drivers, top teams, top racing cars, and top tracks. This year, Formula 1 marks its 75th anniversary. Established as the top motorsport category in Europe in 1950, its grand-prix roots go back to the earliest days of the automobile. Written by top Formula 1 journalists Stuart Codling and James Roberts, Formula 1 75 Years takes us on a thrilling ride through it all with a full history of the teams, their cars, and legendary drivers from Juan Manuel Fangio to Max Verstappen. The book’s sidebars highlight key events and behind-the-scenes machinations. With stunning historic and contemporary photography, with image selection and captions by top automotive photographer James Mann, this beautifully designed overview of the world’s greatest motorsport is a must-have for every fan’s collection.
motorbooks.com
victorybelt.com
Ben Greenfield: Boundless – Upgrade Your Brain, Optimize Your Body & Defy Aging
What if peak performance was not a myth, but a matter of understanding proven strategies? A top coach, Ben Greenfield, with half a million IG (Instagram) followers and an aspired biohacker, reveals how to unlock boundless energy in his popular book, Boundless. Since health and performance science evolve rapidly, Ben has applied his industry knowledge, self-experimentation, and extensive research to create this thoroughly updated edition, which covers everything you need to upgrade your health – from sleep and cognition to fat loss, immunity, beauty, fitness, and age reversal. Key updates include mitochondrial optimisation, EMF protection, libido and sexual performance, chronic inflammation and detox, nootropics and peptides, age-reversal tactics, tips on biohacking at home and even on how to stay healthy on busy and travel days. Yes, every little thing matters when it comes to self-care. Not the most cheerful read in the months before Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but definitely the most necessary one.
iO Tillett Wright: Oasis – Modern Desert Homes Around the World
There is something about the desert that just cannot be put in words: harsh but magical, spacey but full of mystery. The desert has certainly become the place to go and to stay. Creatives are drawn in by the extreme landscapes, challenged by their limited resources and finally inspired by them. The homes they have built in the desert prove the power of an oasis. In his book Oasis, an artist and activist iO Tillett Wright captures the best of this specific culture that swears on living simply, beautifully, and in connection with the earth. He highlights the homes that define this desert mindset, featuring the classics like Georgia O’Keefe’s in Abiquiu, New Mexico, alongside more modern homes such as Michael Barnard’s Solar House in Marfa, Texas. With Casey Dunn’s stunning photography, Oasis will transport you to these relaxing refuges, where you will learn what elements provide grounding and connection to the stars simultaneously.
crownpublishing.com
Home sweet desert home
Latest biohacking tech
by Tina Torelli
by Miran Ališič
photography Arteinmotion, Miran Ališič
Furniture from aircraft parts
MAN CAVE ESSENTIALS
You will see a lot just strolling through a furniture fair, whether a local hall or a global affair like the one in Milan, furniture today far exceeds the basics like sofas, wardrobes, tables, and mirrors... However, in Milan you will almost certainly be intrigued by something you don’t see everywhere – no, let me rephrase that, don’t see anywhere else. I’m talking about furniture made from discarded parts of passenger planes. Furniture? Yes, in the guise of unique, polished, shiny works of art that, rather than provide utility in the heavens up above now furnish dwellings on the earth down below. Their creator’s signature is short and concise –Arteinmotion. Their ideas are turned into reality in the industrial suburb of Reggio Emilia in the Po Valley in Italy. A phone call or two and a few emails later, and we’re in a tall, long hangar with Carlo Panciroli as our guide.
“We manufacture almost everything by hand. Large industrial machines are not much help in transforming old aircraft parts.”
-Carlo Panciroli
Carts and stands are full of fuselage sections and aircraft engine turbine housings, alongside a heap of various passenger aircraft parts from all makes and years. “These are propeller blades from a passenger aircraft from the ‘50s,” says Carlo as we walk through the huge halls full of aviation history. At the very end we encounter a few pieces of furniture on display, three or four mirrors hanging on the wall, a table, a bar counter or two, part of the fuselage adorning one of the walls... Carlo sits down on one of the bar stools by the counter and begins his story, “We started doing this around 2006, after I saw someone selling a few pieces of aviation equipment cheap at a fair. I bought the lot and started thinking about producing furniture made from such parts alongside regular furniture.” Arteinmotion is a family business with a total of just seven employees. In addition to Carlo, we spotted his father Marco at the far end of the hangar, working in his overalls. Carlo’s mother, who served us coffee, also works for the company, making it more a family’s arts and crafts shop rather than a large industrial undertaking. “We manufacture almost everything by hand. Large industrial machines are not much help in transforming old aircraft parts, we have to do the sanding and polishing by hand. I have a few assistants, but I do the most demanding work by myself.” Carlo admits beginnings were hard and it took a long time to find the right buyers. “In the first few years, we went to all the fairs we could and exhibited our normal furniture, you know, sofas, tables, wardrobes..., and an aircraft piece or two. We kept being asked if those pieces were for sale, why they cost ten times more than regular furniture, and so on...” And when did the switch occur? “During the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, people had a lot of time to think about what to do and how to move forward. We decided to abandon producing regular furniture because the competition all over the world is intense and focused only on Arteinmotion aircraft furniture.”
From aeroplane parts to furniture
So how can one make furniture from disused aircraft parts? We immediately learn that it looks much easier at first glance than it really is. The first issue is getting such parts. “If they are still usable, then there’s a closed circle of people and companies in the industry, where you can’t get near. Secondly, prices for such
parts are too high to be used for furniture. So, you have to get smart. You have to walk around aircraft graveyards in USA’s deserts, where most of these decommissioned aircraft are discarded and try to make connections there. It gets easier once you meet the right people,” the 48-year-old concept leader enthusiastically explains why he has to travel around the world a lot. “After finally purchasing, say, a Boeing 747 turbine, it then has to be brought from the desert to Italy. Often, huge parts have to be cut up on the spot for transport.” Carlo walks to one of the engine turbines to show a few places where one can cut and where one shouldn’t. He walks a little further among the carts and stands and points to a cross-section of an already cut turbine, explaining that there are many different bindings inside and that one needs to know many things in detail, otherwise the cutting might destroy the purpose the designer wanted it to have. “That’s why I often go to the desert, a small airport, or a gas station, where we hammer out a deal about the purchase, the price, and of course the transport to Italy, as if we were in a Western. I often take part in cutting and packaging the parts myself.”
Niche manufacturer with a global outlook
After sitting down again behind the shiny bar top, Carlo tells us about the family’s engineering tradition. His father used to own a company that produced various parts for refrigerated trucks and used many laser cutting machines, which is where Carlo began his professional path, having trained as an engineering technician. “We are a really small team, our output varies greatly yearby-year, but we can perhaps create up to 50 pieces of special furniture, and those require different types of promotion,” continues Carlo, who is a big fan of cars and motorcycles. He proudly lets us know he has Suzuki’s last two stroke road bike, the RG500, in his garage for Sunday trips, though sadly not fitted with an Akrapovič. “Similarly to Akrapovič, we are a niche manufacturer of a product that has to be 100 % the way we imagined it.” Arteinmotion furniture cannot be sold on the Internet, every customer wants to see their own piece and many pieces are also made to order, so customers are involved in the creation process and regularly monitor it. “You can’t just buy something that costs
Selling the pieces requires personal contact; therefore, the company boss often delivers them all over the world himself and also helps with transportation and assembly.
up to 50,000 EUR on the Internet, you need to have personal contact,” says the company boss when asked how and to whom they sell their furniture. He often delivers the pieces all over the world by himself as well as helping in transportation and assembly – this autumn, for example, he is going to take one piece of furniture to Japan. “Our customers are individuals who want something special in their living space and they like our concept, but the condition is that they have at least 400 or 500 square meters of living area.” He adds with a laugh that the buyers also include companies that want to stand out, for example with their reception areas, or bars with counters, for
which there is an increasing demand. He immediately continues that not many clients come from Italy; the majority of their European customers come from Germany, however their biggest market is Asia, especially China, India, and, increasingly, Australia.
For man caves and hobbies
Have you gotten excited about any of these pieces? Perhaps you have a yacht that needs a showpiece? Carlo adds at the end that they are still mainly focused on the male audience and spaces where men make their own decisions about purchasing furniture. “You know, the wife is usually involved in
furniture purchasing decisions, or a female at any case. Our pieces, as experience tells us, are best suited for man caves, spaces reserved for men’s hobbies and toys.” Before saying goodbye, father and son smile as we all realise that in our rapidly changing world, this stereotype may very soon also be turned upside down.
Osnovna oprema za moške brloge: Arteinmotion – pohištvo iz letalskih kosov
Arteinmotion je družinsko podjetje Carla Pancirolija, ki se ukvarja z izdelavo edinstvenih kosov pohištva iz odsluženih delov potniških letal. Na takšno pohištvo so se osredotočili med pandemijo, ko so bile tradicionalne prodajne poti omejene. Prav vsak kos je ročno izdelan, saj za obdelavo kompleksnih letalskih delov veliki stroji ne pridejo v poštev. Tudi pridobivanje materialov je zahtevno – Panciroli zato pogosto potuje na različne lokacije, kjer skladiščijo stara letala, in vzpostavlja ključne stike za pridobivanje potrebnih delov. Arteinmotion letno ustvari do 50 kosov pohištva, namenjenih individualnim kupcem z velikimi prostori, med katerimi je veliko zanimanje za opremo »moških brlogov«, pa tudi podjetjem, ki želijo ekskluzivne kose. Cene za posamezni kos dosegajo do 50.000 evrov.
//Si
by Tina Torelli
The New Yorker – first 100 years
Groundbreaking journalism and humourintelligent
Probably the most influential magazine of our time, The New Yorker began as a comic weekly before evolving into a much richer publication: a journal of reportage, poetry, words, art, humour, and insightful commentary. As a mirror of society with artsy, headline-free covers and a heavy dose of cartoons, The New Yorker has been exposing often masked realities ever since.
photography New Yorker, Sarah Shatz, Getty Images
Groundbreaking intelligent
“The New Yorker didn’t invent the magazine cartoon, but it did really establish it.”
– Bob Mankoff
“My pen is not a sword, but an olive branch.”
– Liza Donnelly
“How to say what could not be said? The New Yorker covers convey what millions of people feel. We tend to give an adult explanation of everything, but emotionally we are more connected to our visual sense,” says Françoise Mouly, the woman behind The New Yorker ’s covers. Covers aside, pretty much the same goes for cartoons –with or without captions. But what’s The New Yorker humour? “It’s the idea drawing, the sine qua non of The New Yorker cartoons, which demands some cognitive work on the reader’s part. The New Yorker humour is very sophisticated and always self-reflective – the target is us.” explains Bob Mankoff, a longtime magazine’s cartoonist, and cartoon editor. For The New Yorker, funny needs to be smart and smart needs to be funny –a combo that will never go out of style. Hopefully, never is good for you, but let us start at the beginning of the story, funny on its own terms.
The Birth of The New Yorker
“When The New Yorker first arrived on newsstands, it was far from an instant sensation,” writes the editor David Remnick in his introduction to the 100 th -anniversary issue this February 17th. Upon arriving in Manhattan in the roaring 20s, Harold
Ross and his wife Jane Grant, editor, and reporter, were penniless, brainstorming ideas ranging from shipping news to publishing paperback books, or perhaps starting a humour magazine. Eventually, after many nights spent in card games, they found an investor in Raoul Fleishmann who loved gambling and the idea of a comic weekly. The Broadway agent John Toohey came up with the name – The New Yorker, while a prospectus for the magazine promised ‘gaiety, wit and satire’. “The problem was that the early issues delivered precious little of this,” Remnick writes. “Ross, in search of an editorial identity, a ‘formula’, as he called it, was flailing.”
The first issues did, however, have a distinctive visual identity. A monocled dandy peering at a butterfly, a work of the illustrator Rea Irvin, appeared on the cover. But beyond the cover, the magazine had very little to show. “I think we have nothing to fear,” Frank Crowninshield, the founder of Vanity Fair, declared. At newsstands across New York, piles of unsold copies gathered dust. Things only changed in November, when Ross and Grant had their first newsstand hit, Ellin Mackay’s investigative piece Why We Go to Cabarets –a Post-Debutante Explains. Sales surged, and the magazine slowly gained traction.
Harold Ross
Bob Mankoff
Françoise Mouly
Expanding identity
During the Great Depression, The New Yorker began publishing poetry and short stories from some of the best writers of the day, including Vladimir Nabokov, John Updike, Truman Capote, Alice Munro, J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, and Philip Roth. The magazine continued to keep its distance from politics until World War II, when Ross – a World War I veteran, triggered by another war – changed focus of the magazine. His journalists wrote on the Blitz, liberation of France and lieutenant John F. Kennedy’s heroism. The magazine’s post-war reporting included Rebecca West’s impactful coverage of the Nuremberg trials and Hersey’s masterpiece Hiroshima. The magazine found its voice.
The power of profiles and fiction
One of The New Yorker ’s most iconic formats has always been the profile, frequently a product of interesting pairings. In November 1957, Truman Capote’s interview with the self-absorbed Marlon Brando revealed a complex figure behind the façade. “People around me never say anything,” Brando says. “They just seem to want to hear what I have to say. That’s why I do all the talking.”
Similarly, David Remnick’s 1998 profile of Muhammad Ali, written as Ali battled Parkinson’s disease, is a true masterpiece. Remnick captures Ali’s profound struggle to reconcile his past and his illness. “It was obvious, just from shaking his hand, that he still possessed a knockout punch. For him, the special torture was speech and expression, as if the disease had intentionally struck first at what had once pleased him –and had pleased (or annoyed) the world,” Remnick writes.
The fiction published in The New Yorker has consistently set the bar high. Works like Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, Margaret Atwood’s Kat, Alice Munro’s The Bear Came Over the Mountain, Haruki Murakami’s Town of Cats, Zadie Smith’s The Embassy of Cambodia, or George Saunders’s Escape from Spiderhead from 2010 are among the best-known short stories of all time. In 2022, Netflix and The New Yorker Studios released Spiderhead, a film adaptation of this story –just one example of The New Yorker, boldly spreading its wings.
Investigative journalism and modern impact
In the Vietnam era and beyond, the magazine established itself as a clear-eyed witness to history. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring from the summer of 1962 seeded important new ideas in the public mind: spraying chemicals to control insects also kills birds and further on in a food chain. In 2017, Ronan Farrow’s exposé on Harvey Weinstein helped spark the #MeToo movement, earning the magazine a Pulitzer Prize.
The art of the cover and the power of cartoons
In addition to its hard-hitting journalism, The New Yorker remains notorious for its iconic covers and cartoons. To this day, Saul Steinberg’s View of the World from 9 th Avenue, remains the magazine’s most famous cover not featuring its unofficial mascot, Eustace Tilley. Its illustrator, Saul Steinberg famously said that he “could have retired on this painting” had he gotten royalties. A Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegelman is maybe best known for his highly controversial Valentine’s Day cover in 1993 – his attempt to replace the conflict with love failed, but the cover is now in history books. Same is true for the 9/11 cover depicting the silhouettes of the Towers against a darkened background, which Spiegelman did with his wife Mouly. From the very first issue, illustrations and cartoons were central to The New Yorker ’s identity. Early cartoonists Peter Arno, James Thurber, and Charles Addams shaped the magazine’s tone. Arno’s bold line drawings captured the Jazz Age elite, while Thurber’s amusing sketches made light of American life’s absurdities. Addams, known for his dark humour, would go on and create The Addams Family. “Normal is an illusion; what is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly,” Addams used to say. Cartoonists like Roz Chast became known for neurotic drawings that explored middle-class anxieties. The work of William Steig, creator of Shrek, was psychologically nuanced and tender. George Booth created hilariously chaotic domestic scenes. Liza Donnelly, whose first cartoon was published in 1982, is known for her quietly subversive takes on everyday life, often with a feminist edge.
The New Yorker and the world of racing
Interestingly, The New Yorker has intersected with the world of racing on multiple occasions. As early as the 1920s and 30s, the magazine ran columns covering events like the Indianapolis 500, capturing the excitement and novelty of auto shows. In recent years, The New Yorker has featured photo-essays like Jim Mangan’s of late Ken Block’s Gymkhana, as well as long-form pieces such as The Art of Speed, which delved into the world of Formula 1 examining cars and designers such as Adrian Newey.
Bob Mankoff pushed innovations like the Caption Contest or the Cartoon Bank. Mankoff, known for his smart, self-referential humour, created a true cartoon bestseller –the famous How about never – is never good for you? Polite and rude at the same time,
this memoir in cartoons has been reprinted many times and even found its place on thongs. Bruce Eric Kaplan (a.k.a. BEK), also writer for Seinfeld and Girls , conquered the public with his dark, existential humour. Under the editor Emma Allen, the magazine opened its door to younger, more diverse artists from different backgrounds, inviting them to explore broader topics: race, gender, politics, climate change, and internet culture.
At this point, something must be said also about rejection, a phenomenon so closely
related to the magazine. Many famous writers got their pieces rejected many times – think of J.D. Salinger, but statistics are way much harder on the cartoonists side. Matthew Diffee spent years submitting one cartoon repeatedly, John Jonik had cartoons rejected for ten years before his first one got published. Bob Mankoff explains: “We do reject many cartoons, so many that there are a number of books called The Rejection Collection. I know everything about rejection. When I decided to become a cartoonist, I submitted 2,000 cartoons to The New Yorker and got 2,000 cartoons rejected
by The New Yorker.” Moral of the story: rejection does not equal failure.
Failure in editorial business is something The New Yorker has braced itself against with the newest technology, while sticking firmly to its old values: clarity, accuracy, and truth. The magazine remains a mirror of society and a cultural institution – home to groundbreaking journalism, landmark works, and intelligent humour.
Yes, to that, cheers and to a hundred –paper and paperless – years more!
// SL
Revija The New Yorker praznuje ... Okrogla obletnica slovite revije The New Yorker zaznamuje 100 let revolucionarnega novinarstva in inteligentnega humorja na najvišji ravni. Revija je začela izhajati kot stripovski tednik, kasneje pa se je razvila v obsežnejšo publikacijo z mešanico reportaž, poezije, besed, umetnosti, humorja in pronicljivih komentarjev. Njene naslovnice in karikature že od nekdaj izražajo čustva in razkrivajo pogosto prikrito resničnost. Humor v reviji je prefinjen in samorefleksiven, bralce pa pritegnejo inteligentne in zabavne vsebine. Ko je revija s časom rastla, so začeli objavljati poezijo in kratke zgodbe znanih pisateljev, kot so Nabokov, Updike, Capote, Munro, Hemingway in Roth. V zgodovino pa so se zapisali tudi kultni portreti, kot sta intervju Trumana Capoteja z Marlonom Brandom iz leta 1957 in portret Muhammada Alija Davida Remnicka iz leta 1998. Revija se je uveljavila kot pozorna priča zgodovini, saj so objavljeni prispevki v javnosti zasejali pomembne nove zamisli, sprožili gibanja, reviji pa prinesli celo več Pulitzerjevih nagrad.
THE ULTIMATE COMEBACK
We can all have lots of fun discussing whether or not Marc Márquez is the greatest motorcycle racer of all time. What is beyond doubt is that his renaissance is the greatest comeback in any sport.
The Spaniard spent almost four years in injury hell, after breaking an arm during the 2020 Spanish grand prix, before getting his career back on track last season. Four major operations were required to fix his right arm, including a humeral osteotomy, which had surgeons saw the humerus bone in half, rotate the lower part 34 degrees, then plate and screw the two halves back together.
Even Mick Doohan, who recovered from serious injury to dominate MotoGP in the 1990s, is amazed by Márquez’s comeback. “I’m not sure any another sportsman or sportswoman has been able to come back from an injury like he’s had… For me, he’s just a different breed,” says the Australian.
If bravery and determination are two important foundations of Márquez’s success, what are the others? Riding technique, obviously. Márquez is one of only two rookie champions in MotoGP history, because he introduced a new way of riding when he graduated to the premier class in 2013.
He was the first to regularly slide the front tyre in search of more performance, a risky manoeuvre that usually puts riders on the ground. “His control of the front is unique,” says Davide Tardozzi, Marc’s current team manager at Ducati Lenovo Team. “The front end of the bike is in his hand, much more than any other rider. The way he side-slides the front tyre, he’s the only rider that can do that.” An important part of this trick is how Marc uses his elbows for outriggers – if the front slides too much he forces his inside elbow into the road to prevent a crash.
Most fans know something of Márquez’s bravery, determination, and riding skills. But only those that have worked with him know what puts him another step ahead of his rivals, his intellect. “When you get down to the nitty-gritty, he’s a very, very intelligent cat,” says twice MotoGP king Casey Stoner. “That’s why he’s so good at battling people and it’s why he’s so calm in most situations. And the older he gets the smarter he gets.”
Márquez combines his intelligence with his otherworldly feel for the motorcycle to give himself another advantage. “In all the years I’ve worked in racing I’ve not known any rider at his level of knowledge of the bike and knowledge about set-up,” says Frankie Carchedi, who was Marc’s crew chief
at Gresini Racing MotoGP Team last year. “It’s not just about how he rides the bike – it’s about how he likes the bike to be set up so he can do what he wants to do.”
Mike Watt worked alongside Carchedi in 2024, looking after Marc’s suspension set-up. He’s another pit-lane veteran, who has worked in MotoGP for more than four decades. “Sometimes Marc came into the garage, thought about what was going on, then drew a graph on a piece of paper, maybe showing throttle trace, brake point and fork stroke,” says Watt. “We would lay the paper over the data on the screen and they were the same! It was unbelievable, just incredible!”
Márquez has always understood that you don’t only make your speed on the racetrack – you make it in your mind and in the garage.
Mat Oxley
Mat Oxley has been a motorcycle journalist for more than four decades, covering MotoGP full-time since 1988. During his own racing career, he won an Isle of Man TT and finished second in the Le Mans 24 Hours. He is currently publishing his latest book, MARC MÁRQUEZ: The Biography.
Marc Márquez
MASTERING PERFORMANCE
With more than three decades of racing success, Akrapovič’s innovative technology is designed to enhance every aspect of your ride. Utilising precision engineering, the finest materials, and expert craftsmanship to create an unparalleled experience, allowing you to fully appreciate the performance and signature sound.
