The Haynes International Motor Museum today (Thursday 9th June 2016) hosted a lunch for nearly 200 guests to celebrate the retirement, after thirty one years’ service, of Founding Curator Mr Micheal Penn. 

Mr Penn was the very first member of staff when the museum opened in 1985. In the early days his work hats were many and in any one day his duties would include: general manager, curator, caterer, bookshop assistant and receptionist. As the museum grew he was able to focus on his passion for curatorial work and building the collection; numerous visits across the globe to source an eclectic mix of vehicles from the rare and precious to the more easily recognised has ensured that the museum now has a vehicle collection second to none.

Mr Penn spoke of his love of education and the part that museums play in this area. Museum CEO Mr Christopher Haynes commented:

“The Chairman, Trustees and staff would like to thank Mike for all his efforts over the past thirty one years. His legacy is clear to see: Today the museum boasts well over 100,000 visitors annually, as well as hosting a large and ever increasing number of conferences and all types of events. The Education Centre is always buzzing with children who visit from many local schools and the Workshop and Restoration Centre have built up an enviable reputation for their excellent work on a broad range of marques including Aston Martin, Ferrari and Jaguar to name but a few.”

Mr Penn’s plans do not include slowing down however:

“A great thank you to all those wishing me well on my retirement. The staff also did a sterling job and spoke very kindly about my 31 years in the job. Just to clear up one point: I will not be hanging up my museum boots yet as I will remain on the museum board of trustees as well as the board of trustees of the British Motorcycling Heritage Trust. I also continue in my role as the Chairman of the World Forum for Motor Museums.”

For more details please visit their website www.himm.co.uk

Severn Freewheelers are not a charity that has a front line operation; they do not fly helicopters, they do not go to the scene of accidents - they do not even operate during the day (except at weekends), so we tend to disappear under the public radar! However they do vital work – once you are in hospital all that urgency to get you there is wasted unless your blood samples, transfusion, medical notes get into the right hands, at the right time and that is where they come in, when hospital transport is not available  – 7pm to 7am, 24 hours at weekends and public holidays, 365 days a year. They even help transport frozen human milk, so very premature babies get a fighting chance. All run by volunteers who receive not a single penny for their efforts.
 
They make 3,500 potentially life-saving calls per year. To raise funds and awareness they organise two great events - The Prescott and Shelsley Bike Festivals. 

All proceeds from the festivals go to the regional Blood Bike group, Severn Freewheelers

Here's a news video from last year that pretty much says it all.

Shelsley Bike Festival, 4th September 2016

A great Festival in 2015 and 2016 will be bigger and better. A great day out for motorcycle enthusiasts and their families. 

See here for more

Valentino Rossi rode to a stunning victory on new compound Michelin tyres at the Catalunya MotoGP™ this weekend as the nine-time World Champion fought off the challenge of his nearest rivals to take his seventh premier class win at the Montmélo circuit.

Starting from fifth on the grid, Rossi was blocked on the first corner and relegated to eighth position. He quickly rectified that with his trademark passing manoeuvres and was soon in to fourth place. Over the next few laps Rossi passed the Honda of Dani Pedrosa, pole-setter Marc Marquez also on a Honda and previous championship leader – and Yamaha team-mate – Jorge Lorenzo, as he moved to first place on lap-seven. Using the new compound hard front and rear MICHELIN Power Slicks, the Italian consistently circulated the Catalonian circuit at the head of the field before Marquez chased him down and challenged for the lead with five laps remaining. The pair battled for the victory as the race drew to a close, before Rossi took the initiative after a mistake by Marquez and made the final decisive break to take a hard-fought, but thoroughly deserved victory, with Marquez following him home with the consolation of taking the championship lead.

A crowd of almost 100,000 people packed the grandstands and were treated to a superb day of racing from all three classes. In beautiful, warm sunshine today’s track temperatures rose to the highest this weekend as the asphalt reached 48°C, this combined with the poor condition of the surface, which gave little grip to the riders, made tyre choice an important factor. The majority of the field went for a hard front and rear selection, to give durability over the tough 25-lap race. Pedrosa was one rider to make a different choice, as he chose a medium compound rear to partner his hard front, and used the pair to good effect to take the final podium position.

Fourth-place went to Suzuki’s Maverick Viñales, while the honour of First Independent Rider was secured by Pol Espargaro on a satellite Yamaha, an impressive result and one that also showed the performance of the medium compound MICHELIN Power Slicks, as the Spaniard was one of only two riders to use these on the front and rear of their machines. Cal Crutchlow on a Honda was sixth, Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso seventh, with the Aprilia of Álvaro Bautista taking eighth. Danilo Petrucci on a Ducati was ninth and Honda’s Jack Miller rounded out the top-ten – the best result of his premier class MotoGP career so far. Lorenzo didn’t make it to the chequered flag, after an incident which saw Ducati’s Andrea Iannone collide with the current World Champion and leave both of them on the side of the track and out of the race on lap-17. This was the only crash during today’s race and for the second successive event no crashes were contributable to tyres, a fact that underlines the advances Michelin is making as the season progresses.

The race was held on a revised circuit configuration, to the one originally planned, due to the tragic events which have overshadowed this weekend’s proceedings. During Friday’s second Moto2 Free Practice session Spanish rider Luis Salom crashed at turn-12 and the 24-year-old succumbed to his injuries. Following the fatal crash and subsequent discussions, the layout of the circuit was changed for safety reasons and the F1 track configuration was implemented. This featured the addition of the chicane at turn-12, designed to miss out the corner where the accident happened. Everyone at Michelin would like to pass on their condolences and deepest sympathies to the family, friends and team of Luis Salom.

Michelin remained at Montmélo for a one-day test on Monday where the latest versions of the MICHELIN Power Slicks were tested and evaluated by all riders. The paddock will now move to the most northerly circuit on the calendar, as the championship heads to Assen in the Netherlands for the Dutch TT on Sunday 26th June, the first time this iconic race has not been staged on a Saturday.

Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP: “We were a little bit worried about what might happen, because yesterday we had a bit of a problem with the hard tyre and making it work, but today it was good and worked well in the temperature with my bike. I think it was difficult for everybody with some spinning, but the tyres worked really well and I am very happy with the result.”

Nicolas Goubert – Deputy Director, Technical Director and Supervisor of the MotoGP Programme: “This has been a very difficult weekend for all concerned, after what happened on Friday, and I would firstly like to pass on my condolences to the family and friends of Luis Salom, it was a terrible tragedy and one that nobody ever wants to happen.

“Regarding the race weekend, we had a selection of tyres that we thought would work well here in most conditions, but we never expected the surface to be as poor as it was. The track gave very little grip and all the teams had to work hard to get the best for their bikes. The change of layout also made a big difference and changed the stresses that were put on the tyres. For the race itself the track was at almost 50°C, but the majority of the field used the new hard compound tyres to cope with these difficult conditions and although we experienced quite high levels of wear we were pleased with the overall performance. Valentino rode a great race and when he came under attack from Marc the performance in the tyres was still there in the last laps to produce a memorable end for the fans. One of the most pleasing aspects of today’s race was that again we had no crashes that the tyres could be held responsible for and it was a close race right until the end. This is another step forward for us and shows that we are continuing to work in the right direction. We now have a test on Monday, when we have some tyres for all the rides to try, hopefully this will give use more information as we head towards the second half of the season and some very challenging circuits.”

The zero emission electric bikes are preparing for today’s SES TT Zero at the 2016 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy and the Mugen outfit, winners of the SES TT Zero in 2014 and 2015 with John McGuinness, will again be the team to beat.

The Japanese based team and Morecambe rider John McGuinness shattered their own lap record with a time of 119.279 (18:58.743) and already speculation is turning to the first 120mph lap in the class. McGuinness’s closest challenger is expected to be teammate Bruce Anstey and the New Zealander will be looking to improve on his own runner up spot in last year’s race.

However the Mugen pair can expect close competition from a number of teams in this year’s SES TT Zero Race including Victory Racing. William Dunlop will be representing the American based team who will campaign their all-new Victory RR machine and the team managed to clock an impressive 115mph in qualifying.

Belgian outfit Sarolea returns with a two-man outfit with Bradford’s Dean Harrison joining Northern Ireland rider Lee Johnston, who finished on the podium in last year’s race, for their third year of competing in the race. The team finished an agonising 0.4 seconds off the podium in their debut year in 2014 and broke the 100mph barrier in 2015 with a lap of 106.510mph. This year’s effort will see them run their new SP7 machine, which has been under wraps so far in qualifying, in two different colours.

Timothee Monet completes the international flavour of the field with the French rider on the Lito for the TMR team.

The battle of the University teams is expected to be a race within a race with perennial challengers Nottingham University running two riders – Rob Barber, the 2009 TTxGP winner and Daley Mathison – on their UoN Electric 1 machines while Matthew Rees will ride for debut outfit University of Bath, whose engineering team are behind the Odin machine. Shaun Anderson is competing for the Custom Build team from Kingston University while South African Allan Venter is representing Brunel.

As a tribute to Michael Czysz, the electric motorcycle pioneer whose MotoCzysz outfit won four consecutive races between 2010 and 2013, all of the competing bikes will wear a MotoCzysz decal.

The SES TT Zero will get underway at 4.10pm (GMT). You can follow all the action via live timing on iomtt.com

I must admit I am really looking forward to this year's Farmyard Party - even though I will be working throughout the rally. Many of you have been coming to our events, especially Farmyard, for years in support of MAG UK.  This year it’s a little special - it's Farmyard's 30th anniversary (if you didn't already know!) - and our pre-book tickets have been going exceptionally well, with many people returning after a few years to celebrate this and catch up with mates they may not have seen for a while.

To celebrate this anniversary, we are starting the party early on Friday, with Scott Dangleberry playing in Crusties Bar from 2pm by special request. We will also have the return of the Eat Your Words (again by special request) for those wanting a late night 'dance'. Personally, I will be looking to visit the Blues Bar where there are some fantastic bands, including The Grimms and 24 Pesos amongst others. By the way, if you fancy having a go at entertaining us, we have an open mic session on Saturday afternoon in the Blues Bar - with prizes would you believe?

Of course, we will have a range of bands playing in the Back Street Heroes main stage and the Riders' Rights Party tent. It's going to be a tricky one deciding whether to see Limehouse Lizzy or Exhibit A on Saturday night. Mr Hulse's Smacked Arse Comedy Show - one of our most popular features of all our events - starts at 1pm on Saturday to put a smile on your face and help you through your hangover from Friday night. Martin Mor - the 'knife man' comedian seen in our recent promo video - is headlining, so be careful not to sit too near the front unless you have a death wish.

We are very proud that this year's Farmyard will host Round 1 of the BSH Custom Bike Building Championship. There will be 5 additional prizes with winners going through to the Custom Xtreme stand at the NEC in November.

We will have a range of world food outlets within the main arena and also in each of the camping fields - don't forget we have a central marquee where you can sit and chat with your mates whilst eating. It's better than dropping half of your food on the floor... Alternatively, you can enjoy a sit down meal - with proper plates and cutlery - at our world famous cafe. Johnsons of Leeds will be there as usual along with a wide range of stalls and traders.

Full details of bands, comedians and all other special features below and on our website here.

I look forward to seeing you all on the 17th for this special rally - or the Thursday the 16th if you're looking to get away early to enjoy the rally. Our cut off dates for pre-booked tickets is the 12th of June for telephone and web bookings. Tickets will be available on the gate priced at £40.

Pete Walker