Motorcycle Sport & Leisure

October 2007

1. Benelli to produce 675cc triple to enter Supersport category in 2009 - to be built in new Pesaro factory with capacity to produce 20,000 bikes by 2010
2. Benelli Mono single offroad models enter production in January, with many innovative features for offroad segment - 570 Supermoto launched at EICMA
3. Benelli Due twin starts production in July, available in 600cc and 756cc guises
4. Benelli seeking to produce volume production V5 Superbike, but can’t get OK to race in Superbike, will probably go the four-cylinder route instead
5. Fogarty pulls out of deal to race MV Agusta in 2008 SBK series - but Team Roberts won’t take his place, says MV owner Castiglioni - but Irish ace takes factory Superbike to Macau GP
6. Cagiva Mito 500 street single to reach production under MV Agusta badge - 80 bhp from dedicated dohc single motor, no longer modified Husqvarna
7. BMW confirmed as entering World Superbike in 2009, but need test riders - Alex Hofmann and Frankie Chili to the fore
8. BMW to race two-man factory team in Daytona 200 next March - hoping for victory on HP2 SportBoxer racers against faster but less frugal 600 fours
9. BMW motorrad president Herbert Diess is promoted to BMW Group board - leaves bike business in hands of beancounter division
10. Triumph to enter World Supersport officially in 2008 with Caracchi team, will produce limited edition versions of all models replete with Italian flair
11. The 2007 Isle of Man Centenary TT recalled in TT2007 book - if you were there, you’ll want a memento, and if you weren’t, see what you missed, plus the Hayden brothers’ story told at last - from the inside, with great photos
    

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1.

Benelli is planning to re-enter the Superbike market within the next three years, with either a 1000cc V5 or an in-line four-cylinder sportbike replacing the Tornado triple via which the historic Italian marque was revived a decade ago by the Merloni family, before being acquired in 2005 by giant Chinese manufacturer Qianjiang. But, before that, Benelli will produce its first-ever contender for the Supersport category, building on its recent three-cylinder heritage to produce a 675cc triple to rival Triumph’s established Daytona and the forthcoming MV Agusta 675-3. These are just two of a series of high-profile new projects confirmed by the company’s CEO Pierluigi Marconi as accelerating Benelli’s drive towards a full-range model lineup by 2010, fuelled by the ongoing substantial investment made by Qianjiang in both product development and manufacturing facilities, as Benelli’s march along the comeback trail moves into top gear.

Production of the existing range of bikes powered by Benelli’s established three-cylinder dohc 12-valve engine, which debuted in the 900 Tornado Superbike back in 1998 and has since been punched out to 1130cc to power the TnT naked models and well received Tre-K adventure tourer, reached 2000 units in the 2007 model year, with the existing Pesaro factory targeted to manufacture 3500 motorcycles in 2008, according to Marconi. But in 2009 he reveals that Benelli will step up production to 10,000 bikes aimed at several new market sectors, with 20,000 units the target for 2010. This will come with the planned construction of a new factory in the region of Pesaro, Benelli’s traditional home on the Adriatic coast since it was founded back in 1911, which Marconi states is a key priority for Benelli QJ, as the company is now officially known. This will entail substantially increasing the workforce from the present 108 staff employed by Benelli - already more than double the 45 employees working there when Qianjiang took over the company in October 2005, and brought Benelli’s engine manufacturing operation in-house. This is already capable of producing up to 70 motors daily – important since all the several new Benelli models under development will be powered by dedicated liquid-cooled engines to be manufactured exclusively in Italy, albeit using many Chinese components either equalling or surpassing their European equivalents in terms of quality and value for money, in their construction.

Meanwhile, though, the existing range of 1130 Tre triples has been given a new lease of life, with internal improvements making the three-cylinder engine much quieter as well as improving performance, although production of the Tornado sportbike has now ended, after the final 250 were built in 2007. “The engine is too large and heavy to make the bike competitive in the Superbike category today,” says Marconi, “but we’re focusing instead on a much lighter and more compact all-new design which will allow us to produce a 675 Tre contender for the Supersport class.” The dohc in-line 12-valve triple motor for this has already been designed, and will run on the dyno for the first time this winter, with the complete bike on schedule to be launched at the EICMA Milan Show in November next year as a ‘09 model, to kickstart production in Benelli QJ’s new factory. “Though the bike is 100% created in Italy and is being designed by our resident Spanish stylist, Carlos Solsona, the intensive testing facilities available in China will enable us to fast-forward its development, while still delivering reliability and quality, as well as performance,” says Marconi. “Things get done much faster in China than in Europe, and Benelli’s expansion is being driven at a speed our owners are accustomed to.” Benelli intends to go World Supersport racing in 2009 with the new 675 Tre, as a means of promoting its re-emergence on the World stage as a major full-product manufacturer, with a Naked TnT version following soon after as a Latin rival to Triumph’s new Street Triple.

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2.

Benelli’s fast pace of product development sees the range of fuel-injected single-cylinder Mono offroad bikes launched in prototype form one year ago at Intermot 2006 entering production in January 2008, first with the debut of its 449cc MX contender, followed in February by the bored-out 505cc Enduro model. These five-speeders were already displayed a year ago at Intermot, but they’ll be followed in March by a new 570cc bored and stroked streetlegal six-speed Supermono version (also available with a racekit), which will be launched at the EICMA Milan Show in November. These will be available for sale in the first part of 2008 via Benelli’s expanding worldwide dealer network, with a factory team scheduled to take part in next year’s Italian National MX/Enduro championships, to further ongoing development. All three models are powered by Benelli’s own very compact liquid-cooled dohc four-valve motor with one-piece crankcase for extra stiffness (just like its classic era four-cylinder World champion 250cc GP racers), extractable cassette gearbox, gear-driven balance shaft and modular gear/chain drive via beryllium followers to the four titanium valves sitting at a very flat 21-degree included angle. Created by Benelli in consultation with the Vertemati brothers Alvaro and Guido (whose eponymous offroad bikes, also produced under the VOR label, have given them extensive experience now at Benelli’s disposal), the Mono engine has been designed to allow the side-loading crankshaft to be removed for servicing or replacement with the motor still in situ within the extremely avant-garde chassis. This is a cast aluminium twin-spar design representing a new departure for the offroad category, in which the engine is mounted rigidly, with removable carbon fibre struts of varying stiffness bolted to connect the twin chassis spars to the vestigial front downtube, thus allowing the rigidity of the chassis to be varied according to the track conditions - sand, hard-packed dirt, mud, etc.

An all-new 250cc dohc motor following the same broad outline, but setting new class records for light weight and compact build, will be launched at EICMA Milan in November 2008, promises Marconi, with both MX and Enduro versions set to be available. The new Benellis will go head-to-head as 2010-model European contenders for this key offroad capacity segment with the existing products of both KTM and BMW’s new acquisition Husqvarna, as well as with the Aprilia range of 250 singles (representing one-half of the Piaggio-owned Italian marque’s current World title-winning 77-degree V-twin models) also expected in 2008.

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3.

The next new Benelli family of models to reach production will be the twin-cylinder Due range launched a year ago at Intermot 2006 in 756cc Naked guise, which will also be available as entry-level 600cc products competing both in terms of specification and price with the Kawasaki 650 Versys. Even so, when it reaches the showrooms in July next year with a Euro 7,500 pricetag (thus undercutting its Aprilia 750 Shiver V-twin rival, and remaining competitive with the Honda 600 Hornet and Yamaha FZ-6 Fazer fours), the Due 756 will represent a distinctive alternative in the largest-volume European market segment. Its compact new 88 x 62 mm dohc eight-valve engine has the same dimensions as the 1130cc triple motor currently powering Benelli’s existing range of motorcycles, with a 180-degree crank, a single gear-driven counterbalancer, and a six-speed gearbox with stacked shafts which help deliver a very short motor, permitting a long swingarm to be used in a bike with a 1440mm wheelbase. The parallel-twin engine has a steep angle of downdraught for the twin throttle bodies, and will deliver around 90 bhp and more than 8.0 mkg of torque in production form, depending on the model it powers, declares Marconi. “We’re starting out with a Naked bike like the one launched at Intermot,” he says, “but we’ll also produce dual-purpose Street Enduro, Café Racer and Adventure touring versions, all of which will have the same cast aluminium chassis as this prototype.”

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4.

Future Benelli projects include two models at the opposite ends of the capacity scale – a single-cam 50cc four-stroke scooter engine, which could be supercharged so as to deliver acceptable performance while still Euro 3 compliant, and a 1000cc Superbike replacing the now deleted Tornado 900/1130 triple. “Ideally, we’d prefer to position a V5 sportbike at the top of our range, which would give Benelli a strong identity in the marketplace, as well as differentiating it from our 675 Tre,” says Marconi. “I also believe this has several dynamic advantages which would allow us to offer a bike which would be the reference point of the category - I’m still very surprised that Hondas didn’t make a street version of their RC211V MotoGP bike.
But it would be a requirement that such a bike could be raced in the Superbike category - we’re not talking about an expensive limited edition model like the Ducati Desmosedici RR, but a volume production model at affordable cost. However, we have repeatedly asked FGSport, the World Superbike promoters, and also the FIM, to confirm a set of regulations for five-cylinder Superbikes, but we can’t get them to respond to this request. It’s as if they’re afraid of upsetting the four Japanese manufacturers any more than they already are by allowing 1200cc twins to please Ducati! We only seek confirmation that there will indeed be a category for 1000cc five-cylinder Superbikes, and the minimum weight for that. Then we’ll know what our target is!” Sportbike fans around the globe will be hoping they go the V5 route - but Benelli will focus on the 675 Tre in the short term, before starting development work on the new Superbike next year, with a view to launching it at the EICMA Milan show in November 2009. Outline designs for both the 1000 V5 and an alternative, more conventional, in-line four have already been produced, but a decision will be made in six months’ time which development path to follow.

Finally, Benelli plans further down the line to develop its own line of V-twin custom bikes with which to attack the US market - but not any time soon. It has indeed produced a prototype twin-crank 2260cc Vee-six engine, effectively consisting of two of the company’s existing 1130cc three-cylinder engines on a common crankcase - but the British tabloid bike paper whose reporter was left alone in an office of the Benelli factory, saw the mockup drawing of a Rocket III-type cruiser made as a practical joke, and put two and two together to make five (or, actually, six!), got it wrong. The V6 motor has been developed without any gearbox as a powerboat engine prototype to be manufactured in the Benelli QJ marine engine offshoot in the next door factory to the motorcycle operation. “I’m waiting for an American custom bike shop to purchase one of these engines and build it into a bike, maybe with a car transmission,” says Marconi. “Then we might buy one from them, just to see how it’s done!”

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5.

As reported exclusively in these columns two months ago, in the wake of its sale of Husqvarna to BMW, MV Agusta is also developing a 675cc triple with which to enter the middleweight sportbike category - and of course it already has an inline four-cylinder Superbike, in the form of the Master Bike-winning F4 312. This means the stage is set for the revival of the quixotic Italian civil war on two wheels from the classic era of motorcycling, between what was then the giant, wealthy MV Agusta factory and the much smaller, family-owned Benelli concern. Over a ten-year period from 1963 onwards, Benelli repeatedly challenged the might of MV Agusta with its own 250/350/500cc four-cylinder Grand Prix racers, piloted by men like the great Mike Hailwood, the demon bespectacled rider, Renzo Pasolini, and future world champions Jarno Saarinen and Walter Villa, before economic circumstance forced their withdrawal from racing at the end of 1973, having won just a single world title courtesy of Aussie Kel Carruthers in the 250cc class in 1969.

Nowadays the positions are reversed, with Benelli today owned by China’s largest motorcycle manufacture Qianjiang, and MV Agusta a much smaller standalone company no longer associated with the Agusta family’s giant helicopter operation, which funded its decades of World title-winning Grand Prix success. But each has the spirit of competition running in its veins, and within the next five years it seems increasingly certain that each will be racing against the other with a 675 triple in the Supersport category, and a 1000cc four-cylinder Superbike.....as well as competing in the marketplace with street versions of these racers.

In the short term, however, MV’s plans to return to world-class competition in 2008 with a factory-backed World Superbike team run by four-times former World champion Carl Fogarty have now foundered, with the announcement that Team Foggy Racing has been forced to abandon plans announced earlier this year to compete in next year's World Superbike championship, supposedly following an unsuccessful search for a backer. “Everyone knows that this is a difficult time for motorcycle sponsorship,” says Fogarty. “However, we’d hoped that the combination of my team with an iconic brand such as MV Agusta would have been an attractive proposition for potential sponsors both in the UK and abroad. Regrettably, this has not proved to be the case, leading us to the conclusion that the market will not support a professionally-run outfit of our size without significant financial input from a manufacturer. So I have decided to bring this chapter of my career to an end, and I hope that the tide turns in favour of the efforts of privately funded teams in the future.”

As ever, though, the real story lies beneath the surface of these words, since it’s understood that Fogarty had indeed found a Middle East sponsor in the Gulf States prepared in principle to underwrite the cost of a three-year assault on the World Superbike series for MV Agusta. Four issues appear to have proved insurmountable, however, in failing to persuade company president Claudio Castiglioni to confirm the availability of bikes for Team Foggy’s projected 2008 World Superbike campaign. One is referred to in Fogarty’s statement - Castiglioni was unwilling to write any cheques to directly support a Team Foggy MV Agusta SBK team, only to provide bikes and technical backup. Another is the extensive immediate reorganization at MV’s Varese base in the wake of the sale of Husqvarna to BMW, with MV production shifted in its entirety to the lakeside Schiranna plant from the Cassinetta production facility which has now been ceded to BMW. A third factor was that the Arab sponsor in question wanted to invest directly in MV’s future by purchasing a slice of the company - a move which one would have thought might have been welcomed by the Carige Bank which currently owns 57.75% of MV equity, but which in the wake of the increased cashflow provided by BMW, might not be perceived as so urgent, or desirable. The final and most crucial issue was that, in the short term at least, MV’s engineering operation headed by Andrea Goggi is focused on the development of new models, and especially the 675-3, and thus does not have the necessary resources to provide the constant technical support and ongoing development which a major two-bike Superbike operation running at World level would require - although Castiglioni does intend to make a major onslaught on the 2008 Superstock World Cup with a two-bike F4 312 team with direct factory support. But since this would only entail race-prepared versions of the standard streetbike, it’s not such a major commitment in terms of engineering resources as a full-on factory World Superbike operation running much more highly tuned bikes, would entail.

Still, this lack of capacity in the MV technical department for a Superbike operation is one reason for the rumour presently circulating that MV Agusta will simply hand over the running of its factory World Superbike team, including ongoing development of the bike, to Kenny Roberts and his Banbury, UK-based Team Roberts operation, which seems likely to exit the MotoGP paddock at the end of this season after an unsuccessful season using Honda’s RC212V V4 motor in its KR VR racebike. In other words, swap one four-time World Superbike champion for a three-time 500cc title-winner, with a one-time World champion in the form of Kenny Jnr. in the hotseat…. “I assure you there is no truth at all in this,” said an emphatic Claudio Castiglioni when taxed with this scenario. “Kenny is a close friend, but I haven’t spoken to him for more than two months, and especially not about this, or even about his son riding the MV Agusta. It’s simply not true - any of it.” Pity - it seemed too good an idea to be true….!

Nevertheless, there will indeed be a full works MV Superbike race team in action in 2008, since MV Agusta has agreed to support Irish road racing champion Martin Finnegan with a pair of factory-prepared F4 312 Superbikes in 2008, with which he will attempt to win the Isle of Man TT as well as the other major public roads events such as the North West 200 and Ulster GP. This comes in the wake of Finnegan’s successful MV Agusta debut in the Centenary TT this year, when he finished fourth in the Superstock race on a factory-supplied F4 312 which run faultlessly throughout practice and race on the gruelling 37.75-mile circuit, and which he will again race in 2008 alongside the new Superbike. Finnegan will make his MV Superbike debut - replacing the ex-Alex Barros CBR1000RR Honda which he rode this year for Team Klaffi - in the Macau GP in China on November 17th, held on the 3.8 mile/6.2 km. Guia circuit with its challenging combination of long, fast straights beside the South China Sea and sharp twisting corners through the streets of the former Portuguese colony. This will be the first time that an MV Agusta prepared to full World Superbike specifications and supported by a team of factory mechanics, will have raced outside Italy - the bikes entered in the AMA Superbike series this year by Team Ferracci were uprated Superstock machines. Finnegan’s campaign with the machine in the coming year will evidently comprise part of MV Agusta’s ongoing development of a Superbike contender, with a view to entering the category at World level once its in-house resources are ready for the challenge. So, expect the revival of the Benelli/MV feud to kick off in 2010!

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6.

There’s another new MV Agusta streetbike in the pipeline, due to make its public debut even before the arrival of the glorious Italian marque’s three-cylinder 675cc Supersport contender in the marketplace. That’s the first MV Agusta single for more than 40 years, which is due to debut at the 2008 Milan Show - having already made its entrée wearing the Cagiva badge at last November’s EICMA display. Yes, it’s the acclaimed Cagiva Mito 500, which appeared there a year ago to widespread acclaim, fitted with a 510cc Husqvarna single-cam offroad motor, with styling by the Michelangelo of motorcycling, Massimo Tamburini. A lot has happened in the past year, including the sale of Husqvarna to BMW, which has effectively cut off the supply of HVA motors, while MV president Claudio Castiglioni has inked a deal with Kinetic in India to manufacture future Cagiva models offshore - specifically the Mito entry-level sportbike in both 125cc two-stroke and 180-250cc four-stroke guise, the latter possibly using an engine sourced from Kinetic’s Korean partners, Hyosung, whose 250cc V-twin eight-valve engine is both dynamically effective and aesthetically good-looking.

This shipping of the Cagiva marque offshore, with first deliveries expected in the middle of 2008, has determined Castiglioni to produce the Mito 500 in Italy under the MV Agusta label. So MV engine guru Ezio Mascheroni - designer of the Harley-Davidson 250/350 two-stroke twins which took Walter Villa to four Grand Prix world championships in 1975-77 while the company later known as Cagiva was still owned by the giant US manufacturer - has created a liquid-cooled dohc four-valve fuel-injected Supermono engine measuring a little over 500cc and developing 80 bhp at the crank in streetlegal guise, says Castiglioni. Seeing that a good Ducati Supermono - the only factory road racer built in recent years for single-cylinder Supermono racing - delivered 74 bhp at the rear wheel on a good day ten years ago, that’s quite some performance for a street single, for which Tamburini will again be doing the styling, but with an eye on the weight scales as he does so. “We hope to reinvent the street single category with this bike,” says Castiglioni. “É una bomba!” No translation necessary…

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7.

One company which by contrast with MV has indeed now confirmed its presence on World Superbike grids in 2009 is BMW, whose Vice President of Product Development, Peter Muller, confirmed in a public announcement at the Paris Show which opened on September 28 that the German manufacturer will indeed be entering the World Superbike category officially in 2009 - as exclusively revealed in these pages in January this year. "In 2007 BMW returned to road racing with the SportBoxer after more than 50 years,” he said, referring to the factory Endurance team’s successful debut in 24-hour rounds of the World Endurance Championship this season, with a best finish of fifth and ninth for the two bikes on home ground at Oschersleben against the fleet of faster but less frugal fours. “In 2008 we will continue our activities in the Endurance category. At the same time we will be preparing our entry into the Superbike World Championship in 2009, with great intensity."

Muller declined to confirm any further details on the bike that BMW will be racing in World Superbike, but company sources confirm that the German manufacturer is indeed working on a four-cylinder K1000RS model with several innovative design features, which will be launched in the marketplace next year as a 2009 model. No riders have yet been signed up for the project, but it’s understood that track testing the new bike will begin this winter, in order that BMW can be completely competitive when the flag falls in Qatar for the opening round of the 2009 SBK series. “We’re not coming to SBK to make up the numbers, but to seek victory from the outset,” says a BMW insider. “This will require extensive testing all during 2008, not only to develop the new bike, but also to accumulate data on as many circuits used in the championship as will be possible in terms of time and budget.” BMW is understood to be seeking two test riders to take development forward, one young charger capable of taking it to the limit (but one therefore not contracted to an existing team for 2008), another older hand with extensive Superbike experience who’s capable of comparing and contrasting the new BMW with its SBK rivals. Wonder if BMW team manager Berti Hauser has the cellphone nos. of Alex Hofmann and Frankie Chili….??

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8.

Before entering World Superbike in 2009, as confirmed by Peter Muller in Paris, BMW’s two-bike factory race team will again in 2008 contest the 24-Hour races comprised in the World Endurance Championship calendar, using two factory-prepared versions of the new HP2 Sport customer SportBoxer launched at the Paris Show, itself the product of the year of development undertaken in the gruelling World Endurance arena. Unlike this year, however, the team’s 2008 calendar may possibly include the Suzuka 8-Hours, in testament to the many thousands of dedicated BMW fans and Boxer owners in Japan. “We know that it will be very hard to qualify to start this race with a Boxer twin, let alone to achieve a good result in such a challenging event,” says Muller. “But if we are able to get financial support from our local affiliate there to help defray the costs of what is a very expensive race to take part in, for sure we’d like to be there. Let’s hope we can make it.”

No such doubts about the 2008 Daytona 200, though - an even shorter sprint race, by the standards of the 24-hour marathons which the SportBoxer aims to excel by staying out longer between fuel stops, and maintaining a more constant pace over 24 hours compared to the faster four-cylinder bikes. Except that here in the Formula Extreme category under which the Daytona 200 is now run, the competition is not 1000cc four-cylinder Superbikes, but 600cc fours, with only a slightly greater level of tune compared to World Supersport, and wearing slick tyres. “We will for sure enter two bikes officially in the Daytona 200 next March,” confirms Peter Muller, “and we expect several privateer BMWs to be on the grid also, since we will prioritize deliveries of the HP2 Sport to those customers who plan to race it there. We know that with 140 bhp and weighing 195 kg. with a full 24-litre fuel load, we have a power to weight disadvantage compared to the lighter 600 fours of equivalent power but much less weight. But we hope to be competitive with our less thirsty but still quite fast Boxer twin.” Leading U.S. BMW dealer San Jose BMW is reputedly planning to run a two-bike HP2 SportBoxer team in the full AMA FX Championship series next season, which kicks off at Daytona in March.

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9.

It’s probably always a good time to move on just as the fruits of all your hard work are starting to become evident in terms of new product and an expanded customer base - but, even so, Dr.Herbert Diess must have real regrets about leaving BMW Motorrad right now, just as the Superbike (and maybe Supersport!) models representing the crowning glory of his four-year tenure as President of BMW’s motorcycle division, are about to be presented to the public.

With BMW production at an all-time high, record sales and spiralling profits generating a constant flow of radical new models from the German marque, and the five-year plan aimed at repositioning Europe’s largest motorcycle manufacturer in the marketplace about to be completed with the arrival of the K1000RS Superbike (and its rumoured K675 three-cylinder Supersport kid sister, which appears increasingly likely to make its debut in 2010), the company has seen its previously worthy but ever so slightly boring range of bikes transformed in terms of performance and allure, for the first time now incorporating the same sporty appeal as the products of its car division cousin. It’s one of the great two-wheeled success stories of the 21st century.

The man at the head of this vibrant company, under whose watch this transformation has taken place, is 49-year old Diess, a lifelong active motorcyclist and native of BMW’s home city of Munich. He was recruited by BMW in 1996 to head up their structural planning division, before being dispatched to the UK in 1999 to join the turnaround team charged with transforming the company’s ailing British Rover subsidiary. There, while continuing to clock up the miles exploring Britain on his personal Boxer motorcycle, he eventually wound up in charge of putting the new Mini into production at Rover’s Oxford plant, before being promoted in February 2003 to become President of BMW’s motorcycle division. In this role, Diess oversaw the development and showroom launch of no less than seventeen new models in just 36 months, underpinning a dramatic increase in turnover and profit, with BMW Motorrad’s volume breaking the one billion Euro barrier for the first time in 2005, and annual production the 100,000-unit mark in 2006. In doing so, he transformed the marque’s appeal and widened its customer base considerably, appealing to a more youthful customer with the new G650 singles introduced a year ago, manufactured in Italy for BMW by Aprilia. This rationale also drove the development of the prototype BMW 450 Enduro, the company’s first competition offroad model, as well as the recent acquisition of Husqvarna, both the fruits of Diess’s visionary drive.

Now, however, it’s now been announced that Herbert Diess will leave BMW Motorrad with immediate effect, having been promoted to the giant German car manufacturer’s main board, and from October 1st placed in charge of a specially-created new division responsible for the BMW Group’s Purchasing and Supplier Network, primarily with responsibility for combating any interruption in the flow of components and reducing the cost of materials, its major expense factor. This, says the announcement, “corresponds to the BMW Group’s strategic approach of optimizing the interface between the BMW Group and its supplier network, and redefining the share of in-house activities in relation to our strategically relevant technologies.” In real English, he’s in charge of optimizing profits by squeezing suppliers - a far cry somewhat from the creative role Diess displayed during his four years in charge of BMW Motorrad. Indeed, as part of an internal reorganization redefining the BMW Group’s strategy for the period up to 2020, the previously standalone BMW Motorrad two-wheeled division has been moved into a second newly created Corporate and Brand Development division, headed by the company’s former director of corporate planning, Dr. Friedrich Eichiner. This division will be home to BMW Motorrad, Financial Services and Softlab, the BMW Group’s IT operation which also acts as a consultant to non-automotive clients in the banking, insurance and telecoms industries. Sounds like they didn’t know where to park the bike division, so they just wrapped it in with the beancounters and IT geeks - a seemingly strange fate for such a successful manufacturing subdivision generating in excess of Euro 1 billion annual volume. Let’s see how it all works out….

Herbert Diess will be remembered for successfully transforming BMW Motorrad from a large niche manufacturer of quirky but worthy products, into a major industry player with a full range of individual products competing head-on with the Japanese, while offering superior perceived quality and status. In an interview 15 months ago, he explained the basis of his approach. “BMW is a relatively small manufacturer,” he declared, “with a market share of around 7-8% worldwide, which is not so big compared to a Japanese company. But we saw some further growth potential available with the right products. So, in the same way as our car division is seen as a sporting brand, there was growth potential for sportier BMWs on two wheels, too. That’s the way it’s turned out, because in 2005 when we really picked up momentum, we grew by 5.6% in volume in terms of units sold. This is quite exceptional because the European market over the previous five years only grew by 1%, and the world market by just 4%. Europe is our main market, so we’re very happy with this high value growth in which our total turnover grew by 19% to Euro 1.22 billion, the highest ever for BMW Motorrad. This means we have a more valuable product, plus sales of accessories and spare parts increased, too, so we could also significantly increase turnover and also our profits, which rose to Euro 60 million in 2005, another record. In one year, we grew by nearly Euro 200 million, which is the turnover of a small or midsized European motorcycle manufacturer, so this makes us believe the strategy is right.” Too true - as evidenced by the way the company continued to grow in 2006 and now 2007: the world of motorcycling - and BMW dealers, and owners - will regret Dr.Diess’s departure. He’ll be gone, but not forgotten.

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10.

With Benelli, MV Agusta and now seemingly also BMW all working on future three-cylinder contenders for showroom Supersport supremacy, the 675 triple is the new one-litre V-twin, in terms of the acceptance of the format amongst European manufacturers by way of contrast with the benchmark 600cc four-cylinder platform of Japan Inc. But it’ll be the company which created this best-of-both-worlds blend of the slim build and torquey motor of a twin with the appetite for revs of a four, which will introduce it to the World Supersport series in 2008, in the wake of an announcement at the Paris Show on September 28th that Triumph will return to world championship road racing for the first time since 1975 - and the first time ever in the Bloor era, after the millionaire builder revived the defunct British marque in 1990.

With 675 triples now permitted to compete with the established 750 twins and 600 fours in the World Supersport series, the official factory-backed Team Triumph-SC will enter two riders on 675 Daytonas in the 2008 championship kicking off in Qatar at the end of February - and a further two in the Europe-only 600 Superstock series, for completely stock motorcycles with only the exhaust and shock allowed to be changed. The four-bike team will however be based not in Britain, but Bologna, and is owned by former ‘80s 250GP racer and ex-works Ducati endurance rider, Stefano Caracchi, who from 1992 on ran the satellite Scuderia NCR Ducati team in both World Superbike and World Supersport, with riders of the quality of Frankie Chili, Ruben Xaus, Ben Bostrom, Gregorio Lavilla, Regis Laconi and Broc Parkes all racing for the team down the years.

NCR is an iconic brand among ducatisti the world over, founded in 1969 by ex-works Ducati mechanics Giorgio Nepoti and Reno Caracchi - Stefano’s father - and since then renowned as the back door of the Ducati factory race shop. Indeed, for more than two decades NCR built and developed race versions of the desmo V-twin racers on behalf of the factory, including the series of Barcelona 24-Hour race-winners starting with the prototype 900SS in 1973, as well as Mike Hailwood’s TT-winning bike in 1978, later ‘improved’ by entrant Steve Wynne. The team even became the only privateer winners of the World Superbike Championship in 1991, courtesy of Doug Polen, with Nepoti and Caracchi teaming up with Polen’s sponsor Eraldo Ferracci to beat all the factory teams - including Ducati’s own - with a customer 888 they built and tuned themselves.

However, in November 2001 Scuderia NCR was acquired by the Poggipolini Group, who withdrew from competition in favour of focusing on building special one-off or limited edition Ducati-based road bikes. Stefano Caracchi therefore founded Team SC Caracchi to continue racing, latterly running a single bike in each category, tuned by Franco Farnè, the former architect of Ducati’s onslaught of World Superbike race and title victories until his compulsory retirement from the role of chief technician for Ducati Corse at age 65 in 1999. Farnè then went to work for Bimota, where he succeeded in turning the Suzuki V-twin engined SB8R into a World Superbike race-winner in the hands of Anthony Gobert, before the company suffered one of its periodic financial relapses and shut up shop in mid-2000. Farnè moved to NCR, developing and race-preparing their desmo V-twins to a high level of excellence - but the Triumph deal means he’ll be applying some of his valve-spring expertise most recently on show at Bimota, in developing the 675 Daytona for World Supersport racing in 2008. “I’ve only examined the engine from outside so far, but it looks amazingly compact and well-engineered,” says Farnè. “I believe it has a lot of potential to be successful, especially in the hands of the right rider.”

Speaking of which, Caracchi says he has a short list of riders he’s hoping to sign up, headed by none other than Ben Bostrom and, almost inevitably, Craig Jones for the Supersport rides. Bostrom knows the circuits from when he raced a factory Ducati Superbike in SBK five years ago, as well as before that for NCR during half a season when he was ‘parked’ with them while he learnt the SBK ropes. The return of the laid-back Californian would be a popular move for SBK fans, while 23-year old Jones has bounced back from the ardours of racing the Foggy Petronas for a season, to become a top privateer contender on the 2007 World Supersport series with his Reve Ekerold Racing CBR600RR, on which he’s twice finished second this season, also scoring pole position at Vallelunga. After racing two seasons for Triumph in British Supersport in 2003/2004 aboard the 600 Daytona four, and winning the bike’s last-ever race at Donington, Jones has form with Triumph and would be a welcome returnee to the British factory’s team. But also in contention will be another 23-year old, Frenchman Kenny Foray (son of former 125/250GP racer Jean Foray), who underlined the current worth and future potential of the 675 Daytona by convincingly winning the hard-fought 2007 French Supersport championship, with three victories out of seven races. Foray’s lack of knowledge of World series circuits will tell against him, but for sure he’ll be invited to test the Farnè-tuned bike pre-season - unfortunately, he’s three years over the Under-20 minimum age for the 600 Superstock, so can’t be slotted in there.

“The Supersport and Superstock 600 are very competitive and hard categories, but we are very confident in the potential of the Daytona 675,” said Caracchi at the Paris launch. “Our team has contested the World Superbike Championship ever since the first series, and we have a highly talented and experienced technical staff managed by Franco Farnè to develop the Daytona to meet this new challenge. Triumph has welcomed our project with enthusiasm, and we will repay their confidence. Triumph is a legend for every motorsport fan, and Team SC is proud to become a small part of this long and fascinating history!”

Caracchi also reveals that, as part of his deal with the Triumph factory, he’ll be developing a series of racekits and tuning parts first for the 675 Daytona, then later on for other models in the British company’s lineup. “We’ll also produce a series of exclusive limited edition Triumph-SC streetbikes, including a race replica streetbike using the special body parts and engine tuning we shall develop for the 675 - just as NCR did in the past for Ducati. These will be available for sale all over the world, not just in Italy or Britain. You could say that, for our team, Triumph is the new Ducati - even though our workshop where the bikes will be prepared is less than one kilometre from the Ducati factory!”

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11.

The 2007 Isle of Man Centenary TT in June this year was one of those magical moments in motorcycle memories, all two weeks of it. If you were there, you’ll know that the weather was wonderful (excepting just a couple of iffy days), the Island packed but never overcrowded, and the racing superb, with John McGuinness finally breaking the magic 130 mph marker - that’s an average speed for a 37.73 mile lap on public roads, through two major towns, a handful of villages, and up and down a 2,000-foot mountain. Amazing stuff - but he had to work for it, and a newly published book records just how hard, with a series of outstanding action photos from around the TT Course, interspersed with dozens more exactly recapturing the atmosphere and memories of that fabulous fortnight.

Published by IoM-based Lily Publications under ISBN 978 189960203 2, TT2007 is a companion volume to author Mick Duckworth’s preview work TT100, which I recommended earlier this year in the runup to the Centenary fortnight, as an ideally paced and well illustrated stroll through the annals of TT history. This latest volume is a perfect reminder for those who were there of those two weeks in June this year - if you were one of the 80,000 or so different visitors who came over during TT fortnight, you really should buy this book. And for those who weren’t there - well, this’ll show you what you missed! Anyway, there’s always the next time around in 13 years when the 100th TT race is held (allowing for wartime interruptions), as opposed to the 100th anniversary of the 1907 kickoff. After reading through this book, you’ll start making plans - really

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