emily's driver
10-11-2011, 09:52 PM
Just got back from Milan last night at 2am after two days at EICMA 2011. Well what can I say, its fookin' huge!! You cannot see it all in one day there is just so much to see. Just about every single manufacturer and accessories manufacturer of any worth are there. Too many to list but wow what a selection.
Naturally I ended up migrating to the Ducati stand first and what can I say about the 1199 Panigale. It's packed with incredible design details and really innovative features. The electronics package on the S and Tricolore is nothing short of exhaustive and the display and the way it adapts to the modes selected is very clever indeed. You really have to see it in the flesh. I sat on the base model on display, then realised Pierre Terblanche was stood right next to me waiting to get on. I spoke briefly to Gabriele Del Torchio as well. The head cheese of Ducati! There were a lot of other people there you would recognize and lots of riders wandering around and a myriad of TV and press people all swarming around doing interviews and pieces to camera.
The stands of all the main manufacturers were spectacular, with I think perhaps MV Agusta having possibly the classiest stand of all with a very fitting tribute to Claudio Castiglioni on the outside. Ducati's stand was enormous as were the main four manufacturers. The show was pleasantly devoid of all the usual tat on sale as is the case at the NEC and after the first day I had still only just scratched the surface of all there was to see.
There was something for everyone and some very interesting specials plus numerous interesting electric bikes and superbikes as well. Unsurprisingly there were lots of tributes around for Marco Simoncelli as well as one of his GP bikes there. It has really had a big impact in Italy. The food and beer were all reasonably priced and transport to and from the show was well organised and frequent. It was pretty busy on the two trade days so I can only imagine how it will be on the public days. Really pleased I went and I can only re-iterate that you really do need to see the new bike in the flesh and sit on it to appreciate how groundbreaking it is. Now if only there were a website webuyanykidney.com!
I will post up some pics very soon.
Naturally I ended up migrating to the Ducati stand first and what can I say about the 1199 Panigale. It's packed with incredible design details and really innovative features. The electronics package on the S and Tricolore is nothing short of exhaustive and the display and the way it adapts to the modes selected is very clever indeed. You really have to see it in the flesh. I sat on the base model on display, then realised Pierre Terblanche was stood right next to me waiting to get on. I spoke briefly to Gabriele Del Torchio as well. The head cheese of Ducati! There were a lot of other people there you would recognize and lots of riders wandering around and a myriad of TV and press people all swarming around doing interviews and pieces to camera.
The stands of all the main manufacturers were spectacular, with I think perhaps MV Agusta having possibly the classiest stand of all with a very fitting tribute to Claudio Castiglioni on the outside. Ducati's stand was enormous as were the main four manufacturers. The show was pleasantly devoid of all the usual tat on sale as is the case at the NEC and after the first day I had still only just scratched the surface of all there was to see.
There was something for everyone and some very interesting specials plus numerous interesting electric bikes and superbikes as well. Unsurprisingly there were lots of tributes around for Marco Simoncelli as well as one of his GP bikes there. It has really had a big impact in Italy. The food and beer were all reasonably priced and transport to and from the show was well organised and frequent. It was pretty busy on the two trade days so I can only imagine how it will be on the public days. Really pleased I went and I can only re-iterate that you really do need to see the new bike in the flesh and sit on it to appreciate how groundbreaking it is. Now if only there were a website webuyanykidney.com!
I will post up some pics very soon.