Category: Random

1. National Motorcycle Museum -Successful weekend for The NMM, Triumph & Foggy @ Goodwood

   Posted on 9:00am Wednesday 1st Jun 2016

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2. LORENZO AND MICHELIN ARE THE KINGS OF THE MOUNTAINS AT MUGELLO

   Posted on 10:00am Sunday 29th May 2016

   Jorge Lorenzo raced to stunning on-the-line victory at Mugello in Italy today as he used his new hard and soft compound Michelin tyres to the full and pushed to the limit on the last-lap to take victory as he crossed the finishing line.

   Starting from fifth on the grid, Lorenzo chose the new hard compound MICHELIN Power Slick for the front of his Yamaha and paired this with the soft compound rear, which was also being used for the first time this season. The Spaniard got a good start and led for the early laps despite constant pressure from nine-time World Champion and yesterday’s pole-setter Valentino Rossi. The Yamaha team-mates fought hard over eight-laps until an unfortunate technical issue forced Rossi to retire, leaving Lorenzo out front on his own. The race was far from over though, as Honda´s Marc Marquez chased down the current World Champion and caught Lorenzo with several laps to go. The two riders were then locked in a monumental battle amongst the mountains of Mugello, which culminated in a breath-taking final lap. Marquez made a pass on Lorenzo to take the lead, before the championship leader snatched it back, only to see Marquez come straight back at him and re-take the lead yet again. Marquez looked to have secured victory, but Lorenzo got fantastic drive from the last corner from his Michelin tyres and pulled himself past Marquez on the line to win by only 0.019 seconds.  Lorenzo´s winning race time of 41’36.535 was also over two-and-a-half seconds quicker than last year´s race and an outright race-record for the Mugello circuit – beating the existing record from 2012 by almost a second. His victory today was his third of the season and increased his championship lead over Marquez to 10 points.

   Third place was taken by a home favourite Andrea Iannone on a Ducati. The Italian fought his way to a podium finish after a poor start which cost him five places from third on the grid. Iannone finished the race very strongly as he set the fastest lap of the day on the final circulation to establish the durability of the MICHELIN Power Slicks on this demanding circuit. Dani Pedrosa on a Honda rode a solid race, as he too finished strongly securing fourth place, just in front of the second Ducati, this time ridden by Andrea Dovizioso. Sixth went to the Suzuki of Maverick Viñales, with Bradley Smith taking a well-deserved seventh – and the plaudits of being the First Independent Team Rider. Another home favourite Danilo Petrucci on a satellite Ducati was eighth with Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) and Michele Pirro (Ducati) rounding out the top-ten in ninth and tenth respectively.

   The huge and colourful crowd of 100,640 – the largest ever on race day at Mugello – filled the hillsides around the track and baked in the Italian sun as temperatures rose to 26°, which also saw track temperatures hit 40°C – the warmest of the weekend. The latest versions of the MICHELIN Power Slicks performed well in the extreme conditions, at a track that is notoriously difficult for tyres. The technicians will now analyse all the data from what has been a successful weekend, as Michelin moves on through the season and continues to strive to improve its performance at each circuit as the year progresses

   Next stop for Michelin will be the Catalonian Grand Prix at the Montmelo circuit near Barcelona, when the whole MotoGP paddock will reconvene their rivalries at round seven of the championship on Sunday 5^th June.

   Jorge Lorenzo – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP:

   “I am very, very happy with the tyres and how they performed today. During the last laps they started sliding a little bit more than in the previous laps, but now we don’t have anything like the problem that we had in Jerez on the straights. It has been a great weekend, it was a very close race, a great show for all and I am now 10-points above Marquez in the championship, so I am very happy.”

   Nicolas Goubert – Deputy Director, Technical Director and Supervisor of the MotoGP Programme:

   “It has been a very good race weekend for us. The race time was shorter that the record race time, with the fastest lap at the end of the race by Iannone which was very close to the race lap-record.  It was the same yesterday with Rossi in qualification when he was one-hundredth-of-a-second off the outright track record. Everything went really well for us and there were no crashes that could be contributed to the front tyre, which was an important thing as nearly everybody used the new front, so this gives us confidence as we move forward with more technological advancements. We made a step here and now we head to the next race in Catalunya, where we also have a test on the Monday following the race, but if all the races are like this one we will be very happy.”

3. Get paid for giving your views and opinions on new Motorbikes and accessories!

   Posted on 10:00am Thursday 26th May 2016

   VisionBee, a dynamic research company are conducting some research and development for a famous motor bike manufacturer.

   They are currently looking for touring bike riders which were bought from new since 2013, to give their views and opinions on future generation bikes and accessories.

   The motorbike models they are specifically looking for are: 

   BMW F 700 GS | BMW F 800 GS | BMW F 800 GS Adventure | Honda VFR 800X Crossrunner | Honda CRF 1000L Africa Twin  

   KTM 1050 | Mv Agusta Turismo Veloce | Yamaha MT-09 Tracer | Yamaha XT660Z Tenere

   This will be held in London for around 2.5 hours on Friday 17th or Saturday 18th June. Those who qualify and take part will be paid £100 for their time, which includes travel expenses.

   If your Motorcycle fits the criteria and you fancy being part of this, contact Simon on [email protected] letting him know which model you own, the year you bought your bike, your name, your age along with your telephone contact details and email.
   
   If you cannot make this date or you do not have these specific adventure bikes, do not worry as there are another few projects coming up over the year held in both London and also in the Midlands.
   
   Just send Simon your details and he will contact you when other projects are commissioned.
   
    
   

4. Online Auction Launched for The Henry Surtees Foundation and The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award - ends today

   Posted on 8:00am Thursday 26th May 2016

   The Henry Surtees Foundation has teamed up with The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award for a special online Auction. 

   Prizes include My Incredible Life on Two and Four Wheels, signed by John Surtees CBE, Signed Ferrari F1 Rear Wing, Private VIP Dinner for 8 people in Benihana and lunch with John Surtees CBE. 
   
   Visit the online auction to browse the array of exciting prizes of offer. The auction runs until 16:00 on Thursday, 26 May 2016.
   
   100% of all money donated will go directly to both charities.

   To place a bid on any of the auction lots, or to make a donation to either charity, visit www.insideferrari.co.uk

5. Sat nav v maps

   Posted on 10:00am Tuesday 24th May 2016

   I used to like the idea of being spontaneous and also did not fancy using a sat nav however once you have tried to get a room somewhere to find you cannot get one as they are full due to a local festival, over priced (Italy circa 2001, 11 pm in a roadside motel style @ €175 comes to mind) , you cannot find one (sounds strange I know but there are miles and miles of nothing in parts of Germany - well apart from excellent scenery) and to book into somewhere and find it awful, we now do as above - i.e. find a final destination and plan route around it. 

   We use a combination of Biker Friendly accommodation on www.thebikerguide.co.uk and if there is nothing in the area we want we also look on booking.com.
   
   We did a trip a couple of years ago with the final destination being Colditz Castle, which you can stay in. Went in July for 3 ish weeks with everything booked, set into sat nav and you know what - thank goodness as it rained everyday but one. We would set off with the next place in the sat nav - take off route when we wanted and arrive at destination stress free.

   We stayed at some great places, travelled fantastic roads and routes, ate well, found our way easy even with the many roadwork diversions and would pass by others at the side of the road battling with a big wet soggy map to find their way. We did also pack a map as back-up or to look at a vaster area on a larger scale, however we are happy to say it return dry and not soggy. 

   I think once you have used a sat nav on a big trip which gets you to destinations easy, gets you out of a diversion and back on route, helps you navigate/find food and petrol, you wonder what you did before the United States military released the technology for GPS!