T.H. Schee

TITLE: Road Warrior Booty: Prize Structures in Motorcycle Racing
AUTHOR(S): Maloney,-Michael-T; Terkun,-Kristina
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Clemson U; Clemson U
SOURCE : Contributions-to-Economic-Analysis-and-Policy. 2002; 1(1): na
ISSN: 1538-0645
DOCUMENT TYPE: Journal-Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2002

剛才在查資料庫(Webspirs)時，誤打誤撞，發現這篇有趣的論文。內容談到摩托競賽中獎勵制度的結構問題。 ABSTRACT: This research reports the results of an analysis of prize structures among competing firms paying tournament wages. In motorcycle racing, sponsors compete in an auction for riders using tournament prizes as bids. Since racers can only ride one bike and wear one helmet, they are forced to choose among sponsors of similar products. We find that in the face of competition, sponsors are forced to lower the incentive intensity of their prize differentials as rival sponsors post larger purses. Our test offers new corroboration of the Lazear-Rosen tournament model. Other researchers have found that workers respond to bigger prize differentials by working harder. We find that firms recognize this and also recognize that in the competitive labor-market equilibrium this extra work must be compensated by offering higher expected wages through bigger purses. Our results complete the theoretical circle: workers respond to the incentive effects of tournament wages and firms anticipate this behavior when making tournament wage offers.

BMW of North America, LLC 在日前捐給美國五角大廈六輛特製的 R 1100 RT-P 摩托車，準備成立有史以來第一支摩托車縱隊。此舉是 BMW 為了因應 911 事件後，美國各地區對於機動性巡防武力需求激增，所做的長期捐贈計劃之一。自 911 後, BMW 已捐了為數不少車款給受創嚴重的社區與紅十字會，並且在 MIT(麻省理工學院)設立獎學金，以嘉惠學生。

BMW 為目前世界上最大的警方用車輸出廠，估計約有 80000 輛不同車款在全世界一百五十個國家服役。

反觀國內的總代理泛德在前日對於開放機車長度上限(2.5米)議題上所有的動作，以公眾的角度觀之(非廠商)，格局就顯的略小。註：請參考 Motorways 論壇相關討論

資料來源：PR Newswire

California Superbike School 今年將會在十二的國家巡迴開課，分別是 US, England, and Australia, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Malaysia, 還有 Philippines. 其中在美國加州、英格蘭和澳洲三地為永久駐在所，開有分校。學校發起人 Keith Code 為三本車界著名書籍之撰寫者：

資料來源：PR Newswire

Cannondale, 一家令人敬重的自行車廠商，其公關部門在本月24日表示他們將停止生產 cross, atv 車種(motorcycle), 並且已經向法院申請二輪事業部的破產保護。

資料來源：MountainBike.com

Sunday Morning. No Blogging at Motomosa.

the title refers to
the human spirit of achieving balance, like riding a motorcycle. For me, the
site is a way to keep myself in balance by expressing my thoughts.

It was one of those interesting discussions on a motorcycle newsgroup…

The first poster said:
“Sorry, but a “motor" is an electrical devise that produces rotary motion using a series of electromagnets to repel each other, and rotate the shaft. It’s an ELECTRIC MOTOR. You do not “rebuild" a motor
You do not “pull the motor"
You do not “start" a motor
You do not “modify" a motor
and you do not “seize" a motor!!!

Instead, you rebuild the ENGINE
You pull the ENGINE
You start the ENGINE
You modify the ENGINE
and you seize the ENGINE!!!

The correct term is “Enginecycle"
Only ELECTRIC “motorcycles", may be called MOTORCYCLES!!!"

Joe

…..to which came the reply:
“Well, mot is latin for move. So you can go around saying enginecycle, I’ll stick to bike or motorcycle. Who knows maybe it will catch on… nah."

crom

…and:
“A few early attempts at two-wheeled locomotion – Gottlieb Daimler is thought to have invented the real motorcycle in 1885.

Us Germans have been calling it Motorrad for a while now. We don’t seem to differentiate between engines and motors. We have an Ottomotor, Wankelmotor and Elektromotor. However a steam engine would be called a Dampfmaschine.

So that was another answer to a question that nobody had asked. :-P

Cheers,"

Alex

…Of course someone had to ask:
“I hate to get all “Beavis and Butthead" but…

…he did say “Wankelmotor"!? ;-)"

Clint

…to be told:
“Not to worry, I am used to it, there are a couple in just about every classroom:-)

Let’s call it a rotary engine/motor then."

Alex

:Well that’s a relief! I though it was just my kids. They even snickered during a discussion of medieval technology. “Clockwork" being the word, I think, that got them going."

Clint

… logic came into it:
“They’re called “motorcycles" because they go:

motormotormotormotormotormotormotormotormotormotor

I thought everyone knew that."

Tom Faller
mutter, mutter, mutter…

… as did commercial interests:
“I’ll call Harley and tell them they need to change their name from ‘The Motor Company’ to ‘The Engine Company’.

Thanks for your help."

…luker

…until finally someone put it quite succinctly:
“Please consider searching Ebay for a life. There are usually several available
at most reasonable prices."

Valued Customer

發生在美國亞利桑那州鳳凰城(Phoenix, Arizona)的例子. Anthony Curto, 30歲, 很明顯的是因為想要『教訓』某一位女性的小卡車駕駛者，而死於輪胎下。

根據警方的調查, Anthony 在小貨卡前突然緊急煞車，才會導致這宗意外。當地的電視台和目擊者指出，他沿路持續騎在由這位女性駕駛的小貨卡和前車中間，刻意擋在白色分向線上(不讓後車超過)。後來突然失控，倒地，永遠不起。

這又是一位因為衝動，想要『教訓一下』後面來車而喪身的例子。鳳凰城當地報紙的標語寫著：Road Rage Kills Motorcyclist. Road rage 包含了許多愚蠢的成份，而且大多是幼稚的行為。台灣的車輛密度頗高，都會更是密集，因此 road rage 就非常容易發生。要完全地避免是非常不簡單的事。

想想看，我們騎車的，再怎麼樣也是『吃虧』。真的不小心摔下去，傷亡嚴重者，絕對是我們. Road rage 會傳染給當事的兩方，而且會讓我們自己成為道路的定時炸彈。

好好的騎，安全的騎，採取保護性(防衛性)騎乘的態勢。將車子的美感和引擎的韻律騎出來。告訴其他道路的使用者，什麼才是真正的騎士。

Quiet Efficiency: the hallmark of the expert.

相對於一般常說的身心障礙，上次跟 Jedi 在討論 disabled 議題時，突然想到『能障』一詞。這不是什麼機能障礙的簡寫，而是說我們是否容易『為己之所能而障』，卻常常忽視了一些不同領域中，非常基本的東西？比如說，運用科技的是誰？或是，知識管理的目標是 “enable knowledge creation, sharing, distribution, archiving, indexing, and…..", 可是到底是誰在『創造』知識的？

再拉回摩托車上面。我們常騎車的，或是曾經感受到那『振奮人心動力』的人，要如何運用一般人經驗界的語彙，來讓他人了解『摩托車的美好』？

這是否包含了『人』這個因素？

建議閱讀 Ilya 的一篇文章。還有，國外有個 Disabled-Motorcyclist mailing list(身障者趨向專屬 mailing list), 也可以 訂閱。

美國海軍為了測試車子的 safety, 真是無所不用其極！
Here’s some wild pictures.

Naval Safety Center – Photos of the Week
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/archive.htm

There’s only one specific to motorcycles:
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo15.htm But a bunch about cars driven into the most amazing places and positions:

In Too Deep
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo70_1.htm

Submerged Underwater Vehicle (SUV)
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo70_2.htm

Hole in One
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo56.htm

Seeing Yellow?
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo50.htm

Got Gas?
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo49.htm

and boats:
Bizarre Boating Blunders
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo43.htm

How not to stop your speed boat
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo10.htm

and airplanes:
Breaking the Ice
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo64.htm

and forklifts carrying bombs!:
Ain’t This Da Bomb
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/photo36_1.htm

有車友針對政府對於重車騎乘的環境沒有『多花一點心力』，我提出一點看法…