Posted: 17 Sep 2009 04:45 PM PDT

By Lauren Perl, Staff Writer Updated 7:43 PM Thursday, September 17, 2009

What if someone told you that the very first car to win the Indy 500 was going to be on display at Dayton's Carillon Park?

Consider yourself told.

The Marman Wasp, a single-seat car designed by 1911 Indy 500 winner Ray Harroun will be shown at the 2009 Concours d'Elegance show Sunday, Sept.20, along with many other classic and antique automobiles from the featured Marmon, Morgan and Mini marques.

"It's very rare that they allow the Marman Wasp to leave the museum, but we're going to have the chance to display it," said Concours Chairman Skip Peterson.

The event will showcase 200 vehicles this year, including 27 motorcycles. The exhibitors are chosen based on nomination and invitation, and vehicles must be at least 25 years or older to qualify. These original or restored-to-original automobiles come from owners in nine states as well as Canada.

Concours d'Elegance and its preview party Saturday night are the largest annual fundraisers for Dayton History, which operates Carillon Historical Park. Peterson says the location seems especially fitting, given Carillon Park's historical nature and Dayton's history with automobiles.

"Dayton has a tremendous automotive history to begin with," said Peterson. "There were many automotive dealers in Dayton in the early 1900s. Old cars and history and Carillon — it all just fits together, really."

Concours may sound stuffy, but it is a very family-friendly event, says Peterson. Admission includes full access to the show as well as all of the buildings and exhibits of Carillon Historical Park. Attendees will also be treated to live music, food and historical demonstrations.

Some people think that an advanced repertoire of auto knowledge is necessary to attend a car show, but Peterson disagrees.

"There's a program provided that has information about the three feature marques, and there are descriptive panels in front of each car," said Peterson. "The show in itself is an automotive learning experience."

The event will conclude with a ceremony around 3 p.m. to recognize the winners of awards for best in class, the R.H. Grant Best in Show, Charles Kettering People's Choice, Col. Edward Deeds Judge's Choice, as well as the Kid's Choice Award. The Concours committee will also select a dedicated and passionate member of the automotive community to be honored with the Jeff Cilers Spirit Award.

Even if cars aren't their thing, guests will still learn a lot and gain an appreciation for classic and antique automobiles, Peterson explained.

"Because there is such a vast variety of cars out there ... there is something for everyone," said Peterson. "You'll find something there that you really like."

Contact Lauren Perl at (937) 225-9366 or lperl@coxohio.com.

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Sears recruits merchants to sell on Sears.com - InternetRetailer.com

Posted: 17 Sep 2009 01:54 PM PDT

Not to be outdone by Walmart.com, Sears Holdings Corp. is expanding its online marketplace to attract more merchants that want to sell their merchandise on Sears.com.

Sears, No. 7 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, quietly launched the marketplace last fall at the same time it redesigned Sears.com. Sears says its marketplace is now moving into full production and the retailer is actively looking for more business partners. The Sears marketplace platform provides new opportunities for us to deliver more shopping choices to our customers as well as open up new lines of communication with our business partners, says a Sears spokesman. This current platform expansion is an evolution of a process we established with our Internet partners last November.

The move by Sears to expand its marketplace comes after Walmart.com, the e-commerce arm of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., launched a similar initiative last month. The new Sears marketplace has been expanded to give merchants more advanced options to create a merchant account, upload product information and catalogs, and monitor their account status with a dashboard tool that provides overview information, order history, and other data. To participate in the marketplace, Sears will charge merchants a monthly fee of $39.99 and take a commission of 15% to 20% depending on the product category. For the baby, fitness, sports, shoes, tools, toys, games, work wear, and uniform categories, Sears will collect a 15% commission for each item sold. Higher commissions of 17% to 20% will be collected for items in the appliance, beauty, health, wellness, and lawn and garden categories.

Merchants can sign up at seller.marketplace.sears.com to apply to participate in the marketplace. The expansion is yet another innovative solution that paves the way for future growth in this space and helps us provide quality services, products and solutions that earn our customers trust and build lifetime relationships, says the Sears spokesman. Sears will process all transactions, but order fulfillment and customer service will be the responsibility of individual retailers.

Automotive parts direct marketer Whitney Automotive Group, operator of JCWhitney.com, is the only marketplace retailer Sears has announced so far. Last September Whitney began supplying Sears.com with more than 130,000 items for its parts and accessories inventory for cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles. As of now JCWhitney.com is not listed on a product page when a customer places an order. Its still unclear if Sears will add a merchants brand as it further develops its marketplace.

But at least one industry analyst says other online retailers, especially niche web merchants that want to reach a wider audience, will be interested in the opportunity. Sears operates a family of web sites and thats going to be appealing, says Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor Corp., which helps retailers sell through online marketplaces like Amazon.com and eBay Inc. While Sears doesn`t have the offline cachet that Wal-Mart does, in the online world Sears Holdings is considerably larger than Walmart.com.

Sears has yet to say if or when its marketplace open to other retailers will be expanded to include its other sites, including Kmart.com and LandsEnd.com. But now that two of the biggest mass merchandise chain retailers are competing head to head with Amazon and eBay in the online marketplace business, Wingo expects many other retailers to enter the market as well. There are going to be a lot more marketplace options for buyers and sellers hitting the streets in the next 12 months, says Wingo.

On Aug. 31 Walmart.com rolled out Walmart Marketplace, which gives shoppers access to expanded merchandise in 32 categories. So far participating online merchants include CSN Stores LLC, eBags.com and Dreams Inc.

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Speedshow ’09 is here! - Scoop

Posted: 17 Sep 2009 02:15 PM PDT

Speedshow '09 is here!

The third annual Speedshow automotive extravaganza opens at 9am on Saturday 19 September at the ASB Showgrounds with a vast array of performance, historic and unique cars and motorbikes to delight fans of all ages.

With literally hundreds of vehicles going to be on display in and around the showgrounds' buildings for just two days, Speedshow organiser Keith Sharp estimates vehicles worth more than $100 million are on show at this year's event.

"From a beautiful 1926 Bugatti raced by New Zealand motorsport legend Ron Boycroft to the newest 2009 Porsche GT3 Carrera Cup race car and the 3,000 HP Nitro dragster called 'The Phoenix', this year's Speedshow is truly exciting in the sheer diversity of the vehicles," says Sharp.

"The oldest exhibit is a 1903 Ford that cost 180 pounds when brand-new while nearby is a DTM-spec Mercedes Benz AMG supercar, one of only 100 in the whole world that cost well over $500,000 new."

Other highlights include the Batmobile from the original Batman movies courtesy of Warner Brothers Movie World, Gold Coast, the world's fastest NASCAR and star of his own animated TV show, Roary the Racing Car.

Sharp recommends car and motorbike fans allow several hours to explore the full extent of this year's Speedshow. "The whole show is nearly twice as big as last year, with so many displays inside and outside, it's been a pleasurable problem fitting them all together.

The Speedshow 4 Kids dedicated children's area has Roary the Racing Car shows at 10am and 12pm each day. The Ezy Buy Auctions live action arena sees the Phoenix fired up for utterly crazy noise and excitement, along with the brilliant Mini motokhana and precision driving from the Wildcard Entertainment stunt utes.

Some of New Zealand's best drift cars are alongside historic racing bikes and New Zealand's best race car simulators, says Sharp. "See fantastic new cars and motorcycles from some of the world's leading manufacturers and exhibitors with a wide array of motoring and motorsport-related products and services, but honestly there's too much to mention so if you like cars and motorbikes, get along to the show this weekend!"

Speedshow '09 takes place at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland over the weekend of 19 and 20 September. Tickets are available at the gate. Speedshow is open from 9am to 6pm both days and more information about the event can be found on www.speedshow.co.nz.

ENDS/

Pratt & Miller partners with Motus Motorcycles - Motorsport.com

Posted: 17 Sep 2009 10:26 AM PDT

MOTUS MOTORCYCLES PARTNERS WITH PRATT & MILLER ENGINEERING TO DEVELOP REVOLUTIONARY SPORT TOURING MOTORCYCLE

New Hudson, Mich., Sept. 17, 2009 -- Motus Motorcycles' decision to partner with Pratt & Miller Engineering to develop and manufacture a new line of motorcycles further confirms their commitment to delivering highly engineered and reliable machines.

Pratt & Miller Engineering's 20-year history of success in motorsports was a determining factor in this partnership with Motus Motorcycles. Pratt & Miller Engineering has won numerous championships in the American Le Mans Series and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, and has scored six victories in the GT1 category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pratt and Miller Engineering has also played a prominent role in automotive, commercial, aerospace, and defense projects such as unmanned vehicles and the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

"With their vast experience developing high-performance, lightweight vehicles, we quickly identified Pratt & Miller as the perfect partner to engineer our lightweight, high-performance motorcycle," said Brian Case, VP and Design Director of Motus Motorcycles.

Motus MST series motorcycles will incorporate many of Pratt & Miller's race-proven technologies such as a balanced and optimized 4130 chrome moly space frame and lightweight carbon composite bodywork. A combination of computer-aided engineering tools such as CAD, finite element analysis, and multi-body simulation will be implemented throughout the design process. All prototypes will be developed in-house using the latest rapid prototyping techniques and many proprietary processes that Pratt & Miller has developed.

"Integrating these advanced engineering tools with our advanced manufacturing capabilities will help set Motus apart in terms of performance, safety and durability," said Pratt & Miller spokesman Brandon Widmer.

"When Motus first approached us about the MST project, we knew it easily fit within our capabilities, but once we learned more about their concept and their engine partner, we knew we absolutely wanted to be involved," said Pratt & Miller Engineering co-founder Gary Pratt.

"We are thrilled to announce this partnership with Pratt & Miller," Motus president Lee Conn said. "They have a total commitment to excellence, a world-class staff and proprietary technology that allow small companies like Motus to compete on a global basis. Because their engineering and fabrication teams are all under one roof, they can build complex vehicle packages with very few iterations."

About Motus
Motus is strategically located in Birmingham, Ala., in the heart of the growing southern automotive corridor with Honda, Mercedes, Toyota, Hyundai, and Volkswagen nearby. Birmingham is also home of the Barber Motorsports Park which houses a world-class road course and the world's largest motorcycle museum. Founded in 2008, Motus is a privately held company preparing to enter the market with the first V4-powered American sport touring motorcycle. The MST series motorcycles and accessories will be sold internationally through a network of existing independent dealers and distributors.

The Motus MST-01 is a clean sheet, next-generation sport touring motorcycle being engineered for performance, comfort, and range. For the discerning enthusiast, the Motus MST concept is a fresh take on the popular sport touring experience, with optimum rider and passenger comfort for extended, spirited journeys, and quality components for responsive handling. The Motus MST series, including the MST-01 and the premium MST-R, are powered by proprietary, liquid-cooled V4 engines that feature proven durability and range-extending technologies.

For more information about Motus, please visit the website at www.motusmotorcycles.com

About Pratt & Miller
Pratt & Miller Engineering is a world-class engineering company and a respected industry leader in the automotive, commercial, aerospace and defense industries. Providing clients with leading-edge engineering and low-volume manufacturing solutions, Pratt & Miller's range of design, engineering, manufacturing, and vehicle program management capabilities are among the most sophisticated in the world.

For more information about Pratt & Miller Engineering, please visit the website at www.prattmiller.com

-credit: Pratt & Miller Engineering