2008 January blog

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Right, sitting here at midnight to give you a wee summary of today's events. It's pretty much been about the Ducati 1098R the whole day apart from some planning with Moto Guzzi and Moto Morini. Late this afternoon I got the rest of the pictures FTP'd from Ducati as Jeremy is in Belfast with the memory stick at the moment. So is the video by the way, but I'm not worried because from the sound of it, that video will be a very entertaining one where Jeremy and Michel Fabrizio battle it out on Jerez on the 1098R's. And copy have been finished too, so now I can finally sit back for a second before going to bed. Tomorrow will be pretty busy too as there's a few things to organise and I need to be present for Editors with questions regarding the 1098R launch copy. I am not publishing the whole report here until Motorcycle-Daily in the US have had the exclusive for a few days. In the meantime, enjoy some great shots of McWilliams from Jerez... Tor

I have had a fantastic day today. When the first thing you see in the morning (apart from my beautiful girlfriend...) is that my Italian designer maestro have finished my logo, knowing that Jeremy McWilliams is on the 1098R in Jerez and that the KTM RC8 1190 launch is secured. Then who can ask for a better start of the week? I think I've said it before but I'll say it again; I love Mondays! My logo illustrates my Norwegian Viking heritage and the fact that I am at war in 2008! My war is to get a ride on everything that matters and to do as much work as possible with Jeremy McWilliams. I've got me hammer and helmet and I'm ready, armed and dangerous to win on good and unique content. Out now to fire up my warhorse. TS

First of all today; Happy Birthday Olivia! Secondly; Good luck to Jeremy McWilliams on the Ducati 1098R launch on Monday. Jeremy's just been to the Italian Alps smashing his face up on snowboard so will attend that launch with two black eyes. It's all business with me still and a lot of dealings, meetings and agreements happen in the background. Will be some announcements soon. Also published my interview with the man today. Click on McWill's name for that. TS

Right now all I'm thinking about is to get Jeremy McWilliams a pair of neutral leathers for our test purpose. The very helpful people at Alpinestars are also working really hard to make it happen. For the first time in my career I'm going to get some custom leathers made for Jezza and myself. We are going for the 2008 Alpinestars Racing Replica suits, but one of those will not be ready in time for the 2008 Ducati 1098R launch that takes place in Jerez only 10 days from now. So what we're going to do first is to modify one of the Ilmor suits to make it as neutral as possible. It'll still be Jezza inside it and there's nothing neutral about him. He'll go for it and crush those other journalists attending to really give the 1098R a proper introduction. All for you guys reading this! The 1098R launch is also the first world launch that I have given to someone else. For me it will be almost as exciting as actually being there. I'll be the back office making sure that you get news first! More on this later... Thanks to Jerry and Luca.

Got a guy from Pininfarina to design our leather suit logos. Not ready yet, but soon... Also booked Jeremy McWilliams's flights all the way from the Fast (Belfast) to Jerez. It wasn't easy and involves "staying in that nasty one next to the airport" in Jezza's own words. Got the official invitation to the KTM RC8 1190 world launch at Ascari in February today too. This time from KTM in Hong Kong! There's a couple of issues to sort out still with KTM, but we're nearly there now. Also spoke to Suzuki as they launch the K8 GSX-R600 in Misano in February. There would have been a place for me there through Scandinavian contacts, but for the second time in less than 6 months someone forgot to fill in a form in time. Japan is a very awkward country for Europeans to do business in. They want us to buy theirs, but they don't want to buy ours in a way.

2008 is only one week old. To give you a slight update on things. My Xmas gift from BMW was the invite to the 2008 F 800 GS & F 650 GS world launch in South Africa. It will happen in February in the Durban area on the East coast. What really excites me about launches like this is the fact that there is a road and offroad part to the launch. It always makes for a good laugh and BMW always gives journalists plenty of time on the bikes and hopefully a mildly challenging offroad route too. TS

Norway is beautiful! Olivia Turley and I went for a little stroll up to see the Pulpit Rock where there's almost a 1000 metre drop straight into a fjord!