What happens to ex-World Champions in their dotage? They go to Australia and get into trouble with the police. Happened to Barry Sheene, when he and F1 driver Gerhard Berger were accused of assaulting a teenage girl. That was settled out of court

mutter darkly about the unfairness of HRC's direct links with F1. Being too clever by half can sometimes be self-defeating. Part of Honda's control software measures fuel consumption, to activate a programme that then makes sure there will be enough

on how to behave lap by lap.He also complained about the paddock atmosphere, having got the cold shoulder from the precious drivers who do so much to make F1 so very, very dull.Their leader Michael Schumacher popped in to the Italian GP for a go

.The mobile restaurant may only be another F1 hand-me-down, but it raises the standard yet again for bike racing. Just one problem. Under new European no-smoking legislation, none of the free-spending sponsor's well-fed guests are allowed to light up a

Bike racing fans are smug about comparisons with F1 racing. With good reason. Motorcycle racers overtake one another. They battle it out through the corners. It's proper sport, rather than an exposition of technical prowess where overtaking takes

, in a row, that it starts to hurt. Anyone brave enough to bet against Rossi again?BETTER HURRY - the wonder boy is off to F1 soon, by the look of it. He's wanted for 2007 after some impressive Ferrari tests, and has been told to make his mind up even

with pneumatics in F1, a face-saver if they copy their motorbike rivals in this matter. It’s much harder to imagine them being comfortable with copying a system nowadays exclusively associated with Ducati. Well, certainly in public, anyway …The scale

no more excuses for lacklustre performances. It will be a merciless and very public test of the 32-year-old's unwavering self-belief.In practice, it might be different. The ex-Proton chassis, designed by F1 guru John Barnard, is a beautiful piece of work

; Gibernau welcomes a feeling 'more like the old two-strokes'.Imagine what sort of peaky, revvy, beasts MotoGP bikes will become if obliged to make the same horsepower with only 800cc. And imagine the technology that will be required: real F1 stuff, with more

, there are 10 more!'" he laughed afterwards.Those are the worst kind of accidents. Consider the appeal, at that moment, of the nice tailor-made racing seat, five-point safety harness and carbon-fibre roll cage offered by an F1 Ferrari.The nightmare lives