Memorable: 1992 Honda CBR900RR FireBlade

The legendary Tadao Baba (above), with his creation, the Honda CBR900RR FireBlade

Over the years, reams of text have been written about the original Honda CBR900RR FireBlade and about how it rewrote the sportsbike rulebook back then. Tadao Baba, project leader for the first FireBlade (which was launched in March 1992), initiated the concept of ‘total control,’ favouring light weight and mass centralisation over outright top-end power, resulting in a sportsbike that wasn’t just very fast, but also actually handled very well.

While the FireBlade was an absolute revelation back in the early-1990s, you might sometimes wonder how it would stack up against modern machines. The first FireBlade weighed 185 kilos and its carburetted, DOHC, liquid-cooled, 893cc inline-four produced 124 horsepower. Doesn’t sound hugely impressive today, when it isn’t uncommon for litre-class superbikes to pack as much as 190-200 horsepower.

Valentino Rossi to ride the Ducati GP11.1 at Assen

With the GP11.1, we hope The Doctor can start winning races again!

In a serious bid to salvage the 2011 MotoGP season, Valentino ‘The Doctor’ Rossi has been testing the Ducati GP11.1 at Assen. The GP11.1 is a hybrid – the GP12’s chassis, fitted with the GP11’s 800cc engine. The bike is also fitted with the new DST (Ducati Seamless Transmission) gearbox that Ducati Corse have engineered for their MotoGP bike.

Aprilia lets loose with SR Max hotness

The Aprilia SR Max 300 and 125 are scooters. They are available in red and white colours. And, no, you can't ask the girl in these pics to go on a date with you...

Usually, we wouldn’t write about scooters like the Aprilia SR Max 300 and SR Max 125 here on Faster and Faster. But Aprilia figured out a cunningly devious way of getting us – and we suppose a hundred other websites like us – to write about the 2011 SR Max 300 and 125 scooters. They simply released these high-res pics of the two scooters with a hot Italian chick draped all over them. Voilà! Mission accomplished.

Yamaha’s 50th Anniversary special edition YZR-M1: High-res pics from Assen

To celebrate Yamaha's 50th year in motorcycle GP racing, Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies will be running this special red-and-white livery at the 2011 Assen TT

Yamaha will be celebrating their 50th year in motorcycle grand prix racing during this year’s Assen TT, for which they have commissioned a special red-and-white livery for their YZR-M1 bikes.