Bridgepoint is the holding company that owns Dorna who are in charge of the MotoGP world series. Bridgepoint was also once the holder of Formula1 before it sold that the present owners CVC Capital. We had reported that the Paolo Flammini fronted Infront which controls World Superbikes was up for sale. The sale has now been completed with Bridgepoint taking over Infront and that means that it will be the owner of both MotoGP and World Superbikes. Speculation now is that World Superbike will become totally production oriented and cheaper while MotoGP will maintain its premier image. Time will tell which way things will go.
Yearly Archives: 2011
The departure of Casey Stoner from Ducati has become a problem for the Italian manufacturer in MotoGP. Casey Stoner was able to extract from the Ducati, when either sported a trellis frame or a carbon fibre chassis, what no other riders could. The worth of Casey Stoner as a rider is now obvious with his replacement Valentino Rossi not being able to get to grips with the carbon fibre chassis that uses the engine as a stressed member and the front end and rear end are bolted on to the engine. The lack of success with Rossi is now forcing Ducati to attempt what it is very unfamiliar with, building a motorcycle around an aluminium twin spar frame. MotoGP motorcycles in order to be good handlers require a bit of flex built in to them so that the rider gets feedback from the motorcycle and rides it at its limit. The trellis frame, which is a series of small vertical pieces welded in between horizontal pipes at different angles is an imprecise way of building in flex and that is what led Ducati to go for the carbon fibre chassis that uses the engine as a stressed member. Now with that no working for Rossi or Nicky Hayden Ducati is taking up a parallel project of building an aluminium frame. The problem is that this is uncharted territory for Ducati. It is therefore outsourcing the building of the frame to a supplier who is familiar with it. So Ducati will do both, aluminium twin spar frame and the carbon fibre chassis and will ultimately race whichever is better.
Mahindra and Mahindra have managed to turn the sales of the Logan after it branded it as the Verito. Despite the slight upsurge in sales, the car is still not a favourite with individual buyers and it is the taxi operators, especially radio taxi operators, who have been buying it in big numbers. Mahindra will be making a few more cosmetic changes to the Verito to make it appealing to the individual buyer apart from creating a sub 4 metre car based on the Verito. Mahindra says it is not sure if the car will be a notchback or a hatchback but it is definitely working on the smaller version. With duties lowered from 22% to 10% the smaller Verito could be the cat among the pigeons if Mahindra is able to price the car competitively.
The 2012 year model of the Honda CBR 1000RR Fireblade is the flagship model of the Honda motorcycle range and is the flag bearer in the World Superbike Racing. There were expectations that the new CBR would sport a V4 engine but the motorcycle continues with the same in line four engine that it now has. In fact, not much has changed on the motorcycle which is already a potent one.
Pictures Courtesy: Motoroids.com
The Frankfurt Motor Show is one of the most prestigious auto exhibitions in the world and all car manufacturers are usually there with their latest for audiences to feast their eyes on. Bentley, which is now a Volkswagen Company, has facelifted its Continental GT Speed and has been pictured without a disguise ahead of the Frankfurt Show. The car looks nice and butch.
Picture Courtesy: Indiancarsbikes.in
The covers are finally off. The vehicle that has been caught testing with a lot of camouflage has now been revealed in all its glory. The first real SUV from Force Motors, called the Force One is now ready to take on the likes of the Tata Safari and the Aria, the Mahindra Scorpio and the Xylo, and the Toyota Innova. The list of competition is based on the price range into which the new Force One SUV falls. It cost Rs. 10.65 lakhs ex showroom in Delhi, where the prices are cheaper than most part of the country. The body shell of the vehicle have been taken from the Chinese manufacturer of the Guangdong Foday Explorer III whose body is identical to the Force One. The engine however is made under licence from Mercedes Benz for whom Force Motors has been a supplier for many years now and is the 2.2 litre OM 611. Amitabh Bachan was in attendance at the launch of the vehicle. For an exhaustive write up about the vehicle please visit Motorbeam.com
Pictures Courtesy: Motorbeam.com (for more exhaustive pics head for Motorbeam.com)
Autocar India.com also has done a first drive of the Force One. You can read that at AutocarIndia.com
Picture Courtesy: Autocar India.com
In the past we have reported that the seemingly brave boys who ride around on motorcycles at great speed, not caring for life or limb are for all practical purposes sissies or pussies as Valentino Rossi once described his rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner. In the past Lorenzo has been most outspoken about the “dangers” of going to Motegi since the circuit is close to the Fukushima nuclear reactor which suffered a melt down following the March tsunami. Later Casey Stoner too took a strident stand of not going to Japan. The FIM and Dorna have used the services of an independent agency ARPA to test the levels of radiation around Motegi after the figures of the International Atomic Agency were disputed. ARPA too found nothing dangerous and said in its report that radiation there was “negligible”. Honda owns the Japanese circuit and wants its riders to race there as do Yamaha and Suzuki which are like Honda Japanese companies. Given this Stoner and Lorenzo have in the recent past said that they are now open to racing at Motegi. But not Rossi. He now says that neither he nor Ducati are prepared to go to Japan unless the race is at Suzuka, which is far away from Fukushima. Rossi is now echoing the sentiments of Stoner who earlier said motorcycle racing is not a way of expressing solidarity with the Japanese people. Rossi now says it is okay for relief workers to go there but not for motorcycle racers. We suppose relief workers are lesser mortals whose lives can be sacrificed at the altar of service while the most useful motorcycle racers need to be preserved for their higher value. It is one thing to be afraid, but a totally different thing to talk like an idiot.
Motorbeam.com has reported that the tickets for the inaugural Indian Formula1 GP will begin from the 20th of August, 2011. The Grand Prix which is being sponsored by Airtel, will be held on the weekend of 30th of October, 2011 at the newly constructed Buddh(a) International Racing Circuit in Greater Noida near Delhi. The circuit is due to be homologated on the 1st of September, 2011 when FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting will visit the circuit for inspection and pass it for racing if it meets the high standards that Formula1 has. It has been reported so far that the actual road circuit and the pit garages have been completed but work on the grand stands remains to be completed. Vijay Mallya is quoted as having said that some of the work on the grandstands may not be completed even by the date of the race.
Armaan Ebrahim the son of Akbar Ebrahim one of the earliest racers in India, though still a very young man, has been in motor racing for sometime now. He raced in various formulae such as the Formula BMW, A1 GP for Team India and Formula 2. For next year Armaan has turned his attention to the Indy lights racing league and will race for Brian Herta’s team. Herta is himself a racing legend in the United States of America having successfully competed in Indycar racing. This maybe the right move for the young Indian and success there could bring him into Formula1 racing in which is his ultimate ambition.
The X6 from BMW shook the automotive world up when it was launched. It was a zany combination of an SUV and a coupe and logic would have dictated that the combination would have rendered both the SUV and the coupe meaningless. But that was not to be. Against all expectations the SUV went on to sell in big numbers in the process creating a new segment altogether. Now the other Germans are trying to catch up. Mercedes and Audi are both testing cars to take on the X6. Audi’s effort is called the Q6 which has been found testing by worldcarfans.com and those images have been posted on Motoroids.com. When you see the picture you will not see the coupe like lining of the roof. Instead it looks like an estate. But see the doors and you will see that there is a small pillar separating the two and that means that the rear of the car is from another possibly the Q5. Audi is cleverly disguising its Q6. But it is only a matter of time when the actual Q6’s pictures too come out.
Pictures Courtesy: Motoroids.com
