HRC or Honda Racing Corporation that runs its two wheeled motorsport involvement has taken the cover of the Moto3 machine for next year. The unveiling took place in Barcelona and new motorcycle is called the NSF 250 R and will do a demonstration run in Barcelona with Alex Criville a former 500cc World Champion with Honda.
Picture courtesy:Crash.net
Formula1 team Virgin began its life as Manor GP which was headed by John Booth who is still the team Principal and by Wirth Research headed by Nick Wirth. Nick Wirth believes that wind tunnels are the main reason why Formula1 is so expensive and has sworn by CFD or computational fluid dynamics which simply uses computers. This low cost approach was that which facilitated the team coming into F1. Even before the team made it on to the grid, Richard Branson the head honcho of the Virgin group of companies bought into the team impressed by its approach. However, one and half a years later with the team not producing impressive results and with Russian car maker Marussia having bought into the team significantly things are about to change. The first indication of this is the termination of Nick Wirth and Wirth Technologies and relying on the advice of Pat Symonds one of the two disgraced in the Singapore Gate scandal. The team will now head into a wind tunnel. But the name of the technical director who will replace Nick Wirth has not yet been announced. Pat Symonds due to the strictures passed on him by the FIA can only play an advisory role till 2013. We feel that this is a sad development for here was model which should have been imposed on all teams to bring down costs and to make F1 more viable. But wisdom hardly ever triumphs and that much is well known.
The Financial Times in England has carried news that Infront Sports and Media which is fronted (no pun intended) by Flammini brothers is up for sale. What is most significant is that one of the three bidders identified by the Financial Times is Bridgepoint the firm that owns Dorna the rights holders of MotoGP. MotoGP was originally owned by CVC which sold it to Bridgepoint to get the rights of the more glamorous Formula1. If Bridgepoint gets control of Infront things could take a very interesting turn. In one of our opinion articles in the Power Stroke column we had already said that the future will likely see synergies between MotoGP and World Superbikes since both have not so large grids. We can’t wait to see if Bridgepoint will be successful and if it is what would be the future of MotoGP and World Superbikes.
The fall out of the crash in the last GP at Le Mans which involved Marco Simoncelli and Dani Pedrosa is that the collar bone fracture that the latter had will now keep him out of the GP of Catalunya at the Circuit de Montmelo near Barcelona. This is one of the home Grands Prix for the Spanish rider and not riding in a race means that his challenge for the MotoGP world championship is already compromised. Pedrosa had a surgery on his collarbone and has not recovered fully and has decided to not race till he is properly healed. The pint sized Pedrosa is fragile and has had a spate of surgeries to correct injuries that he has had after falling of the MotoGP bike.
GM India has postponed the launch of the diesel engined Beat to July. It was supposed to be launched this month, which itself was a postponement from the original date. The reasons behind the delay are as yet unknown. The XSDE engined Beat has been found testing a few times mainly near Pune since the engine and the car will be manufactured at Talegaon near Pune. The Beat sells around 3 thousand units a month and sometimes lesser than the older Spark, which means that its full potential is not yet realized. A diesel engine is what the doctor ordered and the sooner it comes the better it should be for GM India.
We had brought you the news that Maruti’s new MPV has been photographed and pictures loaded on Team Bhp. Here are the pictures from Team Bhp
Picture Courtesy:Team-Bhp.com
Apart from this Autocar India has scooped pictures of the same vehicle undergoing tests.
Picture Courtesy Autocar India.com
It appears that Maruti is all set to launch this product very soon.
Mahindra is testing not only its truncated Xylo at Ooty but also a double cab or crew cab version of its pick up the Genio which is also based on the Xylo platform. Autocar India has scooped this picture.
Picture Courtesy: Autocar India.com for the Genio Double Cab and Indian Autos Blog.com for the Mini Xylo
Bajaj Auto the second largest two wheeler maker in the country has had a good month in May as far as sales are concerned. Not only did the domestic sales for its motorcycles breach the 3 lakh mark comfortably, it also exported more than 1 lakh motorcycles which is a record of sorts. Bajaj also saw the sale of its three wheelers also going north in the month of May.
Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India which is the largest seller of scooters and the fourth largest two wheeler maker in the country has inaugurated its second manufacturing facility in India at Tapukara in Rajasthan. Right now only the phase 1 will be functional with the second phase going on stream in a couple of months time. Honda is under severe pressure to meet the booming demand for its products with the Activa scooter commanding up to 8 months waiting period in some parts of the country. None of the Honda products are available off the shelf and this has led to other players benefitting from Honda’s lack of production capacity. Honda has also announced that it will be inaugurating a third plant at Narsapuram near Bengaluru in Karnataka. The highest demand for the Activa is from the southern states. The Tapukara plant will for the time being make the Activa and the CB Twister motorcycles.
The latest issue of Autocar India (the print magazine version) shows a picture of a motorcycle from TVS and Autocar India is saying that this is the new Victor. So the million dollar question. Is TVS reintroducing the Victor brand which was once very successful? We think maybe not. TVS sells motorcycles with the Victor badge in other countries and therefore the photo in Autocar India could be that of a test mule headed for another market and not necessarily India. But we could be wrong. We have been a few times. It will be nice to be proved wrong here.
