Morning Reads: 14 October 2006

[mika]

BMW Group Press Club:

The car guys dominate the Press Club once again, but this time it is the racing boys.

The BMW Sauber F-1 team is testing at Jerez. You can read about that elsewhere on the web. I have included their preview of the upcoming Brazilian GP. It has been a very long time since I have had the chance to spend time in Brazil, but I can fully understand Sebastian VettelÔÇÖs initial take on the country.

Then BMW goes on to tell us about Jan Magnussen supports BMW in WTCC season finale in Macau.

This is a motorcycle posting so a content penalty is assessed and it is to the back of the grid, after the Bike Candy for the reports.

Rumors:

{url=http://www.motorcyclenews.com/nav?page=motorcyclenews.articles.articleCategory.article&resourceId=5765450&articleCategory=NEWS_NEW-BIKES] MotorCyclenNews.com[/url] focuses our attention on the 2007 Benellis in this article. Pictured are two concept bikes, a naked 756cc bike, and a 449cc crosser.

[url]http://www.motorcyclenews.com/jpeg/576/17015786.jpeg[/url][img]

[img] http://www.motorcyclenews.com/jpeg/576/17015790.jpeg

These are the bikes that the designers at the mother-ship are looking up from their CAD programs and seeing in the motorcycle rags they read.

BMW MOA

BMW RA

Intermot: BMW


News:

World of BMW on BMW motorcycles being shown off to the diplomatic corps in Germany.

Cycle World is now reporting that the Suzuki B-King is coming to the US. This is the model ÔÇô motorcycle model ÔÇô I commented would not be coming to the US, in the Intermot: The Other Guys thread. I still think it looks like my Roadster on serious steroids.

When asked Cycle World had no information about any upcoming US appearance for the other models pictured with the B-King in the afore mentioned thread.

When I linked to this site BMW had an advertisement placed at the end of the article. It is a flash ad and the animation runs before the normal reader would get to it. BMW ads are showing up in many places of late.

BostonGeek taste tests Harpoon BreweryÔÇÖs UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen.

Duc Hunting Season in East Bay area.

Ducati North America and Ducati MH900evoluzione Owners Club invites you to San Francisco East Bay Area Ducati Bike Night. San Francisco South Bay Area Ducati Bike Night will take place from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm on the third Monday of each month.

The location is the following:

Pizza Antica
3600 Mt. Diablo Blvd.
Lafayette, CA 94549
Telephone: +1.925.299.0500


Take a camera and see what kind of pretty red ducs you are able to shoot pictures of.
BMW Chartered Club:

club: BMW Club Quebec, Inc., #86
founded: 6/1/1978
contact: Yvon Lafrance (y.lafrance@bellnet.ca)
C.P. 42
Snowdon, QC H3X 3T5 Canada
www.bmw-club-quebec.qc.ca

meetings: Moe's Deli & Bar, 3950 Sherbrooke Street East in Montreal
events: Quebec's Rallye next June in the Kamouraska Region (see web).
Hot air balloons

I spent a month wondering around Eastern Canada in 2004. I want to go back soon. I was not aware of this group then but would look them up on my next trip out. I am French challenged but the site was very interesting. There is an English option for rally information.
News from the 2007 Rally area:

Ozaukee ÔÇô Washington Daily News
Cedarburg Artists Guild is holding an artists weekend. The Arts Weekend Studio Tour is an opportunity to see works by more than 60 Ozaukee County artists. Galleries in Cedarburg, Mequon, Grafton, Thiensville, Newburg and Port Washington open their doors for free, self-guided walking tours all day Saturday and Sunday.
Fond Du Lac Reporter

The Sheboygen Press

Daily Citizen, Beaver Dam

Book Review:

How to Set up Your MOTOCYCLE WORKSHOP 2nd Edition
Tips and Tricks for building and Equiping Your Dream Workshop

By C.G. Masi

Published by Whitehorse Press
ISBN:1-884313-43-4

I intended to spend a good part of the season laying out plans for a garage with my sons-in-law. It is not even winter yet and my plans have changed. I spent the last few days helping take care of one of my grandchildren while her parents were looking for a home in Iowa where they are transferring. The other one on hearing this announced he is starting a new business in the spring and will be spending much of the winter fishing in his new ice house while planning the startup. So much for male bonding and my grand plans.

I am a condo dweller. While I enjoy the fact that I donÔÇÖt have to shovel snow or mow lawns, I donÔÇÖt enjoy the fact that I can not work on the Roadster in my own garage space at my leisure. I have been fortunate to come up with solutions such as renting garages from the proverbial little old lady to my current solution of sharing the third stall of my nieces garage with her Black Lab. Not a perfect solution, but a solution none the less.

Cycle WoldÔÇÖs Blog section ran a piece on September 21 called GARAGE IN A BOX.

Minimalist solutions have a certain appeal to me. I see a certain creative elegance in a well thought out design such as this. Okay, I like the fact the structure would be cheep to put up, too. The key to in either case is the well thought out piece in order to make it work. That sent me to MasiÔÇÖs book once again.

The book covers a lot of ground in 175 pages. There are a host of issues covered form tools, space requirements for special equipment, lighting and other structural issues for small, large, multi-purpose, restorer, collector, semi or professional and finally race workshops.

Right now I am back in the first 24 pages of the book that cover determining my needs, types of shops, and the basic principles of setting up any shop. My needs and related conditions have changed. Masi walks the reader through two approaches to laying out a garage. The first a bottom up that resembles a continuous quality improvement model for an existing space. The second is a clean sheet of paper approach.

Most readers will find that they are someplace in between these two. My intention is to move to a new space. This is a clean sheet of paper in one way, yet the layout in the new shop will be tempered by my past experience and wallet. The process in the first 24 pages sets you up to look and cherry pick the features discussed in setting up the various shops he describes in the remaining pages.

The book is not a thriller who done it page turner. It is a well thought out approach to setting up a livable motorcycle workshop. Once you finish it and your garage space you may be left wondering if you should pass the book along in someway instead of using up shelf space. Mine is staying with me. I will need it when I build my stable of bikes and the required garage space to go with them. So, I recommend that you get your own copy. I think you will find it is worth it.


Gear:

I am collecting farkels for the Roadster and have been considering a set of bar end mirrors. I have had them on past bikes and have found I really like them. webBikeWorld reviews new Oberon bar end mirrors. There are links to other articles they have done on the same subject.

Video:

Alps Motorcycle Tour 2 Time 6.02. The quality is not that good but you get a good idea of what it means to tour on Alpine roads.

Bike Candy:

We can do a bit of Alpine dreaming while casting an envious eye a picture of a Canadian ride.

Posted with permission by Munchy from his Colorado to Banff Ride Report

 

[mika]

Back of the Grid

Brazilian Grand Prix

20th ÔÇô 22nd October 2006
Final ÔÇô 18th World Championship round

Preview.

Munich/Hinwil, 13th October 2006. In the run-up to the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship finale, the battles for the driversÔÇÖ and constructorsÔÇÖ titles are still up in the air. Likewise, there is a great deal in the balance for the BMW Sauber F1 Team in this 18th and final grand prix of the season, to be held in S?úo Paulo on 22nd October. The young team embarked on its debut season from eighth place and is currently fifth in the constructorsÔÇÖ championship with a one-point lead over Toyota. Drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica aim to defend this position at the Brazilian Grand Prix. If they manage that, it would mean a successful conclusion to a maiden season in which the BMW Sauber F1 Team has already achieved far more than could be expected.


Nick Heidfeld:
ÔÇ£I always enjoy coming to S?úo Paulo. Not only is Interlagos one of my favourite circuits, I also love the flight path into the city. ItÔÇÖs incredible to be hovering for minutes on end above those endless housing districts and shanty towns. Unfortunately crime is an issue here, as it is in many of the worldÔÇÖs major conurbations. But we drivers donÔÇÖt really get to see any of it.

Of course my fondest memory is of winning my first podium place here in 2001 with the Sauber Team. It was a difficult race in wet conditions, but everything worked out and in the end I was able to take third place on the podium next to David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. I would rate the Ferra dura turn as one of the best in the whole racing calendar, although the bumpy surface of the track is not so nice. But they say it was improved last year, when I couldnÔÇÖt race due to injury. IÔÇÖll have to see for myself, and I hope to round off the season with a successful race.ÔÇØ


Robert Kubica:
ÔÇ£I know the S?úo Paulo track from racing there in 2002 in Formula Renault 2000, as I was invited for the last round of the Brazilian championship. It is a very nice track and I like the configuration, even though it is a bit bumpy. There is a really big uphill section that you cannot see on television after the last corner, which brings you to the main straight. There are some difficult corners, but I think it will be a good experience to go back to Interlagos with Formula One.ÔÇØ


Sebastian Vettel:
ÔÇ£Carnival, nice girls, good weather, football, magic, rainforest ÔÇô thatÔÇÖs what comes to mind when I think of Brazil. I know a bit about it as I have had Brazilian team-mates. They are great fun. I think the people here are open for anything. Now with Felipe Massa they maybe have another hero coming up.

I think the circuit is one of the hardest of the whole season because it is very bumpy and old, and you feel every bump in an F1 car because it is very hard. I think for the race it is physically a very tough job to get through 71 laps. Every time the race finishes the drivers look completely shattered. Also in the race itself I remember two years ago seeing Kimi R?ñikk?Ânen and Fernando Alonso laying their heads against the headrest.ÔÇØ

2006 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC)

Jan Magnussen supports BMW in WTCC season finale in Macau.

Munich, 13th October 2006. The BMW national teams enter the season finale of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Macau with six cars. Jan Magnussen (DEN) will take to the track at the wheel of another BMW 320si WTCC on 19th November and enforce the regular driver quintet at the ÔÇ£Guia CircuitÔÇØ. The 33-year-old is scheduled to be the team-mate of reigning Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx (GBR) in the BMW Team UK, which is headed by Team Principal Bart Mampaey (BEL).
ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm really happy to be a part of the season highlight of the World Touring Car Championship with BMW,ÔÇØ says Magnussen. ÔÇ£This series is amazingly exciting and the field could hardly be any closer together. I hope to be able to do my share in BMWÔÇÖs mission to defend both titles. Of course, itÔÇÖs also great to return to this challenging race track.ÔÇØ
Prior to the WTCCÔÇÖs rounds 19 and 20, three drivers still have the chance to secure the title. Priaulx is currently ranked second in the driversÔÇÖ classification having 59 points under his belt. He is trailing Alfa RomeoÔÇÖs Augusto Farfus (BRA) by a single point. Thanks to his victory in Valencia last weekend, J?Ârg M??ller (GER) is also among the top title contenders. The 37-year-old is on equal points with Priaulx, holding third place. His team-mate Dirk M??ller (GER) has 53 points to his tally and is the third string to BMWÔÇÖs bow in the WTCC title fight. Among the manufacturers, BMW (221 points) holds a 10-point lead over SEAT before the nail-biting showdown in Macau.
Like the two BMW Team Italy-Spain drivers, Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) and Duncan Huisman (NLD), itÔÇÖs MagnussenÔÇÖs goal to support the three title aspirants and to score valuable championship points for the ManufacturersÔÇÖ Championship at the 6.117-kilometre street circuit. He knows Macau from the early days of his successful racing career: 1994 he contested the legendary Formula 3 Grand Prix, crossing the line in third position.
Over the past years, Magnussen has established himself as an expert in touring cars and long-distance races. He celebrated countless wins in classic races such as the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Sebring 12 Hours and in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). In the Danish Touring Car Championship (DTC) he won the title in 2003. This year, Magnussen again has the chance to win this series. Before the season ends this weekend, he is just six points behind his leading brand-mate Casper Elgaard (DEN). In the DTC, Magnussen drives a BMW 320si from Den Bl?Ñ Avis Fleggaard Racing ÔÇô the car that he is going to steer for BMW Team UK directed by RBM in Macau.

 

[Rinty]

morning reads

Munchie's Alpine Dreaming picture was taken at Highwood Pass on the Kananaskis Trail, which is about an hour and a half ride from here. At 7,239 feet, it's starting to get a little nippy up there this time of the year. A friend and I were going to sneak a run through there last Monday, but Thanksgiving Day preparations got in the way. The area is a favourite hangout of one of our K Country grizzlies. Munchie's picture of the week this week was taken in the same vicinity.

Rinty