Valentino Rossi =
Other News from them ...:
" MotoCzysz Club MotoAmerica News "
""Laguna Seca
Our biggest news was that Laguna Seca was by all accounts a massive success. We spent the weekend showing the bike to throngs of race fans who were lucky enough to secure paddock passes. Michelin once again was kind enough to give us space under their tent, feed us some amazing food, and help us hand out some of the 10,000 commemorative posters we had made. "
While in Monterey California, for the race, MotoCzysz made a surprise appearance and stayed for a short Q&A session on Cannery Row. Monterey's finest denied MotoCzysz's request to make a few passes up and down Cannery row (something about us not being street legal, can you believe it?) so the impromptu gathering occurred just outside the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
Saturday night we were honored with a place in the Robb Report Salon, which was both a charity auction, and a museum show of classic, famous, and historically important race bikes. While not wearing my MotoCzysz uniform I overheard multiple guests comment that the C-1 was the most exciting bike there. Keep in mind, this is a room filled with the likes of a Brough Superior, The 'John Edgar Lightning' Land Speed Record Vincent, 1993 Cagiva US GP winner raced by John Kocinski, 1941 'Von Dutch' Condor, Britten #8 and the downright sick Kenny Roberts' Proton MotoGP racer.
For me the highlight of the evening came around midnight when Michael's father Terry and I were standing outside the Portola Hotel with the C1. While waiting for the van to be fetched, two guys in Team Yamaha shirts walked out. One ran his hand over the bike and said something like "ooooh". I turned to say something to them, and realized that the offending party was none other than Valentino Rossi. Apparently The Doctor was quite impressed with the C1.
By the time we took to the track on Sunday, the feeling was positively electric. While the cameras for internationally broadcast MotoGP rolled, company founder Michael Czysz piloted the C1 around the Laguna Seca race track for two parade laps. Riding minutes before the MotoGP race, the C1 lapped while flying a large American flag to the cheers and air-horns of 55,000 exuberant fans. For the first time the whole world got a chance to see and hear the C1 run and had a glimpse of what may be the first American-made road-race bike to compete at a world level in over 80 years. We couldn't have hoped for a better race either, with Americans taking both 1 and 2 it was an incredible moment for our US MotoGP racers and fans alike.
You may notice in the photos or videos of the C1 that our American flag was a bit larger than those usually carried by racers on parade laps. It seems that Michael saw the first flag we got and said "no way, it's gotta be way bigger". So we got another one that was, shall we say... epic. After getting some last minute advice from a famous ex-racer, Michael came up with a workable plan. We zip-tied the bottom of the flagpole to the bike, then he balanced the flag on his shoulder while he rode. Unfortunately not only did the billowing flag cause massive amounts of drag on the bike, nearly causing the engine to overheat- but the pressure of the weighted pole almost broke Michael's collar bone. If you were lucky enough to hear it run, and liked the sound... bear in mind that it was never running over 50-70% of full RPMs during it's laps.
Tech Briefing
This month I got the inside scoop on the engineering department from one of our new hires, a former NASA and Team Penske racing engineer. They finally were able to get all the new engineers together for a design briefing. Michael went over the main changes for the next version of of the C1, and the team established engineering protocols and conventions. In the past few months our company president has been in heavy negotiations with potential technical partners, sponsors, and vendors, and we hope to announce some partnerships soon. Our new engineering team is nothing less than world class. We have two engine guys from one of Britain's top engineering firms, an Austrian carbon-fiber expert, a French chassis specialist from a major MotoGP Team, and an Italian project manager from that country's most prestigious motorcycle firm. These are, in addition to our international staff, Americans from NASA, Nascar, Ducati North America, and Monaco Coach .
..... " -Tom Frisch MotoCzysz Project Documentarian"
