It's all going on just now!
By John Dickinson on 30th Jul 10
Times is ard guvnor but the spirit of off-road is indomitable and the organisations and factories just get on with it...
WE may well be living through uncertain times but there's no doubting that there's plenty going-on in the great world of off-road.
You will read on page two this week that Matt Bates has already released dates for his 2011 Red Bull Pro Nationals series. Each one will be a two-day spectacular, building on the foundations laid-down so far.
However, the real news is that the Pro Nationals are now looking further afield with at least two dates provisionally pencilled in for European tracks with the possibilty of more to come as the series moves forward. And I really will watch with interest to see exactly how it does move forward.
Now, it doesn't take a genius (which is a good job because I sure ain't one) to work out that you don't need to see the series taking too many giant leaps of faith for it to be in a position to mount something of a challenge to the established World Championships.
Why would I say that? Well, again, I just look at the obvious. The 2011 World Champs will be sponsored by Monster, which last time I looked was in direct and seemingly fierce competition with fellow ‘energy drink' giant Red Bull.
These two companies have clearly done a tremendous amount in the last few years to raise the profile of off-road sport. In truth, they have done much to raise the profile of motor sport in general. How many other companies can you name, apart from Red Bull, that owns not one but TWO Formula 1 teams?
Now, F1 does absolutely nothing for me (apart from the abbreviated highlights) but if, in the great scheme of things some of the small change falls on off-road and is used to spread the gospel then I am all for it.
Moving on, the manufacturers are now getting well into their stride with 2011 models and you can see Honda and Suzuki weighing-in on page 3 this week plus of course the test on the 2011 Husabergs.
The really interesting thing this year regarding Husaberg is of course its two-stroke range. Yes, they may well only be KTMs in disguise, but this is actually a significant move.
The really interesting bit is that KTM/ Husaberg claim that their two-strokes can meet the yet to be implemented Euro 5 emissions rhubarb – and with carbureted engines at that! There's some interesting technical pieces in the Husaberg test – if you are interested please take a read.
This gives the much maligned (in certain quarters) two-stroke a huge boost and as riders in Cross Country/ Hare and Hounds type events continue to return to strokers as they re-discover their light-weight, ease of handling, simple maintenance and repair and considerably less expensive purchase in the first place, the movement can only gather in pace. Husaberg realise this and I am prepared to bet that other manufacturers will re-join the two-stroke fold with enthusiasm, some with rather more enthusiasm than others!
In trials, two-strokes never went away and continue to be developed of course. Trials was a special case as the FIM indeed attempted to bully the tiny trials manufacturers into going all four-stroke several years back.
The short version is that (with the exception of Montesa, backed by mighty Honda) they simply couldn't afford to do so.
Yes they could have produced four-strokes, and some did, but if that was all they had they would have gone bust in record time.
So they just carried on with the strokers and guess what? They are still in business and if they can match KTM with Euro 5 compliance, will continue to do so for some time to come.
The all-new Ossa company is moving apace to get its revolutionary TR280i two-stroke into production for September. As the very first show model was only introduced to the world late last year at the Milan show and the whole motorcycle is pretty radical in design and concept, to get from paper to production in less than a year, I find simply astonishing.
This, from a company that didn't even exist a year ago! The entire workforce can be counted on two-hands yet they have designed, built and developed a completely new two-stroke trials bike with fuel injection and laid-down reversed cylinder. Just think what the giant Japanese companies could come-up with if they really wanted to?
nI was as shocked as anyone in trials to learn of the untimely death of Dave Fry, which we sadly had to report in last week's paper.
Dave, dad of current National trials riding ace, James, was a lovely man and I had the good fortune to chat with him several times this year – both occasions in Fort William. Back in May we enjoyed a beer in the bar of the Alexandra hotel and shared a joking memory or two about the wet Scottish of 1986 in which we both rode.
Dave was helping Malcolm Rathmell out in the paddock and the MRS crew swooped into the bar at the end of another long hard day, and had formed an unlikely double-act with inveterate (old!) joker ‘Killer' Kendrew.
Deepest sympathies to Dave's family, he was a real gentleman.