The 7^th edition of the extravaganza came to a close at Misano Circuit, Italy and the famed motorcycle-manufacturer is all set to return to its base at Bologna.

Entitled as the planet of champions, the WDW2012 has an incredible tally of 65,000 Ducatistis with approx 30% of the inflow coming from visitors internationally from USA, Europe, India, Russia, Brazil, China and even the likes of Nepal, Gabon etc.

The highlight of the WDW2012 would definitely be the drag races which featured the likes of Rossi, Troy Bayliss, Hayden, Checa, Smrz, Canepa and Zanetti etc It is sure to go down in WDW history as one of the most exciting, friendly and close-fought competition. The exclusive final showdown Rossi and Bayliss was some sort of a dream match-up with their rubber smoking Diavel’s burning the tarmac down.

The stage was also set at Piazzle Roma for one spectacular performance from the ‘Ducati All Stars’ featuring the likes of Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses), Billy Morrison (The Cult) and Isaac Carpenter (Loaded) etc to name a few. The show finished with massive fireworks display over the Riccione beach-front venue.

WDW2012 event visitors have been treated to an incredibly packed program including the prestigious Ducati Riding Experience track school with the Troy Bayliss Academy and Master Racing Courses aboard Ducati’s brand new 1199 Panigale. Audi and Lamborghini added a little extra adrenaline with Audi providing Ducatistis an opportunity to passenger the highly desirable R8 LMS and R8 V10 with professionals. Overall WDW2012 was by far the most successful event of Ducati till date.

Held every two years since 1998, the World Ducati Week sees thousands of Ducatisti coming together and sharing their passion for the legendary Italian bikes.

This year’s packed program at the spectacular Misano circuit from the 21st till the 24th of June will include an all-star Drag Race shootout between Rossi, Hayden, Checa, Bayliss, Smrz, Guintoli and more. Scheduled to start at 18.15 on Saturday evening, 23 June, the spectacular quarter mile Drag Race will challenge the razor-sharp reflexes of both MotoGP and World Superbike riders along the Misano World Circuit. This year’s elimination races will be run on specially prepared Ducati Diavel Carbons.

Tudor, the Swiss watchmakers, are the main sponsors of the seventh edition of the World Ducati Week. The riders are then destined to meet the public at a giant WDW2012 party at the Piazzale Roma in Riccione later in the evening where a spectacular night of music, entertainment and pure Ducati passion will be at full swing. Thousands of Ducatisti from all over the world have already booked their WDW2012 tickets online and advanced bookings will remain operative until 13 June on the dedicated event website wdw.ducati.com. from 18 June.

In other news, Ducati also celebrating one million “Likes” on the company’s official Facebook page, recently. Managed by the official website, www.ducati.com, the company has used Facebook to reach out not only to its long-established European and American markets, but also to an emerging Asian markets, full of fans who desire the premium brand’s high performance motorcycles. A new video has been created to thank passionate “virtual” fans of the iconic Italian motorcycle manufacturer. With the company preparing to cover its massive World Ducati Week event live on Facebook from 21-24 June, and its one million “Likers” boasting a combined Facebook friendship of over 180 million, Ducati’s incredible following looks set to sky-rocket even further.

You can see the Ducati ‘One Million Likes’ video here.

1928 Windhoff up for auction at Bonhams

In the rarefied world of vintage motorcycle collectors, most vintage motorcycles worth more than $100,000 are pretty well known. Windhoff, however, is a notable exception. Nevertheless, Windhoff produced some of the most stunning machines of their time during the pre-war days. This particular 1928 Windhoff 746cc Four motorcycle is up for auction again on 29 Apr 2012 at Stafford Bonhams. The estimated price for the current sale is around the $160,000 to $210,000USD mark, but chances of finding another one like finding a needle in a hay sack.

Windhoff was a German company based in Berlin, founded in 1880 by the Windhoff brothers who initially were radiator manufacturers. Windhoff produced motorcycles that were not just an average design or engineering. These motorcycles were original, well balanced and mechanically as beautiful as some of the best motorcycles of their time. The Windhoff Four was loaded with innovation – it had no frame, the huge engine was the frame in which was attached the front-wheel fork. The rear wheel was also attached to four fully chromed shafts emanating from the engine, which ran horizontally to the drive shaft, giving the entire unit a great architectural balance.

The unit was renowned for it’s smoothness and flexibility, enabling the Windhoff to be ridden at the speeds as low as 10kmph without snatching. In 1928, a Windhoff machine set the world speed and endurance record on the Opel Race track during the annual Opel 24 hour race.

Cyclists pedaled 2300 km to spread the message of ‘Save the girl Child’ with the support of Firefox Bikes

After pedaling 2300 km International Cyclist Shri Datta Patil and Sudhir Patil from the International Cycle Academy who embarked on a cycle rally from Sangli to Panipat from 22nd April2012, reached New Delhi on their way campaigning against Female Foeticide.

As a part of this noble cause, 15 boys and 15 girls had pedaled a distance of 2500 km. covering a total of 18 cities. The aim of the rally was to spread the message against female foeticide. The children covered various cities like Pune, Gwalior and Agra before reaching the Capital city from there they started their culmination journey to Panipat as an endeavor to spread this strong message to the remotest of corner of India.

Touching Delhi these children were welcomed by Mr. Shiv Inder Singh, MD, Firefox Bikes Pvt. Ltd, stating that Firefox was honored to be associated with the noble cause. Firefox encouraged the children and cyclists by providing them with monetary support as well as technical support at all Firefox bike stations across the country.

Yamaha organizes Kids Safe Riding lessons

Yamaha Motors is back with its ‘First Kids Yamaha Safe Riding Science’ of the year. The initiative focuses on inculcating safe riding habits that would contribute to traffic safety awareness among local communities. This is not just for Yamaha customers. The program was attended by 100 students between the ages of eight to thirteen, for a day long program divided into 2 sessions – first a classroom or theoretical session and the 2nd a practical session where the kids were taught the basics of road safety, importance of riding gear and also how to ride a bike. Yamaha brings along their TTR 50 and PW 50 bikes which are specifically made for these safety programs. Yamaha launched the Yamaha Safe Riding Science (YSRS) initiative in India in 2008, and has successfully introduced it to the youth of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur, Dehradoon, Guwahati, Vizag, Jammu, Ahmedabad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Udaipur, Varanasi and Goa. Hopefully with all this training at a young age, in  a few years we all will be able to ride on the road without fear of a rogue biker threatening not only his but others lives as well, all because no one taught him about safety and the consequences of riding rashly.

The only Ferrari motorcycle ever built goes under the hammer at Bonham’s on 29^th April.

Purely intended as a one-off motorcycle, this scarlet red masterpiece was hand-built by David Kay Engineering in Florida, USA, under the tutelage of Piero Ferrari, son of Enzo Ferrari. Acclaimed custom builder, Dave Kay, came up with the idea for this machine in 1990, as a tribute to Enzo who had passed away just two years earlier.

The Ferrari 900 is powered by a 900cc four-cylinder engine that is good enough for 107 PS and capable of hitting 100kmph in under three seconds. Top speed is a respectable 265 kmph. When it was finished in 1995, a British collector promptly scooped it up and then, predictably, elected to keep it in his living room as an objet d’art. Now, after 17 years, the 900 is going on auction courtesy the good guys at Bonhams. Somewhere in the world, eccentric billionaires must be busy calculating figures that rival the GDPs of some African and Asian countries.

Image Courtesy: Bonhams

TVS sets out to prove its bikes are tough and durable, much like the Indian Army

The Hosur-based company has partnered up with the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai to motivate the Indian youth to join the Indian Army. TVS had chosen their commuter bike, the Star City, for this motorcycle expedition. The route planned took the Indian army soldiers from Chennai to Pondycherry to Trichy to Rameshwaram to Trivandrum (via Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari) to Cochin to Ezhimala (Kannur) to Mysore to Bangalore and finally to Chennai.

Over all these years, the alumni of OTA, Chennai have been active in the battlefield and have bagged a number of Gallantry awards which include one Param Veer Chakra, 5 Ashok Chakra, nine Mahaveer Chakra, 51 Veer Chakra, 7 Kirti Chakra, 31 Shaurya Chakra and 241 Sena Medal. As part of their grand Golden Jubilee celebrations, OTA had planned a Motor Cycle Expedition from 19 Mar to 31 Mar 2012 through the Southern corridor of India covering states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka covering a distance of 2200 Km in 11 days. The riders comprised of two Officers, six Gentlemen and two Lady Cadets from the academy.

TVS had been chosen to be associated with Golden Jubilee Motorcycle Expedition as its brand reflects comparable attributes of endurance, reliability, toughness and ruggedness just like the soldiers who rode these motorcycles.

Royal Enfield is famous for organizing bike tours for its customers throughout the year and across a variety of terrain

This year for the 1^st time, they are organizing a tour of the picturesque Bhutan. You can now ride across the border through mesmerizing, adventurous and challenging terrain with your Royal Enfield motorcycle. Cruise by the tea gardens of Bagdogra, ride through Sikkim -the landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayas and traverse in to the untouched kingdom of Bhutan. If the regular straight and unadventurous roads bore you, then the twists and turns of Bhutan will definitely keep you on your toes, with the average number of bends per kilometre being ten!

So if the city roads and surroundings have become mundane for you, explore the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan on the 1st Royal Enfield – Tour of Bhutan.

Details:-

1. Trip starts from Bagdogra and ends in Guwahati, Assam

2. Ride crosses through Sikkim and Bhutan

3. For Royal Enfield owners

4. Dates- 5th to 15th May 2012

5. Registrations are open on www.royalenfield.com

6. Contact tourofbhutan@royalenfield.com

In June 2011, Shell Advance had launched a competition titled ‘The Shell Advance 7 Riding Wonders of the World’.

The competition asked motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world to vote for their favourite riding road. The final seven ‘wonders’ were then put before an expert panel of judges from around the world and, alongside, a public vote was taken to decide the ultimate route to ride on a motorcycle.

The winner? The scenic route connecting Coorg to Munnar via Ooty in South India!

On February 17th this year, the lucky contest winner Alessandro Donadello from Italy was flown down to India to partake in his victorious spoils and go for a ride through the world’s ultimate riding route on a Ducati Monster 796 and a Ducati Mutistrada 1200. Expert riders were all suited up in their riding gear while Donadello and his friend put on their helmets and sat pillion on the two Ducati bikes. The route is riddled with S turns and as you turn each corner, the vast array of mountains covered in clouds greet you. Further down your surrounded by tea leaf covered terrain, plush with greenery and the view of pristine lakes in the distance. The Monster 786 filled with Shell Advance motorcycle oil roared through the countryside with ease taking each bump that came along and begged for more.

The inner joy of riding through Mother Nature’s beauty at its best left me with a smile on my face that wouldn’t go away. So the next time you’re riding to the south of India, get a bike and ride on the amazing route.

The Learning Curve

It’s time to go back to school for our young rider as he attends the California Superbike School to learn a thing or two about riding faster and exploiting his potential

Story: Saeed Akhtar

Photography: Preethi

They say you’re never too old to learn something new. You’re also never too old to re-learn something. Like every adolescent, who had just discovered the fact that being adept at a motorcycle impresses sophomore girls, I kept two dog-eared copies of Keith Code’s A Twist of the Wrist beside me at most times. Those, coupled with the eponymous DVDs, many years of watching race telecasts on Sunday afternoons and first-hand instructions from our very own editor, were the only sources of riding tips that I ever got. So when the kind people at Preethi Appliances, the firm that brought Keith Code’s brainchild California Superbike School (CSS) to the country, invited me this month for three days of coaching at the Madras Motor Sport Club racetrack, I grabbed their offer with both hands.

Keith Code’s success story was not so much a story of shrewd business practices as one of necessity being the mother of invention. Back in the era of rock-n-roll and hippies, he was an up-and-coming racer eager to improve his craft. However, as he found out to his dismay, useful advice was sparse and hard to come by. Racers those days believed that riding fast was an intrinsic art that could not be cultivated – it just had to come from within. Code made copious notes, asked a number of questions, made meticulous observations and, at the end of it all, decided that riding a motorcycle was a science, just like flying an aeroplane or sailing a boat, and that it could be learnt just as any other science could be learnt.

He finally decided that there was enough interest to set up a school where riders would learn to go faster in a non-competitive environment. This was met with derision and laughter from most racing greats, who didn’t believe that it would yield any perceptible results. Nevertheless, Code persisted and, very soon, his roster was boasting of a long list of world champions and race winners like Waine Rainey, Fred Merkel, Doug Chandler and James Toseland. Two of the youngest up-and-coming CSS students to join that hallowed list are 2009 British Superbike Champion Leon Camier and 2010 AMA Supersport Champion Austin Dehaven and they are both here at the MMSC track with us today. We had better pull up our socks. For three days.

The first thing that strikes you about the CSS team, who have flown in from the US, UK and Australia, is their sheer professionalism and efficiency. You immediately get the feeling that they have got their teaching methodology down pat and are determined to impart to the 50-odd students whatever they have learnt about riding.

Once the introductions were over, Gary, the course controller, conducted the obligatory safety briefing, stressing how necessary it was to follow proper hand signals and also keep an eye on the marshal’s flag at all times. We were given strict injunctions that we were not here to compete with one another, but to learn the art of going faster everywhere. Racing one another was strictly forbidden and anyone caught overtaking perilously would find himself sitting out of the class for the rest of the day.

That done, we headed for our first classroom session, with Dylan Code. Sitting in a classroom with Keith Code’s son expounding his father’s findings and teachings was a surreal experience. Soft-spoken, witty and with years of riding experience in his kitty, Dylan offered us just the right initiation into the perfected-to-within-an-inch learning methodology of the CSS. To avoid monotony as also to reinforce what we had just learnt, the classroom sessions were immediately followed by track sessions wherein the rest of the instructors alternately followed and led the student, minutely observing each of his moves. If somebody was found not correctly following what had just been taught, his assigned coach would move in and demonstrate to him what he ought to be doing, either by means of hand signals or body language. One of the reasons why they’ve been so successful is the CSS’ extremely low teacher-to-student ratio. In every group, each student had to share his instructor with only two other students, thus enabling a very personalised learning experience.

For most experienced riders, who have done their bit of track riding and are fast learners, the classroom sessions, when seen separately, might look like spoon-feeding. Sample this: for a session on turn-in points, they even taped the part of the tarmac just before the corner where you’re supposed to start tipping in your bike. However, much like any conventional school, it is when you add it all up that you begin to see the quantum leap you’ve just taken. By the end of the third day, I found myself getting in and out of corners much more fluently and cracking open the Apache RTR 180’s throttle earlier and with greater assurance. Body posture, counter-steering, turning points, modulating the control levers – every aspect of riding seemed easier now and I was struggling with the bike a lot less than before.

It’s true what they say: a lot of self-practice could possibly haul a genius up to the very top, but for us mere mortals, some expert coaching will always come in handy. I will be back next year.