Shows & Events

The land speed record for piston engined, wheel driven, semi-streamlined motorcycles has been broken by the same man who held the previous record.

Bill Warner of Wimauma, Florida held the earlier record for a little over 448kmph on his turbo-charged Suzuki Hayabusa. This time, he’s gone for more and exceeded 502kmph on the same bike.

 

 

This feat of riding a bike faster than a Bugatti Veyron, was achieved not at Bonneville Salt Flats, but at Loring Timing Association’s land speed races held at the Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine and incidentally, this is not the fastest man has ever gone on two wheels. Faster speeds of 600kmph+ have been achieved by Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner at the Utah Salt flats as recently as September 2010.

 

Warner said that at that speed, “The bike was bouncing, hopping, skipping and sliding. Needless to say, I got it stopped safely. It was a little scary.” Just a little scary…

That’s it? Yeah, right.

Image courtesy: Facebook

Yezdi and Jawa thump their way through south

Very few bikes trigger the kind of adrenaline rush like the Jawa did. And to celebrate the dawn of the marque, Jawa owners worldwide celebrate their proud ownership of this bike on the second Sunday of July every year. While some may plan out an international virtual rally, the Yezdi and Jawa club of Manglore will be hosting the “International Jawa Day”.

Proximity of the Jawa factory has boomed a fan following in Manglore, Mysore and Banglore which has survived for more than a decade and half. Policies in the fifties prohibited the import of motorcycles. However the assembly of foreign machines prompted former agent Rustom Irani to set up his own firm. As a publicity stunt, he organized a trip of two policemen to Czechoslovakia in 1951 and the feat was repeated in 1955 by three others. Following this event and the setting up of the Mysore factory, the first motorcycle rolled off the assembly lines in 1961. The Company then sold the bike under the name of the more popular Yezdi.

Several models like the Roadking, Deluxe, Monarch and Supersprint based on the 250 cc two stroke engine followed until 1996. Stricter emission norms and budget limitations have erased the Jawa dot off the Indian map. While the Jawa may not be as clinically efficient as the new generation bikes, it has bred a generation of motorcyclists like none.

 

The ride to the highest motorable point of country begins next week.

 

The Himalayan Odyssey is now back in its eighth edition. Cutting through the morning calm at 6:30am, on 25th June, 75 bikers will start their journey from Delhi to Khardung-La (highest motorable point of country) and back traversing 2700 kilometers through a period of 16 days. The riders will ride through some of the most challenging stretches of motor-able roads covering regions like Manali, Keylong, Sarchu, Leh, Hunder, Debring, Kaza, and Narkanda before finally making their way back to Delhi.

Michelin India felicitates Indian participants at the Michelin Challenge Bibendum

Michelin India felicitated the first Indian entrants to the Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Chennai today. The five day event held in Berlin earlier last month played host to 6000 automotive professionals, the general public and over a 1000 students. The event is the only global summit aimed at clean and green mobility. The global summit showcased more than 270 vehicles along with 75 exhibitors.

The student professor teams from BITS Pilani, NIT Trichy, Anna University, VIT Vellore and Delhi Technological University spoke about their experiences during the felicitation ceremony. The teams presented various technical papers on matters like reducing CO2 pollutants, plug in parallel hybrid etc. The RV college of Engineering Banglore with an eight members presented the indigenous dual fuel hybrid ‘Chimera’.

While congratulating the students, Mr. Nicolas Beaumont, Managing Director, Michelin India urged the young student to conceptualize ideas for alternative technologies.

Words: Aniruddha Mulgund

 

Rajasthan CM and Honda CEO inaugurate the HMSI factory at Tapukara, Rajasthan

HMSI announced the inaugural of the Tapukara plant at the hands of Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot along with the president and CEO of Honda Motor Company Takanobu Ito and Takashi Nagai, President and CEO, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. and Honda Motor India Private

The Rs. 460 crore HMSI plant which is built near the Haryana Rajasthan border will build up to 6 lac units annually in the first phase. The second phase, costing other Rs. 400 crore will be ready by March next year and will boost the plant’s overall output to 12 lac units annually. The Rajasthan plant will employ up to 3200 people and manufacture the Activa and CB twister.

In the past few months, competitors have capitalized on Honda’s inability to deliver on time, to boost their sales. Honda hopes to resolve this problem with this move.

 

Words: Aniruddha Mulgund