I am going to ‘Stickie’ this post until around the start of the Season because I think all road racing fans need to read and share it. The future of Irish Road Racing is in the balance and that balance is slowing tipping the wrong way!
It is relatively bleak reading, but it raises some very valid points. In 2020 we have definitely lost the Enniskillen Road Races with that event opting to relocate to a circuit. Also the Ulster Grand Prix looks very like it will not have a 2020 event – its future beyond that looks grim if the rumoured figures of debt are even remotely true and Cookstown have went on record saying that another bad year or two will put their event in real jeopardy.
Portrush Air Show Cancelled : Today it has been confirmed that the 2020 Portrush Air Show (Airwaves) has been cancelled thanks to budget cuts by the Causeway Coast and Glens Council.
Somehow the council has found itself £68,000,000 in debt so in its wisdom has decided to cut one of the events that brings huge tourism to the area. Estimates suggest that the Portrush Air Show brings around £2,000,000 to Portrush and the North Coast annually in revenue. The Council funding the Air Show runs to the region of £240,000 – so remove £240k and loose £2 Million. How do these decision makers get in power, why do we vote them in and moreso how do they get their area £68 Million in debt?
The North Coast area of Northern Ireland should be buzzing just one year after The Open came to Royal Portrush Golf Club but instead Portrush is losing events and facilities that should have been securing money to the area and the Portrush Air Show is not all that has suffered.
Other Leisure and Environmental Services will be cut.
Rates will increase by 7.65%
New Parking Charges will be introduced.
Bins (Black) will now one be collected monthly.
So really what that means is all the good work and rejuvenation of Portrush in recent years is now wasted. The nostalgic reasons for visiting Portrush for local Northern Irish people is diminishing away to nothing as are the reasons for foreign visitors. Barry’s future is in question, Waterworld will be closed and the Air Show is no more. What was becoming a increasingly desirable place to live with new sea view and sea side apartments popping up everywhere will now suffer with a rates hike. Your rubbish will be emptied once a month, so the amount of vermin will increase, fly tipping will increase and the place will be dirtier – simple science. You’ll get charged for parking, but the good news is there will be loads of spaces because no one will be visiting.
Of course there are still reasons to visit one of the most beautiful and one of my personal favourite parts of Northern Ireland, such as the Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, The Dark Hedges, Bushmills, Ballintoy Harbour and of course the simply glorious Causeway Coastal Route -so please make sure you do visit and support the area, just don’t expect anything good from the Council whether you are a visitor or resident!
Price at time of Purchase : £239 for the seven piece set. If you are interested in Ring Devices read on for the TBNI Ring Alarm Review.
Ring are well know for their video doorbells that let you check on who is calling at your door from anywhere in the world in live time and even let you communicate with the caller. There are cheaper video doorbells but I think it is fair to say that Ring are the market leaders, but that is not all they do.
The Ring Security eco-system contains, indoor and outdoor cameras from simple what you see is what you get cameras to cameras with spotlights and even flood lights and sirens. They all work seamlessly with Smart Home Assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home – however unfortunately they have not crossed over into Apple’s HomeKit yet despite promises and teasers for the last couple of years.
The App :
All Ring Devices are managed under the Ring App which does a pretty decent job of letting your organise your devices however you wish and letting you check the view from any of them with a few simple clicks. It all works well.
Pricing :
But this well working doesn’t come without a price, thankfully that price is pretty reasonable, for example an annual subscription for the Ring Video Door Bell is £25, and for £80 you get a year’s subscription for as many Ring Devices as you own. For me that £80 subscription covers the doorbell, an outdoor camera and the newly (end of 2019 in the UK) released Ring Alarm. (You can buy and use the alarm with no subscription but then there is no notifications sent outside of the app should the alarm be activated.
The 2019 Irish Motorbike Awards in association with Cornmarket Insurance and Charles Hurst Motorcycles were held at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Belfast on Friday 17th January 2020. Here is the full list of the winners.
It’s 2020 and we are now in almost into the preseason. Chat and rumours are flying about who is moving where? Who is staying put? And who do we still not have a clue about? Then there is the reason you are here – what is the 2020 Isle of Man TT Prize Breakdown?
One of the most read posts annually since 2017 on this site is the Winners’ Payout Details (with over 45k unique hits at the time of writing) and since 2017 I have updated annually it with the latest information from the current Regulations Booklet. You can read the entire 2020 book here : (may not be available after 2020) :
Paulo Gonçalves, racing on motorbike no. 8, has passed away from a fall sustained 276 kilometres into today’s special. The organisers received an alert at 10:08 and dispatched a medical helicopter that reached the biker at 10:16 and found him unconscious after going into cardiac arrest. Following resuscitation efforts in situ, the competitor was taken by helicopter to Layla Hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead.
40-year-old Paulo Gonçalves was taking part in his 13th Dakar. He made his debut in 2006 and had finished four times in the top 10, including an impressive performance as runner-up to Marc Coma in 2015. Paulo Gonçalves, the 2013 cross-country rallies world champion, was sitting in 46th place overall after stage 6 of the 2020 Dakar.
The entire Dakar caravan would like to extend its sincere condolences to his friends and family.
Welcome to 2020 and the countdown to the start of the 2020 Road Racing Season. The winter break is now half over so I thought I would put together a quick post of some of the rumours (and facts) that have surfaced over the last couple of months.
If the news and gossip continues to come in at a similar I will need to do another one of these before April because there is a lot of interesting news to get through, unfortunately once you get past the positive and exciting stuff there is some really devastating news out there too, but more on that in a minute.
Happy New Year 2020 : May it be a great one for you all, and all of yours!
As soon as Christmas Eve kicks off (in Samoa and Christmas Island) Santa gets busy to get all the presents delivered to all the people of the world.
If you are lucky the Santa might be brining you a new bike, bike parts or if not it may be a bag of coal for you!
Whatever you hope for and where ever you are I wish you a very Merry Christmas and I hope Santa is good to you.
To make things easy for you I have spoken to NORAD and Santa and TBNI / T80GSA will be live streaming Santa and his trip around the globe. So if you need to know where he is, maybe to get the kids off to sleep, or maybe to get your overly excitable other half to bed we’ll be right here keeping you all up to date from the early hours of Christmas Eve.
If you start off by reading the above post you will see that I was already using a Mous case for my iPhone 11 Pro and in fact you will learn that I have been using Mous cases for quite some time.
They are great. Well designed offering superb protection but with a form factor that isn’t offensive and they are made with a variety of stunning materials from leather to walnut to carbon fibre.
There is a lot to like.
However I also wanted something a little different. For that difference I chose a slickwraps skin – actually one from their retro range, being a child of the 80s I love retro and they have a great range of retro Apple skins…
Motorcycle Live returns to the NEC, Birmingham in 2019 from 16th – 24th November 2019, so at the time of writing you still have time to visit the show and I can easily recommend that you do visit the show.
I have reviewed the Motorcycle Live Exhibition a number of times of already – so have a look at them if you are undecided on your attendance. In summary though I have been going since 2014 and that trip requires getting up before 3am to make my flight and not getting home to around 11pm. That should be enough to make anyone think it is worth checking out – but let’s put it simply – it is a day walking about looking at bikes, talking about bikes, spending money on bikes or at least thinking about how you would spend money on bikes – how else would you rather spend a cold, damp November’s day?
Just for reference in case anyone – cough BMW Motorrad cough – is feeling generous this is now top of my wish list…
BMW R Nine T GS Urban ‘Option 719’
Previous MotorcycleLive Resources :
Motorcycle Live 2014 : Includes the first pics of the new Africa Twin – that was exciting and a dyne testing of the Kawasaki H2
Motorcycle Live 2017 : MCL in a Day – from Northern Ireland : A detailed review on the event as a traveller – getting flights, getting fed, getting round the show and getting back to Northern Ireland all for about £50 – and this is still the method I use.
Motorcycle Live 2018 : A detailed review on the event with some highlights picked out – from Best Display – to Most Wanted – to Bike that Got Me Thinking.
Back to Motorcycle Live 2019 :
At the bottom of this post you will find my full Motorcycle Live 2019 Gallery, but it is worth checking out my Instagram for a regular boost of Motorcycles | Technology | Photography – I would really appreciate the follow.
TBNI.Blog Instagram
A few other bikes really caught my attention – this Suzuki DR800S has 5 miles on the clock!
