Coventry Transport Museum hosts breakfast with style this summer as they invite classic car owners to join their Breakfast Club.

These free events are an opportunity for classic car and motorcycle owners to show off their cars on Millennium Place, directly in front of the Coventry Transport Museum, on Saturday mornings. As well as meeting other vehicle owners, participants can chat over a cup of tea and a free pastry.

Having been trialled during Autumn 2014, the Breakfast Club proved to be very popular with Midlands motor enthusiasts and this year the Breakfast Club returns, taking place on the following Saturdays: 11 April, 9 May, 13 June, 11 July, 8 August, 12 September, with the last event happening on 10 October. The events are FREE for any classic vehicle owners to attend are from 9am to 11am.

Culture Coventry’s Chief Executive Gary Hall, said, “The Breakfast Club here at the Transport Museum proved to be very popular last year so of course we are bringing it back for 2015. We welcome anyone who owns a classic car or motorbike, and it really is a chance for people to come and show off their vehicle and have a chat with other classic car owners. It’ll take place during the summer months so people can bring their classic cars and motorbikes onto Millennium Place and enjoy a cup of coffee in the sunshine. We’ll be relaunching the Museum this summer after an impressive £8.5m refurbishment project, so getting involved in the Breakfast Club is an excellent way for owners to be part of a really exciting time for the Museum.”

All vehicle owners attending will enjoy a free pastry, when purchasing a regular sized tea or coffee from the range of beverages at the popular museum coffee house 'Esquires'. Due to space restrictions, places at the Breakfast Club are strictly limited, and only pre-registered vehicles will be permitted onto Millennium Place on the day.

For more information or to register please go to www.transport-museum.com

Northern Ireland racer Ryan Farquhar, a three-time TT Race winner, is set for an increased attack on this year's Isle of Man TT Races, fuelled by Monster Energy.

Having made his return to the Mountain Course in the 2014 BikeNation Lightweight TT race, after a two-year absence from the Isle of Man, the KMR Kawasaki rider will now contest four races in June and is sure to line up amongst the favourites in all of the classes.

Continuing with Kawasaki machinery for the eighth consecutive year, Farquhar, who turns 39 in February, will contest the RL360 Superstock on his old production machine and the BikeNation Lightweight TT on a new ER6. He'll also be campaigning a high-spec Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike for the RST Superbike and Dainese Senior TT Races.

Having retired from racing in August 2012, the Dungannon rider, the most successful in Irish Road Racing history, returned to the sport at the beginning of 2014 along with Keith Amor and the duo contested the Lightweight class on Farquhar's immaculately prepared ER6 650cc Kawasakis. He also raced Roger Winfield's classic Yamaha and Paton in the 2014 Classic TT Races.

Having won the re-introduced Lightweight TT race in 2012 - the first for Super Twin-spec machines - Farquhar took a relatively low key seventh place in last year's race, paying the price for only having one bike and suffering a distinct lack of track time compared with his rivals during the fortnight.

Farquhar made his TT debut in 2002 after winning the Manx Grand Prix, and now has a total of 13 podiums to his name, as well as three race wins in the 2004 Production 600cc, the 2005 Supersport B and 2012 Lightweight races - a tally he's keen to add to later this year.

The presence of one of the greatest names in road racing on the entry list for all solo classes will be a terrific addition to the event and adds further intrigue and excitement to what's already shaping up to be another stunning TT fortnight.

Commenting on his return to the Superbike and Superstock class, Farquhar said:

"To go back to the TT with just the one bike is a waste of time. My intentions last year were to just do a few classic races and ride the Supertwin at selected races but it left me badly on the back foot. It was a big disadvantage because I wasn't bike fit but I'm back in training again and I haven't trained in years, so you can take out of that what you want! I'm not going out there to waste tyres and fuel."

Father and son team SP FiFTYONE, with Dakar veteran Simon Pavey and first-time competitor Llewelyn Pavey, is currently tackling the first few days of this year’s Dakar Desert Race in Argentina.

Michelin is the tyre provider of choice for the duo, who spend most of their time off-road riding at their specialist riding school set in the heart of the Welsh countryside. The Dakar sees the pair facing vastly different terrains to the Welsh valleys, with the notorious soft sand or fesh-fesh sections, dry rutted riverbeds, and riding at altitude as they head into Chile.

With such a wide variety of terrain, climate and long stages of riding – the tyres for their KTM rally bikes really needed to be able to stand up to the task. Using Michelin’s Desert Race tyres combined with Bib-mousse puncture protection, the pair have already completed the first days of the race and managed to move up places within the top 100 riders.

The Michelin Desert Race tyres have won the Dakar an impressive 30 times in as many years and have certainly proven their credibility as the Rally race tyre of choice for serious competitors. In 2012, the winning KTM factory rider, Cyril Despres, went straight to the top of the podium using Desert Race tyres and praised their exceptional performance no matter what type of terrain, temperature, engine size or bike weight was thrown at them.

With excellent handling at high speeds and in extreme conditions, the tyres combined with Bib-mousse are the perfect set-up for the Pavey duo and the challenges they will face in this year’s Dakar. In fact Michelin were the first to develop the concept of a foam replacement for the inner tube with Bib-mousse in 1984, and in its first year at the Dakar, the technology was proven by taking the win. The winning rider has been using Michelin Bib-mousse every year since.

Michelin UK Technical Manager, Tony Charlton explains: “A Bib-mousse replaces the inner tube for off-road motorcycles. As it is not a tube that holds air, you can’t suffer from a traditional puncture or pinch flat and subsequent flat tyre, even if the tyre itself is punctured. Pinch flats are a big threat in this type of competition with high speeds and rocky terrain. A pinch flat occurs when the traditional inner tube is pinched between the tyre and wheel rim, usually from a hard impact against a rock or ledge. This splits the tube, sometimes in two places when the tyre is pushed against both sides of the rim and this is a snakebite, as that’s exactly what it looks like has happened to the tube. In races like the Dakar the riders have enough to contend with without having to mend a puncture or swap a tube after every unexpectedly hard hit!

Bib-mousse is named after the Michelin Man, or Bibendum as he is officially named. It is a ring of butyl honeycomb foam with its cells filled with nitrogen. It has a smooth-moulded outer skin that is specially designed to slip into specific size off-road motorcycle tyres. We’re proud to be supporting the Pavey team this year, and are confident the use of Michelin tyres and Bib-mousse will help them complete the extreme challenge.”

To follow the progress of Team SP FiFTYONE visit www.simonpavey.com

Find out more about the extensive range of motorcycle tyres at moto.michelin.co.uk

TRL are looking for participants who feel their riding has been affected by stress in the last six months, and who are able to travel to TRL (Crowthorne House, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 3GA) on more than one occasion. They are particularly looking for motorcyclists who ride all year around.

Here is some general information about the study:

TRL – stress management study

Stress is a common occurrence among many people, and may stem from one or various areas of life. However, research shows that stress of different sources can have a detrimental effect on road safety and can result in increased risk to motorists.

TRL is currently recruiting for a study relating to stress while on the road. They are looking for motorcyclists/ moped riders who have been experiencing high levels of stress in the previous six months. In particular, we are interested in people who feel their riding style has been affected by feelings of stress and stress-related anxiety or worry.

Participants who are selected to take part in the research will be required to travel to TRL and will be paid a small standard amount to go toward time and expenses involved in participating in the research.

If you are interested in taking part in this research, please click on the following link to complete a short screening questionnaire containing some questions about you and your riding experience. Please note that completion of the following questionnaire does not guarantee you will be selected to take part in the research.

www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/128773LLFIC

The are looking for participants to start on/ around 18th January

TRL

The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) is an independent private company wholly owned by the Transport Research Foundation (TRF), an independent non-profit-distributing foundation, limited by guarantee and with no shareholders. It provides impartial research, consultancy, and testing for all aspects of transport to the public and private sectors in over 145 countries.

TRL strongly believes in evidence-based research and practice, particularly relating to increasing all aspects of driver and rider safety. TRL also helps governmental and private organisations to better understand risk and to create solutions that are proven to help motorists stay safe while on the road. For more information about TRL, please visit the company’s website at www.trl.co.uk

• The agreement between Ducati and the important Italian web company will last three years

• A new version of the Ducati Panigale and new regulations closer to production models for the 2015 Superbike World Championship

• "Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team" is the name of the team, the only official Ducati outfit to compete in the Superbike World Championship

Borgo Panigale/Arezzo (Italy), 8 January 2015: Ducati and Aruba confirm the signing of a three-year agreement that will see their joint participation in the 2015 Superbike World Championship with the “Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team”. This is a partnership agreement that sees Aruba directly involved in the management of the official Ducati team as well as in the role of title sponsor.

Aruba, based in Arezzo, is Italy’s leading web hosting and cloud services company and has consolidated its activities in Europe with a network of Data Centres in France, Germany, the UK and the Czech Republic. The Tuscan firm has decided to take on this new challenge in collaboration with Ducati as it shares a significant number of values with the Bologna-based manufacturer, ranging from the technological avant-garde in their respective sectors, to the ability to offer the excellence of “Made in Italy”, operating with passion and competence to guarantee the satisfaction of their users and clients across the world. Important affinities that, combined with Ducati’s long-time experience and success in Superbike and the passion that Aruba has for sport, have contributed to the birth of this prestigious partnership.

Ducati Corse will continue to be responsible for the development and preparation of the Ducati Panigale R bikes with which the team will compete in the upcoming championship. Ducati and Aruba have made the decision to continue collaboration with Feel Racing, the technical and logistical structure that has long been linked to Ducati. Aruba will be responsible for certain organizational aspects of the team and also, together with Ducati, for team communication and marketing activities.

Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano will continue as official riders for the second consecutive year, with Serafino Foti confirmed in the role of Team Manager. Ernesto Marinelli will continue to be the Ducati Corse Superbike Project Director and Technical Director of the team. Aruba will be represented at the tracks by Luca Scassa. The 31-year old rider, who hails from Arezzo and has sixty Superbike races under his belt, will also be one of the team’s official test riders.

Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A, stated: “It’s with great pleasure that we can announce this important agreement with Aruba that guarantees a solid work platform for Ducati in the Superbike World Championship over the next three years. While fully respecting our philosophy of using racing to test and continuously improve the product that we offer to our fans, the new “Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team” will be able to count on a profoundly evolved version of the Panigale in 2015, which will also be available to our fans and be even more powerful, lightweight and electronically cutting-edge. For Ducati, races have strategic importance, and the Superbike World Championship allows us to demonstrate, on track, just how high-performing and fast a twin-cylinder can be. With the new 2015 regulations, which stipulate that the bikes competing must be even closer to production models, we believe we have everything we need to be very competitive. With its 14 Riders’ titles and 17 Manufacturers’ titles, Ducati has an extraordinary history of successes and victories in the Superbike World Championship and, with this agreement, we think that we have laid the foundations from which to build on this unique record of achievement. I therefore wish Chaz and Davide lots of luck and extend a warm welcome to Aruba.”

Stefano Cecconi, CEO of Aruba S.p.A, commented: “We are very proud of this partnership in which we have great faith, and that will allow us to manage, together with Ducati, an official team with two very competitive riders. We have taken the decision to enter the world of racing because it links in many ways to our world and shares some of the same fundamental pillars, such as the continuous quest for maximum performance and ever increasing reliability, and a constant focus on safety. We will take on this new challenge with the same commitment and with the same passion that we show our clients each day. This is why we have chosen our Data Centre IT1 in Arezzo, the symbol and heart of technological development for our group, as the setting for the official presentation of the team.”

The new team will be officially presented to the press in early February, with a dedicated event that will take place at the Aruba Data Centre in Arezzo. Further details will follow in the coming days.

Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A.

Founded in 1926, Ducati has been producing sport-inspired motorcycles since 1946. Today, their motorcycles are characterized by performance engines with Desmodromic valve actuation, innovative design and avant-garde technology. Covering several market segments, Ducati's range of motorcycles is divided into model families which include: Diavel, Hypermotard, Monster, Multistrada, Scrambler, Streetfighter and Superbike. These authentic icons of “made in Italy”, together with an extensive range of associated accessories and technical and lifestyle apparel, are distributed in over 80 countries around the world, with concentration on the European, North American and Asia-Pacific markets. In addition to the Bologna factory located in the Borgo Panigale area, Ducati has a plant in Thailand, which opened in 2011 and assembles motorcycles for the Asian market, and, since 2012, another in Brazil that assembles motorcycles for South America. In 2013 Ducati delivered 44,287 motorcycles to customers, an all-time company record.

Ducati competes in both the World Superbike and MotoGP World Championships. In Superbike Ducati has won 17 Manufacturers' titles and 14 Riders' titles and in 2011 passed the historic milestone of 300 race victories. Ducati has participated in MotoGP since 2003, winning both the Manufacturers' and Riders' titles in 2007.

www.ducati.com

ARUBA S.p.A.

Aruba S.p.A, founded in 1994, is the Italian market leader for data center, webhosting, email and domains. The company manages 2 million domains, over 6 million email accounts and a total of more than 2 million customers. The company is present in the main European markets such as France, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Aruba has also gained massive experience in dedicated servers, housing and collocation, managed services, security services and smart cards. Since 2011, it has been expanding its product portfolio with fast-growing Cloud services and in 2014 Aruba became the official Registry of the domain ".cloud".

www.arubacloud.com