First up this morning the sad news that Claudio Castiglioni, the man mainly responsible for the Ducati 916 and the saving of the MV Agusta brand, has passed away in a clinic in Italy after a long battle with cancer. He was just 63 years old.
visordown has published a nice tribute (as has most of the world’s motorcycling web sites)
“Claudio Castiglioni, the founder of Cagiva, former owner of Ducati and the man who revived and owned MV Agusta, has died aged just 63.
One of the most charismatic men in motorcycling, Castiglioni was key to turning the family firm Cagiva (CAstiglioni GIovanni VArese) from a component company to a full motorcycle manufacturer in the 1970s, going to such success that he was able to buy up Ducati in 1985, a move that directly lead to the development of the 916 and its successors.
On selling Ducati to American investment firm TPG in 1996, he was able to turn his focus to the MV Agusta brand, which he’d bought in 1991. Having taken the legendary designer Massimo Tamburini with him from Ducati to MV, and roping in help from Ferrari in developing a new four-cylinder engine, Castiglioni was in the position to give the firm a comeback that’s been remarkably successful, and he managed to stay in control despite an ever-changing list of owners and investors since then.
Not once but twice did he sell the company, only to buy it back for a fraction of the cost. Originally sold to Proton for €70 million, only to be bought back for €1 a year later, it was then sold again to Harley Davidson for another €70 million. Castiglioni bought it back last year for a total of €3 (yes, about £2.50…)
In recent months Castiglioni handed over control to his British-educated son Giovanni.”
I have mentioned the lovely and talented Elena Myers before on this site and most of you would remember that Paul Denning, of the Rizla Suzuki team promised her a ride on the GSV-R at last year’s Valencia test day, but it didn’t happen for a number of reasons. Well, it seems that it now is going to happen with news that Elena will get a ride of the FP Thursday at IMS this weekend. Paul Denning explains.
“We are delighted to be able to give Elena this opportunity to get some understanding of how Suzuki’s MotoGP bike feels and operates. She is a very talented racer – not ‘for a girl’ – she’s just fast, full-stop! MotoGP is the pinnacle of every racer’s ambition, and there aren’t so many people who have ridden the very latest 2011 GSV-R – Bautista, Hopkins, Aoki and now Elena! I would guess she’s also the only female racer to have ever ridden an 800cc MotoGP machine? Either way, we really hope she enjoys the experience.”
I’ll bet the photographers will be out in force!
Casey Stoner’s test on the 1000cc 2012 bike has netted plenty of attention, not the least for this amazing photograph illustrating just how extreme a lean angle is allowed by modern suspension and tyres.
Keep your eye on this and do the best you can!
Finally a little bit of humour from one of my Facebook friends. “I was riding my horse and it broke its leg. So I got off and shot it. I thought this was quite normal but the other people on the merry-go-round were a bit taken aback.”
