2004 Honda 80 on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Bahrain track days

A few months ago, expat (and ex racer) John Beddall made contact to ask if I fancied doing some track day instruction out in Bahrain.  After thinking about it for two seconds, flights were booked and a plan was put in place to look after around forty riders for a day at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).  Young Taylor Mac was also recruited to look after any tasty riders that I couldn’t deal with   The Brits out there love their bikes, however, quite a few locals also turned up plus a few others from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.  Most were on high end Superbikes, like S1000s, Panigales and RSV4s but there was also a healthy number R6s and new 675Rs.   Although this fabulous Hermann Tilke designed circuit is around ten years old incredibly it has never hosted a bike race.  The highlight of the year there is F1 but being owned by the Bahrainian Royal family, there is no desperate need for the circuit to operate as a profitable business.  The track reminded me of Qatar but much more interesting as some great undulations have been built into its desert location. We shared the track with Supercars on the day (20mins on/20mins off) and as you might imagine it was betty swollocks for seven hours in the 30 plus temperatures.  As usual there was a few offs with poor old RS1000 Aprilia mounted Andy breaking his femur early in the day.  Two other buddies appeared to swap bikes mid air in another incident but fortunately escaped unhurt.In the evening everyone stayed for an al fresco dinner in the paddock with the craic going on for hours as the Fosters kept flowing.   All in all it was a brilliant trip and it has left me thinking there could be cost effective ways of getting Brits out there for track days next winter.  I'll keep you posted.Cape Town next to make my racing comeback at the Killarney 8 hour on a CBR150 Honda.  Hopefully I can manage the beast, I'll post a full report next week.

2013 AMA Supercross Salt Lake City Race Report

Monster Energy Kawasaki racer Ryan Villopoto demonstrated once again he is a the top of his sport, clinching his third-consecutive AMA Supercross championship. Villopoto cemented his title with a win in front of 43,149 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, his ninth main event victory of the season and 33rd in his career. Though he led every lap, Villopoto didn’t have as easy a time in Salt Lake City as he has had in some races this season.

Honda’s New Documentary: Dreams vs Nightmares [trailer]

Honda have been releasing video documentaries on… well… everything!  Why?  Well to toot their own horn and remind you that Honda is crazy cool. Actually, their videos aren’t that bad, although somewhat dramatic.  I hunkered down and watched their “Failure: The Secret to Success” video and it held my attention. Their new video is titled “Dreams vs Nightmares”, which features a few notable people such as Clive Barker and Deepak Chopra.  I’m curious to see how they take this theme and use it to show how and why Honda creates and designs the products they make.