Woke up around 06:15 with a banging headache! But worse, I felt sick too after mixing bloody Goldschlagers (very sweet and nasty), Tequilas (very nasty flavoured cheap Mexican drink), Coronas and God knows what! Had an ice cold sweat but still managed to crawl into the shower. It didn't make me feel better so had a chat to the elk down in the toilet and that actually helped much more than the cold shower (bet you didn't really want to hear that:-) Made breakfast in good time, hydrated like a madman and started feeling fresh again. Arrived Laguna Seca in the bus, got dressed in my road kit this time and off we went on our 200 mile route in the North Californian mountains. The ace photographers from Doublered made sure none of us had to do many runs past them and the roads were great! After Carmel Valley and some motorway miles we started on the Nacimiento-Fergusson road. For the first few miles I kept up with lead guy JP from Superbike, but then I fell back. It was just to dangerous for me to follow JP as he is a really fast rider and I didn't fancy my chances against the steep hills and trees next to the very narrow and winding road. That road would have suited a supermoto much better than the 1125R and in self preservation I slowed down and rode the rest in my own pace even stopping for a few pix on the Pacific side of the valley. One Greek journalist crashed right in front of me when he out braked himself straight into the fence over a bridge. Luckily he managed to brush off enough speed to only hit it at about 10MPH. But the headstock on his 1125R still snapped in two... I stopped, but suddenly remembered that several riders were still on their way to this point of the route so quickly parked a bit further ahead and checked that the rider was alright. the rest of the group arrived and I continued to do the rest of this route without traffic. Then we hit the Pacific highway after lunch which is a really good road, but littered with tourists doing 30mph and double yellows everywhere! We all turned into criminals here and none of us ended up in trouble as far as I know. It was fun when we could keep a bit of a pace, but I was pretty much ready to end my riding for the day now. Arrived back at Laguna Seca, did my wheelie shots with Alastair Fagan from Fastbikes just outside the Laguna Seca gates and called it a day. My transfer back to San Fran was an early one the next day (5:45 in the morning...) so had dinner and a chat with the guys before going to bed early. Very content with the ride, Buell organisation of the whole event and my pictures. Pretty much the perfect launch. Ahead of me now is just a 20 hour travel back to the UK including a stop in Chicago to transfer to my Manchester flight. I'll be home again on Saturday morning where I have to do the write up and look through the pictures straight away for magazine deadlines. I am being discriminated against by the American airlines by the way. Every single time I have been to the US this year I have been "picked" by the airline for extra security checks. They never find anything and I'm now very annoyed by it as it doesn't seem so random anymore... "Are you a motorcycle racer or something" some knob head always asks me at security. I always just reply that I ride motorbikes yes. I could barely restrain myself from saying "Every bloody time" when asked whether I had been checked by security before. But again, in self preservation I just answered yes I have sir (you fucking Yankee doodle knob head!) See you on the other side. Tor
The big day has arrived! I'm at Laguna Seca baby! (typical Californian slang for being happy). I made it to the Portola Plaza in Monterey after flying into San Francisco last night and went straight to bed to be fit for action today. Today started with breakfast and a briefing at the hotel before the transfer to Skip Barber for another briefing held by Jeremy McWilliams. The great man from Belfast would later show us the best lines around the circuit. I also persuaded Jeremy to let me tape my camera on to the 1125R he was riding to really show you how it's done! As for my own riding I really loved taking the new Buell 1125R around this great circuit. This new liquid cooled V-twin puts Buell motorcycles in a whole new perspective I can guarantee you. Buell have also made a great new contribution to keep the V-twin alive. the engine, chassis and everything else is pure Buell with some help from BRP-Rotax, but Buell still follows in the footsteps of other great motorcycles such as the Suzuki TL1000S, Honda VTR1000, Ducati 999, Aprilia RSV1000 and Tuono. The top of the range V-twin superbike, Ducati 1098, might be in a different league actually giving the Japanese in-line-four litre bikes real competition. But I have got no doubt that Buell could do an 1125RR version with at least the same horsepower. But the 1125R is not just there yet and there's no imminent plan to make it fit at the top end either. That didn't stop me from having one of the best days of my motorcycling life at Laguna Seca though. The 1125R has got one big V-twin engine, but still feels small and nimble. Nimble is what you need at the Corkscrew and despite Jeremy's warnings I managed to brake far too late on my first lap and did the rumble strip boogie straight away. It's a second gear corner, but not on full throttle... It felt like doing one of motorcyclings greatest tourist attractions and not just on any new bike either! True, I haven't been at Philip island yet, but who cares as I'd die happy with just Laguna, Misano and Donington on my list. It's too late for Assen anyway... After plenty of track time we transferred back to the hotel and a beach party with all the journos, McWilliams and special guest Erik Buell. One of them Californian sand-castle artists was working on a sand version of the 1125R that amazed everyone. After several tequilas the inevitable happened, a fat bastard sat on it and it wasn't me! Now that I've got a beautiful Irish girlfriend I bloody love the Northern Irish accent so chatted to Jeremy until we all had had more than enough drink for one night. I can say "horse" just like the Irish do themselves I've been told. Anyway, it was to celebrate the Buell 25th anniversary and my first ride on Laguna Seca anyway. Then we tried to break into the presidential suite that was on our floor to no avail. Well, we didn't really try to break in, it was just me taking the piss telling the guys it was my room. As I'm writing this in retrospect, I can reveal now that I was sick as a dog the next morning... 200 miles on the road after that. Thanks goes to Trevor Franklin for snapping that shot of Jeremy McWilliams and me in the Laguna Paddock. Tor
21/08/2007 2008 Buell 1125R world launch
Staying up late the night before flying to the US has become the name of the game for me. I need to be tired to get a decent sleep on the long flight over the Atlantic. My last US flight was to New York and that's not bad at all. This time it's San Francisco all the way over on the West Coast. I have to make a stop in Chicago on the way as they don't fly directly from Manchester airport to SF. Same deal as when I flew over to LA and Long Beach with Victory last winter. If you have followed the blog since then you'll know that didn't go down smoothly. I'm flying with BMI again to Chicago. Last time it was only 8 hours late and I missed my connection to Orange County and only barely made the last flight to LAX from Chicago as it was also delayed. Pretty much the same story on my return flight apart from the fact that the whole BMI flight was cancelled in stead of delayed. Boarded an American flight in stead and received no mileage points whatsoever even though I'm a member there too. Apparently due to the circumstances with BMI rebooking us all. I just couldn't be arsed to complain, but if they give me reason this time I will. Anyway, this is about flying high, I'm heading to Monterey and Laguna Seca to fly low on the all new Buell 1125R. I just can't wait to do my first lap on Laguna. I suspect it will give me the same adrenaline kick as when I rode Donington or Misano for the first time. I have packed two sets of riding gear this time for variation in the action shots and to differentiate the track shots from the road shots for editors that are less hardcore than a full on sports magazine. My sports bag is bulging like an overfilled sausage and I hope all the kit will make it safely all the way. Three pair of socks inside one pair of boots, two pairs of underpants in another boot, and t-shirts in the second set of boots. Two pairs of Alpinestars GP-pro inside my helmet, one spare pair in case I crash. Helmet is packed in a helmet bag inside the big bag as the BAA or whoever still maintains the only one hand luggage rule. When returning from the US to the UK I'll be allowed two pieces of hand luggage to make room for whatever shopping needs doing. In my backpack goes all the camera kit and laptop. I do feel like a rolling circus travelling to a world launch like this. Particularly as I decided on double set of riding kit. But when I return on Saturday morning I know that I won't regret it. Hopefully I'll be able to post an update just after riding the bike around Laguna Seca. Hasta Luego! Tor
Yes I know that I'm a lucky bastard with launches and stuff. Plenty of envious people of the Laguna Seca gig and road ride next week of the Buell 1125R. Lots of paper work as well as we are riding through some military area in California. Doing that now. I have stirred it up a bit for a few manufacturers this last week. KTM, MV Agusta and Triumph. I feel like a bloody diplomat sometimes having to smooth things over after news have been published. Now I know that the KTM 2008/09 news stories was quite aggressive and with an extremely fast turnaround of both info and mock-ups. The result is the exposure of KTM's short-term model programme up to 2009! So my job now is to smooth things over with KTM, report from Paris and Milan, do an interview with Stefan Pierer-THE KTM boss and then ride the 2008 LC4 line-up in Spain in January next year. We will then be back on the KTM track for those of you that have missed the new KTM tests here. The RC8 1190 Superbike launch plans are not quite finalised yet and I don't know yet whether I will get a place or not. I will guaranteed ride the bike at some point though whether at the track launch or on the road later. I have edited my blog today regarding one of the days events waiting for some more info. Might add it tomorrow. It's about rats. TS Raptors & Rockets motorcycle club
10/08/2007
Sometimes I feel like my brain is being drained through my keyboard and onto word documents. On those days its great to do news stories! They are varied, short to write and I always need to speak to a lot of different people to finish them. I have a lot of news and Luc1 has done an absolute great job illustrating them this week. Not to forget my class A sources all over Europe and the world. Thanks to all of you! Got some more info about the imminent Buell 1125R launch at Laguna Seca today too. In addition to the day at Laguna we will get one day on the road riding the new Buell. Looks to be the perfect launch on paper as long as the Californian weather is with us. Just received some kit from Alpinestars to prepare me for the winter. The Falcon leather/textile jacket featuring a Bionic back-protector is one I look forward to using on many tests in the future. The S-MX 4 Waterproof boots are a welcome addition to the wardrobe as my Roams are not that waterproof anymore. Then we've got the WR-2 Gore-Tex gloves to keep my pinkies dry. More about these products and pix soon. TS
05/08/2007 2007 NYC pix
As promised earlier I have added all the NYC pix on a separate page for those that want to watch those pictures. New York City. TS
05/08/2007 2008 Triumph Street Triple 675 video!
You might have seen the review of this new bike from Triumph now. Now watch the vid with the new YouTube Raptors player! We are today celebrating passing 1 million video views on YouTube in 8 months. What a marketing opportunity! TS
I've had a great day today on the 2008 Triumph Street Triple as the first journalist in the UK to be allowed to test the Street Triple on the roads. With both the Aprilia Shiver and Honda Hornet fresh in mind I was excited to see how the transfer from sportsbike to naked streetfighter would suit the 675. No one could do this better than Triumph since the original hooligan, the Speed Triple also came from Hinckley. But the Street Triple is better than Speed Triple on many important areas such as handling and pure fun! Wait for the test and videos, but enjoy the huge picture gallery whilst waiting. I should have the Walk Around and Onboard ready sometime tomorrow. I had a great day down in and around Hinckley and a lot of fun with Martin the photographer and in-house comedian. I am also waiting for some new Alpinestars kit these days. The Falcon jacket, a pair of the new 08 Supertech R's (hopefully in time for the Buell 1125R Laguna Seca gig later this month...), new gore-tex gloves and boots (the most useful kit here in the UK). My waterproof Roam boots has probably got more miles in them than any other pair of boots that I use and they have started leaking from a scratch on the left boot. Can't afford to amputate my feet from trench-foot just yet, so Alpinestars are rescuing me as usual with the creme-dela-creme of bike kit. Thank you Heather and Jeremy. Thanks to Dan at Triumph also for always sorting me out with the best of British! Martin; You're a genius with the camera! TS
