217 Shades Of Fun 1 Shade Of Carbon

Move over litre-class motorcycles, 200bhp is stale news. Aprilia breathes in a bit of magic and an incredible 217 horsepower into the RSV4 1100 Factory. Because, well, more is better. Debabrata Sarkar barely manages to stay afloat to tell the tale

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There are few grand prix circuits in the world that can parallel the atmosphere of an Italian race track. It isn’t just about a challenging circuit, or the setting. It is about all those things and most of all, about the people who fill up the seats and the colour and energy that they bring along for a weekend. This is possibly why the Italians get two races on the MotoGP calendar and one for F1. And while Misano is the one Valentino Rossi calls home, Mugello is where Aprilia chooses to nestle, the motorcycle that gave Rossi the equipment to start his racing career and dominate it. The fact that Mugello is set in the middle of a quaint little town called Scarperia, surrounded by soft, rolling hills in the Tuscan valley makes for a rather poetic setting. It’s difficult to imagine though, a crowd of fifty thousand pouring into this quiet little town for a vociferous weekend. Good thing Aprilia made sure that the track was reserved for an ‘invitation only’ Sunday.

You, of course, need a bit of space for a crack at something like this. The biggest, lightest and fastest RSV4, yet. This is the 1100 Factory.