Top 10 Most Powerful People in Motorcycling

We look at the 10 movers and shakers who determine what we ride, what we wear, where we do it and even what the future holds

Who’s running motorcycling? Meet the major players and big-hitters who determine what we ride, and where and how we do it in the years to come. these are the main characters from all sections of the two-wheeled world, who wield the power and play a major part in forming motorcycling’s present and future.

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10: Carmelo Ezpeleta

10: The race controller - Carmelo Ezpeleta

As the Chief Executive Officer of Dorna, the Madrid-based firm that controls MotoGP, Carmelo Ezpeleta is the man who runs bike racing’s most important series. The 61-year-old Spaniard is motorcycling’s equivalent of Bernie Ecclestone: the man who draws up the rules, has a totalitarian say in where and when races will be run, and in doing so influences not only the competition but the fortunes of manufacturers and the machines they produce.

Barcelona-born Ezpeleta has a background in motor sport on both two wheels and four, having raced bikes and cars at club level before becoming involved in race-team and circuit management. In the 1970s he helped build the Calafat circuit, near Barcelona, before moving to Madrid to run the Jarama track. He managed the Ford rally team for which Carlos Sainz won two world titles, and ran Barcelona’s Catalunya circuit before joining Dorna in 1991.

As Dorna’s CEO, Ezpeleta works with manufacturers, race teams and the FIM to control the increasingly global Grand Prix show. Arguably his biggest achievement came in 2002 with the controversial but relatively smooth change to MotoGP four-strokes, which has resulted in increased manufacturer involvement and worldwide TV exposure. Recently he has worked to establish a MotoGP in China and a stronger presence in the USA, which this year has a race in Indianapolis as well as Laguna Seca.

Ezpeleta has huge influence with technical developments, too, and has recently been in the news with suggestions regarding the possible adoption of control tyres, universal ECUs and the banning of traction control. He’s on the riders’ safety committee, and doesn’t want to do anything that would make MotoGP less safe. But following a relatively dull 2007 season, he’s keenly aware of his responsibility to make the MotoGP show as close and exciting as possible without it turning into a mere technical tour de force as has happened in Formula One.

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9: Claudio Domenicali

9: The engineer - Claudio Domenicali

With the twin titles of Product Director - in charge of production bike development — and Managing Director of the Ducati Corse race team, Claudio Domenicali wears two very big red hats. And with the Bologna firm having recently released a string of successful streetbikes while forcing its Japanese rivals to raise their game in both MotoGP and World Superbikes, he’s clearly doing a great job in both of them.

Domenicali has come a long way since 1991, when he joined Ducati and initially remained little-known outside the Bologna factory despite leading the Supermono 550 development team that combined Massimo Bordi’s innovative single-cylinder engine with Pierre Terblanche’s flowing bodywork. The Supermono never made it into production but the articulate and hard-working Domenicali rose swiftly through the ranks to become boss of Ducati Corse, where he was instrumental in the key decisions to enter MotoGP - and with a V4 rather than their traditional V-twin.

Casey Stoner’s MotoGP championship victory last season was the culmination of a five-year campaign that has seen the relatively small Ducati Corse operation - never with more than 100 employees - consistently punching above its weight against the Japanese giants. Meanwhile the roadgoing Desmosedici RR was proving that it is possible to make a commercial success of an ultra-exotic and expensive production bike, provided its specification and performance are good enough.

After taking over as Product Director in 2004, with Ducati in financial trouble and its superbike sales in free-fall, Domenicali rose to the challenge again. He set out to improve quality, and to redefine the brand as a two-wheeled version of Porsche or Rolex, using Porsche’s 911 (subject of the only non-bike picture on his office wall) as inspiration. The success of the similarly recognisable 1098 has put Ducati right back on track.

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8: Ewan McGregor

8: The celebrity - Ewan McGregor

Often mocked within the short-sighted bike industry but if you were looking for someone to publicise motorcycling to a wider audience, you couldn’t do any better than a handsome, bike-mad movie star who owns and rides a bunch of modern and classic machines. In his off-time he makes high-profile long-distance trips with barely a mishap, raising money for charity along the way. Ewan McGregor’s contribution to motorcycling is vast.

Ewan’s Long Way Round and Long Way Down rides with his irreverent friend Charley Boorman not only spawned two hit TV series, they also made bikes cool again in the eyes of the non-motorcyclist and opened many motorcyclists’ minds to the possibilities of long-distance touring, adding to the 36% sales increase of adventure bikes last year - especially the BMW GS Adventures that the duo rode. KTM’s marketing department will long regret turning down McGregor’s request to supply them with bikes.

McGregor’s acting credentials are impressive, even if he hasn’t quite become an A-list Hollywood star as once seemed likely. His lead roles in movies including Trainspotting, Star Wars, Moulin Rouge and Black Hawk Down have led to him rolling around with leading ladies including Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger and Scarlet Johansson along the way. Not bad for a 37-year-old from Crieff, near Edinburgh, who quit school early to train as an actor at the Guildhall School of Art and Drama in London.

Despite all of this, McGregor is refreshingly down-to-earth and approachable and is certainly a valuable positive influence for motorcycling, not least because of his genuine enthusiasm. He’s owned bikes ranging from a Suzuki Bandit 1200 and Guzzi Griso to a BSA Lightning twin and an ancient Sunbeam; provided commentary for the MotoGP movie Faster; and insisted that his wife Eve joined the Long Way Down trip on a bike of her own. The next instalment of McGregor’s motorcycling odyssey is surely not far away and when it happens, millions more will tune in to watch him ride.

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7: Claes Tingvall

7: The safety expert - Claes Tingvall

It’s easy to demonise transport expert Claes Tingvall, head of Sweden’s Roads Administration and author of the controversial “Vision Zero” approach to road safety, as a bike-hating madman who would like to ban all motorcycles from public highways. The reality is more complex, and Tingvall’s work in areas such as removing roadside hazards has doubtless saved motorcyclists’ lives. But his desire to eliminate accidents at all costs highlights the huge challenge faced by motorcycling in an increasingly risk averse-world.

Tingvall’s Vision Zero, which has reportedly been adopted as official transport policy in Sweden and Norway, with other countries seeming likely to follow, has the basic premise that all road injuries and deaths are unacceptable, and that everything possible must be done to prevent them. This involves a huge investment in wide, well-surfaced roads, with carefully designed barriers and no dangerous street furniture. So far, so good — but safer vehicles are also a big part of the plan.

The problem, of course, is that motorcycles don’t help achieve this aim of reducing risk to absolute zero. Riding a motorcycle is always likely to be more dangerous than a car, and that will only get even more true as cars’ secondary safety improves still further. Riders are prepared to accept that increased risk, but Tingvall is not. No surprise then that he has been quoted as saying “there is no place for motorcycles in Vision Zero”.

The worrying thing is that views like Tingvall’s are gaining popularity in many countries. Combine those attitudes with the introduction of increasingly sophisticated electronic speed controlling devices, and another threat to motorcycling becomes reality. Bikes are increasingly trapped between society’s inacceptance of speed and the middle-aged man’s love of adventure, but men like Tingvall see it all in black and white. For this reason alone, his views are incredibly important to the future of motorcycling.

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6: Michael Pfeiffer

6: The journalist - Michael Pfeiffer

As Editorial Director of the bike titles at German-based publishing giant Motorpresse, Michael Pfeiffer is in an unmatched position to wield the power of the press throughout all of Europe. As well as running flagship title Motorrad with its fortnightly circulation of over 150,000, Pfeiffer controls several other German bike mags and web sites with an audience of approaching one million, and is a key part of an expansion drive that has seen the company establish motorcycle publications around the world.

Pfeiffer qualified as an engineer and worked for Audi and Porsche before joining Motorpresse, based at his home city of Stuttgart, as a road-tester for PS (“Horsepower”) magazine in 1988. He has a background in road and off-road racing, on racebikes ranging from various Yamaha RD two-strokes to a Ducati Supermono. He was made chief editor in 1999 and now runs a team of 90 people, by far the biggest media team in bike publishing.

The influence of Motorrad, in particular, on the German-speaking motorcycle market is huge. When the magazine’s famously tough tests resulted in two MV Agusta engines blowing up, the marque’s sales hit the floor. A campaign backing anti-lock brakes had an equally dramatic effect. “We pointed out that bikes with ABS are better than those without it, and now you can’t sell bikes in Germany without ABS, except for super-sports and enduro models,” he says. “I’m very sorry about that!”

That influence is spreading rapidly, via Motorpresse’s increasing internet presence and the group’s tactic of setting up bike magazines in different countries, combining Motorrad tests and features with locally-sourced material. Holland and Sweden are the latest of 19 countries with Motorpresse titles, giving the group unprecedented influence over the way bikes and motorcycling are reported. The bottom line is that if Pfeiffer really doesn’t like your product, it’s not going to sell in the larger parts of Europe. That makes him very powerful indeed.

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5: John Bloor

5: The businessman - John Bloor

The fact that Britain is a motorcycle manufacturing nation is down to one man. When John Bloor bought bankrupt Triumph from the liquidator in 1983, the famous old firm was merely the latest in a long list of failures from a once-proud industry whose decline seemed terminal. A quarter of a century later, Triumph is a prestigious, profitable marque whose annual production is set to top 50,000 for the first time in five decades.

A less likely saviour would be hard to imagine. Bloor was not a motorcyclist and had no love of bikes. He was a former plasterer, a self-made builder wealthy enough to figure above the likes of Elton John in newspaper rich lists. Bloor has a reputation as a hands-on worker who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He invested tens of millions of pounds in a high-tech factory at Hinckley, and in developing a range of bikes whose modular format reduced production costs.

Triumph’s progress was not smooth following introduction of the initial six-model range in 1991. Although the naked Trident 900 triple and Trophy 1200 sports-tourer, in particular, were well received, other models were less competitive. Triumph’s tarnished reputation took time to repair, and export markets in particular proved hard to crack. But Bloor kept investing, notably when abandoning the modular concept in 1997 with the stylish and successful Daytona and Speed Triple.

Bloor realised long ago that the key to Triumph’s success was distinctive triples and twins, not Japanese-style fours, and has been rewarded with continued growth. Last year’s turnover and profit were substantially up, the latter to over £12 million. Despite nearing retirement age, Bloor is working harder than ever. He avoids publicity but as the sole owner of a thriving manufacturer he carries mighty clout in this country and abroad. A knighthood for services to industry is long overdue - and when it happens, you can be sure it won’t go to his head.

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4: Willie G Davidson

4: The Traditionalist - Willie G Davidson

Harley-Davidson are still by far the biggest player in the cruiser market, and you’ve only got to take one look at a typical Japanese cruiser to see how far the firm’s influence has extended over the last five decades. If any one person epitomises the Harley ideals and controls its direction it’s Willie G: styling chief and grandson of founder William A Davidson, Willie makes the big decisions that keep Harley on top of their game.

His surname doubtless got him a head start at the Motor Co, but he’s gained experience working for several US car firms including Ford before joining Harley’s design department in 1963. He’d got interested in custom bikes while studying in California at the Art Center College of Design, bizarrely enough the same place that BMW’s David Robb learned his trade. After moving to Milwaukee he tried to steer Harley towards more radical models, often meeting with resistance from the conservative management. But Willie stuck to his guns and Harley began to move forwards.

Davidson’s big break and arguably his most important creation was the 1971-model FX Super Glide, regarded as the original factory custom, which took Harley in a new direction and kick-started the firm’s modern success. Not that it was all plain sailing from there. A decade later, Willie G was one of the directors who bought financially-troubled Harley from AMF, before helping to rebuild the marque into the commercial giant it is today.

Willie G has become the firm’s grey-bearded public face. As a designer he has helped steer Harley into new territory with the V-Rod, kept the faithful happy with big twins like the Fat Bob, and pushed the cruiser envelope with the Rocker. As a businessman he is still hugely influential in keeping the whole Harley ‘lifestyle’ product range the marketing triumph that the Japanese still aspire to. Harleys are more sophisticated and better-built than ever before, too — due largely to development work at the Willie G Davidson Product Development Center in Milwaukee.

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3: Valentino Rossi

3: The racer - Valentino Rossi

Valentino may no longer MotoGP champion, and that familiar grin has often been replaced by a frown of late, but he remains not only the most successful racer of recent times but by far the most important and influential. As well as generating a vast merchandising empire and being one of the planet’s best-paid sports stars at £15 million per year, he’s the public face of motorcycle racing and universally popular even with people who don’t understand or care about motorbikes.

The son of the charismatic but crash-prone former 500cc works rider Graziano Rossi was a big star, a former 125 and 250cc champion famous for his pranks, even before he took his first 500cc title on a Honda NSR500 in 2001. Valentino was perfectly placed when MotoGP arrived in 2002, and won the first two Championships aboard Honda’s RC211V.

Arguably Rossi’s greatest racing achievement was proving, with that sensational MotoGP championship win of 2004, that in motorcycling it’s more about the rider than the bike. All-conquering Honda simply didn’t believe that he’d call their bluff and move to Yamaha, who’d managed just one podium place in the previous season. But he won his first race and the Championship on the YZR-M1, and rubbed it in by easily taking a fifth consecutive title the following year.

After two years off the pace Rossi is competitive again and appears to have lost none of his desire to recapture the MotoGP title. He’s flirted with F1 and put in times just three seconds off the pace in the F04 Ferrari, and it remains to be seen how long he will stick with bike racing as he’s also a very talented rally driver. Unbelievably talented sportsmen with characters and fan-bases to match are an increasingly rare commodity in today’s money-orientated sports world, but Rossi has bucked every trend and continues to bridge the divide between bike racing and being a house-hold name. His value to racing might only become clear when he quits.

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2: David Robb

2: The designer - David Robb

BMW are among motorcycling’s most innovative, successful and forward-thinking manufacturers at the moment, and the main reason for that is David Robb, the Munich marque’s American-born head of design. Robb took over BMW’s bike design department in 1993 and since then has created a long string of bikes that have utterly transformed the firm’s old fuddy-duddy image as a producer of dull sports-tourers.

Robb was born in Boston, grew up mostly in Kobe, Japan (where his father was a missionary) and graduated in design from the renowned Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He got a job at Chrysler, then after being made redundant moved to Germany to work for Audi, from where he joined BMW’s car division in 1984. Always a bike fan, he sharpened his riding on the Nurburgring and was eager to take on the challenge of  modernising the marque’s motorcycle range.

“We had 19 different models when I started at BMW, and with the exception of two enduro bikes they were all doing the same thing. We said, let’s quit copying ourselves,” Robb says of his approach. The result has been a design-led explosion of different, imaginative models that have taken BMW in new directions and made them the darling of current design.

Robb’s revolution began with another sports-tourer, but this one was the K1200RS four whose 130bhp power output blew away BMW’s self-imposed 100bhp limit and showed the firm was serious about high performance. Next came the radical R1200C, which proved that it was possible to enter the cruiser market without copying Harley.

Since then Robb and his team have created bikes as varied and capable as the K1200R naked bruiser, the classy HP2 boxers and the F800 parallel twin, not to mention the massively popular R1200GS whose distinctive, typically Robb-influenced styling has been an important part of its success. Along the way, BMW’s charge has helped convince other firms, notably their Austrian rivals KTM, that bold and innovative design can pay.

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1: Takeo Fukui

1: The big boss - Takeo Fukui

As President of Honda, the world’s biggest bike manufacturer, Takeo Fukui is in an unmatched position of power in the two-wheeled industry, particularly as motorcycles form only a relatively minor part of his vast Honda empire. So it’s reassuring to know that, like a succession of Honda bosses before him, Fukui is both a motorcycle man and an engineer, with a long history of involvement in bikes on both road and track.

That background is no coincidence. Soichiro Honda was a down-to-earth character who not only declined to pass ownership of his company to his sons, but prevented them from even working for it as he didn’t think them suitable for the role. Fukui, who joined in 1969, is only the sixth President of Honda in more than 60 years, and follows the pattern of having started as a young engineer before moving through the ranks.

In Fukui’s case that meant working on the unsuccessful NR500 four-stroke GP racer before helping develop the NS500 triple on which Freddie Spencer won Honda’s first 500cc title in 1983, and the NSR V4 that dominated 500cc GPs in the late Eighties. He was made President of Honda Racing Corporation in ’87, and later ran Honda’s US operation before becoming President five years ago. To say that motorcycles run in his blood is something of an understatement.

In today’s highly-competitive world Fukui faces many challenges in maintaining Honda’s profitability and motorcycling pre-eminence, from the rise of the Chinese and Indian manufacturers to the adoption of environmentally-friendly technology. But with a global profit last year of £4.3 billion and with over 170,000 employees, Honda remain by the far the most powerful motor company in the world and can influence markets as they please. As a qualified chemical engineer Fukui is personally well placed to lead development of fuel cell vehicles, and his background in GPs, as well as his rise through the Honda ranks, means he’s well up for the fight.