From a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:

HOFMANN IN MINIATURE MAYHEM

Fuchs Kawasaki rider Alex Hofmann was given the opportunity to get in some extra preseason testing during a visit to Nürnberg recently. The 23-year-old German rider even got the chance to test the bikes of Loris Capirossi and Nicky Hayden, but it’s unlikely he learnt much about the opposition, given that the bikes were only 10cm high!

Hofmann was on hand at the Nürnberg Spielwarenmesse, the largest toy fair in Europe, as Horny unveiled a MotoGP version of their world famous Scalextric slot racing system to their worldwide dealer network.

With his Fuchs Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR providing a suitable backdrop on the Scalextric stand, Hofmann wasted no time in getting to grips with the slot racing version of MotoGP, which features highly detailed 1/18th scale replicas of the top 16 bikes and riders in the MotoGP World Championship.

If the assembled Scalextric dealers were expecting a virtuoso performance from the Fuchs Kawasaki rider then they were to be disappointed, as controlling a scale model of a MotoGP machine proved much harder for Hofmann than the real thing. On a positive note, the former European 250cc Champion did get plenty of exercise retrieving the scale model bikes from the floor after numerous crashes, before finally admitting defeat and swapping his hand throttle for a marker pen and heading off to sign posters for visitors to the show.

“Maybe I should stick to the real thing in future because this is definitely a lot harder than it looks,” declared Hofmann, after yet another crash brought about by over enthusiastic use of the hand throttle. “I can see I’m going to have to get some practice in between now and the start of the season, as I guess this is going to be a popular way of passing the time in the paddock this year.”

Three different MotoGP sets will be in the shops in May, to coincide with the first European round of the championship at Jerez, with the latest version of the Fuchs Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR making an appearance in miniature form by mid-season.