jeudi 21 février 2013
Lawrence of Arabia
"A skittish motorbike with a touch of blood in it is better than all the riding animals on earth, because of its logical extension of our faculties, and the hint, the provocation, to excess conferred by its honeyed untiring smoothness." -T.E. Lawrence
Most people today know Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888-1935) by his nickname "Lawrence of Arabia" which was made famous by the 1962 film based on his life starring Peter O'Toole. If you've seen the movie, you'll recall the Lawrence was a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army and played a pivotal role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule starting in 1916 through to 1918. You may also recall that at the beginning of the movie, he is involved in a fatal motorcycle accident on his Brough Superior SS100. That wreck really did occur about two months after Lawrence left the military on May 19th, 1935 and he died of the injuries he sustained 6 days later.
While alive, Lawrence was an avid motorcyclist. His brand of choice was the Brough Superior and he owned seven of them during his life. He nicknamed them his Boanerges, which is a biblical name meaning "sons of thunder". He also named the motorcycles George I through George VII and at the time of his death George VIII was being built at the factory. George VII, the bike on which he was killed, has been restored and can be seen at the British Imperial War Museum. An interesting fact about the Brough Superiors was that each bike was personally tested by George Brough, the owner of the company. The SS100 models were tested to at least 100 miles per hour, making them incredibly fast for their time.
After his fatal wreck, Dr. Hugh Cairns, a neurosurgeon who attended Lawrence, began research into motorcycle related head injuries. The result of that research led to the use of crash helmets by both military and civilian motorcyclists.
from Riding Vintage
Most people today know Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888-1935) by his nickname "Lawrence of Arabia" which was made famous by the 1962 film based on his life starring Peter O'Toole. If you've seen the movie, you'll recall the Lawrence was a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army and played a pivotal role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule starting in 1916 through to 1918. You may also recall that at the beginning of the movie, he is involved in a fatal motorcycle accident on his Brough Superior SS100. That wreck really did occur about two months after Lawrence left the military on May 19th, 1935 and he died of the injuries he sustained 6 days later.
While alive, Lawrence was an avid motorcyclist. His brand of choice was the Brough Superior and he owned seven of them during his life. He nicknamed them his Boanerges, which is a biblical name meaning "sons of thunder". He also named the motorcycles George I through George VII and at the time of his death George VIII was being built at the factory. George VII, the bike on which he was killed, has been restored and can be seen at the British Imperial War Museum. An interesting fact about the Brough Superiors was that each bike was personally tested by George Brough, the owner of the company. The SS100 models were tested to at least 100 miles per hour, making them incredibly fast for their time.
After his fatal wreck, Dr. Hugh Cairns, a neurosurgeon who attended Lawrence, began research into motorcycle related head injuries. The result of that research led to the use of crash helmets by both military and civilian motorcyclists.
from Riding Vintage
Porsche 991 GTE in testing
Hot of the press from testing at Sebring today, high quality images of the brand new Porsche 991 GTE from Nick Busato.
The car, which will make its debut in the 2013 season with a full World Endurance Championship GTE Pro campaign in the hands of a fully fledged works team, is a totally fresh design. Based on the new shape ’991′ 911, it is running at Sebring as part of a private test. It is believed that the car will not, however, race at Sebring’s 12 hour enduro.
Patrick Pilet has been behind the wheel doing the testing duties for Porsche, so far.
We’ll be adding more photos throughout the day as we receive them from Nick, who is at the track all day.
The test also sees the first proper public test of the Z4 GTE from BMW. ESM will run their new HPD, Level 5 are expected to be in attendance and Muscle Milk return after their appearance at the official test. Dyson Racing will turn laps, as will a number of GTC class cars including (our cover star, Patrick) Dempsey Del Piero’s new cars.
Nos confrères de lendurance.co.uk (lien) ont capté la toute nouvelle Porsche 911 GT3-RSR, la photo étant à mettre au crédit de Nick Busato. Cela fait longtemps que tout le monde l'attendait ! Porsche vient enfin de lever le voile sur sa nouvelle arme en GTE. Après plusieurs années de bons et loyaux services, la 911 GT3-RSR laisse place à la... 911 GT3-RSR, mais en version 991. C'est sur le tracé de Sebring que l'auto fait ses premiers pas face à la concurrence lors d'une séance d'essais privés. Pourtant, il n'est pas prévu pour le moment que les équipes roulant en ALMS disposent de cette auto. le Porsche AG Team Manthey aura en charge deux autos en Championnat du Monde d'Endurance avec Lieb/Lietz et Bergmeister/Pilet. Les deux compères Romain Dumas et Timo Bernhard viendront en renfort aux 24 Heures du Mans de même qu'à Silverstone et Spa. C'est d'ailleurs Patrick Pilet qui est à pied d'oeuvre en Floride dans le baquet de la 991. (endurance-info)
Max Biaggi's dig at Valentino Rossi is actually a compliment
from TWOWHEELSBLOG
During a recent interview with Mediaset’s Studio Sport XXL show, Max Biaggi (who now works for the Italian broadcaster) said, “Valentino Rossi is like Copperfield! Despite two bad years, he got the world champion bike!’ and regarding Rossi’s chances of winning the 2013 championship added, “only in the imagination of some people could Valentino come back to win.”
Many Italians took the former World Superbike champions comment as another dig againstRossi, remembering the good old days when the Rossi-Biaggi feuds used to separate the country’s motorcycle fans on who is/was a better rider, which still happens even today.
However, the two former rivals have considerably mellowed out towards each other over the last years, with Rossi even becoming one of Biaggi’s followers on Twitter last December, when they both partecipated in the “Sic Supermoto Day” charity event.
Not wanting to be misunderstand on his ‘Copperfield’ comment, Biaggi decided to clear the air with two tweets:
“Saying Rossi is like Copperfield was meant to be a compliment. Only a magician like him could recover so well after two years that were so difficult” and “Getting back on the world championship winning Yamaha with Lorenzo was anything but easy. I wish them both good luck.”
Biaggi debuts this weekend as Italia 1’s World Superbike commentator.
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