The VMCC held its inaugural run in Scotland for veteran motorcycles ( manufactured prior to 1915) on Sunday 3 October starting at the Lion and Unicorn Inn at Thornhill near Doune, Stirlingshire. The  run attracted an entry of twenty three machines and followed a sixty eight mile route taking in Lochs Katrine and Ard. The earliest machine entered was the VMCC’s 1903 Dreadnought which was gifted to the Club by Harold Karslake affectionately known as “Oily”. He wanted the machine to be used and not languish in a museum and it regularly takes part in runs around the country. It was loaned by the Club to Dr. Alastair Alexander, their Area Representative for Scotland, for the inaugural Scottish run.

John Macmillan of Lanark was the run organiser and said, “There seemed to be a demand for a veteran run and we were hoping for perhaps single figure entries but the response far exceeded our expectations. The riders came from all over Scotland and a number from England and Northern Ireland. A great variety of early marques such as BSA, Triumph, Scott, Douglas, James, Norton, Humber and Sunbeam were ridden on the day providing a memorable display of the once mighty British Motorcycle Industry in the early part of the twentieth century. The smallest machine entered was a 1914 175cc Calthorpe owned by David Clark of Forres.”
Alastair Alexander said, “The Run was part of the VMCC’s strategy in Scotland to encourage the older machines to get back into regular use on runs and rallies. British veteran motorcycles were high technology in the early 1900s but today it takes a skilled rider to manage a machine with perhaps a single gear, a belt drive transmission, no clutch and primitive brakes. The Scottish veteran run demonstrated that a carefully chosen route tailored to machines of a similar performance appealed to VMCC members knowing that they could ride in safety and with confidence.”

A 1905 Peugeot 500cc V-Twin

Following its successes and winning awards in Los Angeles, Barcelona, New Delhi, and Milan, internationally acclaimed film Dream Racer wins 'Best Feature Film' Award in New York at the 2015 Motorcycle Film Festival (Sept 23-27th, 2015).

The Dream Racer story is based on the famous Dakar Rally, the most extreme and dangerous race on earth where racers brave extreme temperature in the harshest deserts on the planet. A 15 days, 10,000km (6,200 miles) desert race dubbed insanity on wheels where each year since 1979, and with an attrition rate of 50%, racers facing injuries and death attempt the impossible.

The Dream Racer film shows The Dakar Rally in its purest form – no sponsors, no multi-million dollar team, not even a mechanic – just one man, a motorbike, his tool-roll, and the world’s most dangerous motor race.
Far more than just a motorbike movie, Dream Racer is a call to arms for anyone who has ever dreamt of doing anything – a spine tingling antidote to the fear of life passing you by unfulfilled.

All of us have dreams and desires, but sometimes they remain just that, dreams, lost in a schedule of a tomorrow that never comes. Dream Racer is a story of dreams, determination, and extreme resilience to make it happen at all cost - a story guaranteed to make you question your real purpose in life.

Jack Drury, Director at the Motorcycle Film Festival says "Dream Racer is one of these rare film that stands outside the generic motorcycle genre. A beautiful, thoughtful, exciting, and most of all a film that truly conveyed a spirit of adventure and perseverance."

"I wanted to make a film to show that anyone with a dream can actually make it come true, in my case it was competing in the Dakar Rally. Simon Lee (Director) and Adrian Barac (Editor) have done a fantastic job at capturing the core elements of a totally non-scripted adventure and has turned Dream Racer into a timeless story that will stand the test of time and inspire young and old for the next several decades. To be awarded Best Feature Film in New York is a great honour and I truly hope Dream Racer has inspired ordinary people, like myself, in doing extraordinary things with their life and be able to say at the end... yes, I am happy of having lived such a life" says Christophe Barriere-Varju (subject of the film).

Dream Racer has been subtitled in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German and Russian and is available for acquisition by TV Networks. Dream Racer is also available worldwide on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Video-on-Demand at www.dreamracer.tv

Figures obtained by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) have found that, over the last decade, speeding is still the biggest motoring-related offence where the defendant is found guilty in court.

And the numbers of those found guilty have risen sharply in the past 12 months – from 115,935 to 148,426, an increase of 28% which is the highest number since 2005. The 2014 figures were 2% greater than 2004 (reference 1).

The next highest offence where defendants were found guilty was vehicle insurance-related crimes, although the percentage has fallen dramatically since 2004.

Some 118,254 people were found guilty in court of this, which is 7% up on 2013 but 84% down on a decade ago, when 218,142 were found guilty.

The figures, obtained by the IAM from the Ministry of Justice, also show that vehicle registration and excise duty offences and driving with alcohol in the blood above the legal limit are both offences that have fallen in huge numbers in the past ten years.

The top five list of offences where offenders are found guilty in court is as follows:

Offence/2004/2013/2014/% change (one year)/%change (10 year)

1.Speed limit offences/146,161/115,935/148,426/28%/2%

2.Vehicle insurance offences/218,142/110,843/118,254/7%/-84%

3.Failing to supply information as to identity of driver when required/not applicable/50,687/54,372/7%/not applicable

4.Vehicle registration and excise licence offences/192,959/55,182/46,636/-15%/-314%

5.Driving with alcohol in the blood above the prescribed limit/74,055/40,683/37,853/-7%/-96%

Other offences with a large number of guilty verdicts other than speeding are neglecting road regulations at 16,951 in 2014 (up 2% from 2013), using or causing others to use a mobile phone whilst driving at 16,025 (down 8% from 2013) and driving licence-related offences at 15,982 (down 10% from 2013).

New offences such as causing serious injury by dangerous driving are also showing signs of more widespread use which reflects the life changing nature of these crimes.

Sarah Sillars, IAM Chief Executive Officer, said: “We can see from these figures that as the UK comes out of recession traffic levels have risen, speeding appears to be becoming more prevalent and regrettably casualties are rising again. The government and police forces cannot afford to take their eye off the ball and more visible policing is, in our view, the key way to ensure that people don’t think they can get away with speeding.

“In addition local campaigns must remain high-profile to make sure drivers don’t get complacent, or forget that speed can kill.”

According to the government’s THINK! campaign, speed is “one of the main factors in fatal road accidents”. In 2013, 3,064 people were killed or seriously injured in crashes where speed was a factor.

They added that the risk of death is approximately four times higher when a pedestrian is hit at 40mph than at 30mph (reference 2).

Sarah added: “On a positive note, the joining up of databases across agencies and the increased use of number plate recognition cameras means some motoring crimes have fallen in big numbers.”

As part of the build up to Motorcycle Live 2015, which comes alive at The NEC, Birmingham on 28 November, 2015 World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea has described the moment he first came alive on a motorcycle.

Fresh from his 2015 SBK title win, Kawasaki rider Rea reveals that his passion for motorcycling actually began on the dirt rather than the race track and at the tender age of just three years old, when his father put him on a motocross bike.

Luckily for race fans around the world, Rea quickly fell in love with all types of two-wheel riding and his undeniable skill has seen him rise to World Champion. To view the video click here.

Motorcycle Live 2015 will run from 28 November to 6 December. Advance tickets are on sale now, at just £17.50 per adult, £11 for Seniors and £7 for children aged 11-16* (kids aged 10 and under accompanied by a paying adult go free). There is also a £20.50 advance ticket, which includes entry to the show and a choice of Oxford neck wear worth £15. To book, call 0844 581 2345 or visit www.motorcyclelive.co.uk

The National Motorcycle Museum had a particularly busy fortnight at this year’s Classic TT Festival, taking part in various high profile activities both on and off the track.

They really did take the museum to the people with no less than 32 Norton’s from every era being transported from the collection over to the island for our huge “pop up” museum display. From 1906 through to the 1990s, a Norton race machine from every decade of the last century was displayed in what many visitors described as “the best display ever seen in a TT paddock”.

One of the biggest highlights for many was the “Norton - The Rotary Years” – Parade.

Whilst individual Norton rotary race bikes have appeared in parade laps around the Mountain Course - and, of course featured in race wins and podiums - never before had so many appeared at one time on the island. A sunny Saturday on 29/08/15 saw no less than 12 of the revolutionary machines, all owned by the National Motorcycle Museum, take to the 37.73-mile course.

A whole host of famous names had the honour of taking part including some of the bike’s original riders including Trevor Nation, Steve Cull & Ian Simpson. Other riders included William and Michael Dunlop, Michael Rutter and Jamie Whitham.

“The White Charger” that the late Steve Hislop famously rode to victory in the 1992 Senior was ridden by 23-time TT Race winner John McGuinness resplendent in replica Hislop leathers & helmet!

Sunday 30/08/15 saw many of the museum’s ex-works rotary Norton’s appear once again on the short circuit at the Festival of Jurby with the likes of McGuinness, Rutter & Cull onboard.

Team National Motorcycle Museum Racing had a challenging week with team rider William Dunlop posting a DNF in the F1 race on the team’s rotary Norton race machine. Museum Director James Hewing commented: “Team National Motorcycle Museum Racing’s entry to run a Norton rotary race machine in the F1 event was a huge challenge and we are obviously disappointed not to have finished. William Dunlop and the whole team worked tirelessly all week with William declaring the bike ‘wicked fast’. Everyone knows that there is no tougher place to go racing and feedback from race fans has been really positive”.

The Museum film crew has created four short films from the event which include the paddock “pop up” museum, the rotary parade, the festival of Jurby and Team National Motorcycle Museum Racing. All these films will be available to view from early October on the museum’s new website www.thenmm.co.uk