Done another photo shoot on the 2008 Yamaha R6 now. Got a few ok shots and luckily a bit of light in between the rain. It is spring now and as soon as the sun is out it's warmer and nicer than only a few weeks ago. Being out on the R6 now I'm not only testing the bike. I'm in all new Racing replica leathers from Alpinestars and also a brand new Spec1R lid from Suomy. The Spec1R I've used for many years already so know how good that helmet is. The new Racing Replica I'm going to use on all supersport tests and probably on a few naked sportsters too. The MX-1 Racing goes back to Alpinestars now for a refurb and refresh and to get my new logo on that too. Then that'll be my reserve suit and for supermoto. I am happy to tell you all that my arse (cracked sacrum) is getting better too! But I did try to not use any painkillers at all the other day and then do a short walk into Chorltonville. I did feel it and there's still some pain if I for instance should try to jump or run. Guess it needs a little more time before I'm 100% active again. I don't feel crippled in any way though and soon it's time to check if the mojo's still there too! Some K8 Suzuki's next. A couple of Irish saying in the end because they're good! "May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past." "May misfortune follow you the rest of your life, and never catch up." Tor

I have waited for my new custom suit from Alpinestars a while now and today it arrived! The logo was designed for me by Luca at Pininfarina the famous Italian design house. He did a great job and the Tor Viking logo features a T shaped like Tor's hammer (or Thor in US English...) The suit is a 2008 Alpinestars Racing Replica with really thick leather and supreme MotoGP derived protection. Pretty much the same suit as they use in MotoGP. It's got a snug fit, but I haven't had a chance to ride with it yet. On the Yamaha R6 I will during the weekend when it stops raining! Tor

Have done a couple of runs up the Cat & Fiddle road already which was fun. The R6 is very small and fast after 12.000rpm. So fast that it doesn't feel like the best motorcycle up here as traction becomes a problem on the filthy and bumpy A54. The R6 is hard and gets airborne from nothing it feels like. Carlos joined me up the other day on his Kawasaki Z750 and we grabbed a hot chocolate at the Cat & Fiddle pub before returning to Manchester. I have also finished all the writing work from the previous weeks launches. Now it's pretty much pictures and videos that I work on. There's plenty of really cool stuff coming. TS

Picked up the 2008 Yamaha YZF R6 in London today at Yamaha UK HQ in Weybridge. You could say that it's not the ideal bike for someone with a cracked sacrum, but I'm healing quickly! After riding almost exclusively super torque biased motorcycles for a few weeks, the R6 doesn't impress much initially. I knew this would be the case, so will keep the R6 for longer than usual to really get under its skin. It looks great though as it always did and I've got the cool white, black and red one. More pix, videos etc coming... TS

Ciao from Rome. I was whisked off from the airport to the hotel in true style in a BMW 630i Cabriolet doing 240km/h on the motorway into Rome. Loved it after having had an absolutely awful Ryanair flight from Liverpool. I took my medication on a hangover 5 O'clock this morning whilst on the way to my stupid early flight in a taxi. All that had me cold sweating feeling very sick on the flight. I got through it off course and am now writing from the press area at the hotel in the Lazio area (I think) outside of Rome. Tomorrow morning I ride the new Aprilia SMV750 Dorsoduro on a varied route around Rome. The Milagro photo team that also did the Ducati Monster launch in Barcelona have now moved to do also this launch. The difference is that we are only 15 people in each group here and will have a lot more time to get some decent and unique shots here in Rome. Whilst in Rome do as the Romans I've been told so have just downed an Espresso with a shot of Sambucha. More tomorrow including pictures and riding impressions. Knackered Tor

Whilst riding the Triumph Speed Triple from Didsbury to Chorlton today I was unfortunate enough to hit a red-light jumping car. Landed very hard on my back and cracked my sacrum (tailbone). I was in agony and couldn't stand up or walk until at the hospital pumped up on Codeine and using crutches. Fucking c*** driver panic braked when she saw what was about to happen after cars started using their horns on her. Thanks to all of you that have sent me your well wishes! Much appreciated! Tor 

From thunder and rain in Spain to glorious sunshine in the south of Morocco! Mornings like this is what makes all the hassle about flying worth it. Since I missed the presentation at the hotel last night I got a brief private presentation by Hans and Dave from Yamaha-Europe in the morning. Due to my early departure (yet again...) I had to ride out with the photographers before the others and start shooting straight away. We made good headway and arrived at the location where most of the pictures were taken early. We were only stopped once by the Moroccan security forces on the way. The landscape is just big, dry and beautiful! Got some shots done by Paul Barshon, Peter-Jan Willems and his crew  before I used Peter-Jan's dust cloud after his 4x4 as my GPS through the offroad route to the lunch stop. I didn't really have time for lunch on the original plan, but since I had 4 photographers just to myself out in the desert I got a lot done really quickly! I fitted my camera onto the back seat of the Ténéré and did the onboard filming that way as there would be no quick mounting of a camera on the front. Allowed good space between the car and me and did the long offroad stretch pretty much in one go. And that was good for me as now I had time for lunch Bedouin style in a tent near an oasis. After some traditional Moroccan food I had to make my own way back to the hotel for my transfer back to the airport. Morocco definitely gave me a taste for more, but then again I got stamped out on the same day that I technically arrived so who wouldn't want more! Annoyingly I had time to spare again at Agadir airport when it would have been better spent out in the desert on the Ténéré, but then it's better to be safe than sorry despite the fact that I wouldn't have minded being stranded in Morocco for a few more days. Flew back to Casablanca, asked Sam to play it again and then a small propeller aircraft from Royal Air Maroc took me directly to Valencia. Due to another time difference I arrived after midnight again, but this time in Valencia I would have a little bit more time to chill before my next assignment, the 2008 Harley-Davidson XR1200. Oh, and the launch gift from Yamaha I don't know as I didn't get any! TS Zzzzzz

Arrived in Barcelona yesterday evening just in time for the press conference. Loved the Desmorosso red wine with dinner! Looking at both the hotel and the press conference I could see that Ducati really have invested a lot in the new Monster 696. It's a bread and butter model for Ducati, but nothing about it seem budget at all! This morning we started the ride right here in Barcelona and most of the shots are taken next to strange beautiful buildings. Unfortunately the weather in Spain isn't at its best today and it's the pictures that suffer. I had a great ride in the hills surrounding Barcelona and all in all this is exactly how I want a launch to be! Quick into a major city, short transfer to the hotel, short riding route for the photography and then free time afterwards for special photography or just riding with the hotel as base. Unfortunately I had no time for any luxuries and after a late lunch I was in a taxi on my way to Barcelona airport again less than 24 hours after arrival. I flew to Madrid first where the heavens opened up in some really heavy rain and thunder. I then had about 4 hours to kill at the Barajas airport before my flight to Casablanca in Morocco. After another shorter wait in Casablanca I flew to Agadir where I was met by the Moroccan Yamaha rep and a driver. Time now was just past midnight and the drive to the hotel in Iznit took more than an hour. The rep checked in for me and I went to bed. Zzzzzzzz The Ducati Monster 696 launch gift was a Ducati leather belt by the way. TS

Olivia and I headed into the Peak District today. It was freezing, but still did the Cat & Fiddle road and stopped at the pub for a hot chocolate. Whilst having that it started snowing outside. Luckily it didn't last for long and we rode to Castleton for a nice dinner at the Castle pub. We then decided to stay the night to do a bit of a walk and to have some drinks to warm us up. I was able to keep a decent pace up the Cat & Fiddle road on the Speed Triple, but after it started snowing here and there I had to take it easy to get us to Castleton safely. Despite the cold weather it was a great day out riding and some relaxation before a very hectic week that lies ahead of me. Thanks to Martin I got some great shots of the bike yesterday. Thank you Martin! TS

First of all today, happy birthday to Jeremy McWilliams! The man turns 44 today. It's all about the 4's for Jezza today. Secondly, goodbye to Dan Lynch at Triumph as it's his last day at Triumph today. Dan now heads down from Hinckley to Milton Keynes to work for Suzuki GB. Good luck and thanks for all your support Dan! Today have been all about organising flights for next week. It's all sorted now luckily. On Sunday I fly to Barcelona for the Ducati Monster 696 world launch, then after riding the 696 on Monday I fly from Barcelona to Madrid to catch an Iberia flight to Casablanca in Morocco. In Casablanca I change to a flight that will take me to Agadir where the 2008 Yamaha XT660Z Tenere is waiting for me. I arrive just before midnight in Agadir. Then it's a 80km transfer to the hotel. 9 O'clock in the morning we start the offroad riding in Morocco and then after lunch I'm off again to catch a flight from Agadir to Casablanca and then Casablanca to Valencia where Harley-Davidson is waiting to present the long awaited XR1200. Today I also received the invitation to ride the 2008 Aprilia SM750 Dorsoduro in Rome the following week. Triumph kindly extended my test on the Speed Triple and the Thruxton 900 is still not ready so it's all running smoothly so far. This afternoon I just couldn't stay in the office any longer and went to North Wales to do some action shots of the Speed Triple. You'll notice that I'm wearing my new Suomy Spec 1R Araldic and Suomy Racing boots for the first time here. The helmet I am very familiar with and it's as good (no, even better as the visor mechanism has been improved slightly!) as ever! The Racing boots I'm not entirely certain about yet. Remember that I'm used to several generations of Alpinestars Supertech and they are just miles better. The Suomy Racing boots feels a little bit under protected, a bit like an old pair of Sidi Vertebra's but not as comfortable. Not many people have tested these boots yet so I'll give Suomy some feedback on how to improve these boots. I would need some serious comfort improvements to the ankle area first of all. Anyway, next week I'll be on both sides of the Mediterranean all week. Massive updates coming. TS

My schedule for next week is insane! That's the only word that can describe the share logistics and travelling arrangements. Just listen to this: I am supposed to swap the 2008 Triumph Speed Triple for the 2008 Triumph Thruxton 900 tomorrow. Then on Sunday I fly to Barcelona for the 2008 Ducati Monster 696 launch. Then on Monday I leave Barcelona and fly to Agadir in Morocco for the 2008 Yamaha XT660Z Tenere launch. Then on Wednesday I fly from Agadir to Valencia for the Harley-Davidson XR1200 launch. Then next Friday I can finally go back home again and write about all this! Then you have the gear that I need as the Tenere in Morocco is offroad whilst Harley and Ducati road and track. Do you think I'll make it or not? Anyway, received my new Suomy Spec 1R Araldic and Racing boots today. The Araldic paint scheme is just fantastic! Pix soon. I really enjoy riding the new Speed Triple. It's so smooth and at the same time raw. I can't wait to ride it more in the Peak district now after all the gruelling motorway miles. Tor

A gorgeous morning here in Manchester so I thought I'd head into the Peak District for a spin on the Speed Triple and then be back in time for MotoGP on BBC2. If I had only remembered to set summer time that is... Did a run on the Cat & Fiddle road, grabbed some lunch and headed back. An hour late for the Jerez race... Looks like Honda and Yamaha have got their house in order for the season start whilst Ducati have some catching up to do. More Speed Triple later and also Benelli TNT 899 from Italy this week. TS

Had to go all the way down to Jack Lilley in west London rather than Hinckley to collect the 08 Speed Triple today. It's not that bad usually, had it not been for cold rain and closed junctions on the M40 due to accidents. It took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to get around the closed junctions filtering! Arrived Ashford in Middlesex just a few minutes after Jack Lilley closes on a Friday, but Dave at Jack Lilley kindly waited for me. Jack Lilley's got a nice Triumph dealership with plenty of customised Bonnies, S3's and Rockets. I believe Jack Lilley is one of the biggest Triumph dealerships in England if not the biggest. So collected the Speed Triple now with new Brembo brakes and new suspension. Several more details have been changed since I last rode one last year on a factory ride out from Hinckley. A full brake down in my article later. More pictures when the weather is nicer! TS

I'm back in business, Alpinestars are still working on my custom leather suit. Ordered a new Suomy Spec 1R Araldic and will also try Suomy's new Racing motorcycle boots. Suomy knows that I am using the Alpinestars Supertech R's and to top those will be a tall order indeed! Tomorrow I pick up the 2008 Triumph Speed Triple 1050 for a week long test at Hinckley. On Sunday I fly to Bologna to attend the Benelli TNT 899 world launch in Pesaro. I have also received the invitation to ride the 2008 Harley-Davidson XR1200 in Valencia in April. Lots of good stuff coming in April. TS

Olivia and I had only planned the first half of our holiday. Due to the recent troubles in Kenya we wanted to see for ourselves where it would be safe to go next. It involved having to get $1200 in cash at a Nairobi bank and hand it to the driver from our travel agency which was a pain. We decided to take the night train from Nairobi to Mombasa and then head into the rain forest of Shimba 45 minutes west of Mombasa for two days and then our last night at the Indian Ocean Beach club on Diani beach. The train ride was on first class, but this is still where we got closest to a Kenyan real life experience. I didn't fancy the food much, but the train ride was still a worthy and comfortable experience. We did plan far enough ahead to have a driver pick us up at every destination for security and we were glad we did this also for the arrival in Mombasa as the train stopped on the last station before Mombasa and would not move for another hour or so due to some technical problem. Our driver had been told in Mombasa and was already at this station waiting for us. The drive through Mombasa towards the ferry crossing to reach the south beach was crazy but still fun. It was 39 degrees Celsius this day in Mombasa! Then we arrived at the Shimba Rain forest lodge which is a stunning place! It's a tree top style affair where the water hole just in front of the lodge was flood lit in the evenings so that animals could be spotted. On our first day we enjoyed watching a big group of monkeys doing what monkeys do in front of us. We were then driven out in the safari vehicle for a short walk and a sun downer in the wild. On our way we spotted a large group of rain forest elephants. Omar was our guide on the safari and in this area they had to be armed in case we encountered elephants, buffalos or Leopards on our walk. The elephants were close, but no encounter on foot luckily. The next morning we did a longer walk down to Sheldrick Falls in closer to 40 degrees heat. I guarantee you that both Olivia and I appreciated the water falls cooling us down before returning to the pick up point. On the afternoon game drive we spotted the only two giraffes in the forest and the rare sable antelope as well as many warthogs and herds of buffalo (Africa's deadliest beast). But we missed the Leopard all together. 4 out of 5 isn't too bad though. Our driver left us back at the lodge for dinner and the next day he told us that he had met a Leopard on the way back to the village. He actually had to chase it off the road. Bad luck for us that we didn't see one then. We then spent the last night at the white beaches of the Indian ocean in the soaring heat just relaxing. The next morning we flew from Mombasa to Nairobi, grabbed a taxi to the Norfolk Hotel and spent the day there before we flew back to Europe. Probably the best and most exciting holiday I have ever had even without any motorbikes involved. TS

Still no luggage on the morning of the 16th. We were up early and our safari flights was due at 10:30 from Wilson airport. So the taxi driver was instructed to take us to the only shopping centre open so early on the way to the domestic airport. What did I need? Pretty much everything, T-shirts, shorts, socks, underpants, deodorant and you name it. Most of all I missed my Buell 1125R safari hat that I got as a launch gift at Laguna Seca last year. Then we flew from Wilson airport (loved the lack of security, felt like going on a bus!) to the Mara Serena air strip which was stop number 3. The weather was gorgeous and at 1625 metres above sea level 30 degrees just feels pleasant. That very same afternoon Olivia and I were treated to our first game drive and we were effectively on our first safari. On the very first drive we were driven close to Lions, Hyenas, Elephants, Buffalos, Cheetahs and all sorts of antelopes. Three of the big five on day 1 was promising! Back in time for a sun downer which usually consisted of a G&T chased by a Tusker beer. This is life! The next morning I found out that I had no more battery left in my video camera and that my charger was in the main luggage which still hadn't arrived. Great! We saw more of the same on a different route where a family of a Cheetah mum and two cubs up close were the highlight. I stood up in our Toyota Land Cruiser and spotted a fully grown male lion and his brother on the other side of our vehicle. It's simply a priceless experience being so close to the wild life and it's pretty much only in Masai Mara where you can get so close to Lions in a vehicle without windows or armed guard. The Masai Mara borders to the Serengeti, but there are no physical boundaries, the animals roams freely in between the Mara and Serengeti plains. But certain places in the Serengeti the lions will attack the vehicles as they are not as used to them in the vastness. The Mara has the highest density of exciting wildlife on the planet! On our third day at the Mara Serena safari lodge my luggage arrived! Yes! I could have a shave, I could stop using Olivia's Malarone tablets and use my clothes and charge batteries. This morning we were treated to a champagne breakfast after the morning game drive by the hippo pool in the Mara river. That was fantastic and whilst hippos and crocodiles basked itself in the water next to us we were enjoying champagne and omelettes. On our last game drive in the Mara triangle we finally spotted two black Rhinos! Still we haven't seen the elusive Leopard whilst others staying at our lodge had already seen it! On our way back to the safari lodge the heavens opened up on us and Simon our Kenyan driver drove the 4x4 Land Cruiser as if we were running for our life's. Maybe we were as the alternative would have been spending the night in the open. Anyway, we made it safely back to the lodge. TS

Olivia and I landed on time in Nairobi at the Kenyatta international airport. The flights from Manchester to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Nairobi was comfortable enough, but there's no hiding the fact that I don't like KLM. Last time I flew KLM was to go to Minneapolis with Victory. Then my luggage was left in Amsterdam. KLM haven't changed much since then as my luggage was left in Amsterdam again whilst Olivia's had arrived. Luckily I'm on holiday this time, unfortunately my Malaria medicine is in my luggage. We checked in at the Stanley Sarova in the centre of Nairobi. No luggage would arrive that night and we were heading on a flying safari to the famous Masai Mara next morning. Looks like I have some shopping to do or spend time in 30+ in jeans. TS

Booked my flight to Barcelona for the 2008 Ducati Monster 696 launch next month this week. Also received the invitation to the 2008 Benelli TNT 899 launch in Italy next month. I also have April fully booked with roadtest of the 2008 Triumph Speed Triple 1050 and Thruxton 900 as well as two weeks on the 2008 Yamaha R6. All action in April I can assure you! So to prepare for all this I am going on Safari in Kenya during Easter. I leave early tomorrow morning with Olivia. First Amsterdam, then Nairobi, then Masai Mara before we end our holiday in Mombasa. I'll put some stuff in my blog here when I return. I have topped up on vaccinations (£90 straight into my body!) and spent £70 on Malaria tablets. Should be a good one if I can avoid the big 5, Black Mamba's and Nairobbery! Back on the 24th. TS

Not much to say about today. Half the day on the XB12XT Ulysses before rushing off before lunch on a City X back to Monteblanco for my transfer by car down to Malaga again. Felt sick after lunch at Monteblanco and after just making my return flight from Malaga to Southampton (no Manchester evening flights...) I cold sweated the whole way back. Food poisoning definitely, but I avoided actually being sick. I had about 2 hours to chill at Southampton airport before my turbo prop took off towards Manchester. Not that often I get to fly in a prop powered aircraft so that kept me entertained on my 45 minute flight to Manchester where my girlfriend picked me up in her brand new Renault Megane. Knackered and ill for the rest of the week. TS

Arrived in Seville yesterday after a long car transfer from Malaga airport. Our hotel in Seville was this medieval catacomb type building. Usually you just pick up your room key at the reception and find your own way to the room. I guarantee you that even with a map you are guaranteed to get lost in a maze of underground corridors linking a dozen or so different buildings together. The Buell group all seemed to be accommodated at the far end and I got lost each bloody time whether I was heading out of the room or into the room. Charming at first, but I did start to swear a bit when I had been lost for a while for the 5th time. If you want to try it it's called the Juderia hotel in the old Jewish quarter in the old town. I did film it which I'll add to the videos soon to be published. Anyway, my alarm was on at 05:45 to have time for a shower and some breakfast before the early 07:00 transfer to the Monteblanco circuit 1 hour away from the hotel. The Americans seems to like the sunrises better than Europeans. I ended up having to throw some slices of bacon in between two pieces of bread and eat it on the transfer as I was lost and confused again finding my way from the room to the pick up. Arrived at the Monteblanco circuit (finished March 07!) just when the sun started to rise. Quite a cold morning, but by the time my group started the track riding it was a very pleasant 28 degrees! We headed out onto the roads first on the 1125R's. Craig Jones was my group's guide which was fun. I promise you that Craig was not pulling any wheelies or anything, but everyone else did. Craig mentioned that he had never guided a group of journos where everyone wheelied as much as we did before! The 1125R is practically made for such antics. The torque and power band just lends itself to instant wheelie power from 100km/h in second gear on the throttle! Use the clutch and it comes controllably straight up too! Gotta love a machine like that! I didn't change the tape in my video camera since the KTM RC8 launch unfortunately, so some of the good stuff has been pixelated and mixed in with the orange bike. Particularly when doing sudden acceleration and stuff. I still have some good stuff that can be extracted from the filming. A South African in our group managed to crash front to front with a car after the photo shoot. Luckily he did so at probably less than 20MPH and didn't hurt himself. The whole front fairing on his 1125R came off though. yesterday MCN's Trevor Franklin had a bad one at the circuit too we heard. He broke his thumb and hit his head. Get well soon mate. So we wheelied all the way on the lovely and fast Spanish roads all the way back to the Monteblanco race circuit. Grabbed some lunch and got ready for the track sessions. I rode the 1125R prototype at the Laguna Seca world launch last summer so I knew what to expect. Specifics in my article to be published soon. All I can say now is that I really enjoyed the track sessions and I felt really fast today. The whole track session was red flagged for good just when I did my last warm up lap for my onboard camera film due to a Dutch or Belgian ham-fisted journo seizing the engine in his 1125R by fucking the engine in first gear all day. There was no oil spillage or anything on the track. The guy was safely away from the circuit and there was no reason whatsoever to red flag the session. For you guys it means missing out on a fast onboard lap. Buell, like KTM last week, doesn't seem to be able to extract the same flexibility from the track marshals as Ducati is able of. Hence, no tracking shots on the circuit, no wheelie shots down the straight and all in all less picture material to use from an event. A little hint to whoever organises the next one is that you don't need marshals on the circuit when doing a tracking shoot as there's a car with photographers watching your every move and should you crash they can pick you up and also call for help. I am a bit fed up trying to push to get it my way at these launches, so I just do it less and less. After all, it's ultimately the manufacturer that looses out if my stuff isn't brilliant. Tor

Greetings from Ronda in Spain. Once again I had to suffer the luggage nightmare as Monarch had left all my riding gear in Manchester! 7 hours later it arrived! I headed into Malaga for a meal whilst waiting. KTM didn't provide any transport on this one but Jezza was already down in Guadix racing cars so he kindly picked me up on his way to Ronda. On those winding roads up to Ronda Jezza tried to make a religious man out of me with his driving and he very nearly succeeded! Never ever have I been in a faster Ford Fiesta! Anyway, we're both here now ready for some KTM RC8 1190 action at Ascari and on the roads tomorrow. Tor

And the Ultimate BMW F800GS launch film ready...

First onboard video from the F 800 GS launch now ready!

I celebrated Valentines day on a red BMW F 650 GS in fantastic weather by the Indian Ocean!

After breakfast the keys was handed out for our F 800 GS test bikes. Lined up outside the hotel lobby must have been at least 30 bikes so a big launch.

Headed out to Manchester airport just after lunch to catch my flight to Frankfurt to connect on a SAA Cape Town flight. All went smooth and when I finally arrived in Cape Town after a 12 hour flight the sunrise was fantastic and promising from a weather perspective. After chilling out in the business lounge for about an hour I flew to Durban 2 hours North East. Whilst enjoying the view of the Indian Ocean I could also see that there were a lot of clouds around and rain was forecasted. Rain it did as well after I checked in at the Zimbali Lodge. My room had a nice forest view which I rested my eyes upon whilst enjoying a glass of South Africa's finest red. Later in the afternoon BMW had scheduled the press conference at the Colisheen estate further up the road. BMW nailed down some of the most important details from the press kit and then we were entertained by some lively African music whilst having some tender grilled Springbok and lobster. Can't get much better than that, or can it? yes of course it can, because tomorrow we ride the F 800 GS!  

This past week has been busy. I have booked my flights to Spain for the KTM RC8 1190 launch and I have received my flight schedule for the BMW F 800 GS & F 650 GS world launch in South Africa next week. I leave already on Monday morning and it will take me 15 hours in the air to get to Durban (more like 20 hours including hanging out at airports). First a connecting flight from Manchester to Frankfurt. Then 12 hours on a flight from Frankfurt to Cape Town. Then a 2 hour connecting flight from Cape Town to Durban. It looks like I'll have the first day free to put my toes into the Indian Ocean getting rid of the jet-lag before the evening press conference. Suits me fine that! Early morning Wednesday I ride the F 800 GS all day in the Drakenberg mountains. On Thursday I ride the F 650 GS before flying home that same afternoon. I have also finished part 1 of my bigger CO2 and motorcycles feature that I will run during the week along with extensive BMW F 800 GS coverage. If BMW have got the F 800 GS right, I am pretty certain it can become BMW's best selling motorcycle next year. And also more sought after than the F 800 S and ST. It remains to see and we'll know a whole lot more next week. As a bonus, I made another Ducati 1098R video with the first 4 laps previously unseen. It was on popular demand so I hope you'll check it out. TS

Have finished the two main videos from the 1098R launch at Jerez. I have still got a request to publish the three first laps from the onboard session as there's some cool action there between McWilliams and Fabrizio. So I'll do a fairly un-edited version where I'll leave all sound and wind noise on. Guess ratings will plummet, but it's a bonus for fans anyway. I am now discussing the KTM RC8 1190 launch with Jeremy. What we want to do is a split where McWilliams do the Ascari bit and I do the road riding and all filming. But before that launch I'm flying to South Africa to ride the new BMW F 800 GS in 10 days. I am also trying to squeeze in a couple of fly-away Italian bike tests before that time. We shall see. Italian Motociclismo got some sort of exclusive preview of the 2008 Bimota DB7 1098 last week. The official launch is not until May at Misano and I'll be there. Ciao. TS

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.