...  on behalf of the Henry Surtees Foundation

Musician and composer Nick Mason, best known as the drummer of Pink Floyd, attended the Midlands Air Ambulance base at Strensham, near Worcester last Friday, to hand over a cheque for £18,275 on behalf of the Henry Surtees Foundation

As a keen supporter of the air ambulance and self-confessed petrol head, boasting a large collection of vintage and classic cars, Mr Mason was happy to support the cause.

The donation of £18,275 presented to Midlands Air Ambulance crews will be used to fund specialist equipment designed specifically for critical care transport, including a Zoll X Series Monitor, defibrillator and aircraft bracketry. The equipment developed for the military and air medical operations, enables the flight crew to continuously deliver the highest quality CPR and resuscitation capabilities, whilst patient data is automatically uploaded and streamed to remote displays in ambulances, hospitals and communication centres as the rescuer cares for the patient at the scene of incident and in transit.

Becky Steele, air operations manager for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity said: “As a pre-hospital emergency service that attends some of the most traumatic incidents in the region, it is vital Midlands Air Ambulance has the right equipment to give patients the best chance of survival and greater recovery outcomes. We are extremely grateful to the Henry Surtees Foundation for the grant for the monitors, which have become one of our greatest assets on board our three air ambulance helicopters and our rapid response vehicles.”

Since 1991, Midlands Air Ambulance has responded to more than 43,000 missions, averaging 2,000 per year.

John Surtees CBE said, “I would like to thank Nick Mason for his enthusiastic support of the Foundation and being able to fit into his busy programme this visit to represent us. The Foundation is very pleased with the association it has been able to make in the assistance given to a number of Air Ambulance regions including that of the Midlands Air Ambulances and Great Western Air Ambulances. The service they provide is vital and something which is continuously developing with the introduction of new life-saving equipment”.

The Henry Surtees Foundation have also actively supported and provided funding for the following Air Ambulances:
Midlands Air Ambulance
Great Western Air Ambulance
Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance
Great North Air Ambulance
Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance

Ian Hutchinson made it two wins in a day when he smashed the lap and race records in Monday afternoon’s RL360 Quantum Superstock TT race, the Tyco BMW rider leading from start to finish to take victory by 27 seconds. 

With an opening lap of 133.098mph, it was the Bingley rider’s 13th TT race win as Dean Harrison and James Hillier battled all the way for the runner up position, Harrison clinching it by just one second.

As he had done earlier in the morning, Hutchinson blazed a trail from the off and he was again leading at Glen Helen on the opening lap, his advantage over Michael Dunlop two seconds with Gary Johnson a similar distance behind in third. It was close behind the leading trio with Michael Rutter, Peter Hickman and Hillier separated by just three-quarters of a second.

It was clear Hutchinson was putting in a remarkable lap and so it proved as he flashed across the line at a speed of 133.098mph, faster than he’d done in Saturday’s RST Superbike race. The gap to Dunlop had grown to 15.9s but the Ulsterman was in trouble, pulling into the pits with a broken gear lever. Hillier had moved up to third with Harrison, Johnson and Lee Johnston now the top six.

Hutchinson was by now leading on the road and with Dunlop out, retiring in the pits, his advantage over Hillier shot up to 24s at Glen Helen and he continued to increase his lead throughout the lap. Indeed, with a second lap of 132.93mph, the gap to Hillier had grown to 32.7s with the Kawasaki rider enjoying a six second lead over Harrison.

Johnston was now fourth ahead of Rutter and Gary Johnson as Bruce Anstey and Peter Hickman also retired. Meanwhile, 12th placed Ivan Lintin picked up a pit-lane speeding penalty dropping him down the order.

With a commanding lead, Hutchinson could control the race from the front and that’s exactly what he did over the next two laps with his final lap being over 129mph.

However, the battle for second and third was raging between Hillier and Harrison with just over a second dividing them on the third lap while there was also a four-way battle going on for fourth between John McGuinness – who again gained time at the pit stop - Johnston, Johnson and Rutter.

Harrison had now overtaken Rutter on the road and the pair of them both lapped at over 131mph on their final laps which enabled Dean to take second and Rutter fourth, Hillier just missing out on second by 1.9s. Rutter got the better of Johnson for fourth by 3.2s and with Johnston retiring at Sulby Crossroads, McGuinness took sixth.

Conor Cummins, William Dunlop, Steve Mercer and David Johnson rounded out the top ten, having missed out in the morning’s race.

Hutchinson has now moved to the top of the race for the Joey Dunlop Championship with 70 points and with Dunlop retiring, Harrison movea up to second on 47 points with Dunlop remaining on 45 in third.

Meanwhile, Dan Hegarty was again the top privateer in an excellent 11th place. Horst Saiger was the second privateer home in 13th overall with Jamie Coward third and 14th overall.

Hegarty leads the overall privateers table on 50pts followed by Coward on 47 and Saiger 46.

This year the Isle of Man TT Races will become more accessible to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people.

Available now, TT fans around the world will have access to a live text transcript of the race commentary via the TTLive service on the iomtt.com website.

The Manx Deaf society has arranged stenographers to provide subtitle text for the Vauxhall Radio TT commentary on all four race days which is accessible on any smart phone, tablet or PC with an internet connection.

Duke and RL360 have sponsored the ground-breaking new service.

Natalie Hall, RL360°’s Director of Marketing, said:

“RL360° is extremely proud to be linked to this pioneering project. The TT is a global event and, as such, should be as accessible as possible to all. As the longest running race sponsor at the event, RL360° is fully behind the work the Manx Deaf Society is doing.”

Adam Duke from Duke worked with the Palantypist team at www.mycleartext.com to develop the live subtitling system which is now integrated into the TTLive service.

Adam commented:

“Duke is delighted to partner with the Manx Deaf Society and create this transformative new service which will improve accessibility of this great event and benefit all followers of the TT. We can't wait for TT fans world-wide to enjoy the racing using the new system."

In addition to the new TT Live system, on Senior Race Day a British Sign Language interpreter will provide signed commentary of the racing action at the TT Grandstand. Members of the Isle of Man Deaf community will enjoy VIP Grandstand seating thanks to sponsorship by Process 42 Limited. David Ronan will also take the group on a tour of the tower.

Ian Buxton, Chair of Manx Deaf Society said:

"If you take away the scoring and the commentary at a football match any fan would lose interest very quickly. Now imagine watching the TT with no sound and no commentary to explain what is happening. It is pretty hard to follow with hearing, impossible without, until now. Like many things on the Isle of Man, D/deaf TT idea grew more legs than expected!

We don’t think that there has been a major motor racing event with simultaneous BSL and subtitle support before. This could be a world first for the Isle of Man.

A donation button has been added on the commentary box for fans of the TT to send Manx Deaf Society a donation to help with the costs of providing the expert BSL Interpreter and Palantypist support to make this happen for everyone."

Ace Cafe London's "Ace Corner" stand and display will once again return and feature at the forthcoming, 4th annual "Cafe Racer Festival", held at famous Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, the historic banked race track that first opened in 1924, on the southern edge of Paris over the weekend of 18th & 19th June.
 
The easy to get to festival, with its special mix of machines ranging from veterans, vintage and classics, through to those built today, includes classic racing bikes, replica machines and, of course, cafe racers! As well as over 300 machines racing on the tracks legendary concrete banking, straight line Sprint races, a cafe racer bike show, club and various make and marque stands and displays, over a hundred trade stands, the Saturday evening this year features music organised by the 45rpm vinyl specialists, Bullit Records!

Location:

Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry
Avenue Georges Boillot
91310 Linas
France

Route: Autodrome Linas-Montlhéry is near the RN20, about thirty kilometres south of Paris. It is easily accessible from the A6, A10 and Francilienne. Check out the map link:

More Info

www.cafe-racer.fr



For more info about Ace Cafe London and what's on, check out: www.ace-cafe-london.com

Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance upped the ante in qualifying for the two Sure Mobile Formula Two sidecar races with a best lap of 114.83mph to send them to the top of the leaderboard.

17-times TT winner Dave Molyneux, with Dan Sayle in the chair, wasn’t too far behind with another 114mph plus lap as Ben and Tom Birchall also put themselves in contention.

Keen to make up for lost time, with only one lap under their belt in earlier outings, Molyneux/Sayle headed off towards Bray Hill first followed by Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance, Ben and Tom Birchall, Ian and Carl Bell and Alan Founds/Aki Aalto. John Holden/Andy Winkle, meanwhile, set off further down the field.

Molyneux reached the Grandstand first with a speed of 114.10mph but Reeves had halved the starting deficit of ten seconds and his lap of 114.73mph was the fastest lap of the week as well as being a new personal best, albeit unofficially.

The Bells were again showing well with a lap of 112.46mph whilst Holden eventually got away at the rear of the field, using the session to run in a new engine and scrub in some new tyres.

On the second lap, Reeves had overhauled Molyneux on the road and the Kent driver’s pace could be seen at the end of the lap as he went quicker still with a lap of 114.83mph. Molyneux was also in the 114mph bracket again.

The Birchalls meanwhile had had a slow first lap but they were clearly bedding something in as second time around, they lapped in excess of 113mph to prove they will be in contention in Saturday’s first race day.

Gary Bryan/Jamie Winn posted their best lap of the week at 111.14 while Peter Founds/Jevan Walmsley put in two laps of 110mph with Steve and Matty Ramsden, Dwight Beare/Ben Binns and Tony Baker/Fiona Baker-Milligan all above 109mph.

Manfred Wechserberger, passenger to Michael Grabmuller, fell out of the sidecar at Ballaugh but was assessed at the scene and reported to be uninjured.