Hayden: "GP11.1 Sudah Mencapai Potensi Maksimumnya"

Walaupun baru tiga kali membalap dengan menggunakan update terbaru GP11.1, Nicky Hayden sudah bisa menyimpulkan bahwa motor Ducati Desmosedici GP11.1 telah mencapai potensi tertingginya.

Ducati pertama kali memperkenalkan GP11.1 pada akhir Juni di Assen untuk dipakai oleh Valentino Rossi yang kesulitan dalam mencapai hasil yang signifikan dengan motor GP11 sengaja disiapkan untuk menghadapi musim ini.

GP11.1 memiliki fitur girboks seamless shift terbaru, sistem suspensi belakang baru, swingarm dan mesin yang dimodifikasi agar tidak melanggar regulasi 800cc yang saat ini berlaku.

Hayden mengendarai GP11.1 pertama kalinya pada sesi latihan di Laguna Seca pada akhir Juli sebelum akhirnya memutuskan untuk menunda debutnya bersama GP11.1 hingga dia mendapatkan lebih banyak waktu dan pengalaman untuk menguji motor versi terbaru itu.

Kemudian Hayden menggunakan GP11.1 sejak balapan Indianapolis, namun Kentucky Kid ini hanya berhasil membawa pulang 11 poin dari ketiga balapan terakhirnya bersama GP11.1. Dari sini terlihat seolah GP11.1 telah mencapai performa maksimumnya, artinya GP11.1 tidak banyak membawa kemajuan dari sisi performa.

"Ya, kelihatannya motor ini sudah berada pada potensi tertingginya. Tentunya Ducati menguji beberapa komponen dan kami tahu kalau kami harus membuat perubahan besar karena kami tertinggal jauh dari para rival."

Rossi telah menguji sasis full amuminium twin spar di Jerez pada hari jumat yang lalu. Sepertinya Ducati mulai percaya pada Rossi untuk merambah pada cara yang lebih konvensional dalam memperbaiki masalah front-end yang menghambat Rossi sepanjang musim 2011 ini.

Rossi telah mencoba membalap dengan konsep terbaru aluminium pada Grand Prix Aragon akhir pekan lalu, namun konsep ini tidaklah sasis konvensional full twin spar seperti yang digunakan oleh Honda, Yamaha, dan Suzuki.

"Mereka telah menguji coba aluminium dan aku fikir itu bukanlah masalah material. Aku rasa lebih kepada kekakuan dan fleksibilitas. Kamu bisa membuat carbon menjadi lebih lembut ataupun lebih kaku, jadi aku rasa bukan disitu masalahnya. Aku sudah pernah menguji banyak swingarm berbahan aluminium dan carbon fiber, kamu bisa mendapatkan salah satunya jika kamu menginginnya."

Following in Diana's footsteps: Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit cancer-stricken children at Royal Marsden hospital

By Maysa Rawi


The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit the Royal Marsden to open a new £18 million children's cancer unit in Sutton, Surrey today


It was the hospital Princess Diana chose for her first solo charity trip.

So it is rather fitting that the Duchess of Cambridge should follow suit for her second official engagement since the Royal Wedding with husband Prince William today.

Kate was all smiles in an elegant in cream Amanda Wakeley dress and her favourite L.K. Bennett nude heels at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in South London.

A sleep-deprived William, who flew a mercy mission just hours before opening the new £18 million children's cancer unit, looked slightly less sprightly in a navy suit.


William and Kate, both 29, are touring the Oak Centre for Children and Young People which has been built to treat day and inpatients, where they will meet medical staff, young patients and their parents.

During the visit, William will be reunited with Alice Marples, a cancer patient who interviewed him two years ago for the CBBC Newsround programme.

The 12-year-old, who is due to fly to America to receive radiotherapy for a brain tumour, presented Kate with a bouquet of flowers when she arrived at the hospital.

The Duchess is spending her time trying to get to know various charities and good causes so she can decide what her future role will be

Children and hospital staff wait for the couple to arrive

A St James's Palace spokesman told the London Evening Standard: 'The Duke is looking forward to seeing Alice again and finding out how she has been.

'Through his close connection with the hospital he has met many inspirational young people, like Alice, who have shown such bravery in battling their illness.

'Tomorrow, he is keen to show the Duchess the incredible work the Royal Marsden does to help Alice and others like her.'

The sleep-deprived Duke flew a mercy mission to take a sailor to see a seriously-ill relative just hours before today's event

Kate will recieve a bouquet of flowers from Alice Marples, a cancer patient who interviewed Prince William two years ago

William is president of the Royal Marsden - the first hospital in the world dedicated to cancer treatment and research into the causes of the disease.

He took over from his mother, who took on the role in 1989 until her death in 1997.

William went without sleep last night as he ferried the serviceman from a warship off the Isle of Man to Sandhurst in Surrey.

The royal flew back to his base at RAF Valley on Anglesey just after 9am before making the trip to open the Royal Marsden's new £18 million children's cancer unit in Sutton, south London, a few miles from Sandhurst.

The duke, an RAF search and rescue force helicopter co-pilot, carried out the 'compassionate call-out' during a normal 24-hour shift which also saw him help pick up a casualty with serious head injuries in Snowdonia.

A St James's Palace spokesman said the duke would have got little, if any, sleep and was expected to arrive at Oak Centre for Children and Young People on a royal flight helicopter this afternoon.

His wife, who was in London, was arriving by car.

The royal couple have been enjoying married life together in North Wales since their glittering nuptials in April.

They have deliberately kept a low profile over recent months as the Duke, a flight lieutenant with the RAF Search and Rescue Force, is focusing on earning a promotion to captain.


source:dailymail

Cut price Kate: Duchess shops at Topshop... and hesitates over £8.50 pair of earrings

By LAUREN PAXMAN

Duchess of the High Street: Kate Middleton shopped at High Street Kensington's Topshop on Monday night

The Duchess of Cambridge has almost direct access to The Crown Jewels. She wore the Queen's Cartier Halo tiara on her wedding day, and borrowed her grandmother-in-law's maple leaf brooch for her official trip to Canada.

But refreshingly down-to-earth Kate is not yet past hesitating over buying a pair of £8.50 earrings.

The young royal shopped at Topshop on High Street Kensington, West London on Monday evening. And although she splashed out more than £100 on three items, she left an extra pair of earrings with the cashier at the last minute.


Keeping it local: The young royal visited Topshop on High Street Kensington

That extra £8.50 obviously seemed just a little too decadent.

It is the first time Kate has been spotted in her local Topshop, which is just a couple of minute's walk away from her London residence, Kensington Palace.


By royal appointment: Topshop's cobalt-blue velvet trim boucle jacket (£65) and teal spotted pencil skirt (£38)


To buy or not to buy: The Feather-like earrings that Kate purchased (left) and the ones she left behind


Kate, who had a wallet through of rewards cards, splashed her cash on a trendy teal spot pencil skirt (£38) that was seen on dozens of fashionistas at London Fashion Week.

She also bought a more classic cobalt-blue velvet trim boucle jacket (£65) and a pair of golden roundish earrings with a feather motif.


source: dailymail

How did a Sei whale get beached in the middle of a field in East Yorkshire?

-Marine experts baffled by discovery in salt marshes
-Monster 33ft beast found 800 yards from the sea


By Daily Mail Reporter


Stranded: The 33ft whale was found beached 800 yards from the shoreline of the Humber Estuary

A rare breed of whale found dead 800 yards from the shoreline in the Humber Estuary has baffled marine experts.

The 33ft mammal, thought to be a Sei whale, was discovered in salt marshes on the north bank of the River Humber.

It is thought that the whale became stranded in shallow waters, rolled over onto its blowhole and died, before the tide retreated and left it behind, near the village of Skeffling.

Mysterious: Experts are baffled by the beached whales, as this one, like others, are from species not normally stranded on the British coast


The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has spent the summer monitoring the area due to an increase in whale sighting and activity.

Conservationists believe the increase in the number of strandings could be explained by a change in sea currents bringing colder streams of Arctic water into the North Sea and with them whales that would not normally pass so close to the UK shoreline.

Experts who examined the animal said they are 95 per cent certain it is a female Sei whale and say the huge sea creature could simply have been looking for food when the tide turned.

Kirsten Smith, North Seas Living Seas manager at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said: 'The area where the whale was found is salt marsh, which is still connected to the sea.

Too late: Andy Gibson from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust examines the young female whale on the banks of the Humber Estuary on Wednesday


'With the high tide the whale probably got carried up on to the salt marsh, got pushed further in shore and then got stuck when the tide went out.

'The salt marsh is one of several components of the Humber Estuary, and is further in than the mud flats and sand components.

'Sometimes whales come into the shallow water looking for food and get stuck.

'It can be illness or confusion in individual animals, but for it to happen twice in the area, and with reports of another whale nearby now, that could be more than just coincidence.'

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has launched a campaign called Petition Fish to encourage to Government to monitor more closely the changes in British marine life.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said that the whale is likely to have found herself so far in as today marked the day of the highest and lowest tide of the year.

Stuck in the mud: Last month a 30ft baby Minke whale became beached in a shallow dock near Grimsby, Lincolnshire, but rescuers managed to save it after an eight-hour mission

Successful mission: Over 50 emergency personnel descended on Grimsby's Immingham Docks, including the RSPCA, Coastguard, RNLI, fire services and British Marine Rescue

Humber Estuary Services estimate that water levels at Albert Dock, near Hull went as high as 9.5m by 7am today, and went down to 1.3m by 2pm.

The whale, found at 2.30pm last Friday, is the latest of a number to have died in the Humber estuary.

Andy Gibson, of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, added that Sei whale strandings were very rare with only three in UK waters in the last 20 years.

Mr Gibson said: 'It was in shallow water of 4ft -5ft, making contact with the bottom. When it gets in that situation it rolls onto its side and it can cover its blow hole. It is sad but we will be able to learn a lot from it.'

Earlier this month, a young Fin whale - a relative of the Sei - became stranded at Immingham, North East Lincolnshire, and washed up dead near Spurn Point.

Another dead whale was spotted in the river mouth in the last few days but has yet to wash ashore.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has reported a rise in whale sightings this year but no-one is sure why the mammals are making their way to the North Sea.

Over the summer, a pod of around ten Minke whales were regularly spotted off the North Yorkshire coast between Whitby and Scarborough.



source:dailymail

Mazda MX-5 Miata Special Edition

The Mazda Minagi concept car embodies Mazda's new SkyActiv technologies and new KODO design language, signaling the way for the next generation of Mazda cars to come.
The Mazda Minagi concept makes its world premiere at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show as the expression of Mazda's new SkyActiv technologies and new KODO design language. It is the first model which showcases characteristics likely to be seen in the next generation of Mazda cars.
For this reason, Mazda has fully incorporated its SkyActiv technologies into every aspect of driving performance, including the powertrain, chassis, and even body design. As the second concept vehicle to incorporate Mazda's new 'KODO - Soul of Motion' design language, Minagi challenges conventions with emotional design and exhilarating performance.

While Shinari was a pure design concept to express the full potential of KODO design, Mazda Minagi gives a glimpse of the next generation of products to come. As the second concept car to adopt Mazda's KODO design theme, Minagi's design elements combine the expression of energy pulsing throughout the vehicle with the keen agility to move about freely and nimbly. With its upright, compact packaging, Mazda Minagi offers a vision of KODO design that is different to Shinari, yet it shares the same sinuous, powerful stance.
"I wanted to convey something different from the Mazda Shinari. I felt a compact crossover SUV was the perfect vehicle to express agility and focused movement; the flexibility of four limbs moving in unison, and an upright posture."
The Mazda Minagi is a stylish expression of pent-up energy. In Japanese, its name conjures up the image of an object pulsating with energy and perfectly reflects the vehicle's speed, agility and spirited character. For Minagi, Mazda designers looked at different aspects of cheetahs as they hunt. A cheetah's head is positioned high, while long, powerful and supple limbs hold its lean torso upright to enable it to change direction quickly at high speed. Mazda's designers set out to evoke the moment when an animal contracts its muscles, ready to sprint and lunge at its prey. Furthermore, such a lunge can be in any direction; an idea which fits with the function of an agile crossover SUV as it nimbly darts through a sprawling cityscape.
Major features of the Mazda Minagi Concept
An urban-friendly compact crossover SUV which combines emotional design with exhilarating performance

• Mazda Minagi is the first concept car to fully adopt Mazda's SkyActiv technologies and new 'KODO - Soul of Motion' design and it represents Mazda's next generation of products
• Mazda's unique compact crossover SUV for urban explorers fuses emotional design - which conveys a lively ability to quickly leap into action and head in any direction - with the driving pleasure and outstanding environmental and safety performance of SkyActiv technologies
• KODO design elements adopted by this compact crossover SUV express pulsating energy and a nimble ability to move about freely

Exterior design

• The vehicle's crouched stance expresses the image of a cheetah as it stands with its weight poised on its hind legs, ready to lunge at its prey
• The cargo bay of conventional SUVs often resembles a vehicle wearing a backpack, whereas Minagi presents an image of a muscular entity that cleanly incorporates spaciousness within well-toned lines
• Placing the A-pillar rearward emphasizes the rearward orientation of the cabin. This stands in sharp contrast to the single-arc silhouette of frontward A-pillar placement on minivans, and emphasizes the driving position - a priority for the design of the Mazda Minagi concept
• The cabin's position relative to the lower body is further back than on conventional SUVs. This emphasizes the motion expressed in Minagi's form

Front view

• The chromed 'signature wing' on the front fascia, shared with Shinari, makes Minagi immediately recognizable as a Mazda and creates a strong impression
• Angling the front grille slightly downwards, while juxtaposing the headlamp housings design to slant upward, creates intensity
• Adding more dynamic contours to the prominent front fenders - highly characteristic of Mazda cars - expresses KODO design language's forceful sense of accumulating, then instantly releasing pent-up energy. These elements combine with the dynamic form of the rear fenders further emphasizing the wheels, which form the legs of this predator

Side view

• Sculpted lines along the sides of Mazda Minagi's body accentuate a sense of power which suggest the supple strength of a cheetah. These contours extend and connect with the rear fender in an expression which suggests the powerful musculature that joins the cheetah's shoulders and hips to its legs
• The overall effect is a graceful and beautiful form which directs the eye from front-to-rear
• The character line that flows along the lower part of Minagi's side panels symbolizes KODO's sense of power being accumulated, then quickly released

Rear view

• The rear fenders project boldly outward to create a wide, stable stance befitting an SUV
• The contrast between the rear fenders and the taut lines of the car's rear end mimics the strong and seductive hip line of a toned athlete

Headlamp design

• As with Shinari, the chromed 'signature wing' that sweeps up from the bottom of the front grille disappears into the center of the headlamp housings dramatically
• The design of the three-dimensional headlamp and rear combination lamps add a heightened sense of depth
• The line of the 'signature wing' element and the headlamp design combine to express the intense look of a wild animal's gaze

Interior design

• Mazda's designers set out to realize a driver-focused cockpit and cabin environment that expresses a reassuringly high level of strength and solidity. The interior employs quality materials along with the superior fit and finish of detailed hand craftsmanship
• The above features add to the anticipation of the driving pleasure to come by creating a refined and quality cabin environment
• The main black interior colour is highlighted by the colour red in the rear seatbacks and at the bottom of the door armrests

Characteristics unique to a compact crossover SUV

• Four upright satin chrome struts appear to support the instrument panel, each rising upward in an image of vertical strength which appears to defy gravity, underscoring the impression that Minagi's occupants are securely protected
• The design of the instrument cluster and surrounding switches emphasizes the snug, sporty nature of the driver-focused cockpit while expressing Mazda's sporty ethos

Mazda MX-5 Miata Special Edition

On the heels of its recent milestone announcement of 900,000 MX-5 Miatas being produced, Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) unveiled the 2011 Mazda MX-5 Miata Special Edition, a limited-run model of only 750 units. The Special Edition continues the MX-5's history of being a dynamically-engineered, enthusiast-approved roadster whose price doesn't discriminate and whose luxuries are not stripped.
Special Edition-exclusive interior touches include gray door trim and heated leather seats with gray stitching, a black leather-wrapped parking brake and steering wheel with contrasting gray stitching, chrome treatments to the air vents and instrument cluster as well as aluminum pedals (6MT only). Special Edition models are only available in Sparkling Black Mica or Dolphin Gray Mica, two new MX-5 colors, and are packaged with 17-inch Bright Finish aluminum alloy wheels.

The MX-5 traditionally has appealed to higher income households as its purchase reason is not as the practical daily driver but as the additional "fun" car, such as for those long, winding road-hunting weekends. Originally available in three trim levels - Sport, Touring and Grand Touring - the Special Edition is based off of a fully-equipped Grand Touring model but is only available with the industry-leading, easy-to-use Power Retractable Hard Top (PRHT).
Popular in both warm and winter climates, PRHT models go from rain-deflector to sun-worshipper in 12 seconds - with trunk space to boot - and outsell soft tops 4:1 worldwide. In the United States, there also is no lack of interest for premium accessories as 70 percent of Grand Touring models sold are PRHT-equipped, of which 50 percent are optioned with the Premium Package. The Premium Package is standard on the Special Edition and includes a Bluetooth® hands-free phone system, SIRIUS® Satellite Radio with a six-month complimentary subscription, Xenon headlights, Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) with a Traction Control System (TCS), an anti-theft alarm and the Mazda Advanced Keyless Entry and Start System.
It is no secret that on any given weekend more Mazdas and Mazda-powered vehicles are road-raced than any other brand. Performance and tuning are dynamically engineered into every Mazda and the MX-5 Miata Special Edition retains its sports car soul but with a few niceties not meant for the bumper-to-bumper love taps of the track.
The Suspension Package, optional on Touring and Grand Touring models, is made standard with the Special Edition and includes Bilstein® shocks, a limited slip differential (LSD) and a sport-tuned suspension. Both the six-speed manual transmission with short-throw shifter and six-speed Sport automatic with steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters are available to enjoy the 167-horsepower, 140 lb-ft of torque 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine (158 horsepower with the 6AT). At only 2,593 pounds (2,619 pounds for the 6AT), the MX-5's nearly 50:50 weight distribution, combined with its track-proven suspension and responsive power, mean the rear-wheel drive sports car is a lightweight only in terms of size, not road prowess.
The 2011 Mazda MX-5 Miata Special Edition starts at $30,925 for the manual transmission, and $31,525 when equipped with the six-speed Sport AT automatic.