MINI Cowley Caravan and MINI Swindon Roof Top Tent

MINI Cowley Caravan and MINI Swindon Roof Top Tent 

The MINI feels very much at home just about anywhere on the planet. And soon the world will also be the oyster of MINI drivers and their entourages. 12 days on from the "official" start of spring, MINI can announce its arrival among the ranks of camping outfitters. A sumptuously appointed caravan with two sleeping bays and a roof-top tent (also designed for two) in the classic John Cooper Works colour scheme will whet the appetite for do-it-yourself summer holidays peppered with spur-of-the-moment detours along the way. The British premium car maker is very literally inviting us all to dream, while reinforcing its status as a universal supplier of stylish mobility solutions. Its aim is clear: following the unveiling of the MINI Clubvan Concept - the first MINI for everyday business use - at the Geneva Motor Show in early March 2012, come 1 April it will be time to offer customers a very MINI holiday experience as well.

As style-conscious globetrotters have long recognised, the MINI gets a warm welcome wherever it goes. And the MINI Countryman reaches those parts even its siblings hesitate to venture. Having found that perfect spot, however, what we've been lacking has been a suitably MINI, suitably impromptu way of bedding down for the night. Enter the "Cowley" caravan, offering everything you need to pitch camp in comfort: two welcoming sleeping berths, a twin-burner gas-stove, a water tank with pump and dish-washing facility, a solar module to charge the on-board battery and a 230-volt power connection to supply the refrigerator, TV/DVD and hi-fi stereo system.

"Maximum touring pleasure on a minimal footprint" is the formula for this exclusive pied-à-terre on wheels, very much in the spirit of the creative use of space for which MINI is renowned. The silhouette of the Cowley brings to mind the sweeping circular curves of the door trim inside a MINI. Plus, both side doors have sliding windows, as was the way of things in the Classic Mini up to 1969. The eye-catching trailer is only 12 centimetres (under five inches) wider than a MINI Clubman mirror to mirror and weighs just under 300 kilograms (661 lb). Indeed, with its outstanding agility and fleetness of foot, there's no danger of the hallmark MINI driving fun being left behind over long journeys.

For cars like the John Cooper Works top sports models where a trailer coupling is not an option, the "Swindon" roof-top tent provides a neat solution. The tent can be fitted easily to the roof of a MINI, MINI Clubman or MINI Countryman, and likewise offers sleeping space for two people. All of which makes those stressful last-minute searches for accommodation "so last holiday". Having found a fittingly dreamy place to catch a stylish night's shut-eye, it's just a case of climbing up onto the roof of the MINI, lifting up the upper half of the roof-top tent box and plumping your pillows ready for impact. The roof-top tent works a treat, whether the location for your beauty sleep is the English shires or the foothills of Kilimanjaro. Indeed, should you have chosen one of nature's livelier spots to spend the night, the elevated sleeping position will keep passers-by from the animal world at arm's length.

The design of the roof-top tent box allows it to blend in seamlessly with the MINI when closed. Its lower shell is painted Midnight Black, the upper opening section in Chili Red - a combination previously the preserve of John Cooper Works models.

This is not the first time that MINI has come up with an eyebrow-raising take on overnight accommodation. During the 2006 football World Cup in Germany, MINI "fan hotels" laid on a whole new dimension in hospitality. MINI cars were converted into comfortable destinations of slumber for followers of the Italian, French and Brazilian national teams - and painted in the respective national colours. Neutral fans, meanwhile, could find refuge in the MINI Hotel International.

Honda takes home 61st Constructors Championship title

Jorge Lorenzo may have taken home the 2012 Riders Championship title with his trusty Yamaha M1, but it was Honda who won the 2012 Constructor’s Championship title following Dani Pedrosa’s superb win yesterday at Valencia.

This new title is Honda’s 19th in the top class and overall their 61st Constructor’s Championship.

The 2012 MotoGP Constructors Championship is Honda’s 19th in the premier class - six in MotoGP and thirteen in 500cc - to add to the six 350cc titles, nineteen in the 250cc class, fifteen in the 125cc class, and two in the 50cc category. With 12 victories this season, Honda riders have won 658 races, a number that’s sure to continue growing.

Honda’s 2012 Repsol Honda Team riders, Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner, both contributed to the Constructors Championship which is calculated by the result of the highest placed motorcycle of a Constructor, according to the position in the race. They scored a combined tally of 412 points with Dani Pedrosa taking Honda’s top result ten times, and despite missing three races due to injury, Casey Stoner was Honda’s top points-earner seven times. Honda satellite rider, Alvaro Bautista also contributed to the tally with his 3rd place finish in San Marino.

A Honda rider finished on the podium in every race this season and the Contructors Championship was won by the following placed finishes: Qatar – Pedrosa 20, Spain – Stoner 25, Portugal – Stoner 25, France – Stoner 16, Catalunya – Pedrosa 20, Great Britain – Stoner 20, Netherlands – Stoner 25, Germany – Pedrosa 25, Italy – Pedrosa 20, USA – Stoner 25, Indianapolis – Pedrosa 25, Czech Republic – Pedrosa 25, San Marino – Bautista 16, Aragon – Pedrosa 25, Motegi – Pedrosa 25, Malaysia - Pedrosa 25, Australia - Stoner 25, Valencia - Pedrosa 25.

Honda is an engineering company, whose legendary and innovative machines have attracted the best in the world. Machines that are the creation of some of a brilliant engineering corps, which had the bikes over to the dedicated globe-trotting race technicians who are overseen by passionate team managers who demand, and receive, excellence. Men like Shuhei Nakamoto, the Executive Vice-President of Honda Racing Corporation, whose laser-like focus, brutal honesty, and selfless dedication were instrumental in bringing Honda the first Constructors Championship of the new 1000cc era.

TETSUO SUZUKI - HRC PRESIDENT, SENIOR MANAGING OFFICER AND DIRECTOR OF HONDA R&D CO.,LTD

“To win back to back Constructors Titles, our 61st, is a wonderful achievement and it is a credit to our dedicated team and talented riders. This second successive title is testament that HRC is stronger than ever. Unfortunately Dani missed out on the Rider’s Championship by the narrowest of margins, he fought until the end and we congratulate Jorge Lorenzo on a very strong season. We are sorry to say farewell to our 2011 Champion, Casey and we wish him the very best for his future. I must thank all our sponsors and technical partners for their ongoing valuable support and input, and also thanks to all our fans around the World. We hope to repeat this victory again next season!”.

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Ducati factory riders finish 2012 season on all time low

Ducati factory riders couldn’t end a difficult 2012 season in the worst possible way at Valencia, Valentino Rossi who will be leaving the Italian marque after two highly disappointing seasons - with only three podiums and no wins - to return to Yamaha, finished in a lowly 10th, but even worse behind three CRT riders and a satellite Ducati rider (Abraham) and also lapped, his reputation as being ‘The Doctor’ in tatters.

If this wasn’t enough, he was accused of being the reason behind Ducati’s World Superbike pullout, of not pushing enough with the materials Ducati tried to give him and lastly getting the blame for Filippo Preziosi’s getting canned from the MotoGP project.

Valentino Rossi said, “It’s really a shame that the last race with Ducati finished this way. Things went well this morning in the wet warm-up, and in similar conditions, it would have been possible to do a nice result. Instead, this half-and-half situation was truly difficult. In the end the right choice was to use the slick tyres, but my bike on the grid had a very different setting from the other one, so I didn’t feel like switching. With the rain tyres, I felt fine at first, but then when it was necessary to switch, the situation became more complicated. There was a thin dry line, but I couldn’t put the bike where I wanted and as soon as I would go off that line, it was very risky. I could only try to finish. I would have liked to finish these two years with Ducati better. They were two difficult seasons, but I nonetheless leave behind many people that I enjoyed working with, and with whom it was nice to go racing.”

If Rossi still managed to finish and clinch 6th in the standings, Nicky Hayden’s season was for the first time in his career podiumless and he even crashed out of the difficult race.

“It’s a shame to end a difficult season in a bad way, but at least I’m 100 per cent okay from the crash,” said Hayden. “On the grid, it was a really close call between slick tyres and rain tyres. If the track had been warm, it would clearly have been better to start on slicks, but the cold surface temperature made it close. On the warm-up lap, Lorenzo was going faster than us on slicks, so in my opinion, it was the right decision to come in and switch bikes and start from pit lane. After that, it was okay on the dry line, but to make passes, you had to go out where it was treacherous. I got behind Petrucci and couldn’t find a way past. I was waiting to go by him on the front straightaway, but I got a little bit wide in the last corner and hit a patch. I went down so quickly that there was no way to save it. Next season starts now, so hopefully things will be better.”

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