Akrapovič Magazine vol. 34 by Akrapovič

Akrapovič Rear Wing

SPOILER ALERT

Interview with Heinz Kinigadner

FLYING WITH WINGS FOR LIFE

FRANCESCO BAGNAIA AND ÁLVARO BAUTISTA WORLD’S FASTEST PIZZA?

FIRST DRIVE - VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R HURRICANE GREEN. FEROCIOUSLY GREEN!

A column by Mat Oxley

>> SPRING 2023 ISSUE 34

Times that call for quick reactions to change…

We live in times when the world and the way we do business are rapidly changing. Just looking at one aspect, supply chain partnerships, we can see them undergoing massive alterations. Various global developments affect the price of raw materials and energy products, impacting competitiveness as well as requiring immediate response to the current situation. If we take stock of what is happening in the world and the impact on business, or even life in general, we might use the phrase a new reality. It would make no sense to just sit and wait for things to change, settle down or improve; the new reality calls for action, quick adaptation, seeking of alternatives and potentials that we did not address in the past for various reasons.

Looking back at the events of the last 32 years, starting with Igor Akrapovič founding the company with the idea and enthusiasm that originated in racing to improve existing products – engines and exhaust systems – one can see that new realities have been encountered before and also required quick adaptations and decisive decision-making. Agility, intuition and understanding of the needs of our customers, as well as providing the best products through the use of quality materials, technology and constant development, contributed to the fact that we can celebrate our past achievements and look forward to overcoming new challenges as we develop and grow the Akrapovič company, its products, processes, people and environment, and address the experience of our customers. Our passion, transmitted to the buyers of our products through the processes we use in creating them and continuously pursuing the values that were planted 32 years ago, serve as our guide for future endeavours, which, as already mentioned, require speed and determination.

In this sense, I am optimistic about the future and our ability to navigate the twists and turns posed by the business environment as well as positive about further developing partnerships with our suppliers and customers, strengthening relationships and fostering an enabling environment to further develop team spirit with our colleagues and celebrating new victories along the way.

Davorin Dobočnik CEO at Akrapovič d.d.

photography Bor Dobrin

05 04 05 Letter

Technical partnership in trial Victory #102

Jeffrey Herlings’s victory at the MXGP of Spain in May allowed him to reach the top of the podium for the 102nd time in his motocross GP racing career. The 28-year-old Dutchman set the all-time record for most GP wins in motocross only a week after equalling Stefan Everts’s previous record of 101 GP wins. Every one of Jeffrey’s 102 Grand Prix wins was achieved with the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team and its Akrapovič-equipped KTM 250 SX-F (MX2) and 450 SX-F (MXGP) motorcycles. After tasting victory for the first time aged 15 in 2010 at Valkenswaard GP in his native Netherlands, the five-time world champion went on to win three titles in MX2 and two titles in MXGP.

Akrapovič has expanded its cooperation with GASGAS Factory Racing for the 2023 FIM X-Trial and FIM TrialGP world championships. The partnership is the culmination of months of work between Akrapovič engineers in Slovenia and GASGAS technicians, team riders Jaime Busto and Sondre Haga and GASGAS Factory Racing team manager Albert Cabestany to develop a thick titanium header for Busto and Haga’s GASGAS TXT GP 300 machines that delivers performance gains, alongside a 40 % weight saving in comparison to the previous version. The team didn’t have to wait long for its first victory with Jaime Busto winning a dramatic finale at round two of the FIM X-Trial World Championship at Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

10th double best

Motorsport aktuell announced the best brands according to its readers as part of the Racer of the Year 2022 survey. The results of the vote brought a double win to Akrapovič for the 10th time in a row, as the Slovenian brand was again voted best in the Sports Exhaust Systems in Car Racing and Exhaust Systems in Motorcycle Racing. In the first category, Akrapovič won 55.8 %, and in the second 80.6 % of the votes cast.

Akrapovič News

Photo: GASGAS Images Photo: KTM Images / Ray Archer

Sprint to the finish

One step from the top

Akrapovičequipped BMW

car all the way to runner-up spot in the second race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“After the debut of our BMW M Hybrid V8 cars at Daytona in January, there was no time to rest and we can see the progress that has been made here at Sebring. This podium was only the next step and I am confident that we will continue our way towards the top with our brand-new BMW M prototype,” Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH, said following the chaotic finale of the race. Akrapovič is an Official Partner of BMW M Motorsport.

06 / 09 Akrapovič News 6 7

Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia made history as the winner of the first-ever MotoGP Sprint Race, held on Saturday 25 March 2023 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, Portugal. The Sprint Race was dominated by Akrapovič exhaust systems, with second-placed Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac Racing) and third-placed Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team) also sporting Slovenian exhausts on their racing motorcycles. BMW M Team RLL racing drivers Connor De Phillippi, Nick Yelloly and Sheldon van der Linde raced successfully at the 12 Hours of Sebring (USA), steering their M Hybrid race

43 seconds

Was the slim difference separating the firstand second-placed riders after more than 44 hours of racing at this year’s Dakar Rally. Kevin Benavides (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) celebrated the victory after 14 high-speed stages of the toughest rally in the world ahead of teammate Toby Price and Skyler Howes (Husqvarna Factory Racing). The motorcycles of the top three finishers were equipped with Akrapovič exhaust systems. “This year’s rally has been one of the closest ever and there wasn’t a single day where you could afford to ease off,” Kevin confirmed that the 2023 Dakar really was extremely competitive.

Visit the garage

For those of you who haven’t yet had the chance to peek inside a WorldSBK team’s garage, Team HRC has opened the virtual doors to its racing heaven, home to the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP bikes, raced around the world by Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona. Interested in a 360-degree virtual tour? Go to honda.racing/wsbk/page/ virtual-garage on any day of the 2023 WorldSBK season.

9 8

Historic six pack

Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin finished the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia in second place overall, but managed to push their Akrapovič-equipped Prodrive Hunter (Bahrain Raid Xtreme team) to a record six consecutive Dakar stage victories, eclipsing the previous record held by rally legends Ari Vatanen and Bruno Bergland who took five stages in a row during the 1989 Paris-Dakar.

18th in a row

Readers of the renowned Motorrad magazine chose Akrapovič as the best exhaust maker for motorcycles for the 18th year running. As part of the Motorcycle of the Year vote in 2023, the Slovenian exhaust specialists received a total of 75.4 % of the votes cast, with a total of 50,096 Motorrad readers taking part.

Lucky 13

LESER WAHL BEST BRAND

2022

KATEGORIE Heft 12/22 Auspuffanlagen

The renowned sport auto magazine published the results of its Best Brand vote in the fall of 2022, bringing joy to everyone working at Akrapovič as the magazine’s readers again chose the Slovenian company as the best brand in the category of exhaust systems. The Ivančna Gorica-based company received 71.1 % of the vote and won its 13th best brand award bestowed by sport auto magazine.

06 / 09 Akrapovič News

SPOILER ALERT

by Mitja Reven

11 10

10 / 13 Evolution Evolution

photography Akrapovič, KM archive Akrapovič Rear Wing (Carbon) for the BMW M3 (G80) and M4 (G82)

AKRAPOVIČ ENGINEERS HAVE ACCUMULATED MORE THAN ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE IN MAKING PRODUCTS FROM LIGHT MATERIALS, SUCH AS TITANIUM AND CARBON FIBRE, TO NOT BE AFRAID OF TRYING SOMETHING COMPLETELY NEW. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE BRAND THAT WON WORLD- WIDE FAME WITH ITS EXHAUST SYSTEMS, HAS PRODUCED ITS FIRST REAR WING !

Surprised? Those of you who know that the Slovenian company already sold exhausts made from composite materials in the mid-90s and that it has been producing carbon car accessories such as diffusers for several years, probably won’t be, but I’m sure that many did not expect Akrapovič to produce an innovative product like the Rear Wing (Carbon) for the BMW M3 (G80) and M4 (G82). The dawn of the company’s entry into the world of aerodynamic car accessories has arrived.

History of aero

Probably the most famous statement about aerodynamics from the world of motorsports is a quote from Enzo Ferrari: “Aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines.” The charismatic Enzo is said to have uttered this immortal line at Le Mans in 1960 when probed by his driver Paul Frère about the low top speed of his Ferrari 250 TR, which featured a large windscreen. Enzo likely changed his mind about aerodynamics in 1968 at the latest, when Ferrari’s Formula 1 competitor, Lotus, introduced an improved Model 49 at the race in Monaco, fitted with, you guessed it, aerofoil wings, and crowned this innovation with a victory. The following years brought a multitude of different wing versions, initially mainly bolted directly to the suspension, rising high above the chassis for effective use in clean air. After several breakages which led to crashes, high wings were banned in Formula 1. The ban was

not the first, as it was preceded by a similar one at the 1000 km race at Nürburgring in 1956, where Michael May equipped his Porsche 550 Spyder with probably the first manipulated elevated wing fitted to a racing car aimed at producing downforce for enhanced braking and cornering speeds. The movable wing over the open cockpit allowed the Swiss driver to be faster than the other Spyders, so his competitors complained, and the organiser banned the wing on safety risk grounds, the supposed risk coming from the opponents’ claims that the wing obstructed the view of those coming from behind. May’s wing was visually unappealing as well, similar to the large movable wing operated by the driver pressing a pedal with his left foot on Jim Hall’s Chaparral 2C racing car in the ’60s. There are many stories about the impact of aerodynamics on cars. The 1939 MercedesBenz T 80, designed by Ferdinand Porsche and powered by a formidable 2206 kW (3000 hp) V12 engine, included a number of aerodynamic elements including fixed airfoils, though its mission to become the world’s fastest car was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. Even before that, in 1928, Opel developed a rocket-propelled RAK 2 with additional wings that provided downforce on the road to stabilise the car at high speeds. The concept obviously worked, as the rocket car reached a speed of 238 km/h. Fritz von Opel actually became an important part of history, as the Opel RAK

12 10 / 13 Evolution

IT HAS THREE MANUALLY ADJUSTABLE LEVELS TO PROVIDE VARIOUS AMOUNT OF DOWNFORCE, BASED ON THE DRIVER’S NEEDS AND DRIVING CONDITIONS.

Opel RAK 2 Mercedes-Benz T 80 Chaparral 2C

is considered the world’s first large-scale rocket program, significantly advancing rocket and aviation technology. Opel’s example also shows that automotive industry engineers have since early on looked to aeronautics in studying the impact of aerodynamics. Here we should mention Sir George Cayley, who identified the principle of a lift-generating inclined plane in 1792. The four-wheeled RAK 2 had its wings set at a negative angle to create downforce. Today’s world of cars and motorcycles is hard to imagine without aerodynamics and media is full of stories about how this science is used by engineers to make Formula 1, MotoGP and the like, and by their counterparts who create production vehicles to make them even faster and more efficient.

_230 years later

Cayley’s research led him to develop an efficient cambered airfoil and to confirm the four vector forces that influence an aircraft: thrust, lift, drag, and weight. Today, more than two centuries after the findings by the English engineer, inventor and aviator, the basics remain, but aerodynamics has accumulated numerous other ideas and grown tremendously as a science. When designing the first adjustable Rear Wing, Akrapovič engineers extensively used Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to ensure its optimum functionality, with the goal of increasing vehicle stability at higher speeds by applying additional downforce to the rear axle. Of course, they performed a battery of other tests as well, including during driving. Akrapovič’s first Rear Wing is optimised for the aerodynamics of the BMW M3 (G80) and M4 (G82).

This completely hand-made, lacquered and hand polished Akrapovič product looks impressive and dazzles with its attention to detail, beauty and functional design. Designed using lightweight carbon fibre and echoing the world of motorsport, the wing’s airfoil was

developed to provide an extremely competitive ratio between downforce and drag. It has three manually adjustable levels to provide varying amount of downforce, based on the driver’s needs and driving conditions. Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis was applied to ascertain the optimum ratio between the load-bearing capacity and weight of the wing brackets in a swan neck design, taking into consideration the adjustability in conjunction with high levels of stiffness and strength. Lightweight CNC machined aluminium was chosen for the wing brackets to provide the best ratio between weight and performance. A guiding principle in its design was the use of lightweight materials, so it should not come as a surprise that the bolts used to connect the wing and the brackets are made from high-grade titanium and that titanium reinforcements are incorporated into the wing for even better structural stability at pivot points. The use of titanium with carbon improves resistance to galvanic corrosion and increases the product’s durability.

A small tab at the trailing edge of the wing, which comes with Germany’s national ABE type-approval, meanwhile enhances the angle of attack of the wing, thereby creating more downforce without the drawback of drag. In motorsport, this tab is known as the Gurney flap, named after American racing legend Dan Gurney, who installed it to increase the speed of Bobby Unser’s USAC racing car. In order to deceive inquisitive competitors, Gurney told them that the protrusion was intended to prevent injury and damage when pushing the car by hand.

Rear Wing (Carbon) for the BMW M3 (G80) and M4 (G82) is Akrapovič’s first Wing and certainly not the last. It is proof that development never stops, just like the company’s desire to offer customers a lightweight and functional product with a racing heritage. Does this story sound similar to a tale from the world of exhaust systems?

by Gaber Keržišnik

HIGHEST LEVEL

photography Polarity Photo, Graeme Brown, Honda

14 / 17 Story Story

Akrapovič & Honda in MotoGP 2023

News that Honda’s MotoGP team will begin using Akrapovič exhausts hit motorcycle racing fans like a bolt from the blue before the start of this year’s season. The announcement means that Honda‘s legendary HRC racing division will follow Ducati, Yamaha and KTM by entrusting exhaust systems‘ codevelopment to Ivančna Gorica technicians. Marc Márquez, Joan Mir (both Repsol Honda Team), Álex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol) and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) are thus this year chasing down world championship points in the premier class by using Slovenian know-how on their motorcycles. But how did this collaboration between Honda and Akrapovič actually come about? We asked some of the key players.

14 15

Our first port of call were the paddocks where HRC racing division motorcycles are being prepared for the races. “We’ve worked with Akrapovič before. They are a very professional company as regards technology. We realised there was an opportunity because we needed to find a good partner to improve our bike for the future. We’ve already collaborated in WSBK, we trust Akrapovič and now the time has come to also start cooperating in MotoGP,” said HRC Director Tetsuhiro Kuwata. Akrapovič founder and owner Igor Akrapovič also feels that the cooperation with Honda in MotoGP that came about this year is due to good connections between the two brands, which have been linked in one way or another for more than two decades. “Honda is a legendary motorcycle manufacturer with an outstanding tradition. It is a great honour for us to work with them. I must stress that this is not our first collaboration with Honda: we first worked with the Japanese brand way back in 1999. In 2000, we also won our first world championship title in the WorldSBK class, courtesy of Colin Edwards, then Honda’s works rider.”

Always striving for more Slavko Alojz Trstenjak, Head of Akrapovič Racing R&D, also agrees that past cooperation was key in securing the current partnership: “In terms of the number of motorcycles sold, Honda is still far ahead of everyone else and their achievements in motorsport speak for themselves. Any technological partner can but dream of working with such a brand as Honda in sports. My personal goal was to begin official cooperation with Honda at the highest racing level, i.e. the MotoGP class. We were already jointly developing the exhaust for their RC45 model at the end of the ‘90s. Cooperation was already intensive back then and it remains so today. Honda is always interested in achieving more, reaching higher, becoming stronger and better. After reaching a set goal together, new questions or challenges often immediately come from their side in the sense of how could the product be improved even more – either by increasing engine power or, for example, reducing the weight of the exhaust system. Work is basically never done. The finished product is merely a stepping stone on a steep path upwards. Here I would also like to sincerely thank everyone at Akrapovič who took part in this project for their truly selfless work and their immense efforts, especially Matija Zaletelj and Jure Bambič, who did a stellar job as project managers.”

Professionalism is key

Is the close partnership between Honda and Akrapovič also due to rekindling the two companies’ cooperation in the WorldSBK class years ago? Tetsuhiro Kuwata believes so: “It was really good, not only in WSBK, but also at the Suzuka 8 hours. We visited

Akrapovič headquarters in Slovenia many times, and I could see they have a professional approach and take care of every detail, the same as HRC does. I still have fond memories of those times. I knew it even though I didn’t have the necessary experience back then. But this long-lasting relationship is really important for us. Akrapovič and Honda began working together more than 20 years ago and have maintained their connection over this period, sometimes stronger, sometimes a bit weaker. It is this kind of connection that makes a good technical partner for the future. Technology is getting increasingly complex nowadays and it’s important to have a thorough knowledge of each area.”

A big step forward

And what does cooperation with Honda in the MotoGP class mean for the Akrapovič brand? “For us, it represents one of the most important steps we have ever taken as a company, because the care Honda puts into the development and production of racing exhausts as well as their meticulous attention to detail is truly at the highest possible level. Even product testing, which was already used back then to check the durability of individual components, was a challenge for us and taught us a great deal. Simply cooperating with Honda in the past allowed us to greatly increase the quality of our work. Working with Honda always keeps you aware you’re collaborating with an extremely serious partner that leaves nothing to chance. Everything must be 100 % proofed before a product can be used. The fact that we are cooperating again is a confirmation that we are working well. This time round, it’s at an even higher level, so we are trying with all our might to satisfy their wishes, expectations and needs,” explains Igor Akrapovič, with Slavko Alojz Trstenjak adding that Akrapovič sent many

17 16 14 / 17 Story

Tetsuhiro Kuwata

exhaust systems to Honda before the start of the season – in different configurations, of course. This gave the Japanese manufacturer access to numerous examples and products showcasing continuous development already in pre-season. This was happening long before the start of this year’s season, so it was obvious that Honda is extremely serious about this partnership: “They were honest and straightforward. They weren’t just looking for another technical partner, they needed our experience and our added value, to claw their way back to the top after the recent dominance of European motorcycle manufacturers on the racetracks,” Slavko summed up his thoughts on the renewed cooperation with Honda.

The future looks bright

As we once again turned to Akrapovič founder and company owner, there was only one logical question to ask. Will they succeed?

“I firmly believe that Honda riders with Marc Márquez at the helm will return to the top of the podium, also with help from us, and that MotoGP will thus be even more interesting and exciting,” Igor replies. Slavko, having successfully initiated the partnership in MotoGP, is, as always, already looking ahead to new challenges. “We are ready for more and would like to expand our collaboration perhaps into off-road motorcycling; but let’s not rush the moment and give it some time first.”

Team HRC, WorldSBK Repsol Honda Team, MotoGP by Primož Jurman

No success without team work

WorldSBK Teams

If you are a fan of motorcycle racing and closely follow competitions in its various series, then you know that riders in their interviews usually use the first person plural pronoun “we” – and with good reason. Success on the track is the result of efforts by all team members, from the chefs, truck drivers, mechanics, all the way to team managers. All of them strive to ensure that the rider achieves the best possible result - for himself and the team. The rider’s contribution is in his ability to control the motorcycle, but the final result is entirely due to teamwork. We peeked behind the scenes of three WorldSBK works teams to learn about their set-up and the way they operate.

To get the best possible insight into the structure and workings of individual teams, we called on people with a comprehensive knowledge of their operations: Paul Denning, Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK Team Principal, Biel Roda, Kawasaki Racing Team Marketing Manager and Shaun Muir, Team Principal at ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team.

At Yamaha´s works team the bulk of the team consists of the engineers and mechanics, followed by riders’ support staff, but adding the required press, PR, marketing, hospitality, catering and organizational people, the number comes to a decently sized group at the end - around 20 to 25 people are travelling to the events, depending on the event. That number increases a little bit at the European events with hospitality staff. They have three dedicated mechanics for each rider, a tire technician, electronics engineer and crew chief, so the core team for each rider is six people. They also have a parts manager that works across the entire project to control

the parts allocation from Yamaha; as well as Yamaha’s engineers, plus riders’ coach from Yamaha, Niccolo Canepa. Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT) has a travelling complement of 40 members, alongside back-office support in the workshop as well as Japanese engineers in Akashi. BMW works team meanwhile employs 30 members on average who attend races with a further 10 working at the UK, Munich and Berlin, both Germany.

International cast

Teams employ people from various countries. At Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK team, the most numerous contingent is from Italy and UK, but they also have staff from Australia, Czech Republic and New Zealand. KRT is staffed by Catalans, Spaniards, French, Dutch, Japanese, British and Italians, while BMW’s team contains English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Polish crew members. Paul Denning as Team Principal takes care of all aspects of the team, as any medium size business would be ran.

18 / 21 Ride With Us

Ride With Us

photography Graeme Brown, BMW

18 19

Meanwhile at Yamaha, engineering head Riccardo Tisci is responsible for development and Yamaha support of the project at the weekends and at the tests. Important leaders in terms of the on track performance of the riders are the crew chiefs, Andrew Pitt and Phil Marron, who take care of riders and they have responsibility to ensure that the crews are preparing the bikes completely correctly to make sure that everything is ready on time. That performance setting is also supported by the application engineer who looks after the bike’s electronic settings, suspension support engineer and of course the wider Yamaha group. KRT employs a similar philosophy. Team members interconnect in many areas; Guim Roda is Team Manager and leads the team in general, Biel Roda is responsible for the commercial/communication side, Alvar Garriga is the Technical Manager on the technical/operational side, Carla Heredero is the Hospitality Manager and Nishiyama San runs the engineering side in Japan. Ichiro Yoda plays a very important role in terms of bike development and Christophe Lambert has just become the team’s electronic specialist. They are a complex organisation, family run, but supported on a multinational level. At BMW, Marc Bongers (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director) is also Team Manager with Shaun Muir as the Team Principal of the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team. Both of its riders have their separate crew chiefs: Ian Lord for Scott Redding and Markus Eschenbacher for

Michael van der Mark. As all of these teams are works teams, the links with the factories are very important. The Yamaha WorldSBK project is ultimately the responsibility of Yamaha Motor Europe. They began the relationship with Crescent in the middle of 2015, working towards the 2016 season together. KRT cooperates with its factory in the development of serial production bikes and homologations. The Japanese factory always has the final say in what goes on the bike and what doesn’t, but a big part of development is coordinated with its suppliers in Europe, Akrapovič with its exhaust systems being one of them. It also receives financial support from the Kawasaki Motors Corp., since KRT is its flagship project. Pretty much the same holds true for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, a works team of BMW Motorrad.

Typical racing weekend

We also wanted to know how a typical race weekend in Europe unfolds. At Yamaha works team, a very basic day at the European races would involve two race trailers and hospitality trailers, arriving from Monday evening through to Tuesday lunch time, and in the paddock by the end of Tuesday. The team’s pit facility and necessary stuff on display are in place by half way through Wednesday, and towards the end of Wednesday technical preparation begins on the bikes. The Team setup meeting for the weekend is on Thursday morning where Yamaha’s technical coordinator, the team

principal, crew chiefs, suspension engineer and the application engineers from Yamaha discuss the both the sporting and detail technical planning for the weekend. They try to keep the riders as focused as possible on the job at hand come Friday morning, so their day on Thursday is largely consumed by media requirements, a track walk with the crew chiefs and their engineers. It’s teams job to give riders the best possible bike from the first lap of FP1 on Friday morning and all the work that goes into the weekend from arriving to the circuit onwards is aimed towards that. BMW meanwhile prepares for the race at Shaun Muir Racing’s headquarters in UK, where all the necessary gear is made ready. This is followed by the trip to the racetrack, where the pit-boxes and hospitality areas are generally set up on Wednesday. Technical checks follow on Thursday, as do the first briefings and media activation and Fridays are dedicated to free practice and technical adjustments. The racing weekend is next on the menu, with free practice and warm-ups in the mornings, followed by qualifying and the main races; these are punctured by technical adjustments, briefings with riders and engineers at the track, hosting guests at hospitality, regular media and marketing activities such as media debriefs, autograph sessions and paddock show attendance by the riders. After the final race on Sunday, the pit-boxes and hospitality units are dismantled for the trip back home. Until the next racing weekend.

Shaun Muir

21 20 18 / 21 Ride With Us

Fabien Foret

“WE WANT EVERYONE

Giampaolo Dallara and BMW M Hybrid V8

The road winds through a narrow valley between Parma and Varano, a small town on the southern edge of Emilia Romagna where the hills to the south and west separate the Po Valley from the Ligurian Sea. Varano thus lies sandwiched between the Italian automobile valley and the wide-open sea which was the point of departure for many economic emigrants, mostly bound for North and South America. That was the fate that befell Giampaolo Dallara’s grandfather, who earned his bread by working in American mines. His grandson also left for the promised land, though not literally. He did it through his racing cars. Indy, NASCAR, IMSA are just some of the racing series that cannot be imagined without Dallara. His newest partner is BMW, whose BMW M Hybrid V8 racing car is currently competing in American endurance races, but fostering ambitions of winning the famous Le Mans in the future.

22 / 27 Story Story

by Miran Ališič

TO WIN!”

23 22

photography Bor Dobrin, Hoch Zwei, Dallara

Dallara used to be just another industrial building outside Varano, but today’s modern facility made of stone and wood, located right beside the road, points to a tradition of manufacturing racing and sports cars. Dallara Academy is more than just a gallery; it’s a centre of technical culture, through which we are guided by its Director of Communications, Gianmarco Beltrami. “We wanted to create a meeting place for knowledge, experience, innovation and tradition, not just a museum,” he began as we ascended the circular ramp exhibiting race cars created by Dallara. Lamborghini Miura, Lancia Stratos, Formula 3 and Formula 2, Indy series racers, Scuderia Italia Formula 1, KTM X-Bow, Haas Formula 1, are interspersed here with endurance racing prototypes used by the world’s greatest drivers, including Gilles Villeneuve and Fernando Alonso. The Dallara Stradale sports car is located at the top and is thus last in line. Giampaolo Dallara wanted to make this car for a long time, but was only able to complete it for his 80 th birthday in 2016. “This is just part of our collection and not all of these cars belong to us; we have private vehicles on loan and we mix them up all the time. School children and students come to the academy, Dallara engineers and foreign professors offer training and courses here, the bright and inspiring building is a bustling centre and not solely used for reminiscing,” Beltrami proudly declared as we concluded the short walk.

It was time for morning coffee on the first floor of the factory’s central building, built in 1991, the place where Giampaolo Dallara welcomes us in his simple, moderately sized and modestly furnished office. The gentleman who is approaching his 87th birthday sprightly stands up, walks around his large, tidy and rather empty-looking desk, greets us and serves a typical Italian espresso. “I’ve been keeping my desk tidy ever since Enzo Ferrari back in 1959 wrote ‘please, a little more order’ in purple ink on my work desk, then located at the back of the office in Maranello.” Giampaolo Dallara studied aeronautical engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, when Enzo Ferrari came looking for young aspiring engineers. “So I went. I started at the bottom, at the back, only ten people looked after all of Scuderia’s sports programs in Maranello at the time, it was a different world,” Dallara nostalgically reminisced about the good old days as we sipped our coffee. “I was young and I wanted to go to the races, but there was no place for me in the Ferrari race team, so I paid with my own money to see the 1960 Formula 1 race in Monte Carlo,” continued the gentleman who has since built hundreds of different racing chassis. That was the race where the young Dallara noticed that the horse was no longer in front of the chariot, as Stirling Moss’s winning Cooper Climax had its engine mounted behind

the driver, whereas Phil Hill in a front-engined Ferrari only came in as third. He also heard then that he could attend races if he moved to Maserati, so he left Ferrari, his first and only begrudging departure. But his time at Maserati was to be short-lived as the company soon had to abandon its racing program due to financial issues. He was completely taken in by racing at the 12 Hours of Sebring, USA, in 1962, where he, working as a Maserati engineer, met Roger Penske and Bruce McLaren, who were racing in Cooper Maseratis. Steve McQueen raced there as well and the young engineer from Varano was well and truly bewitched. The next stop in the ‘valley of sports cars’ was Lamborghini, another company with a bold racing plan. Unfortunately, nothing came out of the scheme laid out at Sant’Agata Bolognese either, but in 1966

Dallara took part in the development of what many consider the most beautiful sports car of all time – the Lamborghini Miura. “But I didn’t own one for a very long time, I only found a model to exhibit here at the Academy in Sweden – dismantled and in a very sad state. Now it is restored and one of the main stars of our exhibition,” he proudly stated, adding that after a short period of cooperation with Argentina’s Alejandro De Tomaso, where he also met Frank Williams, he finally realised that he would have to go his own way to fulfill his ambition of being a part of racing. He opened a racing workshop behind his house in Varano in 1972. “I don’t have a background in motorsport, my parents were normal country folks, nobody in the family was interested in cars, engineering or racing. The period after WWII was a time of exploration and seeking the freedom of movement and mobility. I was part of that generation, but I soon realised that other guys on Vespas were faster than me, so I knew I wasn’t going to race. I therefore decided to help the racers get the fastest car.” Dallara was moreover connected with Slovenia at the time he began his business adventure, as that was when he met Walter Wolf, though he didn’t know he was Slovenian back then. “Now I think that Walter is a very proud resident of Maribor. He had a lot of money and good ideas, and above all, a nose for the right people. I cooperated with him as well, the Can-Am series race car that Gilles Villeneuve raced in is on display at the Academy.” Moreover, Didi Mateschitz’s father also came from Maribor and Janez Puh, who created the Puch factory in Graz, came from Ptuj, a smaller town in Maribor’s vicinity. “An incredible place, this Maribor of yours, almost as important as our automobile triangle here in Emilia Romagna,” Dallara joked when mentioning the country where Akrapovič also comes from.

Giampaolo Dallara sees the future of mobility in ownerless, increasingly electric cars, but believes there will always remain a place in the world for the lovers of racing, noise and

24 25

Giampaolo Dallara sees the future of mobility in ownerless, increasingly electric cars, but believes there will always remain a place in the world for lovers of racing, noise and gasoline and the emotions that arise during racing, though more and more limited to individuals.

22 / 27 Story

26 27

gasoline and the emotions that arise during racing, though more and more limited in numbers. He thought that interest in motorsport would decline following the coronavirus, but the opposite is happening, as spectators are thronging events of all racing series. Dallara operates a small company in America, not far from the Brickyard in Indianapolis, which supports the American racing series, where BMW is competing in the IMSA WTSC this year. “I don’t know how we haven’t managed to get together before,” Dallara recalled the start of the collaboration that began last summer, which includes BMW’s desire to take its BMW M Hybrid V8 racing car to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. We finished our coffee, and Giampaolo Dallara suggested visiting the simulator and the R&D department. There we found Leonardo Lombatti, who is in charge of race car manufacturing. “There are currently five different projects being run in parallel, but I can only show you one,” the engineer began as we stepped into the room where a Formula Indy model was being tested. “We have to preserve complete confidentiality of data, that is, no one can enter the premises where the racing Cadillac, a BMW competitor, is being created. We are organised in such a way that it is physically impossible for people to meet and exchange even the minutest and most insignificant details. This is the only way to maintain the trust of our partners, each of whom wants us to provide them with the best service and racing cars.” We felt that a slightly less strict regime was present in the simulator, where Damiano Santini confided in us that the track is losing its importance and is being increasingly substituted by computers and simulators. “The modern simulator has almost completely replaced the numerous kilometres needed to be done on the tracks before racing, because every update to our constantly changing state-of-the-art technology ensures our results get a percent or two more reliable.”

The BMW M Hybrid V8 is slowly making its way to the top of the IMSA WTSC series. The German car came sixth at the 24 Hours of Daytona, before shooting up to second at the 12 Hours of Sebring, only being bested by a Cadillac, also made by the Dallara factory.

We then returned for a final word with Giampaolo Dallara. How has he managed to retain the trust of all the competitors fighting for the hundredths on the race tracks all over the world for more than half a century? “I am not a man for unrest, quarrelling or unfair competition,” replied Dallara, smiling. After shaking our hands goodbye, we also accepted the invitation to come again – for a bit longer and to test drive the car he is most proud of.

The Dallara Stradale, of course.

// Si

Giampaolo Dallara in BMW M Hybrid V8

Nekoč je bila Dallara le industrijsko poslopje nedaleč od Varana, danes pa moderno poslopje iz kamna in lesa že ob cesti opozarja na tradicijo izdelave dirkalnih in športnih avtomobilov. Dallara Academy ni le muzej, pač pa center tehnične kulture. V krogu so razstavljeni modeli, ki jih je ustvaril Dallara. Lamborghini Miura, Lancia Stratos, formule 3 in formule 2, dirkalniki serije Indy, formula 1 Scuderia Italia, KTM X-Bow, formula 1 moštva Haas, med njimi pa še nekateri prototipi za vztrajnostne dirke, s katerimi so dirkali mnogi sloviti dirkači od Gillesa Villeneuva do Fernanda Alonsa. Na vrhu je postavljen športni avto Dallara Stradale. Giampaolo Dallara si ga je že dolgo želel. Naredil ga je šele za svoj 80. rojstni dan leta 2016. Dallara ima v Ameriki, nedaleč od Brickyarda v Indianapolisu, manjše podjetje za podporo ameriškim dirkalnim serijam, kjer letos v seriji IMSA tekmuje tudi BMW. Sodelovanje se je začelo lani poleti, BMW pa želi s svojim dirkalnikom BMW M Hybrid V8 prihodnje leto tudi na 24-urno dirko v Le Mans. Inženirja Dallaro

smo vprašali, kako mu uspeva, da mu že več kot pol stoletja v njegovih prostorih v Varanu zaupajo prav vsi konkurenti, ki se na dirkališčih sveta borijo za stotinke in centimetre premoči pred drugimi. »Nisem človek nemira, prepirov in nelojalne tekmovalnosti,« je z nasmeškom na obrazu povedal Dallara. Jacky Ickx (left) and Giampaolo Dallara Enzo Ferrari (left) and Giampaolo Dallara In the race car Cooper Maserati sitting Bruce McLaren, next to him staying (on the left) Roger Penske and Giampaolo Dallara Dallara F1 De Tomaso Courage

22 / 27 Story

Colin Chapman (left), Giampaolo Dallara (center) and Jim Clark

Bike Stuff

Akrapovič exhaust systems are designed for riders who demand maximum performance from their motorcycles. They feature exceptional production quality, hi-tech materials, increased engine performance and all come with amazing sound and appearance as standard. The change is also visual, as Akrapovič mufflers perfectly fit the exterior line of modern motorcycles and add a clean racing image.

by Mitja Reven

Honda NT1100 + 1.1 kW (+ 1.5 hp) at 4,200 rpm

+ 3.7 Nm at 4,400 rpm

- 1.5 kg (- 27.8 %)

Ducati DesertX + 1.8 kW (+ 2.4 hp) at 9,400 rpm

+ 1.8 Nm at 8,100 rpm

- 1.1 kg (- 33.4 %)

Yamaha YZ450F + 1.8 kW (+ 2.4 hp) at 10,600 rpm

+ 1.5 Nm at 10,500 rpm

- 0.9 kg (- 20.4 %)

Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS / RR + 0.5 kW (+ 0.7 hp) at 9,050 rpm + 0.8 Nm at 8,200 rpm

- 0.7 kg (- 20.2 %)

Kawasaki Z400 + 1.1 kW (+ 1.5 hp) at 10,300 rpm

+ 0.8 Nm at 8,300 rpm

- 1.3 kg (- 31.9 %)

Yamaha R3 + 0.6 kW (+ 0.8 hp) at 10,300 rpm + 0.5 Nm at 9,700 rpm

- 2 kg (- 68.9 %)

Because

world-wide distribution of Akrapovič d.d. products, we make no representation that the products shown comply with the air, noise or other emission laws of your jurisdiction. Hence, please make sure you have all the relevant information before you consider purchasing any of the products. You are welcome to contact our local partner in your country if you have any questions or turn to page 4 and our website at www.akrapovic.com 28

of the

28 Bike Stuff

Car Stuff

Check out the latest Akrapovič aftermarket exhaust systems for cars, where only the best materials and exclusive titanium alloys are used. These materials are combined with high technology and exquisite craftsmanship of Akrapovič welders to create a package that separates them from everything else on the market.

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS + 26 kW (+ 35.4 hp) at 4,900 rpm, + 50.9 Nm at 4,900 rpm, - 17.5 kg (- 44.4 %), Titanium, Rear Carbon Fibre Diffuser - High Gloss and Matte

Cupra Formentor VZ5 + 7.8 kW (+ 10.6 hp) at 2,800 rpm, + 27.3 Nm at 2,750 rpm, - 12.6 kg (- 49.6 %), Titanium

Audi RS 3 Sedan (8Y) + 7.5 kW (+ 10.2 hp) at 5,450 rpm, + 16.3 Nm at 2,800 rpm, - 10.1 kg (- 44.1 %), Titanium, Rear Carbon Fibre Diffuser - High Gloss

BMW M3 (G80) Rear Wing (Carbon)

29 Car Stuff

Winter months in MotoGP

AFTER THE SEASON IS BEFORE THE SEASON

30 / 33 Ride With Us Ride With Us

by Imre Paulovits photography Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

The FIM Grand Prix World Championship season ends in November and the next one begins in March of the following year.

Sounds like a nice, long winter holiday, but what are the riders and technicians really doing during these months? We took a look behind the scenes with the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team to find out.

MotoGP riders travel from one country to another for eight months, entertaining us with their breathtaking racing skills. But after the chequered flag is waved for the last time, the engines fall silent for the winter break. Time to rest? Far from it! After the season is before the season, and because the battle for the MotoGP crown is fought at the limit of what is possible, every minute of the winter break is used as efficiently as possible to better prepare the teams for the year to come.

Preparing the body

Of course, the human body cannot be stressed indefinitely without tiring, so after an intense year, riders first need some quality rest and relaxation. Unless they require surgery or other medical procedures, the riders go on vacation for a few weeks, though return to training already before Christmas. With races that are 40 minutes long, motorcycles that push the riders to the limits of their physical capabilities, and duels where decisions have to be made in a fraction of a second, no one can afford to be inferior to the opponent in terms of physical fitness. So, the riders hop on their bicycles and toil daily in the gym to get the necessary muscles and circulation in tip-top shape.

To remain on top of their game in terms of riding, they also have to take out their motorcycles constantly so as not to lose their touch. But as they are not allowed to train with their MotoGP machines, they ride motocross and dirt track bikes before sharpening their reflexes again in January with 1000cc production bikes on Grand Prix tracks. In doing so, they always have to ride

30 31

In addition to the host of engineers who take care of development in Japan, Yamaha Motor Racing in Italy also employs 14 engineers from Italy, Spain and Ireland who exchange their ideas with their Japanese counterparts.

at the limit, because that’s the only way to keep their senses sharp. Fabio Quartararo has experienced in the winter that this is not without danger. He broke his left hand on 11 December, but fortunately had enough time before the first test in Sepang at the beginning of February for the fracture to heal.

Improving the bike

While the riders are getting themselves into top physical shape, technicians are trying to improve the bikes as best they can. In the merciless battle for hundredths of a second, standing still is a step backward. Even those who were at the front at the close of the season would fall way to the back unless they made improvements during the winter. That’s why the non-race period is the time when the engineers in the factories are working full gas. While new ideas were obviously initiated long before that, now is the time to have the parts produced by the company’s own manufacturing departments and its suppliers. Engines running in different specifications on the test benches and frames of varying stiffness are built with the best combination then determined during the first tests. The same applies to swingarms and other chassis parts. Meanwhile, aerodynamics also plays such a central role in MotoGP that the different options worked out by simulation and wind tunnel testing need to be checked on the track.

Yamaha is a Japanese company, but the race team has always been based in Europe, as most of the world championship races take place there. That means that engineers from both locations need to be in constant contact with each other. For example, Monster Energy

Yamaha MotoGP Team Director Massimo Meregalli makes daily phone calls and holds

video conferences from Gerno di Lesmo, Italy, with the Japanese engineers in Iwata. But the Japanese also travel regularly to Italy and the European engineers to Japan to exchange ideas and really be in the know on everything. In addition to the host of engineers who take care of development in Japan, Yamaha Motor Racing in Italy also employs 14 engineers from Italy, Spain and Ireland who exchange their ideas with their Japanese counterparts. There is also a lively exchange with European suppliers such as Akrapovič, BMC Filters, Brembo, Gilles, Öhlins, or 2D, meant to always keep everybody up to date with the latest developments and place orders for the custom-made parts in time.

Working at Akrapovič

Because Yamaha had fallen a little behind the competition in terms of peak engine power, one of the most important goals for the 2023 bike was to generate more top speed. As the exhaust system plays a crucial role in power delivery, Yamaha MotoGP technicians came to Ivančna Gorica in Slovenia for a few days, where different solutions were tried out on the Akrapovič test rig with the experts there. The result was a completely redesigned system, which also proved its worth during testing in Sepang and gave Fabio Quartararo the secondfastest top speed in MotoGP.

A restful winter vacation, then? As you can see, far from it! But the stress of the winter really got everyone in the mood for this season, which will be more strenuous than ever before. Not only will there be around 20 Grand Prix events in 2023, there is also a new format, with a halfdistance sprint race on Saturday in addition to the main race on Sunday, with both awarding championship points. And, as we all know, after the pre-season is before the pre-season.

30 / 33 Ride With Us 33 32

by Matevž Hribar

Heinz Kinigadner

FLYING WITH WINGS FOR

LIFE

I knew of his brand of quality enduro and motocross gear. I somehow sensed a connection with KTM’s involvement in the Dakar Rally. He is the founder of Wings for Life and there’s never an event at which he would appear without his wheelchair-bound son. Heinz Kinigadner, born in 1960, is directly responsible for reviving the KTM brand in the ’90s. We struck a spontaneous conversation even before I opened my notes and turned on the recorder, jumpstarting it by trying the regional delicacy - doughnuts filled with apricot jam that I brought from Slovenia.

photography Bor Dobrin, Heinz Kinigadner archive

34 / 39 Interview Interview

34 35

// As a professional baker, how would you rate them on a scale from one to ten?

Oh, they’re good. But my stint in a bakery was almost 40 years ago. By now all the suppliers have a ready-made doughnut mixture and most are very similar. You can add a bit of personality, but they’re more or less all the same.

// You are leaving for Tunisia soon - a race?

I don’t want to call it a real race event, even if it comes with daily and overall standings. It’s a warm-up event for the off-road season. Interestingly, Matthias Walkner had his first rally experience there, I invited him when he was already a motocross champion.

// Walkner is good in rallies, right?

Yes, he’s good, he takes them seriously, although he’s using his brain a little bit too much. This doesn’t help win Dakar nowadays. When we started in the middle of the nineties, we said we will only allow enduro or motocross riders over the age of 30, because they switched on their brains more. But rally racing at the moment is, uh, the most dangerous sport you can do. Crazy. I’m fighting hard, I was at FIM meetings discussing safety regulations. Some improvements have been made, but I’d like to see more. For example, no rear mousse tyres.

// Why?

If the riders are fast, they can have two or three punctures a day. If they have a mousse tyre, it doesn’t matter. They can cut the rim, the tyre is still ok, and they can still ride. I’d also go back to, not that it’s possible, malle moto class only. No help from start to finish. This year they had one day when they were allowed to work on the bike for a certain time and then parc ferme. Otherwise, mechanics can work throughout the night, and make the car or bike almost new again! As a manufacturer, as KTM, I’d love to show everybody that our bike is good enough to do the entire 8,000 km in rough conditions without service.

// Was it different in your times then?

At the beginning of the ’90s, KTM competed at one-week rallies like the Optic Rally in Tunisia and won! I said why not two weeks? Everybody at KTM said it was impossible, that motocross bikes and enduro bikes were not intended for long distances. But I argued that if we can do one week, we are not that far from doing two. I told KTM board member Stefan Pierer that I already had a sponsor, Diesel Jeans, and only needed bikes and spare parts from the company. I raced on a Yamaha from Paris to Cape Town in 1992. I had to do this, I told myself. I had many personal issues, no money, but I did it - only for a few days, but I saw

the media impact. This was the reason why I pushed for Dakar at KTM. Every single Dakar competitor is a hero in their home country.

// Only for finishing, not even winning…

Only for being there! At that time, Dakar riders used BMW, Cagiva, all two-cylinder bikes. BMW had a 1100cc engine, very powerful, but with hardly any suspension and weighing 260 kg! My bike, a KTM 620, had a maximum speed of 130 km/h, excellent suspension, was very light and cheap and, at the end of the day, a bike I could have fun with. Most riders are not there to win, but to have fun, go on an adventure! in 1996 we were the most used bike at the competition.

// I had two LC4 and two EXC bikes and I think KTM didn’t use Dakar just for marketing…

At the 1994 Dakar, after the first real race day in the desert, four out of five bikes came in with a broken fifth gear. One mechanic to fix them all. Next morning at 4 am, we all started again. After this, we strengthened the fifth gear. Because of bad petrol, we had to reinforce the pistons. A lot of details were improved. In the end we made the LC4 engine into one of the strongest single-cylinder powerplants. Do you know why I pushed for KTM to be there?

It’s the images you get from the Dakar. Every motorcycle rider who loves to be off-road, dreams to race there. I’ll buy an adventure bike and in a few years I might have the time and money to go. But first I’ll buy the bike.

// You couldn’t imagine that adventure biking would get so big … BMW competed in its last race 20, 25 years ago, but its marketing is still about adventure, going offroad. People still have that perception of successful old, classic GS bikes.

// How did Honda’s involvement in rally racing affect KTM? It’s the only brand that’s beaten you in more than 20 years. I’d say the impact was very, very, very positive. We were there alone for almost 10 years and our board began to question our involvement in rallies. Thank God for Honda to create some heat. Sport without competition is boring. Even if all our riders compete as individuals, it still wouldn’t be the same. And boy did we have some complicated relations between Marc Coma and Cyril Despres. They lodged protests against each other. Teammates!

// How do you cope with strife within the team?

The guys are actually okay, they talk to each other, but during the race, they fight. Everyone wants to win at the Dakar. They won’t accept team orders unless being completely out of contention. Dakar only happens once a year and if you don’t win, you have to wait for the next edition.

34 / 39 Interview

// Do you see any possibility for Dakar returning to Africa?

When we started, Northern Africa was open to everything. We raced in Libya, Egypt, Mali... Now it’s not safe to go to many places, though Africa Eco Race happens every year without problems. But there’s one issue - Saudis pay quite a lot of money to host the Dakar and I think they signed a 10-year contract. It’ll be difficult for Amaury Sport Organisation to get a similar amount anywhere else.

// You’ve raced yourself and you’re in contact with the young generation of racers. How does the current generation with their smartphones approach racing?

I think that motocross is the easiest, best and cheapest class for the young ones. The bike costs €10,000 and you can sell it next year for €7,000, the material costs are not stupidly expensive. I became good friends with Niki Lauda in Ibiza, and Niki always said “I won’t allow my boys to race cars, but if they want to do motocross, why not, because there they have to work.” In the Middle East, where I spend quite a lot of time now, all young boys want to race 500 hp cars, but working hard to get to the top is another story.

// At what age did you start?

I think I was five or six years old. One of my brothers is four years older and the other four years younger. We’ve always said Hanzi should win the 500cc class in World Championship, me the 250cc and Klaus 125cc (laughs). My father was also riding, he bought his first BMW in 1952 and did some ice racing and mountain climbing. We had a bakery, and to go to races, we were allowed to take one car from the bakery.

// Who manages the bakery?

My sister is running it. I have three sisters and two brothers. In 1982 my father had a serious accident in which my mother and grandmother died and he was badly injured. In the years after when I became world champion, 1984 and 85, I moved to 500cc while my sister was running the bakery. It wasn’t easy. In 1987 we were almost bankrupt, all the money I made in motocross was gone because of the bakery. I was completely broke, I owed a lot of money to the banks, it was a bad time. This was when I saw the news about a company in Wels specialising in helping companies that are in trouble. I phoned them and this is how I met Stefan Pierer.

// Wow!

I explained my situation and he said, sorry, you’re a little bit too far away to travel to every day, but if you have a question, you can call me anytime. That same day he met his friends in a bar and told them Heinz Kinigadner

37 36

“As a manufacturer, as KTM, I’d love to show everybody that our bike is good enough to do the entire 8,000 km in rough conditions without service.”

39 38

// Si

Heinz Kinigadner – gonilna sila pri KTM in Wings for Life

Heinz Kinigadner je bil pri podjetju KTM neposredno odgovoren za oživitev znamke v devetdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja. Zdaj je gonilna sila fundacije za zdravljenje poškodb hrbtenjače Wings for Life, ki jo je ustanovil pred devetnajstimi leti, ko je njegov sin Hannes po nesreči z motorjem za motokros pristal v invalidskem vozičku. Z nekdanjim dvakratnim svetovnim prvakom v motokrosu v kategoriji 250 kubičnih centimetrov in udeležencem številnih relijev na dveh kolesih sva pogovor začela s krofi z marelično marmelado, ki sva jih s fotografom pripeljala iz Slovenije. Pogovor je potekal o veliko stvareh, med drugim je sledilo tudi vprašanje, ali še kdaj sede na motor. »Motorja nisem vozil vse od sinove nesreče. Obljubil sem mu, da se bova nekega dne skupaj zabavala na motorju. Še vedno obožujem motorje, a če bi še naprej dirkal, bi lahko imel še več kot 50 zlomljenih kosti,« je med drugim dejal 63-letni Avstrijec.

called him, whereupon one of his friends said: “What?! And you said no?! We’ll go and see him tomorrow! We have to help him!” He came the next day and helped us keep the bakery. I had no money to pay him, the only leftover from my motocross days was my house in Ibiza, so I invited him and his family to stay there for holidays. We became good friends, my kids became good friends with his kids, and when we were there in the summer of ‘91, Arnaldo Farioli, Italian KTM importer, phoned me: “Hey, Heinz, we’re at a point, when we can’t pay our bills anymore. Do you have any ideas?” I said yes, the idea is right next to me. I explained to Stefan that the market is still waiting for KTM and could he please have a look? That was in September. On 24th of December we got the green light from the government. The rest is history.

// How is the Wings for Life foundation doing? Your son’s motocross injury put him in a wheelchair, but you believe medicine might be able to cure the condition in the future?

Wings for Life is the reason why we’re in a good mood. There will be a cure someday, I’m sure of that, the top scientists and researchers believe that. It won’t be in the shape of a magic pill, it’ll take many steps, but we have already learnt so much about this condition. It could come in two or twenty years, the sooner the better. We’ve been managing the foundation for 19 years. The 20 th

anniversary of my son’s accident is this year. At our meetings the scientists, doctors, and researchers keep telling me how well we’re doing and I keep replying that no, we’re not. Until the first patient can move their little finger, something they couldn’t do before, we’re not. It’s a complicated field and research takes a minimum of five to eight years.

// Do you still ride motorcycles?

No. I haven’t ridden since my son’s accident. I promised him that one day we’ll have fun together on a bike. I still love bikes, but if I continued riding, I might end up with more than 50 broken bones (laughs).

// But do you do other adrenaline stuff?

I’ve been doing a bit of paragliding lately.

// Oof, that could hurt if it went wrong ...

Yes, I was the first one in hospital after Covid. When quarantine ended, I crashed badly, hips, vertebrae, broken nose…

// Did you ever think why you need so much adrenaline in your life?

I don’t feel I need it. Actually, it’s in our family. But because I’ve had so many accidents and survived, I’ve done at least some things right. For example, Arnaldo Farioli told me about the 1989 Incas Rally in South America, organised by my friend Franco Acerbis. I’d never taken part in a rally before, but South America sounded good. After the first 100 km, I suffered four bad crashes and lost my rear brake. I was catching another rider on a rocky mountain, it was dusty and at the last moment I saw I missed a corner. I went full throttle and tried to jump to the other side, but that was mission impossible. I landed metres off the road, hit a rocky wall, but luckily fell on the road. While I was getting up, I heard the bike tumble down the valley. We had to take the bike, smashed like a can, out with a helicopter. Rallies are not for me, I realised. But I managed to somehow do the right thing in difficult situations. Otherwise I’d have been dead by now.

// You couldn’t use Akrapovič when racing?

I truly believe that it’s by far best gear one can get. Quality and power. I think our first contact came because of road racing…

// An exhaust for your brother’s supermoto bike?

Correct. We’d heard about their products for superbike, everyone said you needed one if you wanted to be on top. I’ve been in contact with many race managers who have used other products, and they told me an Akrapovič just fits, no bending or pushing required. The quality and the precision, it’s unbelievable.

34 / 39 Interview 41 40

Heinz and his son Hannes Kinigadner

FANTASTIC

by Alenka Birk

MODERN RETRO

Meet the Top Time watches and Speed Twin motorcycle inspired by the 60s café-racer culture. In the mid-60s, bike racing was in its heyday, and a whole subculture had sprung up around ‘café racers,’ stylish motorcycles used to transport their riders from one hip café to another. And that freewheeling café-racer spirit is back in a spectacular new Top Time collaboration between Breitling and British motorcycle brand Triumph. This debut partnership will see Breitling produce a Top Time Triumph watch, while Triumph will launch co-branded motorcycles.

breitling.com

TEAM LOTUS

Feast your senses on a quality and stylish Classic Team Lotus Type 25 Holdall, the first addition to the ‘Heritage Motorsport Collection’. Designed by Jordan in close connection with Clive Chapman, Managing Director of Classic Team Lotus, and son of Colin Chapman, this latest Jordan Bespoke bag takes inspiration from Colin Chapman’s Lotus Type 25 racing car, designed by him for the 1962 Formula 1 season and famously raced by motorsports legend Jim Clark. The latest creation from a 13-year official partnership between the two brands is a holdall which celebrates this famous racing car, captures the spirit of the 60s, honours the memory of Jim Clark and applauds the engineering prowess of Colin Chapman.

jordanbespoke.com

FOR A PERFECT GRIP

These unisex driving gloves by Ferrari blend retro charm with modern details and exude artisanal Italian craftsmanship. Their timeless design features comfortable details, such as the ergonomic opening stitched by hand and the hook-and-loop closure, which is enhanced by the metal Prancing Horse with an elegant ruthenium finish. Made from soft leather, these fingerless driving gloves provide a comfortable fit and perfect grip on the wheel. They are a must for comfortable driving.

store.ferrari.com

FANTASTIC

DETAILS COUNT

The Mercedes collection is as diverse as the people attracted to its unique features. In cooperation with Master & Dynamic, it now offers Bluetooth headphones and earbuds, built with the highest standards of craftsmanship. The sleek, monochrome designs are marked with the iconic Mercedes-Benz three-pointed star. Designed for demanding customers, these headphones are perfect for all who appreciate quality, elegance and passion in every smallest detail.

ATHLETIC

Hackett London recently launched a new Aston Martin clothing collection which emphasises light, breathable layers that are sophisticated but functional - perfect for men on the move. It includes a range of protective technical pieces with an athletic feel. These jackets emphasise power and motion and come with an iconic British twist. You will never want to take it off again.

LET’S PLAY

Here’s a winning combination for fans of superfast cars – the LEGO® Speed Champions Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro and Aston Martin Vantage GT3 toy building set. Now available to collect, construct and explore, these accurately detailed LEGO models deliver a rewarding building experience, are great for display and awesome to race!

lego.com

shop.astonmartin.com

40 / 41 Fantastic

masterdynamic.eu

GREEN. FEROCIOUSLY GREEN!

THE COLOUR GREEN CAN EVOKE NOTIONS LIKE NATURE, TRANQUILLITY, SUSTAINABILITY - THOUGH OTHERS MAY ALSO COME TO MIND. IN CASE OF THE CAR YOU SEE IN FRONT OF YOU, GREEN CAN AROUSE SOME COMPLETELY DIFFERENT EMOTIONS. PASSION! SPEED! MISCHIEF! YOUTHFUL MADNESS! AFTER LEARNING ABOUT THE BACKGROUND OF THIS PROJECT, USED BY FUTURE MECHANICS AND DEVELOPMENT

Story

ENGINEERS TO HONE THEIR SKILLS, ANOTHER MEANING BECOMES APPARENT: THE GREEN HELL THAT THEY WANT TO CONQUER WITH THE HURRICANE. AND THAT WOULD BE JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED FOR THE CAR, AS THE COUNTRY ROADS AROUND HANOVER, WHERE WE DROVE IT FOR THE FIRST TIME, QUICKLY PROVED TO BE, WELL, TOO SHORT. NÜRBURGRING BECKONS!

42 / 45 Story 42 43

FIRST DRIVE - VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R HURRICANE by Matevž Hribar photography Bor Dobrin

Allow me to start the story of the Golf R HURRICANE with a personal experience. Had I, as part of studying mechatronics, a field that Enes and Lasse (more on them later) also studied, worked on a racing car instead of cold and unattractive CNC machines, I would have likely continued pursuing the technological side of things after completing the mandatory internship. But being young and foolish, I, instead of learning how to service numerically controlled machines, preferred to drive, race, and, as you can see, write about cars and motorcycles. No regrets, of course. But we should understand why it is beneficial for students to participate in projects like the HURRICANE.

A motivated and eager workforce

Volkswagen, more precisely the Volkswagen Group Retail Deutschland (VGRD), came up with an interesting and fruitful way to work with young automotive enthusiasts in 2007. In cooperation with students, who do part of their mandatory internship in VGRD’s mechanical workshop, it creates some quite interesting projects. Well, these projects are mainly created by future ‘technical virtuosos’, mechanics, engineers, developers while Volkswagen provides them with the canvas (car) and experienced mentors. The payoff has been extraordinary and came in the guise of

unorthodox and unique cars such as the Golf GTE HyRacer, created in 2020, which help promote the brand, and at the same time – or even more importantly – allow the students to gain extremely valuable experience. Last, but not least, such projects allow VW to attract a motivated and eager workforce. In the case of Project HURRICANE, all 11 youngsters who worked on it stayed at Volkswagen. The basis for the final project to-date, developed for a year under the watchful eye of project manager Dr Denis Anić, workshop manager Hubertus Diehl and Jörg Drexler, tune-up specialist and a regular visitor to the Wörthersee meetings of owners of converted Volkswagens, was a donor car in the guise of a Golf R, donated by the Volkswagen R department. Though the base model itself could already be labelled as one of the ‘hottest’ hot hatches on the market, the team felt that 235 kW (320 hp) simply was not enough. With the help of a larger turbocharger and intercooler, a competitiongrade air filter, an Akrapovič exhaust system with carbon fibre tailpipes, and alterations to its electronic brains, the two-litre petrol TSI engine was upgraded to an astonishing 386 kW (526 hp) – the students were helped here by specialists from the HGP company. At the same time, the Golf went on a radical slimming diet: by removing the rear seats,

45

IT IS HARD TO ASSESS HOW WELL IT DRIVES AT THE LIMIT, BUT THAT IS WHAT THE STOPWATCHES AT THE GREEN HELL WILL TELL US. THE HURRICANE’S COLOUR DEFINITELY HINTS THAT IT WAS MADE FOR NÜRBURGRING.

all but two of its speakers, insulation, some equipment, such as the reversing camera, and by installing many carbon fibre elements (roof, rear spoiler, bonnet, door sills, tailgate), a smaller battery (lithium-ion, in the rear of the car), as well as the Akrapovič exhaust, the HURRICANE has lost 200 kilograms. The 19inch rims, for example, were specially created by MB Design.

A distant relative of the Golf Alongside photographer Bor Dobrin, I had the honour to witness the car’s first major road trial. Does it run well? Of course it does! The turbine hisses, all four wheels grip the asphalt tightly and I keep holding my breath, while the original model’s digital screen begins to show three-digit numbers. The car is also surprisingly stable, mainly due to its four-wheel drive, as well as the firm suspension provided by Eibach. When braking (the front ceramic brakes come from the ‘in-house’ Audi R8, and the rear from the S8) or even just lifting the foot off the gas a bit, you can hear the racing crackle – the genuine one coming from the exhaust, not the speakers inside the car. It is hard to assess how well it drives at the limit, but that is what the stopwatches at ‘The Green Hell’ will tell us. The HURRICANE’S colour definitely hints that it was made for Nürburgring. It will be driven there by Benny Leuchter, Volkswagen R race and test driver. But, do you know what the biggest shock was? That I expected the car to be ‘mean’. Both inside and out, hard carbon racing seats (Recaro), four-point seat belts (Schroth), and an Alcantara-clad interior

make the HURRICANE but a distant relative of the Golf I know. It is supposed to get from 0 to 100 km/h in just over three seconds, and the final speed should exceed 300 km/h.

‘Should’ as racetrack testing is yet to come. Perhaps an unimportant piece of information, but still: the onboard computer, intended for a completely different Golf, showed an average consumption of 18 litres per hundred kilometres. 102-octane fuel.

After a short but sweet ride, I began chatting with two of the students who cocreated the racing machine: “What did you learn from creating the HURRICANE?” Enes Boguslu: “Problem solving. We hit the wall countless times, it often felt that something simply couldn’t be done. We’ve had 120,000 problems,” he laughs. “And then it always worked out in the end, because the situation forced us to find a solution.” “And what about you, Lasse?” “Communication, above all. With the problems mentioned by Enes, it is necessary to communicate calmly and effectively. Not only within the team, we also had to talk with project partners and component suppliers for the rims, suspension, exhaust... You don’t learn that at school.”

See what I’m getting at? You don’t learn that at school. I am sure that all the students involved will proudly add creating the HURRICANE to their CVs. And that the car exhibited at open house days and job fairs in Germany will do its job – attract more eager young brains.

42 / 45 Story

ORANGE

The 2022 season marked the 74 th year of Grand Prix motorcycle racing and the sixth season in the MotoGP class for KTM. For four years in a row, there were four KTM RC16s on the MotoGP grid, but in 2023 the Austrian team has added another works team – GASGAS. The inspiration for the team’s name goes back to their Spanish roots in the mid-80s when the popular Bultaco and SWM trial, enduro and entry-level street models were accompanied by ‘Vamos! Gas a fondo… gas gaaaas!!!’*, later shortened to GASGAS.

KTM takes part in the FIM Grand Prix World Championship’s three classes as well as in support series with more than 150 motorcycles and four different models. In 2022, the Austrians won two MotoGP races (Indonesia and Thailand) and stood on the podium five times, with Brad Binder finishing sixth and Miguel Oliveira tenth overall. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing also came in as second of the twelve MotoGP teams. The orange team has won at least one MotoGP race per year for the last three seasons and, as of the time of writing, has a total of six wins. In 2023, the team added Grand Prix winner Jack Miller to the setup with

a two-year contract alongside Brad Binder. The Australian came back into the Red Bull KTM fold after finishing second for the Red Bull KTM Ajo team in Moto3 in 2014. 2023 is Binder’s ninth consecutive season as part of the Red Bull KTM family and fourth on the KTM RC16, as KTM once again became a two-rider program.

Gas for GASGAS

GASGAS fully joined the Pierer Mobility Group in 2019 and from then onwards it added more bikes, riders, and teams to its roster as it showcases just what it’s

capable of. GASGAS has won world titles in TrialGP and EnduroGP, races in MXGP, AMA Supercross and Pro Motocross, podium spots in Moto2 as well as world title in Moto3. Not to mention winning the 2022 Dakar Rally on just its third attempt! From 2023 onwards, Spain’s iconic motorcycle brand joins MotoGP for the first time in a deal that sees the Tech3 team turn a full crimson red. The crew is equipped with GASGAS MotoGP technology and spearheaded by riders Pol Espargaró and Augusto Fernandez. Its executive board member Hubert Trunkenpolz said: “If you want to create awareness for a motorcycle brand

Ride With Us

KTM & GASGAS in MotoGP

AND RED

"When we first put the Moto3 GASGAS bike on the grid nobody was even dreaming of a MotoGP team two years later."

then MotoGP is the right platform. It’s where you reach the most people globally and where we can make GASGAS known and make the brand more popular.” GASGAS is the sixth brand in MotoGP for 2023 but has already bolstered its presence with GP victories and podium appearances in Moto3 and Moto2, a rate of success hardly believed, even by its Motorsports Director Pit Beirer: “When we first put the Moto3 GASGAS bike on the grid nobody was even dreaming of a MotoGP team two years later.”

The GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 team made its appearance at the Valencia test and

then at Sepang in Malaysia. The presentation at the new GASGAS complex outside Barcelona saw the 31-year-old Pol Espargaró (2013 Moto2 World Champion) and the 25-year-old reigning Moto2 World Champion Augusto Fernandez take centre stage with the crimson GASGAS RC16. “I feel like I am coming back to my roots. I think the potential is high on this bike. For sure we have a lot of work to do because the level in MotoGP right now is super-high but I think we can reach it,” said Pol, who did not get off to the best start to the 2023 season, as he was injured in practice before the first race and will have to miss a

few races, with Augusto Fernandez adding: “I’m jumping into MotoGP with the confidence of being a world champion and it’s good, but honestly, I don’t know what to expect. I’m looking forward to being competitive soon. I think I am facing the most important year of my career but I know I need to be patient. I am discovering everything that it means to be a MotoGP rider, a factory rider. I honestly can’t wait.”

* ‘C’mon, give it full gas!!!, Go... faster, faster!’

by Primož Jurman

46 / 47 Ride With Us

photography Philip Platzer / KTM Images, Sebas Romero / GASGAS Images

47 46

GASGAS Motorsports Director Pit Beirer by Gaber Keržišnik photography Ducati, Graeme Brown, Jamie Morris

WORLD’S

Francesco Bagnaia and Álvaro Bautista. Ducati. MotoGP and WorldSBK reigning world champions. Anything else? Well, nothing really comes to mind. We’ve covered everything. At least the basics. But we were hungry for more so we asked them to come in for a chat – at the same time. A fairly challenging task, but we succeeded. They talked for half an hour. Álvaro had already finished two races, Francesco was just about to start the new season. They face many challenges, and have even higher goals and expectations – and not only on the track. I tried to keep their conversation to my plan. Did I succeed? Read on to find out.

48 / 51 Champions Champions 48

FASTEST PIZZA?

CHAT BETWEEN FRANCESCO BAGNAIA AND ÁLVARO BAUTISTA

Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) and Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) are racing enthusiasts – from head to toe. Their lives have been dominated by motorcycle racing since a very young age so it made sense they mainly talked about racing on two wheels. “I regularly watch MotoGP. It’s a series I used to race in and part of my heart remained there. I know the riders and team members, which makes me see the races in a completely different light. It’s very difficult to compare either the motorcycles or lap times. WorldSBK bikes are a bit less powerful and less stable. MotoGP bikes

are prototypes, unique racing motorcycles, while WorldSBK bikes are still, at least at their core, production motorcycles. They are much less stable when riding. You always feel you are at the limit,” Álvaro described his riding experiences with Pecco replying: “You definitely have more experience because you tried out both classes. I really want to try out Ducati’s WorldSBK bike, but I can’t. We’re not allowed to train with these bikes, so I train on the track with an almost completely stock Ducati. Here the difference is even greater.” Álvaro immediately jumped in: “True. The time difference is not that large but the difference

in the ride between the two motorcycles is colossal. The brakes alone are worlds apart. MotoGP motorcycles stop much faster with their carbon brakes than WorldSBK bikes with steel ones. And, obviously, the biggest difference is in engine power. Pecco, let me tell you a true story. After getting on a WorldSBK motorcycle for the first time following years of racing in MotoGP, I took the bike back after two laps and told the crew that something was wrong with it. What do you mean, wrong, the mechanics replied? The engine has no power, I said! Surprised, they connected telemetry machines to the

motorcycle, checked the engine data and told me. Everything is OK. That’s the power you get when riding a WorldSBK motorcycle.”

Predictions for the new season

The tale unleashed a burst of laughter, and, after calming down, I asked the pair to assess each other’s season so far. “You did everything perfectly at the first two rounds, you were unbeatable. I think Toprak Razgatlıoğlu will be your toughest opponent this year,” Pecco began, prompting Álvaro to offer his own assessment of the upcoming MotoGP season: “You’ll face a big unknown in the royal class, the new sprint race on Saturdays. You’ll have to be quick there as well to get the points. In any case, you’ll face two types of races and getting used to the change from Saturday to Sunday will be key. It is a completely new race weekend format and it will be paramount to adapt to it as quickly as possible. Your advantage this year is that you are the reigning champion. I’m speaking from my own experience. Yes, the title puts you under more pressure to perform, but it also gives you the necessary self-confidence to do so. I think there’ll be quite a few MotoGP title contenders this season, but it’s undeniable that Ducati has a great package. There’s Quartararo, there’s Márquez, and some others, although I think Pecco’s biggest rival is on your team.” Álvaro looked at Pecco and added: “I’m talking about your compatriot Enea Bastianini.” Francesco Bagnaia listened attentively to Álvaro Bautista, before responding: “I like your confidence, I like the fact you know you’re extremely strong on a motorcycle. I want to be more like you, I’d like to have that confidence. It’s an excellent trait and I really admire that about you, Álvaro. That and your exceptional sense of speed. I still remember the race in Indonesia. I couldn’t believe how fast you were when entering the turns. I think you won there because of the high speed you entered the turns with. You

gained a lot compared to the opposition there,” and Álvaro immediately replied by offering a salvo of praise to the MotoGP rider: “And I admire your precision, Pecco. The quality of good riders is that their riding might not be spectacular for the viewers, but it is still very fast. You need precision for that. And you have it. I love watching MotoGP and see that you have a well-tuned bike, everything suits you. That’s when I get the feeling that you can go a bit beyond the bike’s actual capabilities, the track or the tyres. On different tracks and in different weather conditions. That’s fantastic.”

Álvaro vs Pecco?

Moving on. Describe your best riding characteristics! “Oof, this one is going to be hard. We’re quite similar. I know Pecco is exquisitely sensitive in controlling the front end. It’s similar with me, right,” Álvaro inquires of the MotoGP rider. “I’d love to check it out on the track. I wonder where I could attack him. It would be tight, we have similar racing styles.” Pecco immediately shot back: “I agree. I would also like a duel. I agree with Álvaro, we are similar as riders. Both of us want to be in the lead and control the advantage over the pursuers. Álvaro, you are better than me at exiting the turns. You are really good at acceleration and I admire how quickly you can ‘pick up’ the bike from a corner when accelerating. I don’t think I could match you there. I might be a bit stronger than you at braking. Really, it would be fun to change motorcycles.”

Portimão and Barcelona as the favourites

Both riders have their favourite and less favourite races. Track, environment, weather, experiences, memories and the like all play a part. But which races are they most looking forward to and which ones fill them with less enthusiasm? “I like all the races, but I’m looking

forward the most to the first one, which is Portimão in Portugal. I’m sceptical about the two new events on the calendar - India and Kazakhstan. I don’t know what awaits us, what the track is like and how well we’ll do. But in principle, I like all tracks and I’m not afraid of any,” Pecco succinctly stated. “Well, I’m worried about Imola. Not so much because of the race weekend or the competition; I still have concerns about track safety. I’d say that the Imola racetrack is right at the safety limit at the speeds of modern motorcycles. The wall is still a bit too close to the run-off areas there. I’m worried about that. I hope everything will be fine. I’m really looking forward to the race in Barcelona. That’s my home race, I know the track well and it’s always nice to race there,” the WorldSBK champion meanwhile summed up his thoughts about this year’s race calendar.

2022 FIM Superbike World Champion Álvaro Bautista 2022 FIM MotoGP World Champion Francesco Bagnaia

Big fans of Akrapovič exhausts

Both champions have several things in common. Both ride Ducati racing motorcycles in distinct red colours, and both bikes come with Akrapovič exhausts. It was Álvaro’s turn to begin now: “I was in Slovenia years ago with Loris Capirossi to see how the exhausts are made. It was fascinating. I was impressed, it’s undoubtedly a top brand and product. I’m happy they are nice enough to support numerous riders.” Pecco went even further: “It’s an honour to be able to be racing with an Akrapovič exhaust. It’s a well-recognised brand. We know that a good exhaust is extremely important for the speed of a motorcycle, but its weight also plays a major role. All this matters a lot. I’m impressed with Akrapovič.”

Time passed quickly, but I was still able to ask where the two world champions see themselves in the future. Not in a year or two, later than that. Where does Álvaro see Pecco after the end of his racing career and vice versa? The playful question was met in a similar vein, with much laughter. Álvaro began: “Pecco will always remain loyal to motorcycles. After he quits racing, he will open his own pizzeria like a true Italian and I am sure that he will occasionally ride a scooter to quickly deliver his delicious pizzas.” Pecco got even without delay: “An excellent idea. Why not go into business together? We could create a chain of pizzerias and offer it as a franchise to other, then already former, riders.”

“WorldSBK bikes are a bit less powerful and less stable. MotoGP bikes are prototypes, unique racing motorcycles, while WorldSBK bikes are still, at least at their core, production motorcycles. They are much less stable when riding. You always feel you’re at the limit.”

“I like all the races, but I’m looking forward the most to the first one, which is Portimão in Portugal. I’m sceptical about the two new events on the calendar - India and Kazakhstan. I don’t know what awaits us, what the track is like and how well we’ll do. But in principle, I like all tracks and I’m not afraid of any.”

48 / 51 Champions

Álvaro Bautista Francesco Bagnaia

50 51

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati)

COLD AND HOT? NEVER GIVE UP!

Three Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Pros. Almost 5,000 km straddling the Andes between the Atacama Desert and the legendary Ruta 40. Experiencing bitter cold and scorching heat, difficult but spectacular terrain and, of course, unforeseen surprises.

Chile, mi amor!

The Atacama Desert and its humble capital San Pedro de Atacama have always intrigued me with their contrasting nature. The tiny town is filled with energy and positivity, the desert’s dryness evident in the sun-dried mud bricks that make up the houses and the bumpy roads with year-old furrows. In the evenings, its streets come to life with people hopping between restaurants and bars. And then there are the sights! The Baltinache Lagoon with salty water that burns your lips and jagged red earth all around, the Valle della Luna, a perfect place for lovers to propose (or go sand surfing), the Tebinquinche and Cejas lagoons, home to 300 (no more, no less, according to the law) wild donkeys… Heading north towards our planned crossing into Bolivia is an excellent way to acclimatize while the Diablo Valley, Piedras Rojas lagoons, and Tatio geysers offer even more breathtaking views to make the stay in Atacama unforgettable.

STOP!

My idea of leaving Chile to enter Bolivia directly via the Hito Cajón pass and then continue to Eduardo Avaroa reserve collides with the altitude, cold, rain, and a rutted terrain with deep and copious amounts of sand. We therefore, still longing for some off-road riding, take the road to Machuca and Caspana, which runs in an endless hollow that makes us dodge Calama. Riding along the rise of Ruta 21 as though on the back of a dinosaur, we turn north at San Francisco de Chiu Chiu towards Ollague, a border town where petrol can only be found in cans at the convenience store. Bolivia is visible on the horizon, but the customs officers live up to their bad reputation and refuse us entry. After nearly three hours of negotiation, my means of persuasion are finally rendered ineffective by the threat of arrest “for exhaustion”. Returning to San Pedro de Atacama, I feel trapped like a fly banging against a glass bottle trying to escape.

1. San Pedro de Atacama

2. Machuca

3. Caspana

4. San Francisco de Chiu Chiu

5. Ollague

6. San Pedro de Atacama

7. Passo de Jama

8. Susques

9. Cusi Cusi

10. Quebrada de Paicone

11. Santa Catalina

12. La Quiaca

13. Huamahuaca

14. Purmamarca

15. Salinas Grandes de Jujuy

16. San Antonio de los Cobres

17. Cachi

18. Cafayate

19. Mendoza

20. Uspallata

21. Santiago de Chile

52 / 55 Adventure Adventure

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

Cruising the Andes 53 52

by Federico Tondelli photography Federico Tondelli, Euto Mandalari

Extreme cold and a timid choice

With no other options available, we have to turn back and take the Jama pass. The extreme cold makes it feel like a polar bear is gnawing on my limbs, the thermometer never rises above 4°C, and when we cross into Argentina rain turns into sleet. Despite the numbness, we finally reach Susques and get onto Ruta 40. Cusi Cusi is only half the way to the northern terminus of Ruta 40, but it takes all day to get there, partly because I see photo opportunities everywhere, and partly because the riding here is more demanding. We prudently stop there, and it’s worth it: the rainbow colors of Valle de la Luna, staying in a mostly self-managed hostel, eating at home with the landlord’s family and the village doctor, and refueling “from the can” - all contribute to making it a memorable experience. The next day, we’re blown away by the 11 kilometers leading to Quebrada de Paicone, with enormous cacti anchored on almost vertical rock ledges dominating the deep gorge of the riverbed like sentinels. Santa Catalina, a white pueblo perched on the mountains, is the northernmost point of Ruta 40, while the squalid border town of La Quiaca marks its northern terminus. We head south, passing through Humahuaca and arrive at the sparkling Purmamarca, our gateway to Salinas Grandes de Jujuy.

Salt and pepper

I enjoy riding on the salt flats’ surface, guided by Antonia, a bored middle-aged lady who travels like a bolt of lightning on a battered moped, regardless of the vehicle’s precariousness and the salt’s abrasiveness in the event of a fall.

55 54 55 54 52 / 55 Adventure

I’ve always loved the discreet way locals mock us Europeans with our uselessly heavy loaded bikes. Our fearless guide then further belittles me for my reluctance to continue towards San Antonio de los Cobres as the 100 km stretch can be done in “nada mas que una horita” (no more than an hour). In reality, it takes us two and a half hours, and the biting cold of the twilight alongside holes in the sand by the road mean we don’t enjoy the journey much. Under normal conditions, it would be an extraordinary road for both riding and views. Leaving San Antonio, we have to forego Abra del Acay, the highest point of Ruta 40, due to impassable road conditions. Instead, we arrive in Cachi via the asphalt detour along Ruta 33, a real racing track of switchbacks and sweeping successive curves.

The one spot

If I had to choose one spot that I would immediately want to return to, it would be the road to Cafayate! 160 km of real off-roading, where our Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Pro proved to be up to the decidedly demanding segments, giving us infinite enjoyment. The diamond that outshone them all was Quebrada de las Fechas, a narrow and sinuous canyon that runs nestled between reddish stratified rocks, with a fairly compact earth roadway in the centre that often breaks up in long tongues of sand. The magnificence of the place is equal only to the satisfaction of having overcome the riding difficulties unscathed.

Who broke the A/C?

Reaching the end to all our Dakarian ambitions, Cafayate puts us back on asphalt roads, though the following 1,000 km are an endurance test

through infernal heat that never drops below 40°C, with peaks of 46°C! It takes us two days to cover the stretch, and the 3-litre capacity of my USWE hydration backpack proves to be providential on more than one occasion. Mendoza and Uspallata are two stops that we end up enjoying intensely: the first for the sparkling atmosphere and excellent food, the second for the romantic experience of sleeping in a rustic mountain cottage.

The last (nasty) surprises

Along with Piedras Rojas, Cristo Redentor de Los Andes on top of Paso Libertadores was one of our primary stopping points, but again the road was closed and so it wasn’t to be. To lessen the disappointment, the boring road from Uspallata to Santiago de Chile does provide some exquisite highlights: the fascinating Inca Bridge, a structure dating back to the Mayan era set on limestone sediments; the stunning view of the Aconcagua, the highest peak in the world outside of Asia; and the hairpin bends of Caracoles, descending into Chile.

In my opinion, the most captivating aspect of a trip like this is the element of surprise. Whether spending a full day traveling between San Pedro de Atacama and Calama to fix a tire, navigating through Bolivian customs, or enduring the unforgettable journey through Cusi Cusi, these unforeseen challenges make such trips vastly different from a leisurely excursion in the Alps. Inconveniences can often be opportunities to have extraordinary experiences if one approaches them with an open mind and adaptability.

by Neil Dowling photography Motology Films

BY THE FEEL

Adam Riemann is a most reluctant centrepiece of videos that take their viewers around the world and he alongside his crew of likeminded enduro riders is followed by hundreds of thousands of global enthusiasts. Becoming popular for his adventure films is the culmination of Adam’s happy obsession with off-road riding and incredible trails that take his audience to places few will ever visit.

Story Story 56 / 59 Story

ADAM RIEMANN - MOTOLOGY FILMS

57 56

In 1997 he decided to ride around Australia and write about the adventure, but no publication was interested in buying the story. He did it anyway.

Through his passion for creating unique content under the name of ‘Motology Films’, Adam has made over 200 motorcycle videos and amassed in excess of 171 million views. Since starting as a fledgling presenter of his own series featuring off-road motorcycle adventures, tech reports, ride reviews, races and product presentations, he has attracted 700,000 subscribers, a sufficient number to propel him into a different league of video makers and garner interest from companies such as KTM, Yamaha, Motul, Pirelli, Alpinestars, Pod and Akrapovič. However, while Motology followers see a man on a bike in distant countries living their dreams, they don’t see a long gestation of self-taught skills in video production, online marketing and the grind of administering the passion while trying to make a buck. “You never know who’s watching – I never thought I’d be supported by Akrapovič,” Adam said. He partnered with the Slovenian exhaust specialists after travelling to Bosnia in 2019, courtesy of KTM, where he filmed the ‘Bosnia KTM Adventure Rally’. While there, he met some guys who invited him to Slovenia for a ride. “Three years later, I went over and shot ‘The Mountain Men’ with them.”

Following his heart

Adam Riemann, born in 1975 in semi-rural Western Australia, was introduced to BMX racing by his older brother. The newlyfound freedom on two wheels led him to discard convention, a trait he still uses as the springboard for new ideas in film production. He left home aged 15, seeking his own path inspired by a love of travel, adventure and motorcycles. In his early twenties, he was racing in motocross and enduro in Western Australia. In 1997 he decided to ride around Australia and write about the adventure, but no one was interested in buying the story. He did it anyway.

His racing success combined with solo travels caught the attention of the Australasian Dirt Bike (ADB) magazine which hired him as a monthly columnist. And he kept riding. Multiple successes followed, such as becoming Western Australia’s state champion in 2004, before moving to Sydney in 2005. ADB gave him a full-time job, allowing him to continue racing and testing bikes, which led to him winning a class at the tough Finke desert race in 2006, followed by an overseas trip to Austria’s Erzbergrodeo in 2007, where Australia’s only entrant finished as 31st. “I met some key players in Austria during that trip, who are still at KTM and still my friends.” Back home, he guest-joined the KTM team for the 2007 Australasian Safari – the Dakar of the South – a gruelling nine-day 5,500-km test of navigation skills and riding expertise, where he won the 450cc production class and came in as fourth overall.

Passion and persistence pay off

In 2008, he was made redundant by ADB, which became the catalyst to start a moto website ‘Motology’ and begin posting videos on YouTube as ARiemann1. “In the first videos I was awkward and uncomfortable until I put my helmet on. I wasn’t that savvy with websites so I just fumbled my way into making a couple of videos and uploaded them to YouTube.” Despite the glamour of video production, there was “zero financial gain” in the first few years. Although YouTube put him in front of the rest of the world, “the turning point wasn’t until, I think, the first video hit one-million views and I no longer needed to be aligned with a magazine.”

59 58

56 / 59 Story

He told us that he is now sponsored by some of the biggest brands in motorsports. “Of course, I knew Akrapovič – the product. They were the duck’s nuts of exhaust systems. But I didn’t know who they were or where they were made. And I was never in a position to afford their pipes back in the day.”

Story matters most

Asked how he differs from the hundreds of other guys with GoPros and a bike, Adam revealed his distinction is telling a story. “We can all do action videos, we can all do test reviews, we can all do an adventure ride from A to B, but I think what’s gotten me to this level, is I’ve stayed true to being myself and kept telling stories. A lot of vloggers historically have just walked around with a camera, talking to the lens, being kind of oblivious to the background scene, the ambience or the vibe. That’s not interesting to me and I don’t think it’s interesting to those who want to see bikes being properly used in an adventure setting. I was always about the bikes in action, but I’m slowly evolving to give more of myself to the audience.”

Motonomad is born

Adam’s first big adventure film came in 2012 when he took to the Himalayas with his father to film the ‘Himalayan Hero’ – a 4,500 km ride through some of the world’s most spectacular and dangerous scenery. His first video to hit a million views, ‘Riding the High’, followed in 2013. Being driven by adventure, he wanted to follow the Himalayan Hero with something even bigger and better so “I asked a friend to attempt an almost impossible ride with me – from Austria to Egypt.”

KTM came onboard “big time” for the ride from their Austrian factory to the pyramids. “It was the canvas for me to see if I could make a film from the seat of a motorcycle that was worthy of playing in a cinema.” The result was ‘Motonomad’ a 2013 film postcarded by Adam on a KTM 500 EXC chucking a wheelie in front of the pyramids.

No end in sight

Adam believes this experience turned him into a more of a hardcore, extreme and adventurous storyteller. “Which I guess is the signature of Motonomad and Motology Films – no support crew, no camera crew, just go by feel.” The Egyptian adventure quickly spurred ‘Motonomad II’, a 9,000 km ride across Kazakhstan, through Russia and into Mongolia in 2015. Subscriber numbers hit 100,000 and Adam returned to Western Australia, buying a property in the state’s south west. Then came ‘Motonomad III’ a 7,000 km 20-day ride through Chile, Bolivia and Argentina following the old 2014 Dakar Rally route from the coastal Atacama to the Altiplano plateau.

What’s next, then? “Keep on making films.”

and kept telling stories.”

“I think what has gotten me to this level, is that I’ve stayed true to being myself

by Alenka Birk

FOR CHOCOHOLICS

There exists a paradise for chocolate lovers and it’s called the Chocolate Village by the River. The luxury glamping site where everything revolves around chocolate hugs the Drava River as it flows through the picturesque Natura 2000 nature park in Limbuš near Maribor, Slovenia. A chocolate surprise awaits you upon arrival, cold chocolate beer and chocolate gin beckon from the fridge, a chocolate breakfast delivered straight to your glamping accommodation will wake you up and a chocolate massage will soothe your body and soul. Do you prefer to relax among the canopies or among the hills by the river? How about a sauna on a tree? Come and see for yourself.

chocolatevillage.eu

PLAY IT BIG

Win the challenge, buy properties and own it all! The world’s favourite board game, Monopoly, can now be played as a physical 4D experience! Move around a giant 15 x 15 m board and complete challenge rooms in order to buy properties. Experience all your favourite board game elements combined with state-of-the-art technology. Compete against friends or family in an immersive 80-minute challenge. Tickets are available from €55 per person. Monopoly Lifesized can be found in the heart of London.

monopolylifesized.com

OASIS OF WELLBEING -

Tomorrowland has been exciting festival fans for decades. Up to June 2023, music lovers can dance the night away at Terra Solis’s new desert branch near Dubai. The temporary party glamping site is not just a festival, but a desert destination offering some of the finest music in the world. Overnight stay in a tent for two starts at €949. terrasolisdubai.com

SUPERCARS ON SUPERB ISLANDS -

If you like driving your car, then you will absolutely love the feel of a supercar. Live your dream, taste the passion and get your adrenaline flowing behind the wheel of one of six supercars on offer at the Maspalomas Race Track. Get the necessary training from an experienced instructor who will also act as your co-driver when you grab the steering wheel or simply let the professionals take you for a spin. The multitude of experiences available begin at €49. supercargrancanaria.com

61 60 / 61 Crazy Stuff

Is Transfăgărășan the most scenic road in Europe?

SCENIC? PARTLY. FUN TO DRIVE? HARDLY!

If you plan on traveling to Romania from Central Europe, prepare for the trip to last a day. You can take several routes, either via Hungary or the Balkans, with the latter having extra border controls, more stopping and inferior roads, but cheaper petrol, delicious food and charming people. Transylvania was our goal and to get from the SerbianRomanian border near Timișoara to the city of Sibiu, the starting point for our discovery of the Carpathians, one is looking at a minimum

of three hours of driving, mostly on a new and modern motorway. The T-Roc R has 221 kW (300 hp), but even it gets bored, impatiently anticipating the hills, turns and hairpins. It’s summertime and, by chance, we make it to our destination on a Sunday. Another half an hour later on the flat trunk road No. 1 leading to Brașov, a junction on the right-hand side right after the village of Scoreiu finally lets us turn towards the Carpathians. We are now on the 7C, crossing the mountain range towards

Pitești, itself not far from Bucharest, though we still need to cover over 120 km to get there. 120 km of bends, hairpins and traffic, traffic, traffic, punctuated by an occasional bear. Just a few kilometres in, and we can already tell that we’re not on an ordinary road. Nor is it a normal Sunday. We have to stop repeatedly on the first hairpins of the partially repaved and narrow road which is crying out for resurfacing and every turn comes with a line of cars, slowly edging forward and almost

62 / 65 Drive With Us Drive With Us

by Miran Ališič photography Bor Dobrin

“Someplace far away in Transylvania there is a road that is the most beautiful of them all,” is what I heard a long ago from several of my journalist colleagues from the world of cars and motorsports. No one knew exactly where it was or were able to pronounce or write the name correctly. Between then and now, however, we saw the rise of the Internet, the road has become much better known, and many can even correctly say its name. Car factories have promoted it by unveiling several new models by offering test drives there and so we went to find it too; we drove the length of the famous Transfăgărășan mountain road with a Volkswagen T-Roc R and accidentally discovered an even more interesting road.

all of them have Romanian licence plates. There aren’t many houses or towns along the way, a roadside hut here and there, which has been converted to a restaurant or lodgings, but there are quite a few stands selling souvenirs and local produce. The nature remains wild as this part of the Carpathians used to be uninhabited.

Road built only in 1974

People only began moving about in the area

after September 1974, when the Transfăgărășan opened following laborious construction, punctuated by numerous work-related accidents and, sadly, deaths. It was built in a record four years after being conceived by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1969, when relations between Romania and the Soviet Union became strained following the Prague Spring and the Soviet military intervention in Czechoslovakia the year before. The road had a mainly military significance, with Ceaușescu

envisaging it as enabling rapid and safe movement of troops through the Carpathians and serving to open up the area to tourism, though he rejected the original plan of having it named after him. The 7C has definitely become a strong tourist magnet and after the first 20 kilometres, we begin getting comfortable on it and the more the canyon opens up, the more of the blue sky we see above and the clearer it becomes why it is considered one of the most beautiful scenic

63 62

routes. The final part of the road before the tunnel, peaks at just above 2000 metres above sea level and leads along a ridge that is bordered by the peaks of the Carpathians on the one side and a scenic view of the distant Transylvanian plain on the other. Straddling the ridge, the Transfăgărășan snakes its way towards the top through bends and hairpins. The idyll of urban wilderness is completed by a panoramic cable car that climbs towards the peak on pylons placed among the turns. Nevertheless, our idyll soon comes to an end as we spot a long line of cars slowly lumbering towards the top. Since the road is narrow and traversed by smaller lorries and numerous buses, we aren’t sure at first what caused this traffic jam. Whatever the cause, we are now crawling along rather than driving. T-Roc’s

automatic DSG transmission shifts between first and second gear and our speed fluctuates between 20 and 40 km/h. Suddenly, we spot a bear beside the road. The animal proceeds to amble to one of the slow-moving cars in front of us, whose passengers toss it a sandwich through the open window. The animal picks it up, looks at the people as if saying thank you and goodbye, and retreats a few meters to the edge of the forest, to calmly chew on his prize. The co-existence between man and bear seems completely natural. We find out that the congested traffic in the final five kilometres before the pass, which take an hour to cover, was not caused by anything extraordinary. Parking is available at the pass on a macadam parking lot with a gate and security guards, but because it is bursting at the seams and

drowning in chaos, the road can only support one-way traffic with its sides clogged by parked vehicles. Fortunately, our T-Roc R also finds one such spot. The inn at the top is crowded and even more people are thronging the stalls, where we find a saleswoman who speaks a bit of German. Angela Popa from the village of Cârțișoara at the northern slopes of the range has been selling pickled fruit, jams, syrups, biscuits and pies at the pass for the past 12 years. “There are fewer people this year than there used to be before the corona,” the lively lady in her 50s begins the conversation. “They are also buying less; it has become increasingly common to bring food and drinks along, whereas previously people used to buy more from the stalls.” We inquire whether she can make ends meet manning

Angela Popa

the stall. “Not a chance, I do it for a bit of extra income, you can’t make a living from it. During the weekend, we can turn a small profit, but sales are slow during the week,” smiles Mrs Popa, who estimates that the number of foreigners, who are more inclined to make a purchase, stands at only five percent. “Germans lead the pack, followed by Austrians and Hungarians...” On the southern side of the pass after driving through the tunnel below the peak, the landscape closes in, there are fewer vistas, the canyon is deeper and narrower, and traffic is somewhat sparser. From time to time, the T-Roc R can even put its power and agility on display, causing random travellers admiring the scenery along the hairpins or at rest stops to turn around when hearing the roar from the four pipes of the Akrapovič exhaust - only the

sheep, grazing in large numbers on the slopes, seem not to be phased at all by the piercing sound coming from the four-cylinder engine...

Transalpina

Since we traversed the road from the north to south on Sunday, we decided to do it in reverse on Monday. There was much less traffic, but we still didn’t have the road all to ourselves to fully enjoy the driving pleasures it could offer. “You’ll have to come during the week in September or October to experience solitude before the road is closed for winter due to the vast amount of snow,” the innkeeper at one of the wooden outposts along the road - of which quite a few have sprung up recently - informs us. “Better take the newly built Transalpina to experience mountain driving on

an empty road,” he adds as we sip Romanian beer. We take his advice and check out the more western-lying Transalpina, the cousin of the much-vaunted Transfăgărășan, which was renovated and completely upgraded in 2012. While we didn’t have the necessary time, I can safely say that we plan to get to fully know it at some other time. It is much more tailored to fast driving, has a lot less traffic, the asphalt is new and the road very wide, thus being eminently suitable for a lower, stiffer suspension and a much more powerful super sports car.

64 65 62 / 65 Drive With Us

S i b i u P i t e s t i 7C

by Gaber Keržišnik photography Pino Goodman

HOW AND WHERE THE BEST ESPRESSO IN THE WORLD IS MADE

LISCIO O LUNGO*

ROVIGO IS A SMALL ITALIAN TOWN, LESS THAN AN HOUR’S DRIVE FROM VENICE A PLEASANT BAR IS LOCATED IN ITS OLD TOWN CENTRE, THOUGH THAT ALONE DOES NOT MAKE ROVIGO STAND OUT FROM OTHER TOWNS IN THE COUNTRY. WHAT DOES IS THAT THIS BAR SERVES THE BEST COFFEE IN ITALY AND IF ITALY IS THE WORLD CAPITAL OF ESPRESSO, THEN WE CAN USE A BIT OF ARTISTIC FREEDOM AND SAY THAT THE AROMA WAFTING FROM BARIBAL COMES FROM THE BEST COFFEE IN THE WORLD TO SEE FOR OURSELVES, WE DROVE TO ROVIGO AND DRANK A FEW CUPS OF PURE PLEASURE WITH BARIBAL OWNER NICO BREGOLIN, THE CURRENT ESPRESSO ITALIANO CHAMPION

*ESPRESSO OR LUNGO

66 66 / 69 Story

Story

NICO BREGOLIN MAKES COFFEE EVERY DAY, USUALLY GETTING UP AT 5 AM TO PREPARE EVERYTHING NEEDED TO START THE DAY. HE USUALLY WORKS ALONE AND MAKES EVERY CUP BY HIMSELF.

ON HIS FIRST TRY, NICO BREGOLIN FAILED TO REACH THE FINAL STAGES, WHILE ON HIS SECOND ATTEMPT HE WAS ELIMINATED IN THE SEMI-FINALS. HE FINALLY WON THE COVETED TITLE LAST YEAR, THOUGH THE RULES STATE THAT WINNERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE PART AGAIN.

“Mornings are busy at Baribal. Then it calms down a bit before the second wave hits between 10 and 11 am. That’s when I’m at the bar, making coffee. I won’t have time for you. You can, of course, come and drink good coffee, but I won’t be able to talk until around 3 pm when the bar empties somewhat,” the 43-year-old Nico, who has been running Baribal for more than 19 years, told us as we were arranging our visit. Perhaps worth noting is that Nico, despite his passion for catering and brewing coffee, does not come from a long line of restaurateurs - he is in fact the first member of his family to choose catering, he has been trying to make the perfect cup of coffee from the moment he started working in the café he rents.

THE PERFECT CUP

So, what makes a perfect brew? It will come as no surprise to learn that a cup of coffee, whether an espresso or a cappuccino, is judged by various factors. In addition to taste, colour matters. Jury members as well as coffee lovers also evaluate the texture, how creamy the coffee is. Its smell and acidity also come into play, while the criteria for milk used in cappuccinos include temperature, creaminess of the foam and, obviously, smell and taste. It sounds simple, but looks can be deceiving, so we asked Nico to share some of his brewing secrets. How does he make the perfect cup? It turns out that, in addition to quality roasted

coffee, paying close attention to cleanliness during the brewing is paramount. “Before making a cup, I thoroughly clean the coffee machine. The filter holders, the filter and everything nearby. I wipe each part with a clean cloth to remove any traces of the previous cup. If you leave wet, burnt or old coffee remains on the machine, you can forget about making a good-tasting cup. Apart from that, it is also necessary to remove coffee residue from the grinder. I clean it before making every cup and freshly grind the coffee for each brew. I also pay attention to the granulation of ground coffee. If necessary, I change it by adjusting the grinder and I do it several times a day. Sometimes I check the granularity 15 or 20 times daily! It is also necessary to regularly remove limescale from the machine – unless it can do that itself. The filter holder handles can be cleaned best and most naturally with fruit or wine vinegar. One must also pay strict attention to the steam nozzle, which must be cleaned after every use. And, obviously, a good cappuccino requires milk to be at the correct temperature. It must be cooled to exactly 4ºC, which gives it the right flavour and crema,” the committed and enthusiastic Nico rapidly dishes out information as we sip our espressos. He believes that foregoing cleanliness is the biggest mistake people make. “They don’t clean the machine and don’t flush it with water frequently enough. If the coffee doesn’t taste well, they then all too often blame the brand

or bean quality. This is usually not the case and the problems lie in the making. If you have decent quality beans, then I believe you have a good chance of brewing an excellent cup. The only condition is that you follow the correct procedure,” the espresso champion reveals. Nico makes coffee every day, usually getting up at 5 am to prepare everything needed to start the day. He typically works alone and makes every cup by himself. “Customers normally drink cappuccino in the morning and switch to espresso during the day. About 60 % of my cups are espresso, 30 % are cappuccino and maybe 10 % decaffeinated coffee,” our ‘barista’ champion reveals. Nico will also not charge you an arm and a leg for the best coffee in the world: €1.30 for an espresso, €1.60 for a cappuccino and a superbly crafted macchiato will set you back €1.90. It’s not expensive and the coffee really is fantastic. Espresso fanatics sometimes come to Rovigo from far away just to have a cup in Baribal.

VICTORY ON ATTEMPT NO. 3

Brewing top-quality coffee is a demanding job, and winning the Espresso Italiano Champion competition proves that the winner is undoubtedly the No. 1 ‘barista’. The last competition to date took place in Milan in 2022 and saw 400 competitors take part. They all used the same machine and were given 11 minutes to calibrate the equipment and brew four espressos and cappuccinos.

66 / 69 Story

The watchful eyes of the technical judges and the taste buds of the sensory jury meanwhile observed, smelled and tasted the coffee as well as noted the characteristics of the ‘baristas’ and the coffee they made. This was Nico’s third time taking part. On his first try, he failed to reach the final stages, while on his second attempt he was eliminated at the very end, in the semi-finals. According to the rules, only the top 10 make it to the finals. He finally won the coveted title last year, though the rules state that winners are not allowed to take part again. Never mind, the goal has been achieved, and the plaque with the title adorns the bar’s wall. “I’ve always loved coffee. I like different products that taste like coffee, and prefer coffee that isn’t too sour. It should be creamy and maybe even contain a hint of chocolate. I like making coffee, but working in a coffee bar is still tiring, because I mainly do everything myself. I get up early and work all day. In the future, I wish I could work a bit less. Winning the title serves as a good promotion for me and also the brand of coffee I use.” But could he be interested in creating his own brand?

“Maybe. I’m not ruling it out. But right now, I’d rather train young ‘baristas’ and teach people how to make really good coffee,” Nico concludes before asking us: “Would you like one more espresso each?”

69 68

Nico Bregolin

The only previous shoemaker in his family was Mario’s grandfather. While Mario’s father did train with grandpa Herzog, he soon went abroad, where - at a very young age - he became interested in manufacturing ski boots. He is considered one of the pioneers of plastic ski boots production and the first person to give them a splash of colour, breathing into them a vibrancy not exuded by their traditional dark blue or dark grey pigmentation.

It had never occurred to young Mario that he would have anything to do with footwear, but he realised soon after graduating from secondary school that any studies he would undertake

would be solely for the sake of getting a degree. “I then saw a pair of special shoes. Very expensive, verging on boring for my taste, but radiating something special, bigger... Handcrafted and one of a kind. And extremely expensive! It was then that I clearly felt what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

He went to a few shoe factories and observed their manufacture up close, but was permanently only impressed with that part of the process where human ingenuity alone was present: the department for designing and making samples. Everything there was done completely by hand and the atmosphere was miles away from the feel

at the assembly line. Mario realised he needed to find people with whom he could create in this way. He succeeded, and for almost 30 years they have been making bespoke high-quality shoes, ordered by customers from all over the world. A few months must pass before each customer can take home and start using their thoroughly customised footwear. Not that he mentions any names though.

It became clear early on that most pairs would be sold abroad, as the Slovenian market was too small for what Mario was offering. After a while, he opened his first branch office in Berlin, followed by Hamburg and Moscow. From there,

70 / 73 Story

Story

Mario Herzog, Slovenian designer icon

Sustainability of a shoe

The sun was there to welcome us. Both, inside the spacious shoe atelier and salon, and outside, by Lake Blaguš. The birds were singing harmoniously in the early March light, everything was beginning to take shape, and our thoughts, imaginative as they were, stayed with their feet firmly on the ground. All the while shoes were everywhere we looked. Shoes that we have never seen before, shoes in all their elegance and softness, shoes for which we were able to witness all the complex stages of creation and evolution into something that hugs the human foot the way a friendly handshake joins two hands. It was perfect. We experienced all this with Mario Herzog, a Slovenian design icon.

71 70

his shoes found their way to practically all corners of the world.

When starting out, Mario couldn’t afford an exclusively individual style: “We weren’t in the centre of Paris or Milan, it would have been easier to be completely original there. We are not a factory that can churn out numerous pairs, we produce slowly. First and foremost, we are craftsmen, we have our own original designs, which we have managed to establish over time, but we are not obsessed with the latest fashion trends.”

Original design is at the foreground in this artisan workshop. His brown hiking boots speak

way louder than words. Hand-tailored and stitched, it’s hard to take your eyes off them. He starts wearing them in November, he has a few pairs, and keeps them on his feet until spring. When talking about the art of craftsmanship, he highlights sustainability – the durability of the shoe. Apart from the high standard when it comes to aesthetics, Mario’s studio often addresses numerous ergonomic and orthopaedic issues.

“One of our characteristics is that people don’t have to walk through shoe stores, which can be quite stressful in terms of energy and well-being.”

But there’s more than just one way of making shoes by hand. “Sometimes people tell me that they know where George Clooney’s shoes are being made in Italy, and that they cost less than ours. I also happen to know where that is and that they are not completely hand made from start to finish. We use Goodyear welting, as the professionals in the field call it. In European capitals, including the nearby Vienna, they know this method very well and know how to appreciate it; we still weave the thread and twine as it was done 100 years ago, using between 15 to 18 threads. We are artisans who trust in tradition.” This too is a key to their excellence.

by Patricija Maličev photography Bor Dobrin, Mario Hercog archive

“Shoes, unlike say a bag, a house or a painting, are not stationary, they must adjust, move, and not cause discomfort. Bags are simple. Whether you like it or not, you buy it. It can be practical or not, but it won’t cause blisters. The complexity of creating shoes at our and other similar workshops is extraordinary, which is why fewer and fewer people are willing to take it on, though I believe that future generations will be able to appreciate the efforts of their forebearers and take some heirlooms with them.”

His customers include people who know almost everything about shoes. “These are people who don’t watch TV during their free time, they want to know about the world around them, they want to know what they eat and drink, they want to feel how something is made.” For example, how footwear is made under the masterful hands of Mario and his colleagues. “Such desire for insight is present in both wealthy and not so wealthy individuals. Less affluent customers buy a pair every decade. But they know everything about shoes and know how to take care of them. These are people whose bicycles are more expensive than their cars, who have high-quality sound equipment at home, who see anything else than the original recording as unsuitable.

“Our clients can use the time to visit us for a holiday. The Forest Glamping Resort Blaguš, with which we share the space by the lake, allows its guests to spend their holidays in a slightly different way – sleep under the treetops and, by agreement, observe how their shoes are being made.”

“Theirs is an intimate relationship with the things they indulge in. And they indulge in them for themselves, not to show off. We’re a niche brand. If you tell people you are wearing Mario Herzog shoes, they won’t know what you’re talking about; we are known in narrow circles so we of course encounter comments to the tune of ‘you aren’t a recognised brand in Slovenia, you are somebody from a forest and yet your product costs more than a Vuitton.’”

We don’t grow. We simply are. Even though he has been travelling the world’s metropolises throughout his life, he remains a nature lover. “I need my peace, and while I really like going to cities, I like leaving them even more. I can enjoy city life, but I prefer to live in an environment which feels like it was made for my body and soul – we are all made for something. That’s probably why I ended up next to this forest by the lake, where we are completely alone in our studio between November and February, though now, in March, we have been joined by birdsong. Perhaps I generated this desire to create in the middle of the forest. Everything else would probably feel very wrong. I feel the same about eating in restaurants; if I can’t get the table I want, I won’t eat there. It’s not a whim, it’s about the fact that the feeling wouldn’t be complete, there wouldn’t be the right sensory stimuli and dynamics – in such cases I’d rather buy a sandwich and eat an apple. The sooner a person develops such feelings, the sooner they find peace and learn how to avoid things that bother them. One can also offer a lot to some while not being able to give anything to others.

“I’ve been incredibly lucky that my customers include people of a venerable age, from whom I can learn a lot, get to know a lot. I am increasingly convinced that shoes served as the means of expression and a medium for me to come in contact with others. I’ve discovered that some clients have eventually become a part of me. But the best part is when you realise that you too have become a part of them. There is no need to celebrate birthdays together. You simply realise the relationship is about much more than just shoes.”

Mario Herzog was asked to create his take on classic men’s Oxford shoes for Audi and Bentley. This collaboration has brought additional trust from customers. “In addition to shoes, which we have been producing continuously for almost 30 years, we also develop, design and manufacture belts, wallets, bags and purses, and luxury leather aprons. What all these products have in common is precise craftsmanship and the use of high-quality materials.”

70 / 73 Story

“Look at the details. There’s not an open stitch in sight, everything is neat and tidy. Every detail. Everything folded back. Every piece a masterpiece. But in the end, a person either sees and feels this or doesn’t. That’s the main difference, not wealth.”

73 72

Headquarters of timescoming

It’s called Museum of the Future, which in itself is contradictory. In fact, Dubai’s latest wonder doesn’t conserve the heritage of humanity, yet exhibits hopes, solutions, visions and - yes, those as well - concerns. The content of the red velvet- and columnfree museum is a dynamic collection of human potential, a call to higher awareness, an invitation to create the future.

Museum of the Future

74 / 77 Original Original

by Tina Torelli photography MOTF 75 74

But how do you exhibit the future? What shape do you give it so it can breathe, move and transform freely? Where do you seed it to help it exponentially grow? Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum had a dream…

So here it is, materialised on the Sheikh Zayed Road in the Financial District of Dubai, dramatically different and magically mystical. A torus-shaped home of the future with an elliptical void, is as modern and as ancient as it gets - and it speaks Arabic. The building’s stainless steel facade is a canvas for the poetry of the Sheikh, engraved in a variation of the slanting thuluth script by the artist Mattar Bin Lahej. Despite the use of the most advanced technologies, Museum of the Future was really built from the heart - as the late Sheikh Zayed would have wanted. After 50 years of founding the nation (the Museum was supposed to open two years ago, in 2021), Zayed’s vision got upgraded by the innovative mind of the current Ruler of Dubai.

Sign of a new wind

Sitting on a green mound representing Earth, the exterior resembles a giant seed of a new way of thinking and feeling. It’s the seed that will - if watered with optimism, innovation and imagination - grow into the tree of a more sustainable future. The architectural and engineering marvel is in itself the proof of a

new wind, in fact more of a desert storm. Situated among the skyscrapers obviously embodying the masculine principle, raw power and hierarchy, the Museum has a whole different vibe. Its curvy shape recalls the magnetic field around the Earth, and - as above, so below - the magnetic field around our bodies. Its shape alone speaks of a more hospitable future that can contain differences, diversity and change. When observed from afar, the off-centered void gives it speed, a quality so innately ingrained in the UAE culture.

Architecture at its best

According to its architect Shaun Killa, the Museum is a physical embodiment of his philosophy, so the material representation had to be up to the absolute limits of design, technology and construction expertise. The building’s asymmetry created by the elliptical void gives the sense of movement, the void representing the unknown future. The eyeshaped blank space becomes therefore the most important part of the building - a point of creation, charged with optimism.

The dynamic nature of the living museum is furthermore reflected in the flexible nature of its interior architecture, a fluid, pillarless space that is adaptable and open to change. Settings and scenes are immersive and also expansive, designed to foster the limits and beliefs of the

Despite the use of the most advanced technologies, Museum of the Future was really built from the heart - as the late Sheikh Zayed would have wanted.

visitors. Using virtual reality, big data analysis, artificial intelligence and human machine interaction installations, the Museum takes a visitor on a voyage to the symbolic year of 2071.

Encompassing a showroom, an incubator, laboratory, workshop, immersive theatre, chill-out lounge, library, time-travel agency, playground and a soul spa - this place is all-inone, incredibly complex, but nothing less was needed to facilitate a deep dive into the next chapter of civilisation.

Trip itinerary

The time travel starts here and now in the already futuristic city of Dubai, from where the visitors get launched to OSS Hope, a spacestation in the outer galaxy, to step in their role as humans 50 years from now. The Heal Institute in the heart of the endangered Amazon is the seat of the Vault of Life, an illuminated installation consisting of a DNA library of 2,400 species. Al Waha (The Oasis) is a meditative place to reconnect with yourself. The Tomorrow Today section exhibits forward-thinking products and prototypes focused on waste management, environment, food security, agriculture, irrigation, transport and city planning. And finally, the last chapter of this multi-layered museum is dedicated to the Future Heroesthe youngest generation that was already born with the consciousness of current challenges - climate crisis, digitalisation, globalisation and more, the list is long, and the following decades will be a wild ride.

The key to survive and thrive

I dare to think it’s a hopeful sign that the eye-shaped building is not the only toroidal construction rising in the world right now. Like the pyramids were built all over the planet on strategic sites, so these elliptical seeds are starting to sprout all over the world - from the water, from the soil and from the desert sand. Not as sophisticated as the most beautiful building in the world according to the then Sheikh Zayed, but equally significant. There

was once a world founded on the eternal cycle of nature, based on unity, preservation and community. All these qualities, as the base of survival, were so important to the Father of the Nation, Sheikh Zayed. At the moment, the world is not a happy place for too many earthlings, so maybe the only way to survive is to go back to the roots before taking off to the sky.

The Museum of the future is asking you: “What will you fill the void with?”

74 / 77 Original

Form always follows function

MotoGP’s aerodynamics race

Downforce aero is the most visible new technology in MotoGP, so now feels like a good time to tell the story of making race bikes faster via aerodynamics.

Interest in aerodynamics comes and goes in MotoGP. Way back in the 1950s, Grand Prix bodywork evolved into so-called dustbin fairings, which fully enveloped the front of the motorcycles, making them look like torpedoes. These go-faster dustbins were usually fabricated from sheet aluminium, with poorer privateer riders constructing some truly hideous examples, which looked like they’d been created by the world’s worst panel-beater. Several nasty accidents, usually in windy conditions, had the dustbins banned after the 1957 season, with new regulations written to restrict the size and spread of bodywork.

A decade and a half later, MV Agusta, inspired by developments in Formula 1, turned up at Spa-Francorchamps with its machines wearing F1-style wings. They were never seen again. A few years after that Suzuki added some aerospace technology to its RG500 GP bikes by fitting small winglets either side of the fairing. These strakes increased the front load but disappeared after a season or two.

For the next quarter of a century, Grand Prix motorcycle racing largely ignored aerodynamic development. Machines were wind-tunnel tested, of course, but only to reduce drag. That all changed in 2004,

when Aprilia engineer Luigi Dall’Igna added winglets to the factory’s RS Cube MotoGP bike. A few years later Ducati did the same with its Desmosedici. And when Dall’Igna moved to Ducati in November 2013 he began a serious campaign of downforce aerodynamics development (and switched to Akrapovič exhaust systems in 2014). This came as no surprise to many. By then MotoGP bikes were already doing 350 km/h (220 mph), so they were reaching take-off velocity! Thus something needed to be done to keep the front wheels on the ground, for safety - and to increase performance.

“I’ve been convinced that aerodynamics was something that hadn’t been developed enough,” says Dall’Igna, the man responsible for bringing Ducati back to the forefront of MotoGP. He first went big on aero in 2016, when MotoGP moved to spec software, which included a fairly weak anti-wheelie program, so he needed to find another way to reduce wheelies. “If you look at the data you can easily understand that wheelies are one of the main problems in MotoGP, so if you want to improve your lap times you have to do something in order to reduce them,” he adds. Adding downforce at the front also helps while cornering, by increasing front grip on entry and on exit. No wonder that rival manufacturers quickly copied Ducati’s concept, adding wings to their own machines.

During the last few years, the aerodynamics race has accelerated, with Ducati pioneering

by Mat Oxley illustration Natan Esku

ground-effect in 2021, with its diffuser fairing. The diffuser ducts feature large inlets which funnel air to a much smaller exit at the bottom of the fairing, accelerating airflow to create an area of low pressure. Physics then does its thing: atmospheric pressure weighs on the bike, pushing the tyres into the asphalt and increasing grip. This year, for the first time, every manufacturer is using some kind of ground-effect technology, some of them using Formula 1 aerodynamicists, who have more aero knowledge, although they have much to learn when they switch to MotoGP bikes, which are more like fighter planes than cars.

Aprilia’s chief engineer Romano Albesiano likens the process to a voyage of discovery. “It’s a new world for us, like when Columbus went to America!” he says. “Nobody has been there before, so you can make something new, not just optimising things, but really discovering something. It’s really exciting!”

Mat Oxley, new columnist 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 took third place in the Endurance World Championship, scoring secondplace finishes in the Le Mans and SpaFrancorchamps 24 hours. He is based in London, UK.

High Gear 78 High Gear 78

The article here does not necessarily correspond with the opinions of Akrapovič d.d., the publishers or the editors.

Follow @matoxley / Twitter and Instagram

Winner of the prestigious Red Dot Award: Product Design 2023

The Akrapovič Slip-On Line (SS) Exhaust System for the Ducati Scrambler

Akrapovič d.d., Malo Hudo 8a, 1295 Ivančna Gorica, Slovenia / www.akrapovic.com

CALIFORNIA WARNING California laws prohibit the use of any aftermarket exhaust part or system that modiﬁes, removes or replaces original equipment catalysts unless the California Air Resources Board has issued an Executive Order regarding such part or system or unless the part or system is exempted by being used only on racing vehicles on closed courses. Neither Akrapovič d.d. nor any of their subsidiaries make any representation that any of their parts or systems has received such an Executive Order or that any of their parts or systems conform with the racing vehicles exemption. The purchasers are entirely responsible for informing themselves of applicable California laws and to comply with those laws. USA WARNING Various U.S. states and the U.S. federal government have individual laws regulating the use of aftermarket exhaust parts and systems, especially as those parts and systems modify, remove, or replace original equipment catalysts. Please consult the appropriate laws in your area before installing any aftermarket part or system on your vehicle to ensure compliance with all applicable laws. Neither Akrapovič d.d. nor any of their subsidiaries or the sellers of the parts or systems make any representation that any of their parts or systems comply with any such laws.

GENERAL WARNING Because of the world-wide distribution of Akrapovič d.d. products, neither Akrapovič d.d. nor any of its subsidiaries make any representation that the products comply with the air and/or noise emissions laws, or labeling laws, of any jurisdiction. The purchasers are entirely responsible for informing themselves of the applicable laws where the products are to be used and to comply with those law. CALIFORNIA WARNING California laws prohibit the use of any aftermarket exhaust part or system that modiﬁes, removes or replaces original equipment catalysts unless the California Air Resources Board has issued an Executive Order regarding such part or system or unless the part or system is exempted by being used only on racing vehicles on closed courses. Neither Akrapovič d.d. nor any of their subsidiaries make any representation that any of their parts or systems has received such an Executive Order or that any of their parts or systems conform with the racing vehicles exemption. The purchasers are entirely responsible for informing themselves of applicable California laws and to comply with those laws. USA WARNING Various U.S. states and the U.S. federal government have individual laws regulating the use of aftermarket exhaust parts and systems, especially as those parts and systems modify, remove, or replace original equipment catalysts. Please consult the appropriate laws in your area before installing any aftermarket part or system on your vehicle to ensure compliance with all applicable laws. Neither Akrapovič d.d. nor any of their subsidiaries or the sellers of the parts or systems make any representation that any of their parts or systems comply with any such laws. Winner of the prestigious Red Dot Award: Product Design 2023 The Akrapovič Complete Exhaust (Titanium) with Carbon Fiber Diﬀ user – Matte for the Porsche 911 GT3 PERFORMANCE PERFECTED Akrapovič d.d., Malo Hudo 8a, 1295 Ivančna Gorica, Slovenia / www.akrapovic.com Product code: 802243