FIGHTER JET FOR THE GROUND: THE LAMBORGHINI EGOISTA

When Lamborghini unveiled the Veneno a couple months ago, that car seemed like the ultimate symbol of what the company is capable of in terms of technology and design. Well, with the new Egoista Concept unveiled this weekend as part of the brand’s 50th anniversary celebration, Lamborghini may have outdone themselves.

Lamborghini describes the car as being designed “purely for hyper-sophisticated people who want only the most extreme and special things in the world”. It’s also designed for the person who prefers to do their supercar driving alone.

That’s right, the Egoista Concept seats just one. The jet fighter-like cockpit features a hinged canopy, a simplistic control layout and a heads-up display system. As Lamborghini describes it, the car requires “a pilot more than a driver”.

It’s no surprise then to hear that Lamborghini looked to the aviation world for most of the Egoista’s design elements. The Apache attack helicopter in particular was used as a large inspiration for the project.

The car is powered by a 600 horsepower, 5.2 liter V10 and also features aerodynamic flaps which are designed to change position based on driving conditions. Even the lighting is more like you something you’d find on an aircraft rather than a traditional automobile.

So what do you think about this insane concept?

Tests Pikes Peak ...Loeb

Ural 650 - DoZer Garage

I many ways, creating a custom bike is not dissimilar to having kids. You put all your time, effort, and money into them. You pay too much attention to them. But mostly you just lay awake at night worrying if they'll turn out OK. And then you meet the parents that give their kids names like ‘Jazzy’ and ‘Zealand,’ pull them out of school and dress them up in day-glo pantaloons. Similarly, some bike builders don't start with plans to build a safe gun metal grey Yamaha SR400, but instead pick the weirdest bike possible and then decide to paint it sludge brown. Doomed to fail, you'd assume. But you'd be assuming wrong. Meet the latest offspring from Kiev's DoZer Garage, their inexplicably cool Ural 650 bobber.

DoZer's past builds show their love of the classic American chopper look, replete with the obligatory RSD add-ons and the jumping-castle-wide rear rubber. But this bike marks a definite shift in their sensibilities to something much more subtle and contemporary in its outlook. And you'll be hearing no complaints from us. To go from such an ‘OC’ style to be able to stand tall against the likes of a CRD or Wrenchmonkee has us impressed no end.

Also the beautiful use of copper plating across the bike. Now, we're the first to admit that the popular ‘copper highlights’ look is a damn hard one to pull off. Too often it can be overdone to the point where it becomes less about class and more about, well, brass. But not here. The complementary chocolate tank and admirable restraint means that the copper dominates nowhere but simply sits back in the mix, happy to play a superb second fiddle to the bike's more dominant black and brown splashes. Masterful.

 The brown beast is propelled forward by a standard Ural 650 lump with an upgraded electronic ignition set-up, C63 carbs (although we're assuming they're not of the AMG variety), and a DoZer-made exhaust. Meanwhile, the frame, tank, headlight gearbox and forks are all Ural or Dnepr units; the latter being another Ukranian motorbike stablemate of the Ural brand. 

The lads topped off the build with some Posh handles, VN-800 pegs, a bespoke DoZer seat, a Gas brake light and the increasingly popular Shinko ‘Super Classic’ rubber option - a choice that seems to be rapidly gaining ground on the omnipresent Firestones of late. But whatever the constituent parts, I'm sure you'll agree that this is one cool Ural. Enjoy.

Spotted on Return of the Café Racers

from PIPEBURN

WSBK Monza: the paddock girls gallery

from Twowheelsblog

Thanks to our mates from twin-site Motoblog.it, here is a pretty extensive photo gallery dedicated to some of the most fascinating ladies spotted here and there at the Monza track during the latest World Superbike round. We do this every week, but this time around our usual photo gallery is even bigger than usual as we had one of our men over there for the event, and surely he has an eye for this kind of stuff.

The Italian GP surely did not let us down in terms of sheer entertainment on the track - with home favourite Marco Melandri sprinting to victory in Race-1 and Irishman Eugene Laverty nailing it in Race-2 - but we must say that what we saw off it was almost just as exciting. Next up is the French GP in Le Mans for the MotoGP World Championship, so keep an eye on this page and wait for some nice French beauty.