We don’t usually post articles on motorcycles but this time we are obliged to make an exception. The ‘naked’ Yamaha concept bike you see in the picture above was developed in cooperation with Fiat’s sport division, Abarth as part of the celebrations to mark the 100th birthday of the Italian firm’s founder Karl Abarth (born on November 15. 1908). The prototype model is based on the FZ1 which is powered by a 1,0-liter engine derived from the Yamaha’s R1 supersport bike. The 4-cylinder unit produces an output of 150HP at 11,000 rpm.
The FZ1 Abarth Assetto Corso is distinguished by the classic Abarth livery which combines Abarth’s Scorpion and Yamaha’s three tuning-fork logo. Mechanical improvements on the concept bike include a new Akrapovic exhaust as well as suspension and brake upgrades.
Along with the FZ1 Abarth Assetto Corso, Fiat’s sport division marked Karl Abarth’s centenary with the release of a limited edition version of the 500 Abarth (click here for details and photos) and a snazzy high performance desktop powered by the new Intel Core i7 Extreme processor (click here to check it out).