Peter McLaren
Peter has worked for Crash.net for almost 20-years, helping set up the website’s two-wheel coverage during the gap year of an Automotive (Mechanical) Engineering degree, then re-joining the company following the completion of his studies.
During his time covering MotoGP, Peter has seen 500cc two-strokes morph into 990cc, 800cc and now 1000cc four-strokes, followed the entire premier-class careers of Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo and watched the current generation of world champions Marc Marquez, Joan Mir and Fabio Quartararo emerge.
Peter’s academic background means he is particularly interested in the technical side of the sport, interviewing MotoGP’s engineering masterminds from Yamaha’s Masao Furusawa to Ducati’s Gigi Dall’Igna,
A chat with test rider Michele Pirro at the 2017 Sepang Shakedown test saw the term ‘salad box’ enter the MotoGP vocabulary while aerodynamics, electronics, ride height and holeshot devices are among the other technical topics to have captured Peter’s interest.
Memorable trackside moments include following the twists and turns of a thrilling but controversial 2015 season between Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo around the globe, plus Casey Stoner’s return to a Ducati MotoGP bike as a test rider and interviewing Nicky Hayden minutes after his final race win, in the WorldSBK class.
Standing on the inside of Stoner corner at Phillip Island, along the fearsome home straight at Mugello and Turn 3 at Sepang rank as Peter’s top MotoGP viewing picks, while a pillion ride around Silverstone with Neil Hodgson gave a first-hand insight into the extraordinary talents of world championship riders.
Peter’s own two-wheel adventures started with local BMX racing from the age of 5. Motocross and enduro bikes followed and, despite a terrible sense of direction, holiday time is often spent riding through the jungles of SE Asia.
