Star-studded line-up of World Champions, Grand Prix heroes and awe-inspiring 500cc machines is announced  

Pack your tents, sun-cream and shorts/bikini (!) and go camping at a Biker Friendly campsite

www.thebikerguide.co.uk/bikerfriendlycamping.html

Thanks to a grant from the Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner, the British Motor Museum is able to offer subsidized places on its forth coming Motorcycles Rider Skills Workshops. The grant has enabled the Museum to subsidize each place by £40, so from £90 to £50 per rider, with the next workshops running on 30 July, 13 August and 27 August.

The workshops are designed to make motorcycle riding safer and more enjoyable. They are run by ex-police instructors and advanced police riders as well as senior observers from both RoSPA and IAM, all of whom were previously involved in the Warwickshire Polices BikeSafe initiative. The workshops explore the main riding hazards that bikers face, helping improve riders skills, knowledge and hazard awareness.

The workshops include both classroom and open road sessions, covering observations, hazard perception, anticipation and planning, cornering and overtaking. Riders will also have their riding assessed out on the open road. In addition to this, lunch and free entry to the British Motor Museum is also included within the £50 workshop fee.

Neil Colledge, Workshop Instructor from the British Motor Museum and former head of the Warwickshire BikeSafe initiative said “This grant shows how seriously the risk to bikers is taken. Each year hundreds of motorcyclists are killed or seriously injured on our roads. Our workshops are run by bikers, for bikers! They are about learning to assess your riding strengths and weakness, allowing you to improve your riding skills and enable you to get the most out of your machines in a safe and responsible way”.

For more information about the motorcycle rider skills workshops please visit www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk or call 01926 645056.

With the world going Pokemon GO crazy, UK road safety charity IAM Roadsmart is urging motorists not to go on the hunt for Squirtle on Spaghetti Junction, Jigglypuff on the Hangar Lane gyratory or Magikarp on the M4.

The new Pokemon Go mobile phone craze has swept the world this week, and is available in the UK today – but IAM RoadSmart has reminded drivers not to play the game while at the wheel of their cars. 

The game allows you to seek out Pokemon characters in real life settings via your mobile phone. But IAM RoadSmart fears that young drivers especially could go on the search for Pikachu and his friends on the roads.

Samson Ruwangu, IAM RoadSmart digital content executive, 23, said: “Kids and adults alike are going crazy for this game. But the risk is that some people are going to be playing it at the wrong time – and driving a car is the last place you should be looking for Pidgey, Rattata or the others.

“I nearly tripped over playing this game. Pokemon GO makes you concentrate on catching characters and it takes both hand and eye coordination.”

Research conducted last year by IAM RoadSmart showed the extent to which smartphone use had become an addiction to some.

Eight per cent of drivers admitted to driving while using a video-calling application such as FaceTime and Skype to make and receive video calls, rising to 16 per cent among 18 to 24 year olds.

It found nine per cent of drivers admitted to taking a selfie while driving within ‘the last month’. This increases to 15 per cent of young drivers aged 18-24 and 19 per cent of 25-35 year olds. Women are less selfie obsessed than men, with just five per cent of women citing they have taken a selfie while driving compared to 12 per cent of men.

Samson added: “While looking out for Eevee, Weedle and the rest is great fun, it is important to keep concentration on what matters – and that’s keeping your eyes on the road. Psyduck can wait for later.”

Full article here

ON THE SACHSENRING, WITH FALL WEATHER, THE APRILIAS RIDDEN BY BAUTISTA AND BRADL ARE TRYING TO FIND THE BEST SETTING FOR THE QUALIFYING TOMORROW

Typically fall weather, with temperatures between 13 and 16 degrees Celsius and a constant threat of rain, characterised the opening Friday of the German MotoGP Championship weekend.

The first session, partly due to the damp track that cause a lot of crashes, had the Aprilia riders sitting in the garage for most of the time available and it was not very helpful for fine tuning the bikes. Stefan Bradl also had a sliding crash that ended without any consequences for the rider. The afternoon session went better when Bautista and Bradl were able to lap with some consistency, obviously dropping their times significantly compared to the morning, as well as finding some good sensations and collecting a series of data that will be useful for finding the best setup for tomorrow, when the riders will be competing for the spots on the starting grid.

In fact, all of the work done today by the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini focused on an initial general setup for the RS-GP, which will be taking on the short and winding German circuit for the first time. At the end of the two sessions, Alvaro Bautista finished in 17th place (1’23.958), just ahead of teammate Stefan Bradl, 18th with 1’24.116.

ALVARO BAUTISTA
“With the weather conditions today we certainly could not push to the limit, so we had a general initial contact with the Sachsenring. The feelings are not bad at all, although we didn't force our hand. This is a track where you are in turns for a lot of the time, so traction is very important, especially at maximum lean angle. Today we tried to find as much as possible, especially using the electronics, but that is not enough. We will also need to find more mechanical grip and avoid exploiting the traction control too much. The other front we worked on was stability, which we need to improve. We have the potential to improve a lot for the qualifiers tomorrow".

STEFAN BRADL
“This was an odd first day. The weather made things difficult, especially during FP1. I crashed as it began to rain on a turn where many others crashed. Fortunately, I was not hurt. In the afternoon the conditions improved a bit, but the setting we started with turned out not to be effective. We changed the rear of the bike in one direction, without finding any great benefits, and then toward the end of the session we went back to a configuration that we know better. The feeling was improving, but unfortunately the session was over by that time. Hopefully tomorrow the better weather will allow us to continue working in this direction which seems to be able to bring good results”.