Ace Cafe London's special guest on Sunday 20th July (70's Bike Day!) is Eric Patterson, showcasing and firing up his unique and very special, modified 1000cc V-twin, Vincent powered motorcycle, prior to departing for the USA and the 2014 Bonneville Speed Trials!

Eric, organiser of the popular and ever so useful bike jumbles held regularly throughout the year at Kempton Park, is the holder of a number of Bonneville Speed Trial records, with machines to include his own JAP V-twin powered Norton "featherbed" framed special and Brough Superior's, this year Eric is going for the following four 1000cc classes with his Viscount.

Modified Pushrod "Fuel" - record at 140.76mph
Modified Vintage - Partial Streamlined, gasoline - record at 123.25mph
Modified Pre 1979 "Fuel" Class
Modified Pre 1979 Partial Streamlined Class

The "Salt" going "Viscount" motorcycle, originally built by Peter Darvill, is number one of only ten ever made, and consists of a 1951 V-twin Vincent engine in a Norton "Manx" rolling chassis, with magnesium "Manx" wheels - its provenance includes racing at the Isle of Man TT in 1956!

Special modifications and preparations to the bike, for racing at Bonneville, range from work on the engine, with pistons going up from 9.1 to 12.1 compression, camshafts and a BTH four plug system to fire it up. Special exhausts, clutch, belt drive and re-worked manifolds to take a pair of "Gardiner" carburettors, with Hagon supplying the suspension and the specially built alloy rims, all topped off with fuel and oil tanks in aluminium and clip-on bars!

See it, hear it and taste the salt!

www.egp-enterprises.co.uk
www.bonnevillespeedtrials.com

www.ace-cafe-london.com

Following a meeting of the Motorcycle Crime Reduction Group, which met this week, figures have been released which show a marked reduction in the theft of motorcycles which have been ‘tagged’ under the UK’s first national and official motorcycle anti-theft scheme.

52,687 new motorcycles and scooters have been protected and registered with the MASTER Security Scheme since January 2013, of which only 403 have been stolen.

This represents a theft rate of 0.76%, compared to an historic rate of 2.6% and means MASTER scheme tagged motorcycles are nearly 4 times less likely to be stolen.

Typically around 26,000 motorcycles or scooters were stolen every year, 50% of which are taken within Greater London. Using the current rates of theft, if all bikes were MASTER tagged this would mean c18,000 less motorcycles would be stolen each year.*

Of the 403 bikes which have been stolen, the current recovery rate (at the time of this week’s meeting) stands at 37%. In addition, the police are aware of the locations of a number of the remainder of the unrecovered bikes, which will be the subject of police action in the coming weeks.

Steve Kenward, CEO of the MCI said “11 major manufactures have been marking their bikes for over 12 months now, so we are in a position to begin evaluating the effectiveness of the MASTER Security Scheme. It will take another two years to see the full effects, as motorcycle theft is currently mostly centred on bikes of three years or less, but we are highly encouraged by the results we have seen so far.”

*Figure is the difference between 0.76% and 2.6% of the active parc, i.e. the theft rate of MASTER tagged bikes and the historic rate of theft.)

For more information – see the full story here

Two time TT Race winner Cameron Donald will make his return to the Mountain Course in August for the Isle of Man Classic TT Races presented by Bennetts with the Australian ace contesting both the Bennetts 500cc Classic TT and Okells 350cc Classic TT Races for Ripley Land Racing. Donald will line up on the team's 500cc Seeley G50 and 350cc 7R AJS as he did in 2013

36-year old Donald, who rode the factory Norton at this year's TT, enjoyed a strong Classic TT meeting twelve months ago, with the highlight his second place overall in the 350cc Classic TT Race. The Melbourne rider was the winner of the 350cc GP1 class last year and became the first rider to break the 100mph barrier on a standard frame AJS 7R.

He was also the fastest 500cc two valve single through the speed trap and was lying in fourth place in the race after an opening lap of 106.861mph before being forced to retire a lap later.

Ripley Land Racing have been stalwarts of the classic scene for numerous years and Chris Palmer gave them the overall victory in last year's overall 350cc Classic TT Race, giving them a superb 1-2, and he also took the corresponding race at the Manx Grand Prix in 2012. The team, owned by Ian Garbutt, still hopes to secure the services of a leading TT rider to ride the same 350cc Honda ridden by Palmer.

Speaking about his Classic TT return, Cameron Donald commented:

"I loved every minute of last year's Classic TT and I am delighted that I have the chance to go back and get involved in some more racing around the TT Course. The atmosphere was fantastic last year and I love the whole classic racing scene. It is an honour to ride motorcycles as well prepared as the ones Ripley Land Racing provide me with and hopefully we can break a few more records and get ourselves back onto the podium."

Tickets are now on sale and selling fast for the 2014 Classic TT Races presented by Bennetts. VIP experiences, Grandstand tickets, Classic TT Heroes Dinner and Classic TT Party tickets can be purchased from www.iomtt.com or by phoning 00 44 (0)1624 640000.

Travel and accommodation packages to suit all budgets and requirements are available from Official Classic TT Travel Agency Regency Travel on +44 (0)1624 694456 or [email protected]

MARCO MELANDRI, SYLVAIN GUINTOLI AND THE APRILIA RACING TEAM WILL BE ON THE TRACK AGAIN THIS WEEKEND AT LAGUNA SECA.

Laguna Seca, 10 July 2014 - With just enough time to catch their breath after the Portimão races, it's already time for the Aprilia Racing Team to take to the track again. In fact, before the summer break begins the World Superbike calendar has scheduled rounds two weekends in a row: leaving Portugal behind the teams go immediately to Laguna Seca, the factory derivative American round.

The Californian circuit certainly needs no introduction. Historic and decidedly particular, it's most representative section is the "Corkscrew". But there are many exciting spots on this old school track that always provide for adrenaline filled races.

Marco Melandri loves the Californian track and the special feeling in the air at Laguna Seca. On the American track he will have the opportunity to continue his trend of consistent improvement which has him more and more of a protagonist in recent rounds: "Laguna is one of my favourite tracks, plus I love the atmosphere that you can feel in the air there. It will be nice to have three days of good weather and to be able to demonstrate what I am really capable of. I have nothing left to lose, so I'll be on the attack from start to finish.”

Last year it was red flags that decided the day's results. It was Sylvain Guintoli who paid the price after starting from pole position on his RSV4 and, twice in a row, was on his way to a win, riding alone at the front of the pack. After the second red flag the Frenchman was unable to find the right pace and he is eager to redeem himself this weekend: "Laguna is our last race before the summer break. Just like in Portugal, we need to attack and take risks so the championship fight stays open. At this moment, only this kind of attitude can help us. I am looking forward to it because last year I did the lap record in Superpole but then in the races I lost my focus feeling frustrated by the multiple red flags. I really think we can do a good job in California on Sunday”.

A TOUGHER DAY FOR GUINTOLI WHO IN ANY CASE HAS CLEAR IDEAS ON HOW TO PROCEED.

Portimão, 4 July 2014 – Marco Melandri came out of the gates shining at Portimão, taking the top spot in the first morning session and pleased with the work accomplished in the afternoon. Sylvain Guintoli had a few difficulties, starting off well (second in FP1) but unable to find his groove in the afternoon. In any case, both riders have clear ideas on how to set up the two sessions tomorrow.

Melandri, improving steadily in the last two rounds where he took two wins and then two podiums, stopped the clock with the best time in the first session, immediately feeling comfortable on the ups and downs of the Portuguese track. In the afternoon the Italian rider focused on a series of tests both in terms of tyres and settings for his number 33 RSV4, gathering useful information for tomorrow's sessions and Superpole. For the races Marco is expecting a tight group of competitive riders, a situation that promises two spectacular shows.

Marco Melandri: “Overall this was a good day for us. In the afternoon the conditions were much different than in the morning with strong winds and very hot asphalt. Because of that we focused on testing tyres because with the new solutions available to us the choice is not necessarily a given. As far as our times go I was quite pleased with the performance in the first practice session so in the afternoon I decided to work more on race pace. I am seeing a lot of competitive riders and here at Portimão race times usually change quite a bit, so being well prepared is essential. Superpole is not my strong point, but tomorrow I'll have to try to take advantage of it as best as possible. Starting from the front row could definitely help in the hung for a good result”.

Sylvain Guintoli, after an excellent performance in the morning, also set to work solving some grip problems due to the different track conditions in FP2. The changes made didn't provide the expected results, so tomorrow Sylvain and his team will continue working on the base settings to try and find the best configuration.

Sylvain Guintoli: “Today was a tough day. It seems like the track lost a lot of grip compared to last year. We did well this morning and then in the afternoon we tested some different geometries to try and improve but the results were not what we had hoped for. So tomorrow we'll go back to our base setting and start over from there, going in a different direction and trying to improve on our times. I like the track and I'm confident that we'll be able to solve the problems we had today and ride two good races”.