Shoichiro Irimajiri: “There was something exhilarating about the six-cylinder CBX…”

Shoichiro Irimajiri (above), a brilliant engineer who worked on Honda's GP racing bikes of the 1960s, was also the man responsible for the mighty CBX1000

The Honda CBX1000, with its six-cylinder engine, remains one of our most favourite motorcycles from the 1970s/80s. The Honda CBX was in production from 1978 to 1982 and a total of only 40,000 units were ever produced. Weighing in at 247 kilos dry and with 103 horsepower from its DOHC, 24-valve, 1047cc air-cooled inline-six (fuelled by all of six carburetors…), the CBX could blast through the quarter-mile in 11.36 seconds and hit a top speed of 225km/h. But the CBX was special way beyond its numbers – the visual spectacle, the sheer drama of the super-smooth, high-revving six-cylinder engine… it was, and remains, an incomparable motorcycle.

We are big fans of the CBX and keep scouring the Web for pictures of the bike. During one such recent hunt, we came across two letters written by Shoichiro Irimajiri, the man responsible for engineering and developing the CBX. As a young engineer, Irimajiri started working for Honda in the early-1960s and worked on Honda’s GP racing bikes of that era, some of which were pretty amazing. Irimajiri was, in fact, responsible for designing the engines of the 1965 RC147 and RC165. The RC147 had a five-cylinder 125cc engine that produced 32bhp and revved to 19,500rpm, while the RC165 had a 250cc six-cylinder engine that made 52bhp and revved to 14,500rpm.

Unveiled: The fastest Toyota Hybrid in the world

Toyota haven't released any power or performance figures but we do suspect the TS030 HYBRID may be a bit faster than your Prius...

Toyota Racing has announced details of its participation in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the new team, based at Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in Cologne, Germany, will make its race debut in May this year, at the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

At the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the subsequent Le Mans 24 Hours, the Japanese company will enter two TS030 HYBRID cars – perhaps the fastest Toyotas ever built. Indeed, the TS030 HYBRID (TS is an acronym for ToyotaSport) is the spiritual successor to the TS010 and TS020 cars, which participated at Le Mans in the 1990s.

Drifters: Triumph Speed Triple vs Ford Mustang Cobra

It’s bike vs car, with Nick 'Apex' Brocha and Ernie Vigil on a pair of Triumph Speed Triples, against Dan ‘The Policeman’ Brockett in his Ford Mustang Cobra

Video and pics: Icon

2012 Porsche Boxster announced

Yeah, that's the 2012 Porsche Boxster you're looking at...

Let’s be honest – we can’t tell one Porsche Boxster from the next – they all look the same to us. But for what it’s worth, Porsche have announced the 2012 Boxster, which will be available from April this year and will cost £37,589 while the Boxster S will cost £45,384.

According to Porsche, the new Boxster has an all-new lightweight body, new flat-six engines with direct petrol injection and a completely revised chassis. The styling, the claim, is ‘evolutionary.’ Ahem. Notable changes on the new Boxster include a longer wheelbase and wider track, electro-mechanical power steering, a new fully electric hood, more cabin space and a 15% improvement in fuel efficiency.

500bhp, twin-turbo Betley Continental GT V8 makes its debut at 2012 NAIAS

While it doesn't have the W12 model's 631 horsepower, the new twin-turbo, 500bhp, V8-engined Continental GT / GTC might still be just about acceptable for some. Maybe

Bentley have unveiled the new Continental GT (coupe) and GTC (convertible) V8 models at the currently ongoing North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. Fitted with a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, the new Bentley cars come with a new, close-ratio eight-speed automatic gearbox, 20-inch wheels (21-inch hoops are optional…) and all-wheel-drive.

With 500 horsepower and 660Nm of torque from the twin-turbo V8, the Continental GT can accelerate from zero to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds and hit a top speed of 303km/h. And yet, the car is surprisingly fuel-efficient, with the ability to travel up to 800km on a single tank of fuel. The new V8 features variable displacement, operating in four-cylinder mode under light throttle load. The shift from V8 to V4 and back is, according to Bentley, seamless and imperceptible.

Wazuma V8F: Ferrari-engined quad busts out

A 250bhp Ferrari-engined quad? Heh heh, why not?!?

Lazareth, whose VMAX HyperModified we featured here recently, have let loose with another insane machine – the Wazuma V8F, which is fitted with a 3.0-litre Ferrari V8. While the V8 is probably from an older Ferrari, its 250 horsepower should likely provide phenomenal performance in a package that only weighs 650 kilos.

From the information available, it seems the V8 was originally carbureted, but has been converted to electronic fuel-injection, with a Sybelle FI system handling the fueling. Power is transferred to the rear wheels via a sequential six-speed gearbox (sourced from a BMW M3) and V8F rides on 18-inch wheels shod with 285/30 (front) and 315/30 (rear) ZR-rated rubber. Suspension duties are handled by four horizontally-mounted EMC shock absorbers and 324mm brake discs are fitted to all four wheels.

We think the Wazuma V8F should be just awesome on the street (or, indeed, the track…), but if you think 250bhp might be insufficient, Lazareth also make another Wazuma – one that’s fitted with a supercharged BMW V12 that produces more than 500 horsepower. More details on the Lazareth website here

Yamaha VMAX gets HyperModified by Lazareth

Making a stock Yamaha VMAX look even more dramatic than its manufacturer intended couldn't have been an easy task, but Lazareth have pulled it off...

Based in France, Ludovic Lazareth builds some of the wildest custom bikes, trikes and quads at his factory in Annecy-le-Vieux, near the Swiss border. A design graduate with an undying passion for muscle machines, he’s now come up with the VMAX HyperModified you see here, which has been inspired by Japanese Manga.

The Lazareth VMAX HyperModified retains the stock bike’s engine and chassis but features extensively revised styling, a wider rear wheel, a more efficient braking system and lowered fork. We think it looks superb!! For more of Lazareth’s work, visit their official website here

A better, faster new year: Bring on 2012!

To all readers of Faster and Faster, we wish you a bright and happy new year! We started F&F back in June 2006 and the last six years have been pretty eventful. Yes, there have been ups and downs – happy times, sad times, moments of joy, times of sorrow, heartbreak, followed by healing, soaring hope, bitter disappointment, acceptance of what is, and the will to keep going and, perhaps, build a better tomorrow. Such is life, right?

As the world around us has kept changing, keeping in tune with changing times, so have our lives. We’ve seen the churn, done the grind, marched to the beat, talked the talk and, sometimes, walked the walk. And through all of this, if there’s at least one thing that hasn’t changed, it’s our love for speed. Loud, raucous, racy engines bursting with horsepower. Tyre-shredding acceleration. Fast corners. High speeds. The GSX-R1000s, Ninjas ZX-10Rs, R1s, Fireblades, S1000RRs, the RSV4 Factory APRC SE, the awe-inspiring new 1199 Panigale… this is, truly, the golden age of motorcycling, and we love it. (Even if we currently can't afford to actually buy any of the aforementioned bikes...   :-D) 

We will continue to write about fast, powerful motorcycles in 2012. But there will also be some changes. We love fast bikes more than anything else, but fast cars come a close second. So from now on, Faster and Faster will also carry car stories, high-res pics and videos. And, once in a while, we might even throw in some stuff about wickedly fast aircraft, boats, bicycles… and essentially anything that’s, well, fast!

As with the machines featured on this website, F&F will also continue to evolve and, hopefully, improve. We just never want to stop getting faster. And faster.

Take care and have a great year ahead. Best wishes to you, your family, and the ones you love and care about. Take care!

The Faster and Faster Team

BMW C600 Sport gets featured in Markus Hofmann’s latest photo shoot

Markus Hofmann makes the BMW C600 Sport look very cool...

After shooting the BMW S1000RR, German fashion photographer Markus Hofmann has moved on to BMW’s first scooter, the C600 Sport. ‘Motorcycles and fashion have always been interlinked, right from the earliest days when pin-up boys in leather and denim demonstrated a love for speed, a desire to be different and a non-conformist attitude to dressing,’ says Hofmann. ‘Scooters capture the imagination somewhat differently, especially the new maxi-scooters from BMW Motorrad. With their clean, angular lines and cutting-edge stylish looks, they make a strong design statement that has a mass appeal across the sexes,’ he adds.