Categories: Automobile, BMX, Cycling, Cyclocross, Jobs, Karts, Kayak, Canoe & Rafting, Motocross, Motorcycle, Mt. Bike, New Automobile Products & Tests, New Bike Products & Testing, New Motorcycle products & Tests, Off-Road & Dirt Track, Off-road auto & ATV, PWC, Road Bike, Skate - Roller, Inline & Ice, Snowmobile & Bobsled
Members of the motorsports industry are wondering why the government has adopted a rule virtually eliminating a key constituency – and possibly thousands of jobs – while at the same time developing a nearly trillion-dollar stimulus that supporters say is intended to create and protect employment.
At issue is a new federal regulation of lead that took effect just this month. The policy has virtually shut down the part of the motorsports industry that serves children under 12 who want to ride all-terrain vehicles and motorbikes, because some components of the machines – such as tire valve stems – contain lead.
“You’ve got a lot of kids involved in this,” Don Amador, western representative for the the Blue Ribbon Commission, told WND today. “But ATVs, dirt bikes have batteries  in them, components that use lead inside the valve stems on tires, lead in the electronic wiring, lead on battery terminals.” … More info
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Reporting from The Pacific Northwest — The hunt is on. Garrett McNamara hurtles 60 mph down an icy river in the Great Northwest, throttling a 255-horsepower Sea Doo jet ski loaded with surfboards. His 11-year-old son Titus clings to his back, and a reporter clings to Titus’ back.
McNamara punches it up to 65 to cross the mud flats of a coastal inlet. The engine screams like it’s shredding sheet metal. Eyes tear up in the cold. The water is just inches deep. Tiny shells glint in the slipstream. McNamara does not worry about hitting a rock or submerged log. He is not a man given to thoughts of mortality.
McNamara, 41, has surfed some of the biggest, heaviest, ugliest waves on earth — notably the debris-strewn tsunamis generated by crashing glaciers in Alaska. He has broken his back and three ribs, popped both his knees, scraped most of the skin off his thigh, suffered countless sprains and deep-tissue cuts, and shattered his foot several times.
On this January morning, he is here to surf the local “slab” — not so much a normal ocean wave as a sudden, violent tear in the fabric of the ocean…. More info
If you have €3,900 ($4,900) in your pocket and the desire to put an Italian exotic through its paces around a track, then you’re in luck as Lamborghini is once again running its annual Driving Academy. With courses open to all performance enthusiasts – not just Lamborghini owners – the Driving Academy provides a unique opportunity to test a number of different models and be taught by the company’s own professional instructors.
Before you grab your phone and start calling the local Lamborghini dealer…Â More info
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Confederate Motorcycles, the bike maker that moved to Birmingham from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, said Thursday and that it might offer an entry-level model to go along with its expensive and limited edition mainstays.
The maker of motorcycles that sell for up to $100,000 also said Wednesday that it has merged with a publicly traded Canadian company that at one time mined copper, but which had ceased all operations. Confederate said shares will begin trading on the public market.
Company officials said Wednesday lower-priced models might be in the works…Â More info