40th MACAU MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX INFO AND RESULTS HERE

SPA FRANCORCHAMPS - THIS IS WHAT IT'S GONNA LOOK LIKE...

Ok, it's just a very clever artists impression at the moment - but I like the effective use of space with the three-tier pit complex. The question remains...will it be homologated for bike racing?

WORLD ENDURANCE UPDATE

27th evening...and it looks like Zolder is out of the World Endurance Championship - so, as of this evening, we are down to 6 rounds. On the other hand, Kawasaki France are aggressively targeting riders and mechanics from the established teams...

27th November - Here's a little bit more on the outcome of the meeting between the race teams and the FIM at the Ramada Hotel in Geneva. In all, 18 teams attended, with 12 confirming their applications to participate in the 2007 Championship, showing that there is massive interest from participants. With the attendance of the full 7-person FIM delegation, quite a lot was worked out in a surprisingly short time., going through topics ranging from technical regulations to promotion and TV rights...and, as you might imagine due to the short time spent in meetings, there was full agreement on the vast majority of issues raised.

This has resulted in a seven round World Endurance Championship with just a few dates and financial issues (the usual, then) to be resolved. There may be a little doubt over the Zolder round but last years' promoter Hans van de Ven has already expressed his hope to go ahead with a round this year.

The classes structure will remain the same, so I presume that this year there will still be 3 classes, Superbike, Superproduction and Stocksport...but we may be seeing the end of the expensive Superbike class in 2008. A financial commitment by the FIM was worked out to pay towards travel costs for the permanent team for the Suzuka and Qatar rounds and the 17 permanent teams should be under contract to attend all of the events.

The technical regulations should be harmonised over every meeting to avoid local inconsistencies - which have been an issue in recent years. Live TV coverage will still be in place for Le Mans, the Bol d'Or and Suzuka but coverage for the other rounds will be left in the hands of the local organizers. There should also be a dedicated endurance website with regular updates during each event.

An FIM inspector will be present at each event dealing with all the traditional issues - team personnel and pit presentation, safety, good behaviour etc on the teams' side...and on the circuit issues, adequate number of passes, control, technical regulation harmonization, showers and toilets etc. Adequate numbers of vehicle and pit passes, permanent race numbers and dedicated single garaging for permanent teams was also committed to.

It still looks likely that Kawasaki France will be the second full factory team in 2007, Castrol Suzuki (SERT) have already confirmed.

It looks like both 'sides' are pulling in the same direction; everyone was satisfied with the way the meeting went and, with only a few issues still to be resolved, everyone knows that there's a lot of work to do in a very short time. In the past, that was always a worry - but this season, it looks as if everybody knows what they need to do and are going all-out to get the job done.

So, good news, guys!

24th NOVEMBER 2006 - WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP - OFFICIAL FIM PRESS RELEASE

Meetings were organized by the FIM with the organizers of all the events mentioned in the calendar below yesterday and with the first 18 permanent teams who took part in the 2006 Championship today. The FIM will maintain the system of permanent teams. Following the meeting, eleven teams have already announced their participation in the 2007 Championship (see list below). The final date for application from the other teams is January 15 next; the maximum number of permanent teams admitted for 2007 will be 17. The permanent teams commit themselves to take part in all the rounds of the World Championship. The provisional calendar of the 2007 Endurance World Championship is the following:

Le Mans 24H - 21/22 April
Albacete 6H - 5 May (race confirmed, provisional date)
Suzuka 8H - 29 July
Oschersleben 24H - 11/12 August (to be confirmed)
Bol d'Or 24H - 15/16 September
Doha Losail 6H - 10th November (date to be confirmed)
Zolder - (date and venue to be confirmed)

The eleven teams who already announced their participation in the 2007 Championship are the following:
Suzuki Castrol Team (FRA)
Yamaha Phase One Endurance (GBR)
Yamaha Austria Racing Team (AUT)
Bolliger Team Switzerland (SUI)
Primo Racing (BEL)
Suzuki Sweden (SWE)
Raffin Motos Kawasaki (FRA)
No Limits Racing Team (ITA)
Acropolis Zone Rouge (BEL)
EWC Team Endurance Eurosport Benelux (NED)
X-One Yamaha (ITA).

If you want in, get your application in now -  The final date for application from the other teams is January 15 next year and the maximum number of permanent teams admitted for 2007 will be 17. It's looking very good and it seems the panic is over. Still don't know about TV coverage for Albacete, Zolder, Oschersleben and Doha yet!

21st November - Suzuka have confirmed their dates for the 2007 8 Hour race - 26th to the 29th of July - and are hoping to hold it as a round of the 2007 World Endurance Championship but have yet to hear (same as everyone else) what will be happening for the new season. Therefore they can't confirm to any prospective team the arrangements for participation.

15th November - It looks as if the promoter for the Zolder race in 2006, Hans van de Ven, wants to go ahead with World Endurance for 2007 and is intending to go to the meeting with the F.I.M. next week in Switzerland. This means that venues are still enthusiastic about coming on board for next year, even without a centralized promoter. This is now a great chance for teams with track contacts to put proposals to them to run World Endurance events in 2007. Being positive for a moment, this could be the biggest chance yet for a sea-change in World Endurance and a chance for individual tracks to develop a World Championship independently but still run to F.I.M. rules. It opens up chances for local sponsorship and the building of other classic events to rival Le Mans, the Bol d'Or and the rapidly-growing Oschersleben Speed Week (which I still think has the best parties!).

Think about it for a moment - World Endurance in Sweden at Anderstorp, Great Britain at Snetterton or Mallory Park, back to Brno in the Czech Republic - but think further, how about Russia, Qatar, South Africa, Brazil? With the majority of control over promotion in the hands of the circuits, no longer will you see tracks that expect a centralized promoter to do all the work...the circuits will be able to target promotion much closer to what the area needs and what the sponsors require. With targeted sponsorship, the series will grow to become a collection of impressive local events all run under the World Endurance banner.

Build locally and think big. After all, the Suzuka 8 Tai is a local event - and that's sponsored by Coca Cola.

13th November - Still no other information either from FGSPORT, the FIM or any prospective replacement promoter. The TV and commercial rights relating to the World Championship events will be returned to the respective FMNRs/Organisers, so that means that we will have no idea if any rounds other than Le Mans and the Bol d'Or will appear on T.V. Because of the resources traditionally in place for the televising of both of these 24 hour races, I am confident that I will still be covering them both live on Eurosport - but it doesn't look like we'll have any coverage of any of the other rounds (although Suzuka do their own coverage and may put together a package themselves).
So it looks as if both Martin Gelder (who ran the World Endurance website) and myself are unemployed for 2007. This will hurt us both pretty badly. I'm keeping this site going as I can't bear to have all my work wasted, though at the moment, I have no idea if I can provide the level of coverage I have been able to in the past.
Not confirmed and just rumours - Assen and Zolder out of the championship, no race in Qatar, no Barcelona race, Albacete not sure, Le Mans, Suzuka and the Bol d'Or...but Oschersleben looks to have firmed up as well. There's also talk of Estoril but that's really blue-sky at the moment.
Even with a 4-round "championship", most teams will lose their best riders - and most teams their sponsors, even the one's that have already made deals with the teams...and there were a couple of real big ones. This late in the day, there's no chance in getting into World Superbikes or World Supersports...so that means the domestic championships.
And the big sponsors won't be spending their money for racing in those.

EUROSPORT BENELUX IN WORLD ENDURANCE IN 2007 - WITH MV AGUSTA!

...at least, that's what I'm assuming...but I think I'm right!

VALENCIA - WORLD SUPERBIKE AND SUPERSPORT PIRELLI TEST TIMES - DAY 2

2200 Pirelli tyres tested and trashed in two days...and it's Max Biaggi out in front!