2008 September blog

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After an early morning briefing we set off from the hotel where the roads are already interesting. No miles of motorways or city traffic to reach the launch route. I already had the onboard kit strapped on the bike, but since it was a fairly chilly morning I didn't really find any rhythm in the riding until the tyres were warm enough up the mountain on our way to the first photo stop. I was riding with the French group today and as usual plenty of antics on the way to our first stop. The reason you don't get to see me doing a wheelie on this launch is because Ducati doesn't want to do wheelie shots on the roads on their launches and there wasn't any secluded enough area nor time to do them. A bit of a pity as the 1100 would have looked great on the pix. I had enough fun riding our test loop anyway and I did two and a half loops. I also did some work after lunch providing some first impressions to editors waiting for my test. Then some more riding. We all had a collective transfer back to Nice airport in the evening. My flight back to the UK was a late one, so I had several hours at Nice airport just looking through my pictures and videos until I didn't have any battery power left in my laptop. Due to awkward flight schedules today I had booked a flight back to Liverpool as there was nothing for Manchester. So I then caught the bus to Manchester and then taxi home from Manchester City Centre. I had planned to finish the article before going to bed, but it was already after midnight and had been a very long day so I had to sleep. TS

I arrived in Nice in the afternoon to a sunny day. After the transfer to the hotel in Cannes I checked out that all the technical equipment was in working order and thought I'd start filming a bit. After swapping tapes I got an error message on the screen of my video camera. So I tried to reset it and then to remove the tape which was impossible. My long serving video camera was in other words broken. It's a good job it has lasted for so long after being strapped to more bikes than I can remember, fallen off, stepped on etc. But it left me with a serious problem, no video from the Ducati Monster 1100 launch would have been a disaster for me! So I asked around explaining my problem. The cameraman that made the film below for Ducati was also present at the launch and he promised to help me. I must give my big thanks to Max Davoli, Bruno Mastroianni, Francesco Rapisarda and Aldo Gandolfo for sorting me out! Grazie mille! The hotel on the French Riviera was decorated in usual style even with Ducati Monster 1100 rugs! That's complete marketing dedication for you! Ride tomorrow.

20 minute stunt video where Kevin Carmichael thrashes a Speed Triple, a Street Triple and the new 2009 Street Triple R exclusively for us. All from the Grandstand in Douglas, Isle of Man. Enjoy!

10/09/2008 2009 Triumph Street Triple R launch Isle of Man!

First of all, congratulations to Kaeren as it's her birthday today! I am heading over to the Isle of Man today to ride the 2009 Triumph Street Triple R. Yesterday was Yamaha's day where many of the 2009 models was announced. R1 being the biggest news of course. I couldn't get even remotely excited about the "new" Honda's the other day so I just ignored them completely. Anyway, the next you'll hear from me will be a first impression of the new Triumph and a video. Hopefully the weather will permit me to have some fun on the TT course, but the Isle of Man pretty much gets the same shit weather as Manchester so I haven't got my hopes up. Been in touch with Ducati today as well regarding another new bike that I'll ride soon somewhere else in the world before the Intermot kicks off. Tor

Finished the first "teaser" from Africa today. Below you can see the result. Other than that I'll have some launch/first ride news for you soon and I'll ride a couple of all new bikes even before the Intermot show kicks off in Cologne early next month. Thanks to Frank for taking this picture of Conny and me in the Cederberg mountains. Watch this space! Tor