Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Motogiro d'Italia 2011

Well, Club Terni has announced the 2011 Motogiro!
Motoclub Terni Motogiro
Of course there are two of these now; DreamEngine2 runs an event too.
A short history...
Club Terni started running the revival event back around 1989. In 2001 Ducati spun off an organisation called DreamEngine to run the event with Club Terni. Ducati was interested in the marketing benefits. In those days DreamEngine ran the hotels and tourist stuff, and Club Terni ran the competition and road stuff. DreamEngine did bring a Ducati bias to the event, and that certainly brought many Ducati fans. That lasted through 2007 and then Club Terni and Dream Engine split ways. Around this time Ducati stopped making a big sponsorship of the event as well. And then DreamEngine disolved and DreamEngine2 was formed. Now there are two Motogiro events held in Italy. At this point it appears that the Club Terni event is the FMI (the Italina Motorcycle Federation, like our AMA) certified event. I've never been to the Club Terni event, but have heard good reports. And it sounds like people had a great time at the DreamEngine event too. Although I haven't personally been able to compare the two, I suspect the DreamEngine2 event is still a bit more Ducat and tourist focused and the Motoclub Terni event might be a bit more Italian (less English spoken and more Italian riders). But that is just my guess.
DreamEngine makes a big deal about the name Motogiro and you can see some noise about related Italian lawsuits on their website. But it appears that that trademark is for the "trapezoidal logo with motogiro printed inside it" and that Terni is being allowed to continue to use the actual word Motogiro as well. Which seems sensible, as this is a generic term in Italian, roughly translated "motorcycle tour" in english. Regardless of the lawsuits, its great there are two events now. But I hope the market can really support both.
I'd really like to go and try the Motoclub Terni event, as I remember those organizers fondly...

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for your positive and sporstsmanlike behaviour,we will wait for you. That's the real sense of this event.
    Moto Club Terni, Massimo and Laura Mansueti

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  2. Hello Carl

    I have seen the message regarding the " 2 Motogiros" of Italy and I undersatand that is a bit confusing. I am owner of Motouring a company organizing tours and motorcycle rental in Italy.

    We have been involved in the Motogiro run by Dream Engine, 2 years ago, in 2008, with 10 bikes given for the organization and 2 vans with guides, we still have to receive the money from them, 12, 00 euros !! And like us many hotels, guides, small organizations, ecc.

    On top there is a final release, a couple of months ago, from the Italian Court confirming that the FMI, Italian Motorcycle Federation is the only organization authorized to use the name Motogiro d'Italia and the Moto Club Terni the "ONLY" authorized organization to run it.
    Dream Engine is not simple entitled to use the name Motogiro and for being doing that during the last 2 years has been charged of a fine of 5000 euro , which, of course , will not pay !!!

    In case you wish to contact me you can also use home@mototouring.com

    regards

    Eligio Arturi

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  3. Dear Carl,
    I'm the interpreter of the Motogiro d'Italia event, the Motoclub Terni one...the official one.
    English is spoken (I'm dutch), such as German, French...
    Dream Engine isn't allowed to use the name Motogiro d'Italia at all.
    The event belongs to the FMI and the FMI gave it back to the Motoclub Terni.
    Please come and do the "official" Motogiro d'Italia...without driving, participating you can't really know how things are!
    Always at your disposal for any question,
    Chantal Sikkink

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  4. Ciao & Hello. Long post here...

    My name's Gabriel & I had the pleasure of riding both Motogiros last year (1st time for either event, on a modern bike).

    I spent most of my time riding with the staff of both events & got to know both events from the "inside," to a degree.

    The "working" (riding) staff of both events I found to be nothing short of Fabulous & extremely welcoming (my money was no good at the espresso bars @ DE2). However, the organizers of the DE2 event seemed to lack organizational skills by comparison & weren't particularly approachable.

    Whereas the Terni organizers (Massimo, Laura, Paulo, etc.) were sooo welcoming and TRULY made me feel like family.

    Every year is different, but I preferred the roads of the Terni event as well.

    And as Carl said, the DE2 Giro is more tourist-oriented. More emphasis on creature comforts (to a degree), more Americans, etc. But I feel that I got more of an "Italian" experience @ the Terni event, which is exactly what I wanted. Another big plus if you "go Terni," is that it's a 6 day event. The extra day to rest & wrench was most appreciated.

    But either way, you won't go wrong (unless you don't go!!).

    HTH :-)

    Gabriel

    PS- Bring your GPS!

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