Batmobile, the new Judge Dredd vehicle, Del-boys Reliant Robin and Shaun the Sheep's Land Rover are just some of the original ‘Star Cars’ on display at the Heritage Motor Centre. Star Cars, which takes place from Saturday 24 July – Sunday 5 September from 10am - 5pm, is a special exhibition featuring a whole host of famous cars from TV and films.

This exciting new exhibition will take visitors around legendary vehicles such as Batman's & Robins Batcycle, James Bonds Aston Martin Vanquish from ‘Die Another Day’, Lara Crofts Land Rover Defender from ‘Tomb Raider’, James Bonds Aston Martin DBS from ‘Quantum of Solace’, the PGO Cevennes bought by Rosie Webster in ‘Coronation Street’ and Dr Who's 'Bessie' a Siva Ford tourer built for the 3^rd Doctor Who.

Others Star Cars include Lady Penelope's FAB1, Truly Scrumptious Humber 8hp from ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, the Mini Cooper from the 2003‘Italian Job’, a 1908 Austin Grand prix car from ‘The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes’, Noddy's Car and Yabba-Dabba-Doo, the Flintstones family car and Fred's sports car.

Running alongside the exhibition will be a number of children's activities themed around Star Car. Daily activities include a Star Car quiz and Star Car colouring competition which all the family can enjoy. 

Every Thursday a ‘Star Car Activity Day’ will take place in the Education Room featuring a number of special Star Car themed craft activities.  Offered free of charge, children can make their own Hollywood star door plaque, decorate their own Land Rover or make their own Timmy and Shaun the Sheep - just some of the crafts on offer! There will even be some special children's tours led by the Heritage Motor Centre's very own Batman! 

In addition to the museum, home to the world's largest historic collection of British cars, visitors can enjoy outdoor activities including Go Karts, Miniature Roadway and the 4x4 Experience. Sessions run daily, weather permitting, from 11am – 4:00pm and are open to non-museum visitors. Stop Start - learner driving experiences for 15+ years in dual controlled vehicles are a great way for teenagers to get behind the wheel. The 1 hour sessions cost £30 and include entrance to the museum for the driver. Sessions take place every Thursday and pre-booking is essential.

Stephen Laing, Museum Curator for the Heritage Motor Centre stated “Our special Star Cars summer exhibition features a fantastic and unique collection of famous cars that visitors can walk around and admire. You would never usually find so many legendary cars together under one roof! Along with Star Cars, children’s quizzes & competitions plus our range of outdoor activities, the Heritage Motor Centre has something for everyone to enjoy this summer”. 

Visitors can take advantage of the museums ‘Gift Aid' scheme bychoosing to Gift Aid their entry on arrival and receive a 12 months entry ticket at no extra cost. Visitors can then return for a whole year - for free! (terms & conditions apply). Museum entry is: Adult £9, Concession £8, Child (5-16), £7 Family, £28 (2 adults and up to 3 children). Prices per ride for the Go-Karts are £6.00 for adults, £4.00 for children and concessions. Rides for the Miniature Roadway cost £3.00.

Star Cars is just one of many exciting and unique motoring events held at The Heritage Motor Centre in 2010. To find out more information please visit the website at www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk

With a ruling in the High Court today that Westminster City Council’s controversial scheme for motorcycle parking charges is legal, the 80,000 strong British Motorcyclists Federation warns that this could signal the end of the customary free parking enjoyed by motorcyclists across the UK

The judgment in effect said that Westminster Council did not need to make any special justification for bringing in charges for motorcycle parking as motorcycles  could be treated in the same way as cars. 

In his judgement, Lord Justice Pitchfordsaid charges had been justified and that “The Council has been assiduous in the performance of its responsibility to consult specifically upon the motorcycle parking and charging scheme. Far from ignoring the responses received, appropriate concessions have been made and the scheme amended.” He then went on to say, “The judgment which objections have failed to undermine, is that the volume of traffic using the roads in the City of Westminster requires management by the selective introduction of charging for on-street parking contemporaneously with the provision of free off-street parking.”

A strong supporter of the ‘No To Bike Parking Tax’ (NTBPT) campaign from its inception, the bmf’s Government Relations Executive Chris Hodder, said: “Obviously we are disappointed but while this ruling means that Westminster have the technical authority to charge motorcyclists, they could find that this is a pyrrhic victory as protesters have vowed to fight on until Westminster are forced to back down by public demand. It should also be borne in mind that it’s actually costing Westminster Council £430,000 a year all-in to run the scheme, so other local authorities thinking this is a green light for similar schemes should be extremely cautious.”

Figures released by Duke Marketing, which operates iomtt.com on behalf of the Isle of Man Government, show visits to the site and its TT Live! service increased to 939,381, up 42% compared with the 2009 TT.

TT Live!, which offered fans the chance to listen to live commentary on the internet while watching sector times and speeds as they happened, attracted 115,739 visits between May 29th and June 13th, an increase of 272% on the 2009 figures. The service, which was free during the 2010 TT, had an average of more than 30,000 users during the races, peaking at 32,399 during the PokerStars Superbike TT.

While the number of visits makes positive reading, it is the numbers of unique users – or different people - which truly shows the rapidly growing popularity of the TT website. The figures for ‘unique users’ show how many individuals came to iomtt.com during the TT, and, in 2010, the number of unique users was 342,944 people, up by 34%.

During the two weeks of the TT, the site had more than 5 million page impressions and data also shows that people were visiting more pages and spending longer compared with previous years on the site. During the festival, TT Live! was used by a total of 69,677 different people.

The UK and Isle of Man accounted for the highest number of the visits, but the top 10 also included the US, Australia and Spain and more than half the visits from America were new visitors to the site.

Duke Managing Director Peter Duke, whose company signed a new multi-year contract to continue running iomtt.com in 2010, said:

“The figures for iomtt.com and TT Live! in 2010 are further evidence of the growing popularity of the Isle of Man TT. To attract almost 1 million visits to the site from nearly 350,000 different people exceeded our highest expectations, and we are very pleased that the website, and especially TT Live!, is contributing so much to the global awareness and popularity of the TT.”

“We redesigned the website ahead of the 2010 TT to incorporate a new look, video content and other improved features. We also provided online commentary and live timings free of charge, and expanded our social networking presence with a dedicated Facebook page and Twitter account, both of which were regularly updated with news from the course and photos through each race day.”

“This commitment from the team at Duke has brought extremely positive feedback from site visitors from all over the world. In just a handful of weeks, our Facebook group has built up more than 16,000 fans and the 34% increase in people using iomtt.com speaks for itself.”

Mr Duke added:

“The Isle of Man TT is a truly international event, and the use of iomtt.com and TT Live! clearly shows that. During the 2010 TT we had visitors from 179 countries and territories – including the Arctic!”
“This is only the first year of our new contract, and the improvements made so far have brought excellent results. We will be building on the 2010 TT to deliver even more for the hundreds of thousands of TT fans, new and old, all over the world through iomtt.com.”

Isle of Man Tourism Political Member Geoff Corkish said:

“These figures are very encouraging and show that the programmes that we have put in place are increasing the global audience and commercial value of the TT. This will provide tangible benefits not only to the event itself but also the Isle of Man as a whole.”

The number of women taking to two wheels has increased significantly during the last eighteen months and this now represents a large proportion of moped, scooter and bike sales for the motorcycle industry.

As a result of this trend, road safety officers in West Mercia and Warwickshire are actively promoting a series of free and subsidised “Take Control” rider assessment courses to women, in the hope that they will want to develop their riding skills.

Director of Safety at the Coventry-based Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) Karen Cooke, has recently tried a Take Control course for herself and commented; “I have been riding motorcycles for 28 years and I am always nervous when anyone else analyses my riding technique, but my instructor was great and really put me at ease. Even though I have completed refresher training in the past, he still came up with some helpful suggestions and I was able to iron out one or two bad habits that naturally develop over time. I would encourage all moped and motorcycle riders to learn the Take Control techniques and particularly hope the increasing number of female riders will make a commitment to this sort of self improvement. There is no bravado, no test and no pressure and it helps you to become a safer rider“.                                                                                             

Motorcycle dealerships are finding that women are buying a wider variety of machines from mopeds and scooters as a main mode of transport for commuting, to larger custom bikes and sports bikes, just for fun. Motorcycling now has a much wider appeal for both sexes, all ages and people from many different backgrounds.

Communications Manager for the Safer Roads Partnership in West Mercia, Katy Jenkins explains; "Just ten years ago, most women wearing leathers and a crash helmet were presumed to be pillion passengers, but that is simply not the case now. We even know of a few ‘women-only bike clubs. They are often more receptive to advice and more willing to learn and we have a variety of half-day and full day courses that can be tailored to the needs and level of experience of every lady“.

Take Control rider training costs either £30 or nothing at all, depending on the course you select. It is available to anyone who lives in or travels through the counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Warwickshire. Instructors will usually travel to where clients live or work and ride on their local roads or regular routes.

More information can be found at www.takecontroltraining.co.uk