mika
Still Wondering
TodayÔÇÖs Birthdays / Calendar
bikepoint.com.au
Aprilia Tuono - REVIEW
visordown.com
Road Test: DL 100 V-Strom v Tiger v TDM900
masmoto.net
John Deere Suzuki Intruder
Coming attractions from Visi-tec
lidzduc.com
Visi-tec video of a prototype test
History of the Shovelhead engine
[url=http://www.articlesbase.com/motorcycles-articles/harley-davidson-vrsc-motorcycle-390541.html]articlebase.com
Harley Davidson VRSC motorcycle
wornenridersnow.com
Ohio Bike WeekÔÇÖs WomenÔÇÖs Event
Le Mans 24 Hours ÔÇô BMW Motorrad Motorsport
2008 Endurance World Championship
Sunday 20th April
Circuit: 4.180 kms. Crowd: 85,000
Conditions: Saturday: rain at start, then sunny/cloudy. Sunday: rain in the night, then sunny/cloudy.
TEAM BMW MOTORRAD MOTORSPORT SUFFERS CRUEL LUCK AT LE MANS
After a weekend of problems due to the varying weather conditions, Team BMW Motorrad MotorsportÔÇÖs trio of Richard Cooper, Jos?® Luis Nion and Brian Parriott were heading for a hard-fought for top fifteen finish, until a last lap drama ruled them out. On the very last lap of the 24-hour marathon, Richard was riding smoothly and cruising to the finish, when his bike suddenly suffered a loss of power at the end of the pit straight. He managed to keep it going until La Chapelle, where the marshals told him that he had five minutes to get it across the finish line in order to post a result. He got a bit of a tow from another rider and then began the long, hard push two hundred or so metres from the finish line. But instead of being allowed to cross the finish line, he was directed into the pit-lane by a group of marshals because he was adjudged to be outside the five minute limit! Because of that, he and his team mates were not classified as finishers in the results.
BMW Motorrad MotorsportÔÇÖs other team (S?®bastien Le Grelle, St?®phane Mertens and Rico Penzkofer) had suffered misfortune just before half race distance. They were on course for a tremendous top ten finish, when the bike suffered a dramatic loss of power. St?®phane Mertens felt the bike slow on the front straight, so pulled the bike off the track just before the Dunlop bridge. Before long, one the teamÔÇÖs mechanics appeared and together they tried to restart the bike. But, on hearing a strange noise, they decided that, in the interests of safety, it would be better not to continue. But before both dramas, the team had more than proved their capability and, if things had gone smoothly, one of both bikes wouldÔÇÖve been in the top ten at the end for sure.
Once again, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team took first and second places in the Le Mans 24 hours. Last yearÔÇÖs race winners - Suzuki no 2 ridden by William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Dutchman Barry Veneman - won this yearÔÇÖs race, eleven laps ahead of Suzuki no 1 of Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien da Costa, with the Yamaha Acropolis Motor Expert trio of Gr?®gory Fastre, Gr?®gory Leblanc and Anthony Dos Santos third.
Bike no 71
Richard Cooper
All weekend the bike has never skipped a beat and even riding in rain when it was dark was not a problem. In fact, I really got on with it and didnÔÇÖt have any dramas or ÔÇÿmomentsÔÇÖ at all. All weekend, we were chasing a top 15 place and, up until the last lap, I think we were achieving our goals. Our highest placing was 14th, but that felt comfortable and we believed we could hold on to that OK. After BrianÔÇÖs crash we lost well over four laps, but our team worked hard to get us back on the track quickly and gave us the chance to regain our position. The bike worked very well and we had a good set-up - for rain or dry - and all three of us were running pretty consistent lap times and we had an idea of what we could achieve. The end was a disaster and although I tried my best to get the bike back in time, I couldnÔÇÖt because the distance was too great. I am absolutely gutted and even though my body should be full of aches and pains I just feel numb at the moment.
Jose Luis Nion
I feel disappointed and sad for the whole team who have worked so hard these past days. All the effort theyÔÇÖve put in has come to nothing and thatÔÇÖs hard to take. The bike worked really well and was problem-free (apart from BrianÔÇÖs small crash), until the last lap. Today, we just didnÔÇÖt get any luck, but racing is like that sometimes and we have to get over it and start thinking and working towards the next race.
Brian Parriott
I crashed in the pouring rain, when the back suddenly came round without warning. I hadnÔÇÖt been going particularly fast or giving it too much gas - it just happened. Because of the soaking conditions, I ended up sliding a long way and ended up in the dirt and mud. I went to the bike, picked up and restarted it OK and rode it back to the pits so that my mechanics could get to work repairing the damage. My leathers were so badly covered in mud, that rest of the mechanics asked me if I had been doing a bit of mud-wrestling! We lost about fifteen minutes because of the crash, but the guys worked really well and got us back on track superfast. We then started regaining positions and were doing really good until the last lap drama.
Bike 17
St?®phane Mertens
I am disappointed for sure because we all believed that a top ten finish was a real possibility and we showed that capability in the race until the moment we had a problem. I was on the bike, when there was a sudden loss of power, so I had no choice but to pull off the track. I tried to restart it, but I heard a bit of a noise. Then, one of mechanics arrived and we tried to restart it again but, when the noise happened again, we thought it would be better (and safer) if we retired. Up to then I had been comfortable and really enjoying my comeback to racing after missing last season. But this kind of upset happens sometimes, so we just have to forget about it and look to the next race.
Berti Hauser (Director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
Is it some kind of unwritten rule that our second race of the season should end badly?
Last year, our second race of the year was a bit of a disaster and this year has been exactly the same! Nevertheless, I think that we, as a team, showed the capability of the bike this weekend. Our goal was to finish in the top ten and we were in the top ten during the race, despite the ever-changing conditions. But for the dramas of the crash and then the last lap problem, I am sure we wouldÔÇÖve finished in the top ten and that wouldÔÇÖve been a great result. Although we all a bit disappointed about how things turned out, particularly with bike No 71 at the end, we are not complaining because the rules are the rules. If things had worked out differently this weekend, we wouldÔÇÖve finished with one bike in the top ten and the other in the top fifteen. However, racing can be cruel sometimes and today we all suffered. WeÔÇÖre not going to dwell on what happened in Le Mans, because weÔÇÖre going to start looking forward immediately to our next race and doing everything to get a pair of good results.
atoracingdaily.com
Mladin get vitory at Baber Motorsports Park
BMW Sauber F1
BMW Motorsport
motorsport.com
Dan Greenwood [Former SCCA Pro Racing President] passes away
alpinestarinc.com
WindsorÔÇÖs World, a tribute to Jim Clark
foxsports.com
Danica Patrick becomes 1st female IRL winner
americanlemans.com
AudiÔÇÖs Werner, Luhr win a thriller in Long Beach
9ur= http://www.classicrallies.com/blog/index.php?/archives/1260-Sir-Stirling-Moss-OBE-to-drive-famous-Jaguar-DType-through-Bradford.html]classicrallies.com[/url]
Sir Stirling Moss OBE to drive famous Jaguar DType through Bradford
topspeed.com
Buick Invicta
I wonder if they remember what happened to Chrysler?
detnews.com
Daimler discussing ties with BMW
bnet.com
BMW China Venture plans to nearly triple capacity
financialexperes.com
BMW scraps plans to launch ÔÇÿMiniÔÇÖ in India by ÔÇÿ09
bnet.com[/url
Mercedes take SUV battle with BMW to China[url=http://www.gizmag.com/goodwood-festival-of-speed-2008/9186/]gizmag.com
Gearing up for Goodwood
BMW Website Review:
BMW Yachtsport
BMW Golfsport
BMW Oracle Racing
BMW Sport website
Conversion tools:
Periodically articles in the Morning Reads list things such as prices in units you may not be familiar with. Here are links to some conversion tools for your use.
Universal Currency Converter by xe.com
Online Conversion tools by onlinecoversion.com
Morning Reads standard measure of bike value is the Rdstr. The Rdstr is pegged to the U.S. Dollar and is currently trading at 1 Rdstr = $12,620 U.S. dollars
BlogRoll: some of the blogs I have collected while purposefully wondering around the internet.
Stuff: A place for everything and everything in its place, including stuff.
autobloggreen.com
Is tectonic activity the source of oil? Should we be using it?
startribune.com
MinnesotaÔÇÖs new ghost towns
Spiegel.de
Riefenstahl films: The woman, the perfect Nazi bodies created
rediff.com
How far is OPEC responsible for oil rally?
The man who made bond
reuters.comIan FlemingÔÇÖs war spying helped inspire James Bond
windingroad.com
Bond stunt driver crashes Aston Martin DBS into Italian lake.
wsj.com
Sharp differences on health care
chinadigitaltimes.net
ChinaÔÇÖs growing thirst for milk hits global market
Do you think he might loan me a few bucks?
motorautority.com
PorscheÔÇÖs Wiedeking is auto industryÔÇÖs highest paid CEO
M.R. Traveler
Places 2 Ride Blog
www.biker-events.com
Finding the Good Times on 2 Wheels
Horizonsunlimited.com ÔÇô Newsletter
2008 International Rally
Gillette, Wyoming, July 17-20 2008
Mining The Website
BMW MOA Foundation: MotoSafe ÔÇô Mentoring a Novice
Part I
Part II
Part III
Threads worth following:
Road Side Attrations
The elections threads; then vote early and often.
TodayÔÇÖsRoadFood.com
Woot
Todays Woot
The Blog
Packer News: Packers.com, jsonline.com - Packers Plus Online
Humor
Over Heard in New York | Voice of the City
Sluggy Freelance
The Onion
xkcd
Bike Candy:
THE END
bikepoint.com.au
Aprilia Tuono - REVIEW
visordown.com
Road Test: DL 100 V-Strom v Tiger v TDM900
masmoto.net
John Deere Suzuki Intruder
Coming attractions from Visi-tec
lidzduc.com
Visi-tec video of a prototype test
History of the Shovelhead engine
[url=http://www.articlesbase.com/motorcycles-articles/harley-davidson-vrsc-motorcycle-390541.html]articlebase.com
Harley Davidson VRSC motorcycle
wornenridersnow.com
Ohio Bike WeekÔÇÖs WomenÔÇÖs Event
Le Mans 24 Hours ÔÇô BMW Motorrad Motorsport
2008 Endurance World Championship
Sunday 20th April
Circuit: 4.180 kms. Crowd: 85,000
Conditions: Saturday: rain at start, then sunny/cloudy. Sunday: rain in the night, then sunny/cloudy.
TEAM BMW MOTORRAD MOTORSPORT SUFFERS CRUEL LUCK AT LE MANS
After a weekend of problems due to the varying weather conditions, Team BMW Motorrad MotorsportÔÇÖs trio of Richard Cooper, Jos?® Luis Nion and Brian Parriott were heading for a hard-fought for top fifteen finish, until a last lap drama ruled them out. On the very last lap of the 24-hour marathon, Richard was riding smoothly and cruising to the finish, when his bike suddenly suffered a loss of power at the end of the pit straight. He managed to keep it going until La Chapelle, where the marshals told him that he had five minutes to get it across the finish line in order to post a result. He got a bit of a tow from another rider and then began the long, hard push two hundred or so metres from the finish line. But instead of being allowed to cross the finish line, he was directed into the pit-lane by a group of marshals because he was adjudged to be outside the five minute limit! Because of that, he and his team mates were not classified as finishers in the results.
BMW Motorrad MotorsportÔÇÖs other team (S?®bastien Le Grelle, St?®phane Mertens and Rico Penzkofer) had suffered misfortune just before half race distance. They were on course for a tremendous top ten finish, when the bike suffered a dramatic loss of power. St?®phane Mertens felt the bike slow on the front straight, so pulled the bike off the track just before the Dunlop bridge. Before long, one the teamÔÇÖs mechanics appeared and together they tried to restart the bike. But, on hearing a strange noise, they decided that, in the interests of safety, it would be better not to continue. But before both dramas, the team had more than proved their capability and, if things had gone smoothly, one of both bikes wouldÔÇÖve been in the top ten at the end for sure.
Once again, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team took first and second places in the Le Mans 24 hours. Last yearÔÇÖs race winners - Suzuki no 2 ridden by William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Dutchman Barry Veneman - won this yearÔÇÖs race, eleven laps ahead of Suzuki no 1 of Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien da Costa, with the Yamaha Acropolis Motor Expert trio of Gr?®gory Fastre, Gr?®gory Leblanc and Anthony Dos Santos third.
Bike no 71
Richard Cooper
All weekend the bike has never skipped a beat and even riding in rain when it was dark was not a problem. In fact, I really got on with it and didnÔÇÖt have any dramas or ÔÇÿmomentsÔÇÖ at all. All weekend, we were chasing a top 15 place and, up until the last lap, I think we were achieving our goals. Our highest placing was 14th, but that felt comfortable and we believed we could hold on to that OK. After BrianÔÇÖs crash we lost well over four laps, but our team worked hard to get us back on the track quickly and gave us the chance to regain our position. The bike worked very well and we had a good set-up - for rain or dry - and all three of us were running pretty consistent lap times and we had an idea of what we could achieve. The end was a disaster and although I tried my best to get the bike back in time, I couldnÔÇÖt because the distance was too great. I am absolutely gutted and even though my body should be full of aches and pains I just feel numb at the moment.
Jose Luis Nion
I feel disappointed and sad for the whole team who have worked so hard these past days. All the effort theyÔÇÖve put in has come to nothing and thatÔÇÖs hard to take. The bike worked really well and was problem-free (apart from BrianÔÇÖs small crash), until the last lap. Today, we just didnÔÇÖt get any luck, but racing is like that sometimes and we have to get over it and start thinking and working towards the next race.
Brian Parriott
I crashed in the pouring rain, when the back suddenly came round without warning. I hadnÔÇÖt been going particularly fast or giving it too much gas - it just happened. Because of the soaking conditions, I ended up sliding a long way and ended up in the dirt and mud. I went to the bike, picked up and restarted it OK and rode it back to the pits so that my mechanics could get to work repairing the damage. My leathers were so badly covered in mud, that rest of the mechanics asked me if I had been doing a bit of mud-wrestling! We lost about fifteen minutes because of the crash, but the guys worked really well and got us back on track superfast. We then started regaining positions and were doing really good until the last lap drama.
Bike 17
St?®phane Mertens
I am disappointed for sure because we all believed that a top ten finish was a real possibility and we showed that capability in the race until the moment we had a problem. I was on the bike, when there was a sudden loss of power, so I had no choice but to pull off the track. I tried to restart it, but I heard a bit of a noise. Then, one of mechanics arrived and we tried to restart it again but, when the noise happened again, we thought it would be better (and safer) if we retired. Up to then I had been comfortable and really enjoying my comeback to racing after missing last season. But this kind of upset happens sometimes, so we just have to forget about it and look to the next race.
Berti Hauser (Director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
Is it some kind of unwritten rule that our second race of the season should end badly?
Last year, our second race of the year was a bit of a disaster and this year has been exactly the same! Nevertheless, I think that we, as a team, showed the capability of the bike this weekend. Our goal was to finish in the top ten and we were in the top ten during the race, despite the ever-changing conditions. But for the dramas of the crash and then the last lap problem, I am sure we wouldÔÇÖve finished in the top ten and that wouldÔÇÖve been a great result. Although we all a bit disappointed about how things turned out, particularly with bike No 71 at the end, we are not complaining because the rules are the rules. If things had worked out differently this weekend, we wouldÔÇÖve finished with one bike in the top ten and the other in the top fifteen. However, racing can be cruel sometimes and today we all suffered. WeÔÇÖre not going to dwell on what happened in Le Mans, because weÔÇÖre going to start looking forward immediately to our next race and doing everything to get a pair of good results.
atoracingdaily.com
Mladin get vitory at Baber Motorsports Park
BMW Sauber F1
BMW Motorsport
motorsport.com
Dan Greenwood [Former SCCA Pro Racing President] passes away
alpinestarinc.com
WindsorÔÇÖs World, a tribute to Jim Clark
foxsports.com
Danica Patrick becomes 1st female IRL winner
americanlemans.com
AudiÔÇÖs Werner, Luhr win a thriller in Long Beach
9ur= http://www.classicrallies.com/blog/index.php?/archives/1260-Sir-Stirling-Moss-OBE-to-drive-famous-Jaguar-DType-through-Bradford.html]classicrallies.com[/url]
Sir Stirling Moss OBE to drive famous Jaguar DType through Bradford
topspeed.com
Buick Invicta
I wonder if they remember what happened to Chrysler?
detnews.com
Daimler discussing ties with BMW
bnet.com
BMW China Venture plans to nearly triple capacity
financialexperes.com
BMW scraps plans to launch ÔÇÿMiniÔÇÖ in India by ÔÇÿ09
bnet.com[/url
Mercedes take SUV battle with BMW to China[url=http://www.gizmag.com/goodwood-festival-of-speed-2008/9186/]gizmag.com
Gearing up for Goodwood
BMW Website Review:
BMW Yachtsport
BMW Golfsport
BMW Oracle Racing
BMW Sport website
Conversion tools:
Periodically articles in the Morning Reads list things such as prices in units you may not be familiar with. Here are links to some conversion tools for your use.
Universal Currency Converter by xe.com
Online Conversion tools by onlinecoversion.com
Morning Reads standard measure of bike value is the Rdstr. The Rdstr is pegged to the U.S. Dollar and is currently trading at 1 Rdstr = $12,620 U.S. dollars
BlogRoll: some of the blogs I have collected while purposefully wondering around the internet.
Stuff: A place for everything and everything in its place, including stuff.
autobloggreen.com
Is tectonic activity the source of oil? Should we be using it?
startribune.com
MinnesotaÔÇÖs new ghost towns
Spiegel.de
Riefenstahl films: The woman, the perfect Nazi bodies created
rediff.com
How far is OPEC responsible for oil rally?
The man who made bond
reuters.comIan FlemingÔÇÖs war spying helped inspire James Bond
windingroad.com
Bond stunt driver crashes Aston Martin DBS into Italian lake.
wsj.com
Sharp differences on health care
chinadigitaltimes.net
ChinaÔÇÖs growing thirst for milk hits global market
Do you think he might loan me a few bucks?
motorautority.com
PorscheÔÇÖs Wiedeking is auto industryÔÇÖs highest paid CEO
M.R. Traveler
Places 2 Ride Blog
www.biker-events.com
Finding the Good Times on 2 Wheels
Horizonsunlimited.com ÔÇô Newsletter
2008 International Rally
Gillette, Wyoming, July 17-20 2008
Mining The Website
BMW MOA Foundation: MotoSafe ÔÇô Mentoring a Novice
Part I
Part II
Part III
Threads worth following:
Road Side Attrations
The elections threads; then vote early and often.
TodayÔÇÖsRoadFood.com
Woot
Todays Woot
The Blog
Packer News: Packers.com, jsonline.com - Packers Plus Online
Humor
Over Heard in New York | Voice of the City
Sluggy Freelance
The Onion
xkcd
Bike Candy:
THE END
