4 NEWS
Guy Martin’s mega-month
A WHOLE YEAR OF BIKING FOR JUST
Odds slashed on Top Gear job AND Tour Divide completed (under a different name though) – it’s been a manic four weeks for the housewife’s favourite.
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It’s been an amazing four weeks for Guy Martin – and if the bookies at William Hill actually know something about what’s going on behind closed doors at the BBC then it’s going to get even better. Firstly, Guy completed the punishing Tour Divide mountain bike event, averaging around 150 miles a day.
Here’s the odds: Next Top Gear presenter:
Competing in the event under the pseudonym Terry Smith, Guy crossed the line at the border of New Mexico 20 days after kicking off in Canada. He cycled for 2712 miles and covered 185,000ft of climbing. Guy said: “It was the toughest thing I have ever done. It was bloody brilliant. Brutal.” Then, just a week after finishing the tour, Guy found himself popping up on William Hill’s list of those most likely to take over the spot on Top Gear which has been left empty following host
Chris Evans’ resignation after the last episode. According to BBC insiders,the show is going to continue with former Friends star Matt LeBlanc in the host spot and another member of the team is to be recruited. There’s been no comment from Guy about the rumours but the bookies have slashed the odds on him joining the telly team and as MCM went to press he was 6/1 on to join, the only other TV stars to be on the same odds are former F1 world champion Jenson Button and chef James Martin.
6/1 Guy Martin; 6/1 James Martin; 6/1 Jenson Button; 8/1 Dermot O’Leary; 8/1 Philip Glenister; 8/1 Rebecca Jackson; 10/1 Jodie Kidd; 14/1 Steve Coogan; 14/1 Suzi Perry; 25/1 David Coulthard; 25/1 Eddie Irvine; 25/1 Jake Humphrey; 25/1 Jay Kay; 25/1 Jay Leno; 25/1 Jimmy Carr; 25/1 Johnny Vaughan; 25/1 Ken Block; 25/1 Paul di Resta; 33/1 Martin Brundle; 33/1 Rowan Atkinson; 50/1 Ant & Dec; 50/1 James Blunt; 50/1 Matthew Perry; 50/1 Nigel Mansell; 100/1 Nigel Farage “The market is wide open at the moment and of course there may not be a replacement but at the moment Guy Martin, James Martin and Jenson Button are the front runners,” said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.
Iconic stars of On Any Sunday headlining Stafford Show The original superstars back together again! As well as finding fame on the big screen, all four of the guests also took part in the Anglo-American Match Races in held in the UK in the 1970s at circuits such as Brands Hatch, Mallory Park and Oulton Park. Mert Lawwill’s appearance at the show will be his first visit to the UK since that time. The rest of the event – the biggest of its kind in the world – will feature its traditional blend of hundreds of trade stands, a massive autojumble, firing up of race bikes in the Classic Racer GP Paddock, trials demonstrations in the More than 80 owners’ clubs 1000s of moder n-classic bikes Classic Dirt Bike Experience, Massive autojumble Bonhams Auction the Stafford Autumn Sale from Bonhams, a live restoration theatre and more. S
FOUR of the cast from iconic motorcycle documentary On Any Sunday are set for guest of honour duties at Stafford’s massive annual motorcycle event this autumn. Yep. Those guys. They’re coming to the UK. Gracing the Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show on the weekend of October 15-16 will be former racers David Aldana, Don Emde, Mert Lawwill and Gene Romero who each had central roles in Bruce Brown’s legendary 1972 film. Classic Racer magazine editor Malc Wheeler said: “On Any Sunday will have played its part in inspiring many of our Stafford showgoers to get on two wheels in their youth, and I’m sure there will be plenty of excitement as they get to meet four of its stars.”
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Digital thieves swoop to steal bikers’ details
Millions of bikers’ details have been stolen off forums by internet hackers. Users of sites including Motorcycle. com, GoldWingOwners.com, SVRider. com, K1600Forum.com, Gixxer.com and others have come under attack by the digital thieves and according to company VerticalScope the data breach was limited to usernames, user IDs, email addresses, IP addresses, and encrypted passwords. That basically means that if you were a member of one of these forums but weren’t using the same password to log on to other online services, it might not be a big deal. VerticalScope has said it is making changes to its password restrictions on its forums, to ensure users’ data is kept secure in the future.
Motorcyclists are ‘more attractive than drivers’
People who wear clothing associated with motorcycling are seen as more attractive, daring, adventurous and fun, new research has found. The study from one of the UK and Ireland’s leading motorcycle insurance brokers, Carole Nash, asked over 1000 adults to rate the looks of the opposite sex when dressed as bikers, compared to plain driving attire. In five out of six cases, members of the public dressed as motorcyclists were voted as more desirable than when dressed as drivers, making biking leathers and boots the go-to garments for those wanting to impress. When it comes to attractiveness, it is the 25 to 34-yearolds who are most likely to find a biker easier on the eye (23%) compared to 10% of 55 to 64-year-olds.
REVEALED! Ducati CEO’s designs to reinvent the wheel (and cure chatter at the same time) Claudio Domenicali is the chief executive of Ducati. A man with lots on his plate. But when he’s not steering one of the world’s strongest motorcycle brands to bigger and better things, the guy is still an engineer and inventor. And here’s his latest idea – a motorcycle wheel with a rubberised centre that acts like a shock absorber mounted INSIDE the wheel itself. The designs look pretty radical but have been filed for Ducati with patent offices across Europe, the USA and China. The drawings show a wheel with what’s described as an ‘elastically yielding material’ fitted inside the cast elements of the hub and spokes. That’s the bit shown as shaded areas in the front-on drawing. The material effectively sits inside the hub and extends up and into the spokes. This rubberised (okay, it’s unlikely to be just a rubberised material, but it will be something
like a rubber in a similar way to how Moto Guzzi has already used a rubberised-type material to mount engines on with it’s 1400cc cruiserbased bikes) material is also attached to a thick central hub which is – in turn – fixed to a hard collar within which the bike’s usual metal axle sits, although the axle is longer than on a conventional bike’s set-up. The patent description doesn’t explain why the axle needs to be longer, but it makes sense if the bearings and shims needed to house a conventional metal axle to the newmaterial shock absorbing hub, and the hardened collar built into it, are in some way mounted to the outside of the centre of the invention. What we do know is that Domenicali thinks that this solution will help cut chatter when a bike’s at serious lean angles. That is the primary reason for this system as laid out in the official invention’s
Advanced Husqvarna on the way for 2017
description, to help cut the chattering feeling that comes from forces transferring from the road surface, through the wheel and in a direction of force that a motorcycle forks can’t get rid of. So because this invention’s description mentions the feeling of chatter at extremely high lean
angles at pace it would appear that this is the next step forward in development for the sportsbike side of Ducati’s future.
Husqvarna has just unveiled its new 2017 FS 450 Supermoto bike. According to the company, the new 450cc machine features updated and top-of-the-line components (including WP’s AER 48 forks and a composite subframe made from 30% carbon fibre), further advances in engine management (launch control, new handlebar map switch, traction control) and a fresh design (new graphics Get up to and improved speed daily ergonomics). There’s no price THE FREE yet for the bike, WEBSITE once we get it we’ll let you know.