The Gresini Racing MotoGP project continues to grow and now can count on another ally joining its challenge in the premier class: OLI, from 2019 a partner of Gresini in the Moto2 and Moto3 categories, has decided to embrace the biggest project of the Faenza-based squad.

Starting from 2022 OLI, for over 30 years a leading company specialised in toilette cassettes and shower-drainage systems, will be one of the official sponsors of Team Gresini Racing MotoGP and its brand will be visible on both Ducati machines #23 and #49 as well as on Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio’s leathers and on the team uniforms.

This partnership between OLI and GR was born and developed quickly and all bodes well for a successful future.

Valentino Rossi’s announcement of retirement brings down the curtain on an incredible career in the MotoGP motorcycle world championships. With his nine titles, including seven in the premier class, he is widely regarded as the greatest motorcycle racer of all time, and his 26 seasons of Grand Prix racing make him unique across both motorcycling and Formula 1. Rossi has been captivating fans since he won his first Grand Prix at the age of 17 and even in his final season, at the age of 42, he has been riding faster than ever.  

In this major new book by top MotoGP journalist Mat Oxley, each and every one of these races comes under the microscope, complete with perspectives about Rossi’s achievements, the controversies, his character, and analysis of his bikes. This is a Valentino Rossi book like no other.

“It’s been a joy watching Valentino’s GP career from the very beginning in 1996 and I’ve really enjoyed reliving so many of his great moments through writing this book,” says Mat. “In fact I started with his first international campaign in 1995, dissecting and analysing every one of his 400 plus races since then. It’s a career that may never be matched and it’s been an honour to write this book, which I hope becomes the ultimate tribute to Valentino’s brilliance.”

“Mat wrote the world’s first biography of Valentino in 2002,” says Mark Hughes, Evro’s Publishing Director. “Working for the publisher then, I saw how Mat not only knew Valentino well and thought the world of him, but also wrote about his subject with sublime skill and insight. Back then, we could never have imagined just how much Valentino would go on to achieve, nor that he would still be racing nearly 20 years later. Now, upon his retirement, there is no-one better than Mat to record every single moment of his incredible career.”

Key content
Early days, from karting and minimoto bikes to a first GP win, on a 125 Aprilia in the 1996 Czech GP, then onwards to claim the 125cc world title in 1997.
Moving up to the 250cc class in 1998 brought four consecutive end-of-season wins riding for Aprilia, followed by a decisive title in 1999 with nine victories.
Grabbed by Honda to race its super-successful NSR500, Rossi graduated to the ‘class of kings’ for 2000, almost becoming champion that season — but the following year he sealed the last two-stroke 500cc crown with 11 wins.
MotoGP, for 990cc four-stroke bikes, took over and Rossi immediately reigned supreme aboard his Honda RC211V, securing back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003, before a surprise departure to uncompetitive Yamaha.
Rossi rates his first year with Yamaha, 2004, as his best: defying expectation, he won first time out on the YZR-M1 and took a fourth successive title with nine wins.
In six more seasons with Yamaha, 2005–10, Rossi collected three more championship crowns, his 2008 success especially sweet because it involved a fightback after two leaner years.
Rossi’s move to Ducati looked to be an appetising all-Italian prospect but his two winless seasons there, 2011 and 2012, were disastrous.
A return to Yamaha never quite recaptured his greatest glories, but Rossi was championship runner-up three times and came very close to another title in 2015.

Author: As a motorcycle racer, Mat Oxley is an Isle of Man TT winner and lap record holder. As a writer, he has been plying his craft for 40 years and is revered for his sharp reporting of MotoGP for magazines and websites around the world, including Bike, Motor Sport, Motorcycle News and Performance Bikes. Ever since Rossi burst into Grand Prix racing in 1996, Oxley has followed his career closely and in 2001 wrote a landmark first biography, MotoGenius, with full cooperation from Valentino and his family. Among Oxley’s other acclaimed books are Mick Doohan: Thunder from Down Under (1999), Valentino Rossi: Portrait of a Speed God (2002) and Stealing Speed (2009). Married with two children, he lives in north London.

Valentino Rossi
All His Races

Mat Oxley

Publication date: 13 January 2022
Price: £50.00
ISBN: 978-1-910505-21-2
Format: 280x235mm hardback
Page extent: 336
Illustration: 280 photos

• New Ben website offers tools and resources to help people struggling or in crisis.
• Easier to navigate with improved access to key information, the new site will help to reach more people than ever before.
• New site designed to provide health and wellbeing information, advice and self-help for the automotive industry and its people.

Ben, the automotive industry charity, is proud to announce the launch of its new website for 2022 – www.ben.org.uk - designed to offer quick and easy access to essential self-help tools and resources to help improve the health and wellbeing of the automotive industry across the UK.

The demand for support has reached an all-time high, with more people than ever contacting Ben for help since the emergence of the Covid pandemic. Online support in particular is in high demand, with Ben noting a massive 184% increase in web visitors from October 2016 compared to October 2021.

The Ben team acknowledged a need to strengthen the charity’s online offering, to support both automotive employees reaching out for help and the many employers who work with Ben to improve the health and wellbeing of their workforce too.

While the web address hasn’t changed, Ben’s website has undergone a huge transformation. The site is fully responsive across all devices and offers a simpler navigation, clearly signposting to self-help tools and resources. Tips, advice and tools are offered for a range of topics, such as money worries, physical and mental health, self-care tips, stress, sleep, loneliness, resilience, bereavement and more, with further self-help content scheduled for development this year.

The site also offers an enhanced user experience for those visiting the site, including those wishing to find out more about becoming a donor, who would like to participate in Ben’s latest fundraising events and opportunities, and for those seeking information about Ben care services.

Rachel Clift, Health & Wellbeing Director at Ben, said: “The launch of the new website is really exciting for us, not only because it will enable us to increase our reach to the automotive industry and its people, but it also serves as a huge opportunity to offer industry people access to many self-help tools and resources, designed to help them earlier and prevent them from reaching crisis point.

“Our aim is to help individuals navigate through life’s challenges, empowering them to make positive, lasting change. If we can intervene at an early stage and connect individuals with the right information, advice and guidance, we stand a much better change of preventing issues from arising in the first place or developing into something that could have a much more serious impact.

“The new website will go a long way towards getting the message out there to our automotive family – to ensure they know they are not alone, Ben is on hand to help them as and when they need it.”

When any member of our automotive family is struggling or in crisis, we all rally to support them.

The new Ben website is live at www.ben.org.uk For employers who would like to find out more about working in partnership with Ben, or who would be interested in discussing Health & Wellbeing training for employees contact Rachel Clift, Health & Wellbeing Director at Ben: [email protected].

Did you know...

If you name each photograph on your website with a relevant name it will help your website be found by search engines (and so rank higher) with terminologies included?

Rather than name a photograph on your site room one, ad v or HX22, try naming it as you would like to be found on the internet!

For example for the client below, we named photographs:

Green cart Biker Friendly Camping Hadrian's Wall Northumberland
Greencarts Farm Biker Friendly B&B Humshaugh Northumberland Hadrian's Wall
Greencarts Farm Biker Friendly Bunkhouse Hadrian

Greencarts Farm
A working farm situated in the beautiful Tyne Valley, surrounded by the magnificent, unspoilt beauty of Hadrian's Wall country and with a warm Northumbrian welcome from proprietors Sandra and family. As the farm sits almost on top of The World Heritage site that is the magnificent Hadrian's Wall with its many Forts, visitor's centers and historical points of interest, it is a great base to explore this spectacular area and countryside, including The National Park, Kielder Water, The Scottish Borders, Alnwick Castle & Gardens, Cragside House and just an hour away from the east and west coast, on the Coast to Coast route. The Market town of Hexham, is a short ride away and is steeped in history, with its wonderful 7th century abbey, antique shops and many quality pubs and restaurants. B&B en-suite, tastefully decorated country style accommodation with tea/coffee making facilities. A hearty Northumbrian breakfast is served. Bunk Barn and Camping is also available. Secure parking.

Humshaugh, Northumberland, NE46 4BW
01434 681320
www.greencarts.co.uk

SEO

Rather than pay for seo, the above can help you to get to the top of pages such as Google, which are relevant to your business.

If you already doing this, please accept our apologies.

THE BIKER GUIDE

www.thebikerguide.co.uk

• Improved wet grip* and longevity** compared to the MICHELIN Road 5 tyre range
• Performance improvements made possible by a new tread design, advances in raw materials and optimized tyre architecture

As the latest in a long line of class-leading sport touring tyres, Michelin is pleased to announce the launch of its MICHELIN Road 6 tyre range, a tyre range designed to offer riders of roadsters, trail bikes, sportsbikes and GT motorcycles the optimised performance in terms of wet grip, longevity, comfort and handling.

Alongside the standard MICHELIN Road 6 tyre range, which now incorporates sizes for big trail bikes, there is also the MICHELIN Road 6 GT tyre designed for grand touring machines.

Using technologies developed by engineers in Michelin’s R&D centres, the new MICHELIN Road 6 tyre offers a 15 percent improvement in wet grip* and a 10 percent increase in tyre life** compared with its predecessor, the MICHELIN Road 5 tyre.

These improvements in performance have been made possible by a new tread design, advances in raw materials and an optimized tyre architecture.

Tread Design:

• An optimized void ratio of 14 percent (the ratio of grooves to rubber), which gives high levels of grip performance in wet and dry conditions. This ratio does not change when cornering to give consistent feedback.
• MICHELIN Water EverGrip technology – a patented sipe technology developed by Michelin to give high levels of wet grip and rider confidence in these conditions. The design of these sipes mean that they open as the tyre wears.
• New groove and sipe angles, with longer edges to cut through the film of water and grip the road surface.

Raw Materials:

• A 100 percent silica compound featuring MICHELIN Silica Technology improves grip in cooler conditions and on damp and wet roads, without any compromise on tyre life.
• MICHELIN 2CT+ (2 Compound Technology) front and rear means that different parts of the tread are optimized for different performance characteristics. The harder under layer of tread rubber maintains rigidity during cornering, whereas the softer upper layer in contact with the road offers very good grip and high mileage in dry and wet conditions.

Architecture:

• MICHELIN Radial X Evo technology – the 90-degree plies on the crown of the tyre ensure a wide footprint giving high grip levels, both in a straight line and at lean angles. The sidewalls of the new generation of Radial X Evo tyres use a special ply fold that provides even more flexibility and greater comfort by absorbing road deformations, and at high speeds the tyre remains stable, making it well-suited to high-powered motorcycles. The overall effect of this technology is that the handling and responsiveness of the tyre are optimized to provide riding pleasure and fun without compromising on safety.
• MICHELIN Aramid Shield technology is a highly dense, more rigid tyre casing, which helps give excellent feedback and handling. Aramid tread plies resist centrifugal growth at speed, reduce weight and provide excellent stability.

Another Michelin first
Bearing in mind the pride that most riders have in the appearance of their motorcycles, a first for a MICHELIN Road tyre range is the use of MICHELIN Premium Touch Design in the design of the sidewalls of the MICHELIN Road 6 tyres. This exclusive technology uses micro geometry on the sidewalls to create texture, which in-turn allows it to modulate contrast and create shades of grey to highlight the tyre markings and give an attractive finish.

Available in dealers from 1 January 2022, the new MICHELIN Road 6 tyre range comprises six front and eight rear sizes, while the MICHELIN Road 6 GT tyre range is available in one front and three rear sizes. This range provides fitments for everything from small roadsters such as the KTM 390, through sports bikes and trail bikes, up to GT machines such as the BMW K1600 GT/GTL.

MICHELIN Road Tyre History
The MICHELIN Road 6 tyre range follows in the footsteps of a long line of Michelin firsts in its Road tyre ranges:

2002   MICHELIN Pilot Road – the first Road tyre range
2007   MICHELIN Pilot Road 2 – the first Road tyre range featuring sipes
2014   MICHELIN Pilot Road 4 – the first Road tyre range with a dedicated GT version
2018   MICHELIN Road 5 – the first Road tyre range using 3D sipe technology

*In-house comparisons of the MICHELIN Road 6 and MICHELIN Road 5 ranges conducted at Fontange track:
07 & 08/07/2020: 120/70 ZR 17 & 180/55 ZR 17, on a Suzuki 1250S Bandit and a Triumph Street Triple S 765.
15/03/2021 & 21/05/2021: 120/70 ZR 17 & 180/55 ZR 17, on a Suzuki 1250S Bandit.
17/01/2020: 120/70 ZR 17 & 180/55 ZR 17 (GT version), on a BMW R1200RT.
17/09/2020: 120/70 ZR 17 & 160/60 ZR 17, on a Kawasaki ER6n.
17/01/2020: 110/80 ZR 19 & 150/70 ZR 17, on a BMW R1200GS.

**Comparison of the MICHELIN Road 6 and MICHELIN Road 5 ranges, according to an independent test on public roads by DEKRA Narbonne:

20/07/2020 to 07/08/2020: 120/70 ZR 17 & 180/55 ZR 17, on a BMW K1300R.
17/08/2020 to 14/10/2020: 120/70 ZR 17 & 180/55 ZR 17 (GT version), on a BMW R1250RT loaded, but without top-case.
28/09/2020 to 12/11/2020, dimensions: 120/70 ZR 17 & 160/60 ZR 17, on a Suzuki Gladius 650.

Michelin, the leading mobility company, is dedicated to enhancing its clients’ mobility, sustainably; designing and distributing the most suitable tyres, services and solutions for its clients’ needs; providing digital services, maps and guides to help enrich trips and travels and make them unique experiences; and developing high-technology materials that serve a variety of industries. Headquartered in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Michelin is present in 170 countries, has 123,600 employees and operates 71 tyre production facilities which together produced around 170 million tyres in 2020. (www.michelin.com)