Suzuki successfully raised over £4,000 for charity at Motorcycle Live, which took place from 17-25 November at Birmingham’s NEC. The Japanese brand’s hospitality area, from voluntary donations for free hot refreshments, raised over £3,000 for the automotive industry’s BEN fund, while the Vintage Parts display and race bike build raised over £1,000 for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

The pop-up coffee stop, situated on Suzuki’s show stand, has become a Motorcycle Live mainstay in recent years. Providing an area for show-goers to enjoy a break from wandering the halls, grab a hot beverage and take the weight off their feet for a few minutes, it served over 8,500 cups of tea and coffee over the nine-day show. 

This year Suzuki raised a total of £3,527.50 for BEN, an independent charity and dedicated partner to the automotive industry, providing support for life for its people and their family dependents, whether that be financial, physical, mental or social.

Meanwhile, Suzuki’s Vintage Parts Programme always provides visitors with an impressive array of classic road and race bikes, and this year rebuilt the very first RG500 race bike built in 1973, before it was raced in Grands Prix in 1974. Collecting for Birmingham Children’s Hospital during the restoration, £1,036.61 was raised over the course of the show.

Suzuki GB head of marketing, Fiona Cole, commented, “Every year Suzuki takes the opportunity to raise money for charity at Motorcycle Live. The hospitality area always proves to be incredibly popular with visitors to the show and whilst the drinks are free, we encourage visitors to make a donation to our nominated charities and we’re incredibly thankful to everyone who made kind donations to help us raise as much as we did for the two superb causes.”

To find out more news and views from Suzuki, visit www.bikes.suzuki.co.uk.

The world’s top drivers would never mix alcohol with driving – so nobody else should. This is the message from former Formula 1 World Champion Nigel Mansell CBE this festive period.

He is backing the IAM RoadSmart ‘Drive Like a Champion’ anti drink-drive campaign this month (December).

President of IAM RoadSmart for over a decade, Nigel believes everyone can be a winner on the road – simply by thinking ahead, anticipating the road … and most importantly in the run up to the festive season, not touching a drop of alcohol when getting behind the wheel.

He said: “Quite simply drink and drug driving is for losers. On the track you need to be in the best possible form at all times. This equally applies to anyone driving on the road. You have your own life, those of your passengers and everyone around you in the palm of your hands.

“Drink driving increases your risk of being a potential killer behind the wheel. The responsibility of driving a road vehicle safely is just as great as when driving a Formula 1 car – if not more so.”

Nigel’s advice comes as statistics in IAM RoadSmart’s 2018 Safety Culture Survey (reference 1) show there is still some shocking thinking about getting behind the wheel after drinking or taking drugs among UK motorists.

Each year since 2015 IAM RoadSmart, the UK’s biggest independent road safety charity, has surveyed over 2,000 drivers about their worries, fears and attitudes.

This year’s findings included:

•        7% of drivers say it’s acceptable to drive when they thought they might have had too much to drink – a figure that rises to 13% of 17-34 year olds

•        7% say it’s acceptable to have driven after using drink and marijuana (12% of 17-34 year olds)

However the majority support a tough line on punishment and rules around drink-driving. The survey found:

•        88% support alcohol interlocks to stop those who have been convicted of drink driving starting the car if they are drunk

•        88% support fitting all new cars with such technologies

•        79% support lowering the limit in England and Wales to that in Scotland

•        Drink and drug driving is the top priority for police enforcement according to the survey

Nigel added: “Be a champion of the road like me this Christmas and New Year. Do the right thing for your family, friends and other road users. Drive safe, drive sober and go #NoneForTheRoad.”

H-C Travel is preparing for its 25th touring season in 2019 with a brand new website www.hctravel.com, and branding, as well as exciting new tours in South America and Scotland

David Grist, owner of H-C Travel, said "We're kicking off our silver jubilee year with the launch of our new website and logo. We've had great feedback about the website's visual impact and believe it reflects more appropriately the amazing holiday experiences we provide for motorcyclists. Take a look at www.hctravel.com. We hope you'll like it."

David added ''We're delighted to be adding several new tours. As well as fabulous guided rides on The Trail Of The Incas, riding the South American Lake District and Patagonia, we've organised a 'Highland Fling', guided by our man in Scotland, Chris Smith. Now we're looking forward to the next 25 years of spreading our bit of motorcycling happiness!"

H-C Travel Ltd was established in 1994 and is the UK's leading specialist operator of fly - ride motorcycle tours to destinations around the world. Based in Overton, Hampshire it also has a retail travel agency for the North Hampshire/Berkshire borders (serving the area between Basingstoke, Newbury, Winchester and Andover.) Its Orange & Black brand offers Harley-Davidson authorised guided tours, self-guided tours and rentals in the USA. H-CTravel is uniquely positioned in the UK motorcycle tour market with professional travel industry recognition, ATOL bonding and TTA membership.

Motorex is celebrating another successful year of competition on the world stage, taking its tally of world titles to 118 after adding another eight to its collection in 2018, in a year that also saw the brand take its maiden MotoGP podium.

The Swiss oil giant picked up a fourth consecutive FIM Supercross World Championship early in the year, with Jason Anderson adding to Ryan Dungey’s three-in-a-row from 2015-2017. There were also back-to-back MXGP and World MX2 titles, as Jeffrey Herlings and Jorge Prado respectively added to Antonio Cairoli and Pauls Jonass’ wins from 2017.

2018 also saw Motorex power five more riders to world championship glory, with Toby Price winning the Cross-Country Rallies title, while in the world of enduro Cody Webb was crowned Super Enduro World Champion. Brad Freeman, Matteo Cavallo, and Ruy Barbosa were all Enduro World Champions in the E1, Junior, and Youth classes.

This year’s success means Motorex boasts 118 world titles since it entered world championship racing with Mick Bollhalder and Charlie Büsser, helping them claim the FIM Sidecar Cross World Championship. Since then they have helped teams and riders win world championships in motocross, enduro, supermoto, rally, supersport, Moto3, and Moto2.

The culmination of this year’s MotoGP season also saw Motorex make history with its first podium in the premier road-racing championship, as Pol Espargaro – a former Moto2 champion with Motorex – finished third at Valencia.

Motorex offers a wide selection of engine and gearbox oils to suit a range of machinery, as well as suspension oils, coolant, chain lube, and other maintenance, care, and cleaning products.