Motorsports ~ Nicky Hayden riding the 1909 Indian during 2008 Indianapolis MotoGP . The first motorcycle race at Indianapolis took place in 1909 . Hayden “It is a real honour to be the first rider to enjoy a lap of the new Indy track and I can’t wait to get out there on a MotoGP bike in September ( 2008). I expect most of my hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky to be there, they may have to close the town down that day.”
It was the answer to a question no one had asked: What was wrong with the Indian Four of the 1930s?
As it turned out, very little. But that didn’t stop Indian engineers from “improving” the design in 1936. And in the process, building one of the company’s biggest flops.
But that’s getting ahead of a fairly convoluted story. So let’s go back 25 years, to an engineer named William Henderson.
In 1911, Henderson founded the motorcycle brand that bore his name, building a sophisticated four-cylinder motorcycle with the cylinders set in line with the frame.
By 1917, Henderson had sold that company to Ignaz Schwinn, the bicycle magnate who already owned the Excelsior brand. Within a couple of years, though, Henderson had started a second brand-Ace-selling an updated four-cylinder motorcycle.
Then Henderson died in a testing accident. And by 1927, Ace was forced to liquidate its assets.
This is where Indian comes in. The company was looking for a flagship motorcycle to give it an edge against its rival, Harley-Davidson, and the Ace Four seemed to fit the bill.
At first, Indian marketed the same motorcycle Ace had been making. But 1½ years later, the company put the Ace engine into a frame modeled after its successful 101 Scout, and the Indian Four was born.
Then the Depression hit. And suddenly, sophisticated fours were too pricey for the market. One solution would have been to drop the Four and concentrate on other machines. But Indian engineers thought they had a way to make the Four better.
The result was this bike, known as the “upside-down” Four because of its engine configuration. Previous models had the inlet valves over the exhaust valves-a design that was typical of the era. But the 1936 Indian had its exhaust valves over the intakes, resulting in an engine with the carburetors down low and the exhaust pipe up top.
The idea made sense on paper. Excess heat could vent directly to the air, while the carbs could vaporize fuel better. At least, that was the theory. But in practice?
“You can really feel the heat off the engine,” says owner Dick Winger of this 1936 Indian Four, now on display in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio. “If you weren’t careful back then, you’d boil the grease right out of the top end.”
A dual-carb setup, offered in 1937, didn’t help, and by 1938, the “upside-down” Four was discontinued, replaced by a new “rightside-up” design.
Indian continued to make Fours through 1943. But rightside-up or upside-down, the golden age of American fours had passed. To this day, V-twins rule.
He said the lesson learnt from the experience this time is that one day should be reserved strictly for the media and exhibitors and no extra passes should be given out for that day.
The 11th Auto Expo co-hosted by SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers), CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and ACMA (Automotive Component Manufacturers Association) kicked off at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on January 5 and is on till January 11.
Kaul, however, feels that crowd management continues to be a challenge for organisers of the show.
“Managing the crowd is a challenge as there is a lot of interest from people across age groups and infrastructural bottlenecks remain,” he added.
The organisers have already taken several steps to make it easier for all the stakeholders of the show, he claimed.
“In the past, we had never put a cap on the number of visitors, but this time we have put a restriction of one lakh people, including 30,000 people from the exhibitors’ list and support staff,” he said.
Even the exhibition space this time has been reduced to create 10,000 square metres of free space for people to walk around. Furthermore, the number of exhibitors has been reduced to 1,500 from 2,100 in 2010, he said.
“To make ticket access easy for public, we have sold tickets at 26 metro stations as well. We have also tried to minimise the chances of copying passes and tickets
Via ; motorbeam
When anything goes wrong in the house, from the furnace to the radio, a Los Angeles, Calif., resident has but to step to the telephone and at his call instantly one of a fleet of repair motorcycles will come whizzing to the rescue.
The organizer of this novel service first got together a large staff of experts in many household crafts and trades. Then he equipped them with speedy motorcycles.
The odd shape of the vehicles, patterned after bungalows, attracts attention as they speed through the streets and results in making his service more widely known. Each of the men employed is bonded and is thoroughly trained in his line as an electrician, radio repair man, plumber, carpenter, or expert in gas fixtures.
Grease n Gasoline 