Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EUROFILE BYALANC THCART A Art for sport's sake Th e booming market in mot orcycling and au tom otive art has seen an in<.teasing number of p ractition ers aro und the world> a fact that has not only come to the attention of the man y .tw~ and four-wheeled enthusiasts looking for that special painting or print to hang on the wa lls of their garages a nd dens, but to the Ford Motor Com pan y, as well. Britis h-based dealers Grand Prix Sportiqu e are the world's lead ing specialists in motorin g a rt, commissioning paintings from a rtis ts all over the wor ld on a variety of tw o- and four-wheeled top ics, which they then market in limited-edition print form, usually sign ed by the artist and his subject. These have ran ged from stars of the present or recent past. suc h as Fred die Spencer, Alain Prost, Mario Andretli and this year's Fo r m ula One It a lian G P win ne r Da vid Coulthard , to heroes of yesteryear, su ch as the late Juan Manu el Fangio. In 1996, Grand an Pri x Sportique T th e first International Moto rin g Art Co m petition, judged by a variety of we ll-kno wn nam es in the motoring and art wo rlds, for whi ch they rece ived entries from a s far afield as Sout h America a nd Russia , a s w ell as m os t co u ntries in Western Europe. The winner was Argentinia n arti st Juan Carlos Ferrigno, now based in Barcelona, Spain, who, tho ugh his wi nnin g pictu re wa s a n impression ist-s tyle pain ting of Fangio in an F-l Alfa Rom eo, in fact has spent the grea ter part of his professiona l career working on m otor cycle subjects. But such was the success of the d ebut co mpe tition th at Ford has joi ne d Gra nd Prix Arge nt inian painter Sportique to spo nsor the Juan Cartos Ferri gno seco nd In terna tional (above) has made a Mot oring Art Competiname for hImself in tion , e n t ry forms for the world of motoring wh ich are now a vailable an with works such fro m Gra nd Prix Sporas this all painting of riq ue, PO Box 20, Te tAlex Cri vil le on his burv, G lo uces ters h ire Repsof Honda (left) . ci.s 8ZG , Engla nd . Exhibi ts will be judged by a panel includ ing a rtists Craig Wa rw ick an d Alan Fearnlcy, as we ll as Prince Michael of Kent, Sti rling Moss , motorcycle a nd car commentator Mu rr ay w alker , an d singe rlsongwriter Chris Rea, whose feature film "l:a Paseione;" abou t the life of F-1 driver Wolfga ng von Trips, in now in ge ne ra l release. Paint ing s entered in the competition will be o n display to the public at the Gallery in Co rk Street in London's West End, No vember 17-22, an d the winner will be offered, a Grand Prix Spo rtiq ue cont rac t> as we ll as a large share of the substan tial prize money offered courtesy of Ford. Juan Ca rlos Ferrigno , 37, began his professional career as an artist in his ho metown of Buen os Aires back in 1978, wo rki ng primarily o n pos ter and graphic pro motions for each successi ve Argentinian Motorcycle O l', as we ll as the Museum of Motor Racing esta blished by Fang io in his Balcarce birthplace. After working as a free-lance illustrat or for co m pa nies like Ren ault, Philip Morris and Aero lineas Argentinas, Ferrigno moved to Spa in and began working on drawings and paintings of his first lov e - motorcycles · for local magazines such as La Moto and Motociclism o. With a vari ety of di stinctive sty les all , however, fully representa tiona l - Ferri gno came to the attentio n of the Ca talunya based Folch Foundation. which commissioned a series of paintings from him to illust rat e its recentl y publi shed history of the local Barcelona street GPs. One of his other recent commissions has been an oil pa inting of local5OOcc Gra nd Pri x hero Alex Crivtlle riding the works Honda NSR500, spo nsored by the local Repsol Oil Company. Ferrigno is now ha rd at work on a series of pain tings for Grand Prix Sportique, w hich will be available in print form throug h the British dealers at the end of this year. Godden to India? Don Go d d e n is one of Britai n 's m o s t fam o us manu facturers of s peedway an d gras s-trac k engi nes. His GRSOO four- valve motor has won thousands of races around th e world in th e pa st two decades. But increasin g cos ts hav e for ced him to consider transferrin g the bulk of his manu facturing operat ion to wha t a t first sigh t mi ght see m an unlikel y lo cati on: the Royal Enfield factory in Madras, India. "We' re ex pe rie ncing the sa me kind of cos t pre ssures t ha t ha ve caused man y com pa nies in Ge rmany to shift manufacturin g o pe ra tion o u ts id e the Eu ropean U nio n to the former co mm u n is t bloc," say s Gooden. "which is th e high cos t o f m eeting th e man y Eur o p ean U n io n employment regulation s. As a small-volume manufa cturer, meeting th eir working- pa tt ern req u ire m e n ts has Imposed huge ove rhea d cos ts on us , which a Czech co m pany Iike Jawa d oesn't have to face. This allows th em to subs ta ntia l1y undercut us and o t he r Western European engine makers like GM in Italy, pricewise, and exp lains why th e ma rket is flooded with jawas at present. " . Gooden's so lu tion to this problem is to for ge a n allia nce wit h Enfield in Ind ia, to get the three different G R en gi nes he cu rrent ly li st s large ly m an u fa ct ur e d i n Madras, but to Godden standa rds of qual ity. "We' ve been w orking wi th En field for so me tim e o n th e ir pus hrod e ngi nes," reveal s Godden, "and been impressed by th eir abil it y to manufacture so met hing more technicall y adva nced than thei r o wn cu rre nt product s - th ere' s nothing th ey ca n' t mak e in India to a sa tisfactory engineering level, a nd of co urse on a far mor e cost-efficient basis, too . Linkin g with Enfi eld woul d all ow Go d den to in crea se th e ex ist ing market for his motors through lower retail cos ts: In 1996, he sold 100 350cc e ng ines for g rass- trac k and junior speedway u se, a nd m ore than 100 0 500cc m otors, but no l 000cc v -twtns a t all. "V ca n ha ve the Ve si ng les manu fa ctured e n tirely in India , but plan to fit Mad ras-sourced top ends to V-twin crankcase make in Britain," he s says. · We' ll still use British -buUt gearbox es, but we' re also looking at a rood applica tion for eit her the single or twin - it' ll be no pro blem making a bigger-engined single for street or supennono ra ce USC," Of course, shou ld the Godden speedway engi ne be manufactu red in India, th e H qu estion then becomes when , or if, ov al tra ck ra cing wil1 kick off in the subcontinent. wnh motocr oss already g ro wing in popula rity ou t th ere, here's ano ther form of m ot or cyl e sp o rt that lends itself to Indian co nd itio ns - both geographic and eco no mic . Over Enfield for Japan En field 's Ma d ra s fac to ry cu r rently prod uces only the neo-vintage pushrod OHV Bulle t in 350cc and 500cc form - in which guise more tha n 100 time-w arp Brit-bike singles are ex ported each year to Japan, w here they' ve become cu lt transpora tio n in traffi c-ch ok ed To ky o and o th e r bi g ci ties. Th e leading Japanese im po rte r of th e Indi an -built motorcycles is , perhaps su rp risi ngly, Ov er Racing, the specialist tunin g s ho p famo us for producing a mu ch more mud ern four-stroke si ng le, th e Yam ah a-powered OV -16A /OV-20 race bikes that have twice wo n the Europ e an Supermon o tit le run a longsid e Wor ld Superbike bot h this yea r and last, as well as develo pi ng a la rge ra nge of spe cia lis t chass is a nd o ther tun ing parts fo r la rge -ca pa city Ya ma ha s treet bikes . But Ov er bo ss Kesei Sato is a ma n wit h hi s fin ger o n th e pulse of moto rcyc ling fas hio n, as par t o f w hich he opened a '50s-sty le sho p in d owntown Tokyo last yea r ca lled Bo y z Ca fe - and s ta r te d importing En field singles fro m India a nd specially bu ilt 750cc Trit on tw in s fro m Britain to sell to the ca fe crowd . Bu t to sa tisfy the need of so me of its customers for a sm a ller-capacity st reet-cred singles to meet Japan's stri ct insura nce and taxa tions laws, Over has developed a special version of the Enfield 350 - by sleeving d own the engine to 250cc. So far , in sp ite o f its- inevi tably lethargic perfo rm an ce, the smallest Enfield has been a big suecess, especially a mo ng Ja p a n's ma ny w omen ride rs . N o w ord ye t w hen t he parent India n factory will ta ke the Over idea and produce it themselves, though...! Atangled web... The number of Du cati websites is multiplying weekly, reflect ing the worldwide inte res t in th e Italia n marque. One that seems particularly worth keying into is th e Ducat isti site produ ced in South Au st rali a by Ala n Williams, longtime Du cati owner b est know b y desm o e n t h us ias ts ar ound th e w orld for hi s . e ffo r ts in reproducing th e sca rce, hard to-find desm o d ecals. By 'keying into his loca tio n o n t he w w w .a de la ide.com / d ucatisti (also available und er adelaideice.co m) users ca n acces s w hat's cla imed to be th e w orld 's first g lo b a l Italian motorcy cl e-ma ga zin e a nd spare-parts ca ta log, em braci ng the su bstantia l prod- . u ct lin es o f fiv e d iff erent suppliers, as well as heaps of us eful in forma tio n > not o nly for Ducati ow ners . Mini gear for kids The patter of tiny feet a rou nd the hou se is often a headache to many motorcyclists - how ca n you pr operly ou tfit the little tykes when it comes time to take them on a ride w ith you? Someone who grappled with that problem a nd decided to turn ad versity into opportu nity is Bab y Biker boss Tania Wi nt erburn, a th irty -so methi ng moth er from the Midlands of Engla nd . She began her chi ld re n' s ridin gap pa rel com pany as a hobby seve n yea rs ago w he n wo rrying abo u t how to dress the first of six children in her family who wa s ready to take to two w heels, and has see n it g row into an interna tionally es tablish ed bu sin ess. Baby Biker appar el sta rts at 6-month sizes a nd pr ogr esses all th e way to ad ult wea r. Most cruci al. perhaps, fo r man y parents is th e w ide ran ge of child-sized helm et s Ta nia ca rries, bo t h open-face a n d fu ll- face ve rsio ns, in a va riety of colo rs, eac h to Britis h Sta nd ard s qu alit y. In ad di t io n , th ere ar e motorcycl e b oots , g lo ves, jac kets a n d even race lea th ers, a ll i n vari ous ch ild ren 's sizes - a nd also the obligatory Tshi rts wit h slogans ran gin g from "I blame t he parents for letting h im / he r rid e a bike," to " If I can reach it, I can wreck it." Ain't that the tru th... Anyo ne interest ed in ou tfitting his or her ow n chil d ren can fax Baby Biker a t OlJ-44-1926-614045 to request a cata log. But don 't tell the kids! ." KTM steps fourward KTM was unabl e to ret ain its 500cc World Motocross titl e thi s seas on, with rei gn in g champ ion Shayne King unabl e to do bette r than third place o n his two-stroke KTM, trai ling brother Darryll in the runner-up spo t on h is fo ur-s t ro ke Husqvarna a nd n ew ly cro wned cham pion Joel Smets, ridi ng the factory Husabcrg (the Swedish com pany now , of course, owned by KTM). In view of the fourstro ke suprema cy at world -level mot ocros s, a nd the increasing em phas is o n four-strok e off-road use in the United Sta tes, as w ell as the stepped- up single-cylinde r competition in Africa n rall ies like th e Paris-D akar, KTM man agem ent is und erstood to be cu rren tly L _ _----=='--''--='--~t::: focusi ng o n extracting more po wer from its KTM two-stroke ri der Shayne King was existing LC4 SO HC four-valve fou r-str ok e unable to retain the SOOCc Worl d MX single mo to r. The su ccess fu l lig h twe ig ht Championship In th e 1997 seas on , As a engine design - which dat es fro m 1986, and result, KTM may campai gn a reworked has been progressively re-en gin eercd over 600c c versi on of Its LC4 fou r--stroke the years to deliver va rious capacities from po werp lant In the 1998 World MX season. 350 to 61Occ, as well as to feature a balance Target outpu t for the engine. featuri ng an shaft and electric start - is being comp rehen- all-new twin-cam head. is said to be 80 sively red esi gned this w inter to feature a bhp. twin-overhea d-cams ha ft cylind er head ca pable of delivering a lot more power - 80 bhp is the target in 600cc-plus form. KTM plan s to try to regain its World Championship in 1998 usi ng a prototype version of this en gine, which if a ll goes well will be put into production for 1999, in updated enduro a nd MX mod els to be laun ched alongside the prototype Folan-designed V-twin enduro at the Munich Show a yea r from now . Of course, suc h an eng ine would also ha ve cons iderable tarmac a ppea l. nut just for a hyper-Duke, but also for a Superrnono road racerl sportbike. KTM development engineer Wolfgang FeHber was formerl y an accomplished Grand Prix road racer wh o won the German Sound of Sing les title twice in successive yea rs at the sta rt of the '90s . Per haps the OOHC LC4 - especially fitted with the fuel-injection packag e KTM is known to have been wor king on for som e time might bring the Aus tria n firm renewed success on the pavement, as wen as on the dirt. ::=----="--' >

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