Aleix Espargaró, victim of a violent crash at turn 4 during the Warm Up, will not start today's German GP. After crashing on his fifth lap at the circuit of Sachsenring, the Spanish rider suffered a bad thoracic trauma in the left ribs area and was helicoptered to the nearby hospital of Chemnitz for further checks.

Sulfur Quarry in Calimani Mountains, Romania

- Claudiu Antonio Molnar

The 44^th Annual Gloucestershire Vintage & Country Extravaganza

South Cerney Airfield, Cirencester 3-5 August 2018

3-5 August 2018 will see the Stroud Vintage Transport & Engine Club (SVTEC) stage their Annual Show at South Cerney Airfield in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. The show now in its 44^th year is widely regarded as one of the biggest and best Steam, Vintage and Countryside events in the UK and attracts thousands of exhibitors and visitors from across the country whilst actively raising thousands of pounds for both national and regional charities. Over £180, 000 has been donated in recent years. Whilst the show has evolved a lot, the mission remains the same - to inform, educate, celebrate and preserve our unique transport heritage.

One of the largest displays is the Motorcycle section featuring 230 registered entries representing manufacturers from across the globe. Among the marques on display are Honda, Yamaha, Harley Davidson, Moto Guzzi, HRD, AGS, James, Triumph, Royal Enfield, Rudge, Baker, BMW, Norton, Velocette, Panther, Francis Barnett, Matchless and Greeves. There will also be an abundance of Lambretta’s to celebrate the mods and rockers era plus the show will play host to the 7th BSA Bantam Club National Rally.

Section leader John Grange said ‘we always try to bring something of interest to all ages and interests, from Veteran to Vintage and Classic. From the smallest Brockhouse Corgi ‘Para’ bike to the HRD Vincent Meteor Series B, from the Yamaha FS1E (my first bike!) to the Suzuki GT750, there will be something to suit everyone’s motorcycling interests. The section celebrates 100 years of motorcycles’.

Show Highlights include

Vintage displays of nearly 700 classic cars from pre and post war, including over 70 Classic American, 30 visiting car clubs plus 300 Motorbikes, scooters, 70 bicycles from 1903 - 1980, 30 miniature steam engines, 90 stationary engines, 70 full size steam engines, model engineering, 200 Tractors, over 80 Buses and Coaches, 120 Military Vehicles, 300 Emergency and Commercial Vehicles, 60 Industrial Trucks, 50 vintage Caravans, and over 50 model Aircraft taking to the sky above.

Live Arena with non-stop demonstrations from spectacular Showman’s Engines to dancing tractors plus the opportunity to drive a steam engine and NEW – a motorcycle display team show

Vintage Fun fair with fairground organs, 'electric yachts', waltzers, big wheel, steam-driven 'gallopers' and traditional penny arcade games, plus ‘Chuffy the train’ passenger rides

The Dog Show runs over the weekend and is organised by Cotswold Dog and Cat Home. Categories include: Scruffiest Mutt, Prettiest Bitch, Handsomest Dog Quickest Sit, Best Child Handler, Best Rescue to Waggiest Tail. Come and enter your four-legged fury friend on the day for just £2 per entry per class (in addition to show event entry fee) all money goes to help the marvellous local animal shelter.

The Countryside Arena actively promotes animal conservation and features both fun and education displays from ferret racing, rare breeds, alpaca’s, shire horses, horse logging, reptiles to bee hive making. NEW for 2018 – vulture flying display. Back by popular demand is the hilarious ‘Sheep Show’ - an entertaining demonstration of shearing and sheep dancing - get into the groove with the Sheep Show Shuffle!  Plus, the children’s area has traditional vintage funfair games, face painting and Professor Colliwobble with his free regular Punch and Judy Shows.

Massive Trade stand village featuring over 100 trade stalls, models tents, 2 large craft marques, specialist displays of memorabilia from bygone days.

The showground site is sprawling, but there’s plenty of food and drink ‘pit stops’, a firm favourite is the vintage tea room with regular music and Lindy Hop dancing performances (both days). Live music with vintage songstress Betsy Harmony, performing a delightful selection of 1940s songs plus regular sets by the ‘Steamed Up Brass’.

Jump4Heroes parachute display team will descend into the arena on all three days of the event. Jump4Heroes is The Royal British Legion Extreme Human Flight Team, made up of serving and former members of the Army, to support and raise awareness of the Armed Forces charities.

FREE vintage bus rides around the showground on all three days. What more the Bedford OB hope to set a world record for the biggest gathering of vintage buses on site.

Each day at 10am the steam section will sound their bells in memory of the late arena commentator Alec Tanner. The main area will officially be named as the ‘Alec Tanner’ arena.

Chairman of the Stroud Vintage Transport and Engine Club (S.V.T.E.C) Martyn Slater, said: ‘Our goal is to give the best value for money family day out in Gloucestershire’.

The Extravaganza is organised by the Stroud Vintage Transport and Engine Club. This non-profit making organisation raises money for national and local charities and up to 30 will be represented on site raising money and awareness of their respective causes. The rally is one of the largest events of its kind run entirely by volunteers from all the corners of Gloucestershire.

www.glosvintageextravaganza.co.uk

Maybe you have been creating something special in your shed or have a rare race bike or cafe racer in your garage. If you've built a beautiful chopper or bobber or modernised a classic, let us know, send us pics - and your bike could be proudly on show inside the Cheltenham Town Hall this September.

Oily Rag Co is headline sponsor for the exhibition and showcase which takes place in the Town Hall and around the Imperial Gardens from 8-9th September.

The motorcycle showcase will feature rare specials, award-winning customs, modified classics, stunning cafe racers, old school choppers and customised scooters...

Visitors will also be able to enjoy mooching around the trade stalls and grab lunch, coffee and hang out with friends and family in the licensed bar.

The Oily Rag Co Festival of Bikes takes place 8-9th September 2018 inside and around the Cheltenham Town Hall and you can get 20% off tickets when you buy online at TheCustomShow.com

Visit The Festival on either or both days - all tickets are valid for the Saturday and Sunday. 

If you would like to display your motorcycle masterpiece at this year's Festival of Bikes please email good photos for consideration to [email protected]

June’s heatwave has seen temperatures topping 30C in many parts of the country. This has caused some roads to melt. With the Met Office predicting that temperatures for July and August could be hotter than average more roads could find that more road surfaces are getting soft and sticky.

Most roads will not begin to soften until they hit a temperature of around 50C. However, even a sunny day in the 20Cs can be enough to generate 50C on the ground as the dark asphalt road surface absorbs a lot of heat and this builds up during the day with the hottest period between noon and 5pm. With temperatures regularly reaching the high 20Cs, the bitumen in some road surfaces may soften and rise to the top. This makes the road surface sticky and more susceptible to pressure loads from heavy vehicles resulting in surface ridging and rutting.

The response from local highway authorities is to send out the gritters to spread granite dust to absorb the soft bitumen and so stabilise the road surface and make it less sticky.

“Drivers may be bemused to see the gritters out in the summer when they are usually spreading grit and salt during the winter”, said Howard Robinson, chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association. “However, this is effective standard practice for keeping a road surface safe during extreme prolonged hot temperatures.”

He continued: "Asphalt is a bit like chocolate - it melts and softens when it's hot and goes hard and brittle when it's cold - it doesn't maintain the same strength all year round.”

Following a heatwave in 1995, the road industry introduced a new asphalt specification introducing the use of polymer modified binders in hot rolled asphalt (HRA). These polymers raise the asphalt road surface softening point to around 80C which prevents it from softening under extreme hot weather. Other asphalt products such as thin surface course systems also normally contain polymer modified binders.

However, such modified asphalts tend to be more expensive and are generally only used on heavily-trafficked roads. Robinson estimates that less than 5% of all the UK’s road surfaces contain polymer modified asphalt. On the other hand most surface dressings which are used to seal road surfaces and restore skid resistance nowadays predominantly contain polymer modified binders which will resist softening during periods of hot weather.

“Localised melting of some roads is not surprising during this heatwave but they can be quickly treated and revert back to normal once temperatures decline,” said Robinson.