Whoo hoo. First post. I think that it is a waste of talent to have Pascal Picotte and Mike Smith ride this machine. Harley Davidson has had 7 years to get this bike to work, and has failed. Meanwhile Ducati, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki have all had their piece of the top step of the box. Even Aprilia in WSBK has had success in only their second year! I think Harley Davidson should just pull the plug on this stillborn project. Time for a clean sheeet redesign. Everytime the VR-1000 has a power and torque improvement so does every other manufacturer's machine. As far as internal engineering capabilities go... when did Cosworth and Ford become internal??? Outside of Ford and HD having the same year of birth (1903) why else would Ford have signed on with some loser organization other than for advertising exposure? After they both celebrate their 100th year, this partnership will end. Harley claims that they do not have information from European and Asian racing series for developmental work on the VR project but that kind of argument does not hold water as far as Aprilia is concerned. Harley is going to disappoint as usual this year, and I will be the first to clap when they do.