Racing legend Giacomo Agostini to receive Lifetime Achievement award at Legend of the Motorcycle

Italian legend Giacomo Agostini will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Legend of the Motorcycle Concours.

Agostini, known to millions of fans worldwide as “Ago,” is the world’s greatest motorcycle grand prix racer with 15 Grand Prix World Championship titles. While fellow Italian and World Champion racer Valentino Rossi is close on his heels in terms of career titles, no one has yet to match Ago’s incredible record on the track.

Most closely associated with famed Italian super bike MV Agusta, Agostini actually won his first championship in 1963 astride a Moto Morini. This win caught the attention of Count Domenico Agusta, founder of MV Agusta, who added young Agostini to his race team that included Mike Hailwood. Ago’s tenure with Count Agusta’s team would result in nearly a decade of successive victories and the cementing of Agostini and MV as one of the greatest racers and machines of all time.

Fittingly, MV Agusta is a featured marque of this year’s Legend of the Motorcycle and a history-making assembly is expected. Admirers of this revered motorcycle and fans of Italian performance iron in general will not be disappointed.

Each year a person who has made an invaluable contribution to the world of motorcycling is selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. The distinguished trophy presented to this recipient is the signature God of Speed™ bronze sculpture. Last year’s recipient was Willie G. Davidson. Agostini will be presented with this award on stage at the Concours on May 3, 2008.

The third annual Legend of the Motorcycle Concours d’Elegance will take place the first Saturday in May on the breathtaking ocean-side golf course of the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California, just south of San Francisco. For more information on this landmark charitable event, visit http://LegendoftheMotorcycle.com.

Click here -- http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/touring-destination/2006-09-01/legend-of-the-motorcycle-concourse-d-elegance.aspx -- for the Motorcycle Classics review of the 2006 Legend of the Motorcycle Concours d’Elegance.

Motorcycle Classics Presents the 3^rd Annual Bonneville Vintage GP!

Three years ago, racing bum and Norton fanatic Tom Kullen organized the first Bonneville Vintage GP at the brand new, state of the art Miller Motorsports racing complex in Tooele, Utah. Motorcycle Classics has been a part of the show since the beginning, and this year’s show will be better than ever as we team with Tom and his crew to put on the best classic bike event of the season as Motorcycle Classics Presents the 3^rd Annual Bonneville Vintage GP, Sept. 5-7, 2008.

Just 30 minutes from Salt Lake City, the Miller racing complex is also just two hours from the famed Bonneville Speedway, better known as the Bonneville Salt Flats. For motorcyclists, there are few places on earth more hallowed than the salt flats, where racers and speed demons have gathered for the past 100 years to push the limits of man and machine.

Starting last year, event participants at the Bonneville Vintage GP had the opportunity to run the flats during the International Motorcycle Speed Trials by BUB (www.speedtrialsbybub.com). A week-long orgy of motorcycle-only runs on the famed Bonneville Salt Flats, this is where the BUB team set a new world record for motorcycles of 350.884mph in 2006.

For 2008, participants at the Bonneville Vintage GP will once again have the opportunity to be a part of the BUB speed trials and make a run on the salt. If you’ve never been, you owe it to yourself to check out the salt flats. Throw in the sights and sounds of vintage and modern bikes making runs on the salt and you’re in for a visual and auditory treat like you’ve never experienced – there’s simply no other place in the world like it. The speed trials run Aug. 31-Sept. 5, just in time for racing action at Miller.

And you can expect great vintage racing at Miller during the GP, which will host round 14-15 of the AHRMA Michigan Engineering Historic Cup Roadrace Series and round 18-19 of the AHRMA Speed & Sport National Vintage Trial Series (www.ahrma.org). Motorcycle Classics will also be hosting a classic bike show and a ride for vintage bike owners. We’ll have more details as they come available, so check back often for updates.

Vendors take note: We’re putting together special packages for advertisers who want to be a part of the 3^rd Annual Bonneville Vintage GP. If you’re interested in having a booth at the show or being a part of the swap meet, contact Motorcycle Classics advertising rep Rod Peterson via e-mail at: rpeterson@motorcycleclassics.com, or call (785) 274-4479.

Look for regular updates at www.bonnevillevintagegp.com and at www.MotorcycleClassics.com 

The track record of would-be motorcycle manufacturers trying to breathe new life into old names has been less than stellar. It’s been tried with Norton and Excelsior-Henderson, to name the most recent failings, and except for Triumph, it just doesn’t seem like anyone can make an old brand stick in a new market. Now, word comes of yet another new Indian, and this time it just might work.

Indian first quit making motorcycles back in 1953, a victim of poor product planning and increasing competition from European manufacturers and Harley-Davidson. That hasn’t stopped more than a few would be saviors from stepping in and trying to revive the once fabled marque. Sammy Pierce tried to give Indian a bump-start in the early Sixties, as did publishing magnate Floyd Clymer in the late Sixties, when he tried to restart the brand with Italian-framed, Velocette-powered Indians.

Things went quiet for a while, but then more wrangling surfaced in the 1990s, when several competing interests claimed rights to the Indian name after Philip Zhangi and Wayne Baughman’s aborted attempts to revive the brand. Lawsuits over ownership of the Indian name continued, and when the dust finally settled in 1999, a new Indian Motorcycle Company, based in Gilroy, Calif., was born.

The “Gilroy” Indians, as they were often called, were little more than H-D clones using S&S engines for power and parts from everyone in the accessory catalogs for everything else. That attempt went belly up 2003, just as the company announced a new, proprietary 100ci 45-degree V-twin. It was exactly what the new Indian needed, but it came too late and the company folded.

But it looks as if Indian’s set to rise again, and this time it might actually stick. Stellican Limited, a private equity firm, is the new owner of the Indian name, and they appear to have both the financial power and marketing savvy to make a revival work. Stellican has managed to engineer successful revivals of Chris-Craft boats in the U.S. and yacht manufacturer Riva in Italy, drawing accolades for keeping those brands alive and moving them forward.

Headquartered in Kings Mountain, N.C., the new Indian Motorcycle Company is currently testing prototypes of a new Indian Chief it says will be available in 2009. Power comes from a fuel-injected version of the 100ci PowerPlus engine developed by the Gilroy company and built entirely in-house.

Not surprisingly, the new models borrow heavily from the Indian styling archive, with heavily-skirted fenders, big chrome pipes and a chrome-studded leather saddle. Indian says it will have a full range of accessories for the new Chief, and the company expects to have its desired 50 dealerships in place when the first bike goes on sale early next year.

No prices have been published, Indian saying only that the 2009 Chief will be “a premium motorcycle and priced accordingly.” Interested? Indian says a $1,000 deposit will ensure you’re among the first to own a new Indian. More at www.indianmotorcycle.com

Triumph T120RT Serial Numbers Available

If you’re a Triumph fan, you might be familiar with the special batch of hopped up Bonnevilles that Triumph prepared in 1970, the T120RT. Triumph converted some 200 standard 650cc machines to 750cc for racing, and as the years have rolled by these have become increasingly valuable machines. Increased value equals increased interest, but unfortunately, there’s been nothing to keep an unscrupulous restorer from hopping up a standard Bonneville and passing it off as an RT. So how do you tell if you have a “real” RT? Unfortunately, a lack of official records has made that impossible – until now, as Motorcycle Hall of Fame Executive Director Mark Mederski tells us in the following note. – Richard Backus 

“For some time, reference has been made by collectors to an official list of specially modified for AMA dirt track racing Triumph T120R Bonneville motorcycles, commonly referred to as the “RT” Bonnevilles. Recently the list, probably complete, was discovered in the AMA Homologation files that were transferred to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum about 20 years ago. One collector has already told me this list is the ‘Holy Grail’ of Triumph motorcycle collecting and will be useful in identifying which machines were officially modified, with a suffix added to their serial numbers.

“If you have a machine you feel may be from the 200-and-some  machines in the batches of RTs prepped on the east and west coasts we will compare those numbers to the lists for you. Please send us your serial numbers and state whether they are with a chassis, and if yes, what chassis number in cases where the engine is in a frame other than original. We will supply back to you on Museum letterhead a statement of whether the number is from the lists in our files. We will keep these homologation numbers and your provided information in our files and confidential.

"By the way, it will ease the process if you can also supply a self-addressed stamped envelope for return of the verification document.

“It’s nice to know that much of the good work of the Triumph corporation is well cared for in the hands of passionate collectors.  Keep up the good work.”

Contack Mark at:

Mark Mederski
Executive Director/Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum
13515 Yarmouth Drive
Pickerington, OH 43147
www.motorcyclemuseum.org

A Tribute to Evel Knievel  

While searching for info on the recently deceased icon Evel Knievel, we came across this online radio interview from www.SpeedFreaks.TV

Though the interview is from about six years ago, Evel's brash nature still comes through strong and proud. "I've only had about 16 or 17 operations including my liver transplant." Yes ladies and gentleman, only 16 or 17.

Check out the interview at http://www.speedfreaks.tv/gallery/display.sd?iid=3097 to listen to Evel discuss his early childhood in Montana, his thoughts on his son Robbie, Jim Pomeroy, today's motocross racers and more.

Arlen Ness to Star at Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum Event During Daytona Bike Week 2008

Arlen Ness, a master bike builder and pioneer of the custom motorcycle industry, will share stories from his celebrated career at the 20th Annual Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum "Friendraising" Breakfast.  Ness will be trading tales with Russell Mitchell, renowned builder, president of Exile Cycles and star of Speed Channel's "Build or Bust." 

A Daytona Bike week tradition, the Museum Breakfast is an opportunity for enthusiasts to meet motorcycling's biggest names face-to-face and get a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of their lives and careers.  The program is scheduled for Friday, March 7, 2008, in Daytona Beach, Fla., and is open to the public for $49 per person.  All proceeds support the preservation and education initiatives of the non-profit Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, including award-winning exhibits and the country's only Hall of Fame honoring America's motorcycling legends.

A 1992 inductee into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, Ness launched his career in the late 1960s when he customized a 1947 Harley Knucklehead.  He entered the bike in a local motorcycle show and won, drawing the attention of the press - and future customers. From there he built a custom-painting bike business and also began selling custom parts, and, along with his wife, created a catalog to keep up with customer demand.  What began as a simple typewritten page evolved into a major mail order operation.

Ness' unique vision resulted in some of the most influential custom bikes of the past decades. His designs have been studied - and copied - by everyone from other bike builders to factory engineers. Two of his most memorable creations, built in the 1990s, are the '57 Chevy bike, formally known as the "Ness-talgia," which perfectly recalls the classic car, and the "Smooth-Ness," a flowing design inspired by a bronze of a Bugatti automobile. Today, Ness continues to grow his business and excite enthusiasts with his innovative custom designs. For a complete Arlen Ness biography, please visit www.motorcyclemuseum.org.

Like Ness, Mitchell has earned many fans, and the respect of the motorcycle industry, by creating unique custom bikes. In the early 1980s, he built his first machines: customized Lambretta scooters. By 1995, he had enough knowledge and customer interest to launch Exile Cycles from his garage.

In addition to manufacturing and distributing motorcycle parts, Exile Cycles continues to produce attention-grabbing custom bikes. Featuring clean, tough industrial styling, Mitchell's bikes are instantly recognizable. Just as recognizable is Mitchell himself, well-known from hosting the Speed Channel's "Build or Bust", as well as his regular appearances on the Discovery Channel's "Biker Build Off" and "World Bike Build Off." For more information on Mitchell, please visit www.exilecycles.com.

To join Arlen Ness and Russell Mitchell at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum's breakfast, immediate reservations are recommended.  All proceeds benefit the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. To make reservations contact the Museum at (614) 856-2222 or visit the Museum's website at www.motorcyclemuseum.org.

A few weeks ago, we reported that Dream Engine, the organizers of the retrospective Motogiro d’Italia motorcycle rally in Italy, were planning on bringing the rally State side. Now we can report that it’s official, because a week after our report Dream Engine formally announced the Motogiro America, with five days of classic riding starting from Monterey, Calif., on July 13.

Dream Engine tells us the event will kick off Friday, July 11, with a symposium on Italian design, followed by a vintage motorcycle Concours d’Elegance on July 12. The next day, Sunday July 13, riders will gather at Monterey’s historic Cannery Row before heading off for a lap of honor at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, followed by the official start of the rally.

Patterned after the famed Motogiro d’Italia, a predominantly small-bore retrospective rally that has inspired similar events here in the U.S. including the West Coast’s Giro d'California (www.girodcalifornia.com) and the East Coast’s Motogiro USA (www.motogiro-usa.com), the rally is open to all motorcycles and is divided into five categories: Vintage Racing Class, Touring Class, 70s Twin Class, Super Sport Class and Vespa Class.

The Vintage Racing Class, the one we’re most interested in, has been capped at 120 participants. Bikes in this class are limited to a maximum of 175cc and must have been manufactured before 1957. However, bikes inspired by original Motogiro bikes but manufactured after 1957 may also apply. The Vintage Racing Class will be subject to timed, competitive ability tests en route, and the winner of this class will take home a trophy and grand prize. A limited number of vintage bikes will be available for rent specifically for the occasion. Queries should be directed to Dream Engine.

The Touring Class is open to bikes of all makes from all years, and is included to appeal to riders who want to experience the Motogiro on a relaxed, non-competitive level.

The 70s Twin Class is open to bikes manufactured between 1968 and 1978. Riders in this class will be subject to timed, competitive ability tests en route similar to those carried out by participants of the Vintage Racing Class.

The Super Sport Class is open to 250cc bikes and sidecars built up to 1968.

The Vespa Class will have its own special Motogiro class to celebrate the more than 100 versions of the iconic scooter produced during the last half century. 

The rally will finish up on July 18, just as activities get under way for the MotoGP at Laguna Seca (www.laguna-seca.com), making for a unique week of old-school rallying combined with modern, cutting-edge racing.

We’ve yet to be given sign-up info, but we’ll pass that along as soon as we have it. Meanwhile, you can check with Dream Engine by emailing motogiroamerica@dreamengine.com

New Enfields Coming?

Royal Enfield Ltd., the Indian manufacturer of the iconic Enfield Bullet (www.royalenfield.com), the single-cylinder classic first built in the early Fifties and offered today in a form almost indistinguishable from its original British brethren, is building a new engine to power future Enfields.

Coded UCE for Unit Construction Engine, it will be the first-ever unit-construction Enfield (combined engine and transmission) and – wait for it – the first to be equipped with fuel injection! Thank tightening emissions for the latter, a move that’s sure to disappoint long-time Enfield traditionalists but that should come as a boon to the less mechanically inclined, as it should guarantee a smoother, more reliable machine for the average rider.

The engine is being developed in-house, with reliability testing conducted by an outside Japanese firm. Enfield India plans on launching the engine and a new bike sometime this year. The engine was shown at last November’s International Motorcycle Show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England (www.motorcycleshow.co.uk).

Meanwhile, Enfield has launched a new model for the British market. Inspired no doubt by the original Enfield Trials Bullet of the late Fifties and the street scramblers that were all the rage in the Sixties, the new Woodsman is powered by Enfield’s 500cc lean-burn “Electra” engine and features a short, solo-style saddle, a rear rack and upswept exhaust exiting on the left side.

A front disc brake is standard, as is electric start and a five-speed transmission. Enfield claims a 10 percent increase in power, mostly because of the revised exhaust. No word yet on whether we’ll see this bike in the U.S., but we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we hear anything.

Flat Tracking Returns to Indiana!

The AMA Flat Track Championship will return to the legendary 1-mile dirt oval at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008, the evening before the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The GNC Twins class, with riders on motorcycles using twin-cylinder engines, will compete at the Fairgrounds.

This will be the first AMA Flat Track event at the "Indy Mile" since 1999, when seven-time AMA Flat Track national champion Chris Carr won on a Harley-Davidson. 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden finished 13^th in that race en route to earning AMA Flat Track Rookie of the Year honors.

The State Fairgrounds track has played host to 41 AMA Flat Track national championship races since Joe Leonard won the first race on the oval in 1954. Leonard then moved to auto racing, making nine Indianapolis 500 starts and winning the pole in 1968.

Nearly all of the legendary names of flat track racing have won at the Fairgrounds, including Carr, Leonard, Jay Springsteen, Scott Parker, Ricky Graham, Bubba Shobert and Kenny Roberts, who went on to win three MotoGP World Championships and owns Team Roberts in MotoGP.

Flat track racing – sometimes referred to as "dirt track" racing – is the oldest and most traditional form of racing sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA).

Dating back to the years just after World War II, flat track is a uniquely American form of motorcycle racing, with riders guiding their machines sideways through the turns, just inches apart from each other, at speeds faster than 100 mph.

Ticket sales for the Flat Track races are still pending, but should be available soon from the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds by calling (317) 929-1482 or through Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com). Tickets are on sale for the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 14, 2008, and can be purchased either online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time  or by calling (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or (317) 492-6700 locally between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

All tickets for this event are three-day tickets, with both reserved and general admission seating available.