Twist The Throttle Moves to Discovery HD Theater

Twist The Throttle, which we told you about in March, is making the move from the web to the TV screen. Dylan Weiss, our buddy over at Twisting Asphalt is pretty excited since he’s been working hard to put this thing together. Dylan says

the web portion of the project was built on a matrix of four films that ran roughly four or five minutes each — The Discovery HD Theater broadcast clock is 49 minutes long and this additional running time allowed us to delve much deeper into each brands remarkable history while showcasing some truly amazing and rarely if ever seen historical film & video from each manufacturer’s milestone moments in the past. Nothing like this has ever been filmed or shown on Television before.

Lots of interviews, great riding in beautiful countryside, behind the scenes footage, it sounds like must see TV. Here’s the whole rundown with air dates so you can set your DVR:

Press release follows:

HD THEATER TAKES TO THE ROAD WITH TWIST THE THROTTLE, AN EIGHT-PART SERIES EXPLORING SOME OF THE GREATEST MOTORCYCLE BRANDS IN THE WORLD

Millions of people ride motorcycles and millions more fantasize about what it would be like to ride these cultural icons of speed, freedom, craftsmanship and personal rebellion. HD Theater’s new series, TWIST THE THROTTLE, takes audiences on a remarkable 36,000 mile journey across the globe to explore eight of the most famous sport motorcycling brands.

Each episode focuses on a single brand, showcasing the remarkable history; the behind-closed-door factory, design facilities and R&D departments; and ultimately, what it is like to ride these magnificent machines on some of the most picturesque roads and spectacular racetracks in the world.

The brands covered in TWIST THE THROTTLE include Bimota, BMW, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, MV Agusta, Suzuki and Yamaha. TWIST THE THROTTLE premieres on HD Theater starting Monday, January 5 and stories will continue to be featured on HD Theater’s online home for motorized content, Turbo.com. TWIST THE THROTTLE is narrated by actor Ed Quinn (Eureka, CSI:NY), who is an avid sport bike rider.

Using spectacular 1080i high-definition and 5.1 digital surround sound, TWIST THE THROTTLE takes viewers directly to challenging racetracks like Kawasaki’s Autopolis on the island of Kyushu and Honda’s top-secret proving grounds in California’s Mojave Desert. For the first time ever, outside cameras were permitted on Yamaha’s private test track, Fukoroi, in Hamamatsu where TWIST THE THROTTLE put two of Yamaha’s newest sports bikes to the test.

In addition to exclusive access to these private test facilities, the series travels on the open road through picturesque locales like northernItaly’s Futa Pass. Originally an ancient Roman road linking Florence to Bologna, the Futa Pass has over 200 curves carved into the mountainside in just a 20 mile stretch. In addition, TWIST THE THROTTLE journeys through the history of each brand through interviews with the people behind their unique design philosophies.

The series features an exclusive interview with Massimo Tamburini, considered to be the “Michelangelo of Italian motorcycle design,” who created some of the most iconic motorcycles including the Ducati 916 and the MV Agusta F4. Normally a recluse, Tamburini unlocks the doors of his design studio to reveal how he creates “mechanical art” and why he believes machines have souls.

Additional interviews feature some of the most important names in themotorcycle world telling each brand’s remarkable story including:

Honda’s Masanori Aoki, BMW’s David Robb and Yamaha’s Atsushi Ishiyama

Former racing World Champions Freddie Spencer, Wayne Rainey, and Kevin Schwantz

Current and Former American road racing stars Mat Mladin, Neil Hodgson, Miguel Duhamel, Ben Bostrom, Jamie Hacking and Reg Pridmore

Renowned motorcycle journalists Nick Ienatsch, Mark Hoyer, Mitch Boehm, Clement Salvadori and Mark Tuttle

 

UPDATE: Dylan just got notice of a schedule change:
“Discovery HD Theater has decided to push the premiere of the series back until later in the 1st Quarter of 2009 in order to give it more promotion on both TV and in the Mags.”

Unfortunately we don’t have the new air dates just yet but I’ll post them as soon as the new schedule is announced.

DISCOVERY HD THEATER AIR DATES & TIMES
(NOTE: ALL TIMES ARE ‘LOCAL TIMES’)
Monday, January 5th 10PM HONDA
Monday, January 12th 10PM DUCATI
Monday, January 19th 10PM BMW
Monday, January 26th 10PM KAWASAKI
Monday, February 2nd 10PM SUZUKI
Monday, February 9th 10PM MV AGUSTA
Monday, February 16th 10PM BIMOTA/ALPINESTARS
Monday, February 23rd 10PM YAMAHA

Link: Cry Havoc Productions