Morning Reads: 20 September 2007

[mika]

Today’s Birthdays / Calendar

BMW in the News

Bikes in the Fast lane
Chinese Clone BMW Scarver (F650CS to us) Motorcycle

motoinsight.it
BMW R 1200 HP

TED: Ideas worth spreading
TED Blog,Conferences, Themes, Talks and Speakers



Page 2:
BMW Press: News and press releases from the official BMW sources


News:

aprilianews.com
Aprilia 2008 news for the American Market

roadracingworld.com
Motorsports Museum of Orlando closes doors, will auction off collection of cars, motorcycles in October

motorcyclenews.com
Video: A Motorcross bike from Benelli!
Another competitor for the new 450 BMW

thebeachcruiser.com
The New Motorcycles: Bigger, Faster, Deadlier

dealernews.com
Can-Do Ducati

Faster and Faster
MotoGP: 600s to replace 250s in 2010, tech regulation now being fianlised


Packer News

jsonline.com
Packers Plus Online


The News-Record – Gillette Wyoming



Bike Reviews:

The Dolmar Chainsaw Bike Runs again
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Blog Update

Foreign Language Blogs


Over Heard in New York | Voice of the City


Photography / Video:

thekneeslider.com
VholdR Wearable Helmet Camcorder from Twenty20

M.R. Traveler

Destination – Stamford Museum & Nature Center
The Motorcycle, Italian Style: Riding the Curves with MV Agusta

Today’s RoadFood.com

Woot

Todays Woot

The Blog


xkcd A webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math and Language

Sluggy Freelance

Bike Candy:

Coming to a dealer near you? BMW tests a 24 hour full service station at Bol d’Or

THE END

 

[mika]

Page 2

BMW Press: News and press releases from the official BMW sources

BMW Motorrad Mexico

Resident Evil Extinction has taken over the Mexico website


World of BMW News

Pfeiffer wins 2007 European Stuntriding Championship


BMW-web.tv[/url]

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BMW GroupPress Club:

PressClub Canada

Introducing Albert2, the workaholic mathematical whizz kid

Introducing Albert2, the workaholic mathematical whizz kid.
Munich/Hinwil, 19th September 2007. The BMW Sauber F1 Team has a worker of superhuman diligence within its ranks. His name? Albert2. Based in Hinwil and powered by Intel technology, this supercomputer makes a significant contribution to the team's success on the race track. Albert2 is a mathematical genius of literally huge proportions. But, as he tells us, a day off does not figure in his calculations.

Albert2, how long have you been on the payroll at the BMW Sauber F1 Team?

Albert2: Ever since my father Albert took his well-earned retirement in December 2006. So you could say that the connection with motor sport runs in our family.

How would you define your role within the team?

Albert2: As I work around five times more quickly than my father, my boss - our Technical Director Willy Rampf - has given me some important jobs to do. My main strengths lie in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), which is extremely important in the development of front, rear and auxiliary wings, for example. Before an idea from the engineers is tested in the wind tunnel, I simulate the effects of a new component on the car's performance. And that saves the team a lot of time.

If you do such an important job, why do you sit - almost hidden away - in the basement of the wind tunnel building in Hinwil?

Albert2: There is a very simple reason why. When you weigh 21 tonnes and measure ten metres in length, things would get rather tight in a normal office. Besides, it's not where you're sitting that matters, but what you can do for the team.

How closely do you work with your colleagues?

Albert2: Formula One is a team sport, in which you have to work hand-in-hand with one another. I link up with the wind tunnel, for example, at many different stages of the development process. Because we spend our time concentrating on similar tasks, some people think that we are actually working against each other. But that is far from the case. On the contrary, we support each other's work. The wind tunnel tells everybody if I was right with my estimates. At the end of the day, if Nick Heidfeld or Robert Kubica improve their speed then we will both be smiling, so to speak.

Are you a keen sportsman yourself?

Albert2: Being a man of few words and with my, shall we say, statuesque physique, I can come across as rather ponderous at first - but I'm quite a sprightly chap really. My 512 Intel Xeon 5160 processors allow me to run 12,288,000,000,000 calculations per second. To put that into perspective, every one of the 1.3 million inhabitants of Munich would have to multiply two eight-digit numbers every three and a half seconds over the course of a whole year to generate the same performance. So to answer your question, I'm rather better at mental exercise than physical sport.

Can you give us some concrete examples of what you do?

Albert2: In the wind tunnel, for instance, there is practically no way you can simulate how a tyre deforms through a corner. It is pretty much impossible to generate these heavy loads artificially. By contrast, I work with a model of the BMW Sauber F1.07 consisting of 100 million cells, all of which interact with one another. This kind of simulation is a straightforward job for me. I exert pressure on the tyres and highlight the areas of the car affected. In this way, you can see fairly quickly what kind of effect the tyre deformation through corners will have.

Do you keep an eye on what the team's rivals' computers are up to?

Albert2: Of course, that's all part of Formula One. But I have no reason to worry. A supercomputer was recently unveiled in England, but it is much slower than me. It can only process eight teraflops - i.e. eight trillion floating point operations per second. As I said earlier, I can get through almost 12.3 teraflops.

Do you ever take any time off?

Albert2: No. For a supercomputer there is no such thing as controlled working hours and we don't have any workers' representatives to look after us. I work day and night to bring about improvements, and that's the way I like it. For me, being shut down would be the biggest insult. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. And anyway, who would take me away on holiday with them? I'm hardly a slimline laptop, after all!

MINI makes driving and marketing more fun

MINI makes driving and marketing more fun.

MINI will capture attention this week in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver with the launch of a new unconventional marketing campaign. The cheeky campaign, Make Driving More Fun at MINI.ca, incorporates components such as high impact out of home, untraditional print, unique online and guerilla marketing that only MINI could do.

ÔÇ£MINI is a unique and exciting vehicle and we have developed an untraditional campaign to highlight the core attributes of the brand for this fall,ÔÇØ said Marc Belcourt, Brand Communications Manager, MINI Canada. ÔÇ£MINI is simply more fun to drive than other cars so, we developed this unconventional campaign to hammer home the driving excitement message and to generate strong viral effects with a push to MINI.ca.ÔÇØ

Visitors of some Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver downtown parking lots will be entertained by MINIÔÇÖs clever flyers. The primary flyer execution includes a scale size diplomat license plate. On the reverse side of the flyer are instructions to affix to your license plate and a cheeky response about diplomatic immunity for an officer.

The secondary execution is a sarcastic piece explaining to drivers that the driving excitement characteristics of a MINI is not for everyone and every car. Their car is simply average and thatÔÇÖ s just fine.

MINI will be lighting up CanadaÔÇÖs three major urban markets with night projections. The projections will be used expose the thoughts and dreams of ordinary cars. For example, exciting driving footage of a MINI within a thought bubble will be projected on city walls above average cars. Click here to see the night projection video.

MINI will place surprising classified ads in the automotive sections of the Globe & Mail, La Presse, Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Sun and Toronto Star. One ad copy reads ÔÇ£ApolloÔÇØRocketship $1,921,200,299 2006! Owner has used once. Dual Exhaust, seats seven. Price includes monkey, dried fruit and tang. Owner has moved on. Still, perfect for MIT grads or those with interest in ÔÇ£last yearÔÇÖs technology.ÔÇØ While another ad on the same page states ÔÇ£ThereÔÇÖs nothing more fun to driveÔÇØ with a picture of a MINI.

To leverage the exploding popularity of Facebook, MINI ads have been integrated into the social networking site. MINI is the first automotive company to use video banner ads on Facebook. The videos are mock movie trailers that showcase the driving excitement of MINI. Also, Facebookers can give a MINI Cooper as a gift to their friends online.

All the campaign components direct customers to MINI.ca where they can experience
TRACKSTER, a virtual MINI road simulator. MINI designed a program that allows visitors to drive the roads they have only dreamt about while learning more about MINI features which make driving more fun.

Virtual drivers customize their track by adding items like the ÔÇ£loop-de-loop,ÔÇØ ÔÇ£jump rampÔÇØ and special features. Each TRACKSTER item has an associated product feature to teach visitors the benefits of a MINI.

To capture prospecting information, four ÔÇ£specialÔÇØ TRACKSTER features require a password before becoming unlocked for use. When visitors provide their name and email address, the code is instantly emailed to them.

When fished designing the course, virtual drivers click ÔÇ£TRACKSTERIZEÔÇØ to watch their track come to life with fast-paced 3D video. Videos can be shared with friends on blogs, Facebook, MySpace and more.

The energetic MINI campaign that was developed in conjunction with TAXI 2 and The Media Company starts this week and will run through November.

For more information on the new MINI please visit, www.MINI.ca.


Rolls-Royse Motor Car PressClub

ROLLS-ROYCE CONVERTIBLE DEBUTS IN MIDDLE EAST

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has today unveiled the new Phantom Drophead Coup?® for the first time in the Middle East, presented by the companyÔÇÖs official importer in Qatar, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha.

This two-door, four-seater convertible combines the latest in light-weight engineering technology with the finest hand-crafted materials. It features several unique design options, like a stainless steel bonnet and teak decking ÔÇô inspired by sailing yachts. Each car is individually built by highly skilled craftsmen and women at the companyÔÇÖs world headquarters in Goodwood, on the south coast of England.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Regional Director for the Middle East, Peter Schoppmann, said,
ÔÇ£We have seen exceptional customer interest in the Phantom Drophead Coup?® around the world and are pleased to show the car for the first time in this region. It is appropriate to unveil the car in Qatar as our dealer here has contributed particularly strongly to our continued development in the Middle East.ÔÇØ
Mr Omar Alfardan, President of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha, said, ÔÇ£We are honoured to be the first country to unveil the new Drophead Coup?® in the region; the extremely high level of customer interest in the new Rolls-Royce convertible begun in 2005 with the Middle East tour of the Experimental Car 100EX. This superb and worthy addition to the range continues the wonderful legacy of Rolls-Royce and we very much welcome it in our market today.ÔÇØ
Production of the Phantom Drophead Coup?® at Goodwood is ramping up and first deliveries to customers in the Middle East have just begun.

With the addition of this new car to the range Rolls-Royce now offers three models including the Phantom and Phantom Extended Wheelbase.

Motorsports PressClub

BMW Sauber F1 Team - Test in Jerez - 18th - 20th September 2007, Day One/Tuesday

Weather conditions: Warm and dry, mostly sunny.
Temperatures: Air: 19 - 29??C, Track: 20 - 38??C

Number of cars participating: 9

Fastest lap overall: Timo Glock, BMW Sauber F1 Team, 1:20.606 min

Timo Glock
Chassis / engine: BMW Sauber F1.07-06 / BMW P86/7 V8
Test kilometres today: 314 km (71 laps)
Fastest lap: 1:20.606 min (lap 18)

Programme:
Today the BMW Sauber F1 Team tested development parts for 2008, and also worked on the aerodynamic and general set-up of the car. Timo worked hard and provided valuable feedback to the team. All in all the day was very positive for the team.

What comes next:
Nick Heidfeld will take over the driving tomorrow. He will do some general set-up and development work.

BMW Sauber F1: Website

BMW Motorsport

BMW Yachtsport

BMW Golfsport

BMW Oracle Racing

BMW Sport website

 

[PAULBACH]

Bikes in the Fast Lane

Chinese manufacturer Jonway Open link in a new window have taken a BMW Open link in a new window Scarver, removed the engine, substituting it with a 250cc engine (which is not a bad idea... I know my wife would like one..).

They actually produce it as a 125, 250 and 300 cc version.

I owned one of these bikes (F650cs for awhile and loved it but it had a deficiency hard to live with - an anemic electrical system. Wonder how many watts the Jonway produces?

Check out this Jonway link. Looks like another familar BMW product in the lineup - the Galaxy

I have seen the real article in Bob's collection in Maryland. Is Jonway being marketed in the US?