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Motorcycle News, News

Veterans tackle Finke Desert Race for mental health

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Three veterans and one of their sons are this weekend competing in the gruelling Finke Desert Race in Australia’s Northern Territory to promote combat veterans’ mental heath issues.

The Swiss 8 team, Pursuit of Purpose Experience, will be filmed as part of an upcoming Veteran “Life After Service” mini-documentary. 

It consists of three veterans plus the 16-year-old son of one veteran who is the youngest rider in the Finke this year.

One of the riders, John Downie, is still a serving member of the Australian Army, currently a Sergeant in a training team at the School of Infantry near Newcastle NSW.

John Downie

He has always been interested in endurance racing but has never competed.

John lost his brother to suicide a few years ago and has found endurance riding has helped him move forward and given him a new purpose.

MBW does a wheelie in a private carpark Triumph Street Triple mojo

The team ride follows the recent announcement of The Royal Commission into defence and veteran suicide.

Swiss 8 will use the event and the documentary to showcase veteran lived experience and proactivity in overcoming mental health challenges. You can donate to help keep Swiss 8’s proactive mental health tools free, by visiting swiss8.org.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

MotoGP, Motorcycle News, News

Confirmed: Rossi did beat Hamilton

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It’s taken more than a week, but it can finally be confirmed that Valentino Rossi beat Lewis Hamilton in a vehicle swap “race” at Valencia circuit.

The victory is no surprise to us as we predicted he would beat Hamilton last week and went to great lengths to explain why. Click here for details.

Check out the videos of their respective laps:

But now we can confirm that Rossi was only 1.5 seconds off Hamilton’s benchmark lap in his 2017-spec Mercedes W08.

Meanwhile, Hamilton, riding Rossi’s Yamaha M1, was 13 seconds slower than Fabio Quartararo’s pole-winning lap last month of 1m29.978s.

Although we don’t know Rossi’s exact lap time, we can make an educated guess.

The videos doesn’t give exact lap times, although Rossi’s video lasts 1:23 and Hamilton’s is 1:51.

F1 doesn’t race at the circuit, but the unofficial F1 record is held by Anthony Davidson, set in 2006 in a Honda RA106, with a time of 1:08.54.

Surely a 2017 F1 car is quicker.

We can also confirm that Hamilton had a small crash, but was still able to ride the bike.

Rossi on four wheels?

While Rossi’s time was good, 1.5 seconds in F1 doesn’t make him competitive. But it would put him in the field if he ever chose to make the move.

Rossi has long wanted to get into four-wheeled racing, especially rallying where he has already had some success.

Rossi beat hamilton
Rossi behind the wheel

And last weekend he helped pilot a Ferrari 488 GT3 to a class win in the Gulf 12 hour endurance race at Abu Dhabi.

Rossi beat hamilton
Rossi’s Ferrari leads the pack

After winning nine world titles, Rossi has little left to prove on two wheels.

While Rossi is contracted to MotoGP for another year, he had a poor 2019 season.

If he has another poor showing, he may just figure it’s time to double his wheels!

Meanwhile, six-time F1 champ Hamilton returns to Mercedes in 2020 and swaps to Ferrari in 2021.

Although, he is a longtime fan of motorcycles, particularly MV Agusta for which he is a brand ambassador and has put his name to four limited-edition models, he isn’t likely to swap to two wheels.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

MotoGP, Motorcycle News, News

Rossi and Hamilton swap vehicles for race

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Multi-world champions Valentino Rossi and Lewis Hamilton will temporarily swap vehicles on Monday (9 December 2019) when they take part in a promotional race at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

But could the swap be longer term?

Rossi has long wanted to get into four-wheeled racing, especially rallying where he has already had some success.

And Hamilton is a longtime fan of motorcycles, particularly MV Agusta for which he is a brand ambassador and has put his name to four limited-edition models.

Lewis Hamilton with the MV Agusta F4 LH44
Lewis Hamilton with an MV Agusta F4 LH44

After winning nine world titles, Rossi has little to prove on two wheels and likewise six-time F1 champion Lewis has little to prove on four.

While Rossi is contracted to MotoGP for another year, he had a poor 2019 season.

Last month Rossi tested the Ferrari 488 GT3 he will race in the Gulf 12 hour endurance race on 14 December 2019 at Abu Dhabi.

He’s pretty talented on four wheels and has won rallies before.

In 2006, he tested for Ferrari and was just 0.7 seconds off the times set by Michael Schumacher who also tried his hand at motorcycle racing after his first F1 retirement.

Meanwhile, Hamilton is doing a swap of his own switching from Mercedes to Ferrari in 2021.

He’s long shown interest in motorcycle racing and crashed last Saturday at Jerez preparing for the duel with Rossi.

Their “race” has been made possible by their shared sponsor, Monster Energy.

We can’t wait to see the video next week!

As for who will win, it is interesting to check the lap times at the Valencia circuit.

The lap record is held by Jorge Lorenzo with 1:29.40 minutes in 216, while Rossi is the fourth fastest with 1:30.13.

F1 doesn’t race at the track, but has tested there.

The unofficial F1 lap record is held by Anthony Davidson, set in 2006 in a Honda RA106, with a time of 1:08.54, more than 20 seconds faster than the MotoGP bikes.

So that seems to suggest that Vale has the upper hand in the F1 car!

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com