Alastair Walker – författare

Over four years, four ships were lost under different circumstances and 4,000 lives with them — but one thing linked them all: it was John Charles Bigham, Lord Mersey, who was appointed to head the inquiries into each disaster. Mersey is often referred to as a ‘company man’, or a government stooge. But is this the whole truth? Everyone has heard of Titanic and Lusitania but more passengers died when the Empress of Ireland sank in May 1914. That inquiry turned into a head-to-head between an American lawyer and a British one. Did Mersey let the right man win? Was he fair to Captain Lord of the Californian when he blamed him for the loss of so many lives on Titanic? The U-Boat that sank the Falaba with the loss of 104 lives behaved very differently to the one that torpedoed the Lusitania just six weeks later. Did Mersey reflect that in his findings or was he more interested in propaganda than truth?

The Cafe Racer captures the very essence of motorcycling, with its stripped-to-the-bone styling and a timeless blend of cat-quick chassis, matched to a barn-storming engine. From its roots in the ''59 Club, home-brewed specials and the creation of the Triton by Dave Degens, the Cafe Racer became the must-have Rockers'' motorbike. It then became the template for a new generation of fast road riders in the 1970s, with the rise of Dunstall, Rickman, Seeley and many more bespoke bike builders. The factories jumped on the bandwagon. Machines like the Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk I, Ducati 900SS and the MV Agusta 750S all captured the spirit of the Cafe Racer. Then the slick, super fast, Japanese sport bikes of the 80s came along, and looked set to consign the Cafe Racer special to the history books. But a revival had to happen. The Ace Cafe London re-opened, bike builders as diverse as Wakan, Fred Krugger, Nick Gale and Roland Sands all began to create lean, back-to-basics motorcycles, but with their own unique twist on Cafe Racer heritage. From the Buell 1125 CR to the Guzzi V7 Sport, mainstream modern bikes have also re-discovered their street racing soul. Packed with previously unseen photos, machine profiles, interviews, and personal anecdotes from the glory days of Cafe Racer culture, this book takes a look at the enduring cult of the Cafe Racer, in all its ton-up glory.

New in paperback, The Kawasaki Triples Bible covers the entire production of three cylinder two-strokes from 1968 to 1980, featuring a year-by-year breakdown of bike specs, including the KH250, 350 S2, KH400, H1 500 and H2 750 models.Illustrated with hundreds of archive photographs and period adverts, plus personal memories from some of the racers and tuners who got the best from the fearsome H1R 500 and H2R machines in Europe and the USA, as well as road riders who owned the triples back in the 70s. There are technical tips and advice from experienced Kawasaki triple enthusiasts and club members worldwide, plus information from some early dealers in the Kawasaki marque. The book also contains useful advice on spares availability, tuning, future market values etc, and tries to capture the essence of what made the Kawasaki triples the most rebellious, kick-ass two-strokes of their time.This unique book is an invaluable resource for any collector, restorer, or just a fan of these fabulous two-stroke motorcycles.

This volume constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 26th European Conference on Systems, Software and Services Process Improvement, EuroSPI conference, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in September 2019.The 18 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 28 submissions. They are organized in topical sections: Visionary Papers, SPI and Safety and Security, SPI and Assessments, SPI and Future Qualification & Team Performance, and SPI Manifesto and Culture. The selected workshop papers are also presented and organized in following topical sections: GamifySPI, Digitalisation of Industry, Infrastructure and E-Mobility. -Best Practices in Implementing Traceability. -Good and Bad Practices in Improvement. -Functional Safety and Cybersecurity. -Experiences with Agile and Lean. -Standards and Assessment Models. -Team Skills and Diversity Strategies. -Recent Innovations.