Troy Corser on a legendary BMW at Goodwood

reiler Mer 11 Juil 2012 - 17:03

Salut les amis,

Un petit article en anglais qui peut vous intéresser.
Pour ceux qui ne lisent/parlent pas l'anglais, les photos suffiront de toute facon !

Ciao
Reiler.

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Troy Corser on a legendary BMW at Goodwood

The annual Goodwood Festival of Speed again lured over 100,000 ‘petrol-heads’ to Goodwood House near Chichester in southern England to see today’s motorsport stars as well as heroes from the past, and an amazing collection of historic and modern race vehicles. The colours of BMW Motorrad were this time represented by brand ambassador Troy Corser. The two-time Superbike World Champion was taking the legendary 1976 BMW R 90 S on track at this famous motorsports event.

Troy was riding a motorcycle that made history: this BMW R 90 S took American Steve McLaughlin to victory in the first ever AMA Superbike race back in 1976 at Daytona (USA). Back then, McLaughlin won a tight photo-finish against his BMW team mate Reg Pridmore (USA) who later that season celebrated the historic first ever AMA Superbike title. Plans for a Superbike World Championship only took shape some years later. Now, BMW Motorrad Motorsport is contesting this international series (that debuted in 1988) with factory riders Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam. McLaughlin’s victorious BMW R 90 S has found a new home at the BMW Museum at Munich. At the Goodwood Festival of Speed it returned to the racetrack – ridden by the two-time world champion and former BMW Motorrad Motorsport factory rider.

“It was a fantastic event; there were many, many people,” Troy enthuses. “The atmosphere was really nice, the weather was good, it was not too hot and the BMW R 90 S is a great bike to ride. I thought it would be a lot heavier but it is actually pretty light and has quite a lot of torque. It is fun to ride and I even did some wheelies with it. Overall it was a great weekend. I also met some of the ‘older guys’, like John Surtees and Wayne Gardner who I have not seen for a while so it was good fun.”

Since 1993, the Festival of Speed has been held every year on the estate of motorsport enthusiast Lord March in the British county of West Sussex. It is here, where current stars and historic legends from automobile and motorcycle racing meet. Highlights are always the hillclimb runs, during which the riders and drivers race up the world-famous 1.16-mile road through the Goodwood House estate in and on modern and historic race vehicles.