Ace Cafe London, teaming up with Ace Corner Finland, is delighted to be able to confirm attendance with stand and display at the forthcoming Helsinki Motorcycle Show, 2nd - 5th February 2012.

The Ace presence and display, together with the Finnish Motorcycle Museum and Ace Corner Finland includes an array of Ace Cafe, Rockers and StoMoCo items, and will feature the recently published, comprehensive, 312 page hardbound "Ace Times - speed thrills and tea spills, a cafe and a culture" by author Mick Duckworth.  Mark Wilsmore, MD of Ace Cafe London will be available on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th to sign copies.

Drop by and say hello and meet the Ace Corner Finland Team at Hall 7, Stand E30

www.ace-corner-finland.fi

www.moottoripyoramuseo.fi

www.finnexpo.fi

The Historic Rally Car Register is celebrating two exciting anniversaries when it runs its much loved Open Day at the Heritage Motor Centre on Saturday 14th January 2012. 

The Open Day is one of the most exciting gatherings for all those interested in historic rallying, one of the fastest growing motorsports in the UK. The 2012 event will welcome the 1978 RAC Rally winning Escort of Hannu Mikkola and Arne Hertz as the star of the show. 

2012 marks 80 years since the first RAC Rally held in 1932 as a reliability trial with all types of tests including a slow driving test. In 1960 the Rally moved onto the private forest roads and grew into one of the World’s best rallies and the biggest spectator event in Britain. Hundreds of thousands of fans stood in the forests to watch rallying household names of the 70's/80's including Roger Clark, Hannu Mikkola, Tony Pond, Colin McRae and Richard Burns battle for the World Rally crown.

The second of the anniversaries marks 30 years since the event that launched Historic Rallying in this country. The Lombard Golden Fifty took place in 1982 to celebrate 50 years of the RAC Rally and launched a whole new area of motorsport.

Visitors will be able to see a number of cars on display outdoors on the Western Arena plus have the opportunity of meeting organisers, club shop & specialist suppliers and organising clubs. Stands in the Main HRCR Hall will highlight many of today's historic rallies.

John Bishop, Car Clubs & Groups Co-ordinator at the Heritage Motor Centre stated “We’re delighted to be hosting the HRCR Open Day which looks set to be another exciting and nostalgic event for rally enthusiasts. If you are interested in historic rallying then Gaydon is the place to be on Saturday 14 January!”

Entry to the HRCR Open Day is free of charge and attendees can visit the Museum on the day for the discounted rate of £6 per person.  The Open Day is open from 09:30 - 16:00 with the Museum open from 10:00 - 17:00. To find out more information please visit the website at www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk  or the HRCR website at www.hrcr.co.uk

Riding legends will be roaring into the Manchester Motorcycle Show, held at Manchester Central Convention Complex on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th January 2012. Former British Superbike Champion turned MotoGP TV commentator Steve Parrish, TT racers Guy Martin and Michael Dunlop and the fastest female TT racer Jenny Tinmouth will all be in attendance.

Steve Parrish brings over 30 years of motorcycling experience to Manchester. He is guaranteed to keep the crowd entertained with his superb sense of humour as he tells a tale or two. If you have a question, then ask away as Steve will be on hand to provide the answer as well as signing autographs throughout the weekend.

One of the hottest bikes on display will be TT racer Guy Martin’s 500bhp turbo café racer, brought to the show by none other than the man himself. Guy, who will be at the show on Saturday to talk about the bike and sign autographs, has built the bike from a 1991 GSX-R1100 but not much of the original bike remains as it now has a 1380cc big bore engine and fuel injection.

Jenny Tinmouth represents the female population in the world of motorbikes by being the fastest woman to ever go around the Isle of Man TT course as well as competing in the 2011 British Superbike Championship and British Supersport Championship.  Chester-born Jenny can tell you what it’s like to be a female racer in a predominately male environment.

On the Hunts Motorcycle Honda stand throughout the weekend will be Guy’s racing opponent and Double TT winner Michael Dunlop.

Adult ticket prices are £10 when booking in advance, £15 on the day. Children under 15 years enter for free when accompanied by a paying adult. The show is open from 10am each day and closes at 5pm. To book tickets and for the latest updates, visit www.manchestermotorcycleshow.com

Alain Duclos reaches the 15th place in stage 12th. Peru is the 27th country crossed by the Dakar, and tests the skills of the riders with its difficulties.

NASCA –It was expected that the Dakar difficulties were growing with its stages, as it was shown today with its 12th special between Arequipa and Nasca, known by its lines only visible from the sky.

It was the second part of the marathon stage, with a 245 kilometers special stage, which contained all possible kind of grounds. It started in the beach, followed by road tracks, canyon and the terrible dunes of Tacana, with a sand so softened that was almost a sacrifice for the engines.

The lands looked like Mauritania, a strong point of the Dakar in Africa, with lots of “camel grass”. It was a special where Alain Duclos had lots of fun on his Aprilia, and proved it with the 15th position of the day. Alain thought lots of the friction of the engine and took extremely care of it. He is one of the few riders that have not changed the engine yet, which demonstrates the liability of the v-twin engine of the Aprilia.

As the overall position is no longer a matter since stage seven, the French-Malian rider keeps rolling to acquire more experience and test the bike performance.

Alain Duclos: “I think this was the most beautiful stage of all Dakar. There were so many different kind of ground in only 250 kilometers! It seemed like if we were in Mauritania. I felt well and my Aprilia worked perfectly. I took care of the engine in the dunes; they were very soft, so soft that I needed to get out of them in 1st gear with the engine giving all of its power!”

The Dakar arrives to Arica, the last stage in Chile. Tomorrow the race will cross the border to Peru. Alain Duclos finishes the stage in the 23 position.

ARICA – The last city in the North of Chile, Arica, greeted the Dakar´s tenth stage, the last one in Chile. Tomorrow the race waves good-bye to go to Peru, to make its first stop in Arequipa.

Today stage was not so noisy. It was the Spanish rider Joan Barreda who marked his first stage win in the Dakar after this 377 km in the Atacama Desert, the most arid of the planet, and a place where riders found many navigation difficulties.

Started nineteenth this morning, Alain Duclos had a navigation problem at kilometer 138. The dust did not let him read his navigation instruments and made a mistake. Once he was able to get back to the right track after five kilometers, Alain fought to take back his position and finished the stage 23rd.

Alain Duclos: “Today it was such a beautiful stage, with steering, dunes, off road sections. I was in the dust and I couldn´t read my road-book so I followed some other riders… and I did five kilometers until I saw I was not on the right track, and I got back but I had to overtake many riders that went through while I wasn´t there…. I lost the right pace and it is harder to find it back when you have problems than when everything is fine.”