The Henry Surtees Foundation has teamed up with The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award for a special online Auction. 

Prizes include My Incredible Life on Two and Four Wheels, signed by John Surtees CBE, Signed Ferrari F1 Rear Wing, Private VIP Dinner for 8 people in Benihana and lunch with John Surtees CBE. 

Visit the online auction to browse the array of exciting prizes of offer. The auction runs until 16:00 on Thursday, 26 May 2016.

100% of all money donated will go directly to both charities.

To place a bid on any of the auction lots, or to make a donation to either charity, visit www.insideferrari.co.uk

Honda WorldSBK Team’s Nicky Hayden and Michael van der Mark are ready to tackle the seventh round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship, which takes place this weekend at Donington Park. The circuit, located in the heart of UK on the border between Leicestershire and Derbyshire, hosted the very first event of the series back in 1988; this year will be the twenty-fourth time that World Superbike racing has been staged at this iconic venue.

Two weekends ago, Nicky Hayden claimed his maiden WorldSBK win after what was a perfect display of riding skills and race craft in wet conditions at the Sepang International Circuit in race two. He is now looking forward to riding again at Donington Park for the first time since 2009, when MotoGP had its last event at the track. His best result around East Midland’s hills is a fourth place scored in 2004. With the great feeling shown onboard his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP #69 in Malaysia, Nicky is eager to keep the momentum going as the season reaches its halfway point.

Michael van der Mark has had contrasting fortunes at Donington Park in recent years. He was victorious in World Supersport 2014 in a close last-lap battle with title rival Jules Cluzel, while in his debut World Superbike year last season he had to pull out from both races. The 23-year-old Dutchman is aiming to return to his early-season form, which saw him on the rostrum three times in the first four races, and to improve on his current tally of four podium finishes in 2016.

As the weather gets warmer and the roads drier, so the time of year approaches where the leathers are dusted off, a new shine put on the helmet and the motorbike is dusted off ready for another year of glorious riding in the sun.

With it though comes the inherent danger posed when on the road with only two wheels. Whether it is the latest sports Yamaha R1, a tourer like the KTM 1290 Super Duke or a classic such as the BSA A7, no doubt at one time or another a bike rider has come across the car driver who either doesn’t see them, or worse, sees them and does all they can to make things difficult.

Often collisions can be avoided by a rider’s own awareness but there is only so much that can be done by a rider to protect themselves. For the unlucky ones injuries can be severe.  Serious injuries to the head and limbs, permanent disability or, unfortunately, death,  are all far more likely for those who ride a motorbike than for those who are driving a car. Statistics from Think! suggest that motorcyclists are around 38 times more likely to be killed than those driving a car and MCN suggests that recent years have seen over 5,000 serious accidents per year with around 330 of those riders being killed per year (statistics for 2013 and 2014).

If you are injured as a result of a motorcycle accident then contact the specialist personal injury team at Trethowans who will be able to advise you as to how to bring a claim.

Author: James Gleisner, Trethowans LLP

I used to like the idea of being spontaneous and also did not fancy using a sat nav however once you have tried to get a room somewhere to find you cannot get one as they are full due to a local festival, over priced (Italy circa 2001, 11 pm in a roadside motel style @ €175 comes to mind) , you cannot find one (sounds strange I know but there are miles and miles of nothing in parts of Germany - well apart from excellent scenery) and to book into somewhere and find it awful, we now do as above - i.e. find a final destination and plan route around it. 

We use a combination of Biker Friendly accommodation on www.thebikerguide.co.uk and if there is nothing in the area we want we also look on booking.com.

We did a trip a couple of years ago with the final destination being Colditz Castle, which you can stay in. Went in July for 3 ish weeks with everything booked, set into sat nav and you know what - thank goodness as it rained everyday but one. We would set off with the next place in the sat nav - take off route when we wanted and arrive at destination stress free.

We stayed at some great places, travelled fantastic roads and routes, ate well, found our way easy even with the many roadwork diversions and would pass by others at the side of the road battling with a big wet soggy map to find their way. We did also pack a map as back-up or to look at a vaster area on a larger scale, however we are happy to say it return dry and not soggy. 

I think once you have used a sat nav on a big trip which gets you to destinations easy, gets you out of a diversion and back on route, helps you navigate/find food and petrol, you wonder what you did before the United States military released the technology for GPS!

Motorcyclists are at a much greater risk of death or serious injury than other road users. Despite forming only 1% of road traffic in the UK, motorcyclists account for 18% of road deaths and serious injuries. It is a sad yet true fact that 1 in 4 Motorcyclists will be involved in an accident and of those only 1 in 5 will be at fault.*

It will be of no surprise that the most common reason for a motorcycle accident, is the failure of a motorist to see the motorcyclist, with 66% of all motorcycles involved in accidents being reported as 'at a junction' ** . When there was no other involvement the rate was at 23%. The main reasons being f ailing to look properly, loss of control, carelessness or in a hurry and even peer pressure when riding in a group.

Motorcycle riders and passengers have the right to complain for a large amount of these accidents.

Speed Accident Scenarios include:

Car driver was executing a 3 point turn. A speeding motorcyclist came around the bend and is faced with the car blocking his side of the carriageway.
A motorcyclist is involved in a collision with a car on a country road. The accident occurs on a 90 degree blind bend. The car was on the wrong side of the road, but the motorcyclist approached the bend at excessive speed denying him the opportunity to control his machine and take evasive action.

Other areas for following up a claim include:

Spillage of diesel
Debris and mud
Missing grid covers
Potholes

See the Legal section for specialist Solicitors who can deal with your claims for compensation arising from your unfortunate Motorcycle accident, rather than be dealt with by solicitors who are used to dealing with the buying and selling of property, and not dealing with serious road accidents, especially ones involving Motorcycles.

* Taken from the DfT Compendium of Motorcycling Statistics: 2008 Edition

** Taken from IHIE Guidelines for Motorcycling