Paul Bird Motorsport's new sponsor for its two Claiming Rules Team machines in MotoGP gives a whole new meaning to the term "naked bike."

PBM has landed sponsorship from (as yet unlaunched, we're told) MinxFlix.com, an adult movie channel, for the CRT bikes it fields for Michael Laverty and Yonny Hernandez and for its British Superbike entries for Shane Byrne and Keith Farmer.

The deal shows the length - or depth - that teams must go to find funding in these challenging economic times. But it's far from the sport's first dance with the vice industry, as tobacco companies stuffed millions of dollars into sponsorship of top-line factory teams in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s before legislation and negative public opinion forced those firms from nearly all global sports sponsorship.