Course de Côte des Andelys; le retour !

la course du chateau 18/19mai2013

La première édition de la Course de Côte des Andelys a eu lieu en 1964, où 70 voitures et 21 motos étaient au départ, pour un circuit d’une longueur de 1700 mètres entrecoupé de trois virages. Il s’agissait alors d’une course de rapidité.

Christian LEON détient le record avec un temps de 41,06 secondes sur une 450 Honda mais l’histoire a aussi retenu les performances de Pierre-Louis TEBEC qui a gagné la Course de Côte des Andelys à plusieurs reprises.

Aujourd’hui La Course du Château est une épreuve destinée aux passionnés de « side-cars » et de  motos classiques allant des années 1955 à 1980.
Elle se déroulera sur deux jours du samedi 18 mai, où le top départ sera donné à 8h pétantes et se terminera le dimanche 19 mai à 18h, par la remise des prix aux pilotes et des diplômes qui seront remis à chaque participant.

Il s’agit d’une manifestation festive où les passionnés pourront participer également à la démonstration et/ou exposer leurs motos sur les quais de Seine, véritable musée de la moto classique à ciel ouvert.

L’association Les Chevaliers remettra un prix spécial à l’exposant le plus original tant par la qualité que par la diversité de ses produits.

Le jury sera présidé par une grande personnalité du milieu de la moto, qui récompensera également le plus beau « café-racer ».

La Course est parrainée par le TEAM 6ème AVENUE, moto club affilié FFM etDDCS, inscrit au Championnat de France de la Course de Côte.

La direction de la course sera assurée par Madame Dany DIEUDONNE, Présidente de la commission éducative d’Ile de France et 7 fois championne de France de dragster, récompensée en 1983 au « Tourist Trophy » de l’Ile de Man pour sa remarquable démonstration.

Le contrôle administratif et technique se fera sous le patronage de Monsieur Charles KRAJKA, pionnier de la sécurité routière en France et véritable légende vivante.

Seront présents à nos côtés le Comité Départemental des Motos des Yvelines (CDMY) et Messieurs Eric DIEUDONNE (Formateur Moto – BEES) et Nicolas VERZELE (vainqueur du Trophé de France d’Endurance 2006), qui s’occuperont de la formation des jeunes pilotes souhaitant s’initier au monde de la moto lors de cet évènement.

Monsieur Claudio RIZZOTTO, Directeur Commercial MV AGUSTA France, nous témoignera son amitié par sa présence.

Plusieurs champions de renom international seront présents parmi nous, dont Colin SEELEY et Freddie SPENCER.

pour tout savoir 1ére édition aux Andelys

RIVALS V8 Touring Car Champion READY TO TEST IN ANGER

THE Holden Racing Team and Ford Performance Racing will conduct extensive Car of the Future testing, side-by-side for the first time at Winton Motor Raceway today.

Both teams completed an initial shakedown of newly completed cars yesterday ahead of today’s extensive test which will see three new-generation Falcons and two Commodores take to the track.

Ford Performance Racing Team principal Tim Edwards is looking forward to seeing how the teams compare.

“It will be good to run three cars in anger and benchmark ourselves against HRT who are also testing,” says Edwards.

“It’s the first time anyone has run out with any of the teams with Car of the Future.

“We’ve all been standing around in isolation up until this point – wondering are we quick? Are we slow? Who knows?

“We’ve got a very extensive list of things the guys will be working through. All three cars will be doing a different test so we can evaluate as many different things as possible.

“Fortunately the weather is looking good and we should have a good day’s running.”

Edwards concedes it’s been a massive achievement to build three cars in time for the scheduled test.

“If you’d asked anyone a few months ago – the majority would have said we’d struggle to get three cars on track in December.

“Even when we got the first car running it was a sense of achievement. To now have three of them and a fourth one going to paint within the next 24 or 48 hours – the shell is complete and we’ve got lots of the bits all queuing up to be put in it – I think we’re trucking along all right.”

Will Davison, Mark Winterbottom and David Reynolds will be joined by recruit Alex Davison who is also expected to get some time seat time.

Holden Racing Team drivers James Courtney and Garth Tander will be on track testing their new Commodores, including one that is making its debut.

Tony D’Alberto is also running another newly built Walkinshaw Racing Commodore after a successful shakedown yesterday.

Also on track yesterday was Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers Alex Premat and new signing Scott McLaughlin who enjoyed his first run in the team’s Car of the Future. The team won’t be returning for a further session today.

Maxime Berger joins Yamaha France GMT94 team

From Twowheelsblog : After spending two seasons in World Superbikes with two teams that folded, Supersonic and Effenbert Liberty and then with Red Devils Roma as a replacement rider for injured Niccolò Canpea, Maxime Berger’s future will see him contesting in the 2013 FIM Endurance World Championship.

The 23-year old French rider - whose best result in 2012 was a fourth place at Magny-Cours - will be become the fourth member of the Yamaha France GMT94 Yamalube Michelinendurance team, joining the already confirmed David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive.

“Finally I’ll be racing in a championship as an official rider, it was an opportunity that I couldn’t refuse when Christophe (Guyot, team owner) contacted me with the deal” said Berger.

Christophe Guyot, former racer and team owner of GMT94 (Guyot Motorcycles Team) is happy to have signed the talented French rider said, “In 2012, we demonstrated the competitiveness of our Yamaha YZF R1 and with Maxime we believe we can win the World Endurance title .

The French team took third in the overall standings this season.

The 2013 the World Endurance championship has been whittled down to just four rounds, the Bol d’Or at Magny Cours - April 21 and 22, the 8 Hours of Suzuka - July 21, the 8 Hours of Oschersleben - August 18 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans - September 21 and 22. The 8 Hours of Doha is no longer on the calendar.

The history of AGV helmets at Valenza

Have you ever wondered what helmet manufacturer’s AGV name actually stands for? It’s the acronym for Amisano Gino Valenza.

Gino Amisano was the founder of AGV helmets and he started his company just after the Second World War in 1946, in the town of Valenza in the Piedmont region in Italy.

Amisano died three years ago and the city of Valenza will be holding a special exhibition in collaboration with his heirs and Dainese, (who bought the company in 2007) to pay tribute to the man who started making helmets in basement, to later become one the most important helmet manufacturers in the world and his lids would protect the heads of legendary riders like Giacomo Agostini, Kenny Roberts and Valentino Rossi.

AGV started with just one employee producing bicycle helmets and seats for Vespas and Lambrettas, but in 1947 began making handmade motorcycle helmets from leather and cowhide and manufacturering just five a week, but his business began to slowly take off with the production of the first fiberglass lid in 1954, and Amisano would become known as the ‘King of Helmet Makers’.

AGV’s story will be told through a series of vintage photographs along with the helmets belonging to the dozens of champions who donned this extraordinary brand, and will be on dispay at the Valentino Palace in Valenza from December 16 to January 13, 2013.

The inauguration will be held at the Social Theatre of Valencia, with a meeting entitled “I remember when Gino …” with stories, anecdotes from people who knew and worked with “Ginetto”, who was also funded Dr. Claudio Costa’s first Clinica Mobile, but he also owned a vineyard and was President of the Alessandria Football Club.

with Twowheelsblog

MULE YAMAHA XS STREET TRACKER

By David Edwards—So this is what happens when two old surf dudes get together. Richard Pollock, our favorite street-tracker builder, was a semi-pro surfer in his youth. Motocross was a way to pass time when the waves were flat, which led to a gig as a bike shop mechanic, which led to a 30-year career as an aerospace fabricator, which then led back to motorcycles, specifically Mule Motorcycles. To date, about 140 machines, almost all street-trackers, have left the refitted suburban San Diego two-car garage that serves as Mule’s build facility.

This British Racing Green Yamaha XS650 is one of his latest, commissioned by another surfer, Fred Snyder, a northern Californian whose favorite spot for shooting curls is Moss Landing north of Monterey. Discreet MLAV lettering, for “Moss Landing Assault Vehicle,” just below the Mule logo on the Storz aluminum gas tank is an in-joke between Pollock and Snyder.

About the only items that remain from the original XS are the engine castings and the footpegs. Everything else had been replaced, rebuilt or thoroughly massaged, starting with the motor, which gets a big-bore 750 kit, hotter cam, large valves, porting and an electronic ignition from Powerdynamo in Czechoslovakia. The smaller sparking system allowed Pollock to trim the alternator bulge on the primary cover and weld on a flatter aluminum piece for more of a race bike look.

All buttoned up, the rebuilt twin was slotted into a new chromoly-steel frame built to Pollock’s specs. The design does away with the bottom frame cradles. Wheels at both ends are Morris-lookalike 18-inchers originally fitted to 1970s Kawasakis. Mule acquires these inexpensively on eBay, then sends them to Kosman Specialties to be widened so modern rubber – Bridgestone BT45s in this case – can be used.

Pollock’s uncanny ability to mix-n-match parts is evident on the front end, where his own billet triple-clamps house 45mm conventional forks taken from a Honda CBR900RR. Nissin calipers from the 900RR remain, putting the bite on rotors that consist on custom carriers and trimmed, thinned XS650 discs, the latter drilled with a series of holes to resemble TZ750 roadracing items. A new Triumph Bonneville headlight bucket, tiny Acewell multi-function instrument pod, Woods Racing stainless-steel handlebars and Brembo front master cylinder complete the fork assembly.

The tailsection is a Mule part, traditionally flat-track in shape but crafted out of carbon-fiber. Snyder, over the moon about all other aspects of the MLAV, has requested that the seat’s skimpy slab of foam padding be doubled in thickness. Hey, even old surfers can appreciate a little more comfort…

with bikeexif.com

The Raiden Files, Stage 1: Urban Center

A headlong leap into the mission at hand- Stage 1 sees us conquer towering stairs, slick blacktop, and a variety of urban obstructions as a gateway into the wilderness that awaits us. 

To outfit yourself for urban escapades, visithttp://www.rideicon.com/patrol/

To ride among us at ICON Motosports, join us athttp://www.facebook.com/iconmotosports

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

Volkswagen Motorsport visera les podiums en 2013 pour les débuts de la Polo R WRC. Le constructeur allemand se réserve une saison avant de se battre aux avant-postes.

La Polo R WRC est dévoilée aujourd'hui à Monaco pour la saison 2013 qui débutera dès le mois prochain au Monte-Carlo. En plus de Sébastien Ogier et Jari-Matti Latvala, Andreas Mikkelsen a été confirmé comme troisième pilote de l'équipe à partir du Rallye du Portugal. Pour les débuts de la voiture au sommet de la discipline, le constructeur de Wolfsburg aura des objectifs modestes avant de se concentrer sur des luttes plus intenses. 

« Après deux années de développement, l'équipe entière est prête à démarrer la saison », assure Jost Capito, le directeur sportif de Volkswagen. « L'homologation de la voiture se fera la semaine prochaine. Les deux voitures qui disputeront le Monte-Carlo sont en train d'être assemblées et elle rouleront avant Noël. Le WRC est assez nouveau pour nous. Nous aurons beaucoup à apprendre et nous voulons nous battre pour des podiums en 2013. Nous pourrions alors viser les victoires en 2014. »

Si Sébastien Ogier a découvert l'équipe en disputant la saison 2012 avec une Skoda Fabia S2000 engagée par le constructeur allemand, Jari-Matti Latvala a dû faire son choix en fin d'année suite au retrait de Ford. Cependant, le Finlandais est confiant en son avenir. « De ce que j'ai vu, tout le monde est très motivé. Nous avons beaucoup d'ingénieurs qui récoltent des données. Nous essayons d'être créatifs à chaque séance d'essais et tous les ingénieurs et les mécaniciens écoutent ce que les pilotes ont à dire. Je suis très positif quant à l'avenir. »

Cliquez sur ce lien pour accéder à la galerie photos de la Volkswagen Polo R WRC.

Découvrez le compte-rendu complet de la présentation de la Volkswagen Polo R WRC réalisé par les envoyés spéciaux dans le prochain numéro d'AUTOhebdo, disponible dès mardi en version numérique pour iPad, PC et Mac, et dès mercredi en kiosques.

BY Jacques-Armand Dupuis(AUTOHEBDO)