Over sixty world titles of British World Champions from 1979 to 2023
Birmingham 29 November 2023, large crowds turned out for the British World Champions at Motorcycle Live in Birmingham, the expo dedicated to the world of two wheels which was held from 18 to 26 November.
The entire day of Saturday 25 November was dedicated to the celebration of the riders who told the audience present their story and their path to their World titles, with unpublished episodes of their careers. Great emotion surrounded the riders’ parade on stage who, from 1979 to today, have overall achieved around sixty-five World titles in the various disciplines: Road Racing, Enduro, Trial, Motocross, Sidecar and Endurance.
Jonathan Rea (WSBK), Carl Fogarty (WSBK), Emma Bristow (Trial), David Knight (Enduro), Jane Daniels (Women’s Enduro), Brian Morrison (Endurance), Glen English (Classic Series), Tom Sykes (WSBK), Ron Haslam (Road Racing), Brian Reid (Road Racing), James Toseland (WSBK), Ben and Tom Birchall (Sidecar), Dave Thorpe (MX), Steve Webster (Sidecar), Dougie Lampkin (Trial) and James Ellison (Endurance).
James Whitman and Steve Parrish, former riders and now established presenters, animated the six chat shows of the day, putting the Champions at ease who with pleasure, without filters but with spontaneous emotion, retraced their careers and the celebration of the world titles, for some of which were repeated over the years.
Tim Lightfoot, new Chairman ACU (Auto Cycle Union) and Matthew Wear, General Secretary ACU welcomed the Champions, together with the FIM represented by Damiano Zamana – Deputy Director General of the International Motorcycle Federation. The event, hosted by Motorcycle Live, is part of the Ride to FIM Awards, the journey which will come to an end on 2 December, in Liverpool on the occasion of the 2023 FIM Awards, which will celebrate the over fifty World Champions of all motorcycling disciplines who have competed under the banner of the FIM.
The riders of the Maudes Trophy Challenge started from Motorcycle Live, a recognition established in 1923 by George Petty, owner of the Maudes Motor Mart in London, who promoted an endurance challenge to test the reliability of the motorbikes on a route of over 1000 miles in the UK. The ACU, which has always been responsible for verifying the fairness of the challenge, has kept the precious Trophy for 100 years. Zero Motorcycles has accepted the challenge: Craig Carey-Clinch (Executive Director of National Motorcyclists Council) and Curt Langan (Zero Motorcycles) will travel approximately 1250 miles riding a Zero DSRX in just three days, until Saturday 2 December, when they will arrive at Liverpool at the opening of the World Champion Autograph session at the ACC Convention Centre – Liverpool.
On the evening of 2 December, the Red Carpet will welcome around eight hundred guests to celebrate the most exclusive event in the world of two wheels: the FIM Awards.
