A CAR manufacturer plans to take on the might of Honda when it introduces its first motorcycles onto the world's second-biggest motorcycle market: India.
Indian company Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. will offer a variety of motorcycles, ranging from low-cost entry models to premium two-wheelers, said Anoop Mathur, the head of Mahindra’s motorcycle wing.
The company is already an established scooter, 4x4 and tractor manufacturer.
Despite their optimism, Mahindra is aware the company is moving into a competitve market, dominated primarily by Honda.
“We’re looking to become a credible player in the two-wheeler space in India over the next few years,” said Mathur. “There’s huge potential in the market.”
Mahindra’s motorcycles will be designed by Italian design company Engines Engineering.
As well as focusing on the home market, Mahindra say they are also planning to target Latin America, Africa and South Asia.
Mahindra To Take On ....
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
New look for Rossi's M1 at German MotoGP
The Italian's 240bhp Yamaha gets Rossi's trademark '46' on the rear undertray, along with a few other graphic tweaks.
Rossi has yet to receive medical clearance from local doctors before the team confirm his participation in the weekend's action; the Italian broke his lower right leg just over a month ago, following a high-speed crash at Mugello circuit, Italy.Source-Visor Down
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Headlights On in the day:Good or Bad Idea
Under normal circumstances displaying dipped headlights during the day will improve your conspicuousness, making it easier for other road users to see you, which is the main reason the choice to switch them off has been denied to us by EU ruling. When headlights were first made compulsory in some US states back in the 1970s, their accident rate actually increased temporarily which may have been due to a psychological effect i.e. “I’m now more visible so I’ll go faster and assume drivers in side roads have seen me”.
Headlights will only increase conspicuousness against a darker background but may well camouflage you against a bright background – when descending a hill with the sun on your back you’ll be almost invisible.
Headlights can antagonise and draw unwanted attention particularly if the beam is set too high. It can appear to a driver in front that you’re constantly flashing your headlight.
Do you think it is a good or bad idea? Debate below
Headlights can antagonise and draw unwanted attention particularly if the beam is set too high. It can appear to a driver in front that you’re constantly flashing your headlight.
Do you think it is a good or bad idea? Debate below
Friday, July 9, 2010
The Cigarette Papers Grand Prix sponsorship
In the 1990s, cigarette sponsorship ran the world. Massive corporates, incredibly rich and powerful, went to war on the sidepanels and fairings of the fastest machines in the world. We remember a time when fag ash was king...
Cancer victim and timeless racing superstar Barry Sheene was the world’s greatest smoker. He even had a hole drilled in the chin-piece of his helmet so he could have a last few puffs on his Gitanes (the filter broken off) on the start-line. Sheene was also the unashamed pioneer of securing sponsorship money.
It is slightly surprising then that it wasn’t Barry who first pocketed the generous cash available from cigarette logos. That prize had already been taken by the time Sheene joined the 500 class in 1975, by illustrious incumbent Giacomo Agostini. Fifteen times world champ Ago raced in the twilight of his career with a small but highly significant logo on his fairing. It said: ‘Marlboro’.
The first appearance had been at the Isle of Man TT in 1972, with Ago and MV Agusta teammate Alberto Pagani. Present MotoGP race director Paul Butler remembers that the new sponsor took time to understand the ethos of bike racing. “They thought Douglas was somehow like Monaco, and they hosted a big party on a yacht in the harbour. They’d forgotten about the ten-foot tide, and the Manx Maid ferry coming in and out.”
Seasickness aside, the British-owned cowboy-boots brand was the first to join big-time bike racing, at a time when the whole concept of outside sponsorship was in its infancy. Thirty-six years later, cigarette advertising is banned almost everywhere except Qatar and Malaysia. But Marlboro alone is still there.
In between came the glory years, a cigarette war that escalated throughout the 1980s. Rothmans, Marlboro and Lucky Strike all tried to outdo and outspend the others. Off track, the hospitality suites burgeoned and the parties became more and more elaborate whenever there was anything to celebrate, and often when their wasn’t.
Bikes painted as fag packets dominated the grid, and the money flowed. Into the pockets of not only the top riders, but also a slew of ancillaries from technicians and team managers to a whole layer of free-spending PR schmoozers as well. The lunches were not only free but also very tasty. By the start of the 1980s, cigarette companies were already facing increasing restrictions on advertising, so they had to find another outlet for vast marketing budgets.
Car racing came first, and the bikes soon afterwards. And the money was like nothing anyone had ever seen. Informed speculation puts the fee paid to a top factory team like Yamaha at something like $15-million back in the early 1990s. Today, even with inflation, the same money would buy two or more years of the factory Honda or Yamaha teams, and a lot longer from Suzuki, rumoured to have accepted just half-a-million per annum from Rizla.
•Eight-times 500 champion Agostini was Marlboro’s first sponsored rider in 1972, and the lynchpin for securing Marlboro team sponsorship as Yamaha team manager in 1980.
•Kenny Roberts probably got more Marlboro money than anyone. A Marlboro rider in 1983, he took over the Marlboro-Yamaha team from 1987, then took the Marlboro Millions with him for two years when he started the ill-starred Modenas project in 1997.
•Gauloises came into GPs with Christian Sarron in 1979, but a French government ban ruled them out of bike racing in 1991. They came back in 2002, and won the title with Rossi in 2005.
•Rossi’s bid to escape cigarette sponsorship were unsuccessful after efforts to find backing for a one-rider team in ’05 and ’06 foundered. “I would rather race with tobacco sponsorship than not race,” he said.
•Rothmans came in big in 1985, the first sponsor for the factory Honda team. Freddie Spencer won both 250 and 500 titles; the Hondas stayed blue and white until 1991. Rothmans Hondas won again in 1987 (Gardner) and 1989 (Lawson). In 1994, they walked away to go F1 racing. Honda raced unsponsored that year.
•Marlboro’s first of four champions was Agostini on a Yamaha in 1975. Eddie Lawson won three of his four in Marlboro gear between 1984 and 1988; Wayne Rainey from 1990 to 1992. The next Marlboro winner was Stoner, in 2007.
•Lucky Strike came in one year after Rothmans, left for F1 in 1998 after the Suzuki results faded away. “They would think nothing of throwing a Schwantz championship party that cost more than a private team’s entire budget for the year,” said Suzuki team manager Garry Taylor.
The Cigarette Papers
Cancer victim and timeless racing superstar Barry Sheene was the world’s greatest smoker. He even had a hole drilled in the chin-piece of his helmet so he could have a last few puffs on his Gitanes (the filter broken off) on the start-line. Sheene was also the unashamed pioneer of securing sponsorship money.
It is slightly surprising then that it wasn’t Barry who first pocketed the generous cash available from cigarette logos. That prize had already been taken by the time Sheene joined the 500 class in 1975, by illustrious incumbent Giacomo Agostini. Fifteen times world champ Ago raced in the twilight of his career with a small but highly significant logo on his fairing. It said: ‘Marlboro’.
The first appearance had been at the Isle of Man TT in 1972, with Ago and MV Agusta teammate Alberto Pagani. Present MotoGP race director Paul Butler remembers that the new sponsor took time to understand the ethos of bike racing. “They thought Douglas was somehow like Monaco, and they hosted a big party on a yacht in the harbour. They’d forgotten about the ten-foot tide, and the Manx Maid ferry coming in and out.”
Seasickness aside, the British-owned cowboy-boots brand was the first to join big-time bike racing, at a time when the whole concept of outside sponsorship was in its infancy. Thirty-six years later, cigarette advertising is banned almost everywhere except Qatar and Malaysia. But Marlboro alone is still there.
In between came the glory years, a cigarette war that escalated throughout the 1980s. Rothmans, Marlboro and Lucky Strike all tried to outdo and outspend the others. Off track, the hospitality suites burgeoned and the parties became more and more elaborate whenever there was anything to celebrate, and often when their wasn’t.
Bikes painted as fag packets dominated the grid, and the money flowed. Into the pockets of not only the top riders, but also a slew of ancillaries from technicians and team managers to a whole layer of free-spending PR schmoozers as well. The lunches were not only free but also very tasty. By the start of the 1980s, cigarette companies were already facing increasing restrictions on advertising, so they had to find another outlet for vast marketing budgets.
Car racing came first, and the bikes soon afterwards. And the money was like nothing anyone had ever seen. Informed speculation puts the fee paid to a top factory team like Yamaha at something like $15-million back in the early 1990s. Today, even with inflation, the same money would buy two or more years of the factory Honda or Yamaha teams, and a lot longer from Suzuki, rumoured to have accepted just half-a-million per annum from Rizla.
•Eight-times 500 champion Agostini was Marlboro’s first sponsored rider in 1972, and the lynchpin for securing Marlboro team sponsorship as Yamaha team manager in 1980.
•Kenny Roberts probably got more Marlboro money than anyone. A Marlboro rider in 1983, he took over the Marlboro-Yamaha team from 1987, then took the Marlboro Millions with him for two years when he started the ill-starred Modenas project in 1997.
•Gauloises came into GPs with Christian Sarron in 1979, but a French government ban ruled them out of bike racing in 1991. They came back in 2002, and won the title with Rossi in 2005.
•Rossi’s bid to escape cigarette sponsorship were unsuccessful after efforts to find backing for a one-rider team in ’05 and ’06 foundered. “I would rather race with tobacco sponsorship than not race,” he said.
•Rothmans came in big in 1985, the first sponsor for the factory Honda team. Freddie Spencer won both 250 and 500 titles; the Hondas stayed blue and white until 1991. Rothmans Hondas won again in 1987 (Gardner) and 1989 (Lawson). In 1994, they walked away to go F1 racing. Honda raced unsponsored that year.
•Marlboro’s first of four champions was Agostini on a Yamaha in 1975. Eddie Lawson won three of his four in Marlboro gear between 1984 and 1988; Wayne Rainey from 1990 to 1992. The next Marlboro winner was Stoner, in 2007.
•Lucky Strike came in one year after Rothmans, left for F1 in 1998 after the Suzuki results faded away. “They would think nothing of throwing a Schwantz championship party that cost more than a private team’s entire budget for the year,” said Suzuki team manager Garry Taylor.
The Cigarette Papers
Kawasaki ZX-10R racer revealed
THIS IS the world's first official image of Kawasaki's 2011 ZX-10R racer.
The 220bhp machine, which is undergoing a series of intensive testing at Suzuka circuit, will be the basis of the 2011 road bike due for release next year. Visordown has learned the 2011 10R will be an all-new machine belting out a reported 200bhp in road trim.
And with an expected wet weight of less than 200kg, the 2011 ZX-10R is shaping up to be something really special.
We ran the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R concept skectch back in June and a very early 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R concept sketch in January.
It's about time Kawasaki clawed back some of the deficit in the 1000cc market. Let's hope the new 2011 bike really delivers what Kawasaki are promising.
Looks a bit like the BMW S1000RR, which we all thought looked like a ZX-6R and there's more than a passing resemblance to the 2009 Kawasaki/Hayate MotoGP bike pictured below.
It seems like we're going around in circles ...
Kawasaki ZX-10 R
And with an expected wet weight of less than 200kg, the 2011 ZX-10R is shaping up to be something really special.
We ran the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R concept skectch back in June and a very early 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R concept sketch in January.
It's about time Kawasaki clawed back some of the deficit in the 1000cc market. Let's hope the new 2011 bike really delivers what Kawasaki are promising.
Looks a bit like the BMW S1000RR, which we all thought looked like a ZX-6R and there's more than a passing resemblance to the 2009 Kawasaki/Hayate MotoGP bike pictured below.
It seems like we're going around in circles ...
Kawasaki ZX-10 R
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Delhi world's 5th most painful city for drivers, Beijing worse
NEW DELHI: The national capital may pride itself on its wide roads, which are the envy of other Indian metros, but Delhi's drivers have the fifth most painful commute among 20 global cities, says a survey conducted by IBM among drivers in these cities. Almost all of Delhi's respondents said that traffic had negatively affected their health and half said that driving makes them angry.
IBM's 2010 Commuter Pain Survey polled 400 drivers in each of 20 major cities in six continents. Based on the results, it compiled a Commuter Pain Index that ranks the emotional and economic toll of commuting in each city on a scale of one to 100 along 10 indicators, including commuting time, driving-related stress and the impact of traffic on work.
If it's any consolation, Beijing, with a score of 99 on 100 is much worse than Delhi as is Mexico City. Johannesburg (97), Moscow (84) and New Delhi (81) complete the list of the five worst. London, ranked 10th worst, sits in the middle, while New York is 17th, which means it is among the best. In line with Scandinavian countries having the best standards of living, Stockholm's drivers experienced the minimum pain among the 20 cities covered.
Nearly all of Delhi's drivers — 96% to be precise — said traffic negatively affected their health. Almost two-thirds (62%) said traffic negatively affected their work or academic performance.
Info-T.O.I.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhi-worlds-5th-most-painful-city-for-drivers-Beijing-worse/articleshow/6117068.cms
IBM's 2010 Commuter Pain Survey polled 400 drivers in each of 20 major cities in six continents. Based on the results, it compiled a Commuter Pain Index that ranks the emotional and economic toll of commuting in each city on a scale of one to 100 along 10 indicators, including commuting time, driving-related stress and the impact of traffic on work.
If it's any consolation, Beijing, with a score of 99 on 100 is much worse than Delhi as is Mexico City. Johannesburg (97), Moscow (84) and New Delhi (81) complete the list of the five worst. London, ranked 10th worst, sits in the middle, while New York is 17th, which means it is among the best. In line with Scandinavian countries having the best standards of living, Stockholm's drivers experienced the minimum pain among the 20 cities covered.
Nearly all of Delhi's drivers — 96% to be precise — said traffic negatively affected their health. Almost two-thirds (62%) said traffic negatively affected their work or academic performance.
Info-T.O.I.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhi-worlds-5th-most-painful-city-for-drivers-Beijing-worse/articleshow/6117068.cms
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