The Caretaker

I was browsing Vimeo the other day and ran across this great little documentary done by the boys of Petrolicious and featuring Andy Greene and his shop. It’s a great space full of incredible cars… And thought you fellas might get a kick out of it.

Porsche 356: the outlaw

Written by Influx
c. A rebel; a noncon­formist 2. A wild or vicious horse or other animal.

They call it an outlaw. And that’s why we like it. But it has nothing to do with legality. It has everything to do with orthodoxy.

When the concours-​​fetishists denigrate cars who don’t take origin­ality to be the quint­essence of car culture, what they’re really doing is being wholly unima­gin­ative. For them, as it was is as it should be. The fact that a car rolled out of a factory in a certain form half a century or more ago, means that this must be how a car should stay. Forever, goes the thinking, this product of a hugely complex indus­trial process must be an end-​​point in itself.

It’s impossible, it is reckoned, to improve on an original, and to extend that it must be impossible to think about a simulacra being anything but a fake — that a copy could not possibly surpass an original. So when people like Emory began to to create customised Porsche 356s some time in the early 1980s, it got up a few peoples’ noses.

The purity of the 356 form surely couldn’t possibly be improved upon, could it? How wrong could one be? The fact is that the very purity, the lasting lecacy of Porsche’s flowing, unsullied design itself that creates that uniquely perfect context upon which a creative imagin­ation can weave its magic.

Subtle Stancing. Cleaned type and badge-​​work. Race-​​style modific­a­tions like leather hood straps, emboldened steels or other alloys — only enhance the beauty of Ferdinand Porsche’s clean design. Purity of form allows for and accom­modates flour­ishes of human imagin­ation — and the integrity of the 356’s admit­tedly brilliant design and engin­eering can of course be augmented by the inclusion of up-​​to-​​date parts and accessories which, funnily enough, flow relat­ively easily into these almost seventy year old cars.

And, this, after all, is the age of the hybrid. Not only in terms of the prolif­er­ation of AFVs, but in terms of the cross-​​fertilisation of all thngs. In a world where commu­nic­ation is instant, where we can express ourselves to the entire world, sharing aesthetics, values and influ­ences — it is impossible to think that origin­ality will continue to be the sort of value traded by many of us.

So let’s celebrate the Outlaw as the realm of the here and the now. Let’s celebrate the fact that imaginaton and technology CAN actually create something of lasting value. Lets leave the originals to the age in which they were created.

Legend Boucles de Spa; Duval : "Cela faisait longtemps qu'on l'attendait, celle-là ! "

Ce sont finalement deux cents quarante-deux voitures qui ont disputé la 55e édition des Legend Boucles de Spa. Un rallye qui a mal débuté avec la neutralisation de la première RT de Wanne puis l’annulation du deuxième secteur de Basse-Bodeux après le passage de sept concurrents suite à l’intervention de l’ambulance pour secourir un spectateur victime d’une crise cardiaque. Au même moment, la Citroën du vice-champion du monde Mikko Hirvonen renonçait avec une fuite d’essence déclenchant un spectaculaire incendie ; le premier d’une longue série d’abandons décimant assez vite le peloton… On perdait ainsi consécutivement la VW Golf de Keving Abbring (boîte RT3), l’Audi Quattro de Bruno Thiry (direction assistée RT5), l’Opel de Marc Timmers (boîte RT7), la Citroën Visa d’Yves Matton (moteur, RT10), l’Opel Ascona de P-G- Andersson (boîte RT10) et l’Audi Quattro d’André Lotterer (fuite d’essence et touchette) brillant 3e en début de course. Quant à Thierry Neuville, victime d’un bris de bobine dès la première RT, il menait la danse l’espace de deux RT avant le bris du disque d’embrayage de sa Ford Escort. Dès l’arrivée de la Clémentine (RT7), François Duval s’installait aux commandes.

Le pilote de Cul-des-Sarts allait mener assez facilement jusqu’à la tombée de la nuit. Mais après la correction d’un de ses premiers chronos et avec le retour de la glace, la Porsche de Bernard Munster revenait à grandes enjambées. A un peu plus de deux points au départ de l’ultime chrono de Stoumont, « Big Bernie » coupait le brouillard au couteau pour signer l’ultime scratch. Mais le pilote BMA échouait finalement à 63 centièmes de points d’un « Dudu » aux anges. Contraint à l’abandon lors des deux dernières éditions alors qu’il menait l’épreuve, le pilote de l’Escort Gordon de Christophe Jacob a enfin vaincu le signe indien et accroché, pour la première fois, son nom au palmarès d’un des plus prestigieux rallyes belges : « On est souvent passés près, cela faisait longtemps qu’on l’attendait celle-là, »s’exclamait François sur le podium final. « Dans la dernière, quand j’ai vu qu’il y avait du grip dans les deux premiers virages, j’ai attaqué. J’ai même rattrapé et dépassé Marc Duez. Une victoire comme celle-là, cela motive. Vous me reverrez peut-être à l’une ou l’autre occasion cette année. »

Deuxième, Bernard Munster aura eu le mérite de maintenir un suspense haletant jusqu’au bout :« Quand vous vous êtes battus jusqu’au dernier mètre et que vous voyez l’écart final, vous ne pouvez qu’être déçu, » reconnaissait le double mètre. « Dans le dernier tronçon, j’ai demandé de pouvoir partir deux minutes après Mourgues. Malgré cela, je l’ai rattrapé juste avant un CP. On s’est arrêtés ensemble mais j’ai dû attendre derrière que le commissaire pointe sa carte avant la mienne. Quand on voit pour combien je perds… Je regrette aussi cette sortie dans Clémentine où je suis resté posé dans la neige. Les spectateurs ont dû me tirer de ce mauvais pas. Mais c’est la course. Je suppose que François a aussi eu quelques contretemps… »

Lauréat l’an dernier, Jean-Pierre Van de Wauwer (Lancia Beta Monte-Carlo) complétait le podium final avec un peu plus de 73 unités de pénalité. Le Verviétois devançait l’Escort de l’autre ancien vainqueur Stouf et l’Opel Manta du jeune Cédric Cherain.

Etonnant 2e en début de journée pour son retour à la compétition avant d’écoper d’une centaine de points de pénalité suite à une petite « étourderie » de son équipier débutant, Renaud Verreydt terminait finalement à une belle 7e place, juste derrière l’Opel Manta 400 de Chris Van Woensel. De quoi ravir son copilote, le chanteur Jali, tout heureux de terminer son premier rallye. « Le métier de copilote est beaucoup plus difficile selon moi que celui de chanteur, » souriait le Bruxellois. « Quand vous ratez une note dans un concert, cela passe. Cela peut avoir des conséquences nettement plus graves en rallye. »

Suite à la rectification d’erreurs de temps, les Ford Escort de Demaerschalk et Delhez réintègraient le Top 10 aux 8e et 9e places, devançant celles d’un Marc Duez très spectaculaire (lui aussi a pris une grosse pénalité suite à une erreur de précipitation de son équipier François Cornélis, un président du RACB très sportif) et de Frédéric Bouvy, puis la magnifique Lancia Stratos du Britannique Steve Perez, les Porsche de Mondron et Brasseur, et la petite Toyota Corolla de Becker.

On retiendra encore de cette édition la très grande popularité de la nouvelle étape show de Bilstain autour de laquelle les frères Crosset n’avaient jamais vu autant de monde. Juste dommage que le parcours, victime du dégel, se soit fortement dégradé lors du second passage, mais on y reviendra certainement.

Enfin, un grand coup de chapeau à Dominique Holvoet. Quatrième et meilleur Belge du Monte-Carlo historique, il a imposé sa Toyota Celica de 12 points face à la Cortina de Claude Verhelle et l’Opel Ascona de Dirk Van Rompuy. (avec COM - photo J. Letihon)

Classement final – catégorie Legend : 1. Duval-Bourdeaud’hui (Ford Escort Mk2) 439,67 ; 2. Munster-Lopès (Porsche 911 Carrera) + 0.63 ; 3. Van de Wauwer-Marnette (Lancia Beta Monte-Carlo) + 73.33 ; 4. Stouf-Erard (Ford Escort Mk1) + 106.09 ; 5. Cherain-Borguet (Opel Manta) à 197.03 ; 6. Van Woensel-Van der Sloten (Opel Manta 400) à 215,41 ; 7. Verreydt-Jali (Porsche 911) à 262,29 ; 8. Demaerschalk-Declerk (Ford Escort RS Mk2) à 262,57 ;  9. Delhez-Gully (Ford Escort 2000 RS Mk2) à 314,59 ; 10. Duez-Cornelis (Ford Escort RS Mk2) à 381,57 ; 11. Bouvy-Toubon (Ford Escort RS Mk2) à 460,14 ; 12. Perez-Parmander (GB-Suè/Lancia Stratos) à 461,65 ; 13. Mondron-Werner (Porsche 911 Carrera) à 509,84 ; 14. Brasseur-Brasseur (Porsche 911) à 513,51 ; 15. Becker-Thiry (Toyota Corolla) à 548,81 ; etc.

Catégorie Classic : 1. Holvoet-B. Vanoverschelde (Toyota Celica) 103,32 pts ; 2. Verhelle-Thirionnet (Ford Cortina GT) + 12,74 ; 3. Van Rompuy-J. Vanoverschelde (Opel Ascona) + 19,26 ; 4. Gengou-Gathy (Volvo 142S) +51,28 ; 5. Collignon-Felot (BMW 2002 Ti) + 116,21 ; 6. M’Body-D’Alleine (Ford Escort 2000 RS Mk1) + 130,30 ; 7. Sax-Pauly (Lux-Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV) + 132,52 ; 8. Breuer-X. Minguet (Alfa Romeo 1300 GT) + 161,57 ; 9. Delincé-J. Minguet (Ford Escort 2000 Mk1) + 173,82 ; 10. Glaude-Glaude (Volvo 142) + 173,87 ; etc.

DUNGEY FINISHES 3RD OVERALL AT DALLAS SUPERCROSS

Red Bull KTM Factory rider Ryan Dungey finished third overall in the 450SX class at the Cowboy Stadium on Saturday night while teammate Marvin Musquin recovered from a first round crash to finish sixth in his East Coast 250 class opener in front of a packed crowd for the seventh round of the AMA Supercross Series.

Dungey was placed in the second heat during the evening’s night show where he launched his KTM off to a great start. He then moved his KTM into second position to easily qualify for the main event.

He came out of the opening corner in fourth place in the main event and was wheel-on-wheel with Davi Millsaps and Chad Reed in second and third for the first half of the race. After the halfway point he began to reel in Reed and with three laps to go he made the inside pass and took over podium position. Dungey then began to close on Millsaps in the remaining laps. With a couple corners to go, he tried to cut into the inside of Millsaps but was unable to make the pass and had to settle for third position.

“I wish I had a few more laps to try and pressure Millsaps and hopefully takeover second, but I am still happy to walk away with a podium. My bike worked great today and I just need to work on improving my starts to hopefully get back up on the top step of the podium at the next event,” stated Dungey.

Musquin fights back to sixth after first corner crash
Dungey’s Red Bull KTM Factory rider Marvin Musquin may have got tangled in a first corner crash in the opening round of the East Coast 250 SX series but he made an excellent recovery from dead last to sixth place at the flag.

The French rider did well in his heat during the afternoon and was able to put his KTM 250 SX-F race machine into second at the end of the six-lap heat race to secure a great gate position for the main event.

He got a mid-pack start down the long start straight in the main event before he crashed in the first corner. He scrambled back on the bike but was then faced with the daunting task of recovery from the back of the pack – dead last as he entered the first rhythm section. After the first lap, he had already caught and passed four riders and was sitting in sixteenth place. He then set about picking off riders in each lap to close the gap between himself and the leaders.

At the halfway mark, Musquin had already moved into the top ten and with two laps to go he began to pressure on Gavin Faith in sixth and made the pass on the final lap.

“Obviously, this isn’t the position I hoped to finish tonight,” remarked Musquin. “But I am glad that I rode well after my crash and was able to climb through the pack to gain back as many points as I could toward the championship. Next week I hope for a better start so I can make a run at the podium.”

Next Round: Atlanta, GA – February 23, 2013

Overall Results 250SX Class –
1. Dean Wilson
2. Blake Wharton
3. Wil Hahn
4. Kyle Peters
5. Justin Hill
6. Marvin Musquin – KTM
7. Gavin Faith
8. Jimmy Decotis
9. Vince Friese
10. Lance Vincent – KTM

Overall Results 450SX Class –
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Davi Millsaps
3. Ryan Dungey – KTM
4. Chad Reed
5. Justin Brayton
6. Justin Barcia
7. Trey Canard
8. Matt Goerke – KTM
9. Andrew Short
10. Broc Tickle

Overall Point Standings 450SX Class –
1. Davi Millsaps – 154
2. Ryan Dungey – 133
3. Ryan Villopoto – 130

Cudby Photos.

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THE CORVETTE LEGENDS OF LE MANS

This year’s 24 hours of Le Mans will mark the 50th Anniversary of Corvette’s first participation at the legendary race. As part of the celebrations, Corvette Racing assembled a number of historic Corvettes at last months American Le Mans Series round at Laguna Seca.

Corvette also held a press conference, which included an awesome talk from 1960 driver Dr Thompson, and ’67 driver, Guldstrand. You can view their interviews at the YouTube links at the end.
It was truly amazing to witness these guys talk about losing their Drum brakes on a 3000lb car half way through the event and having to work around this ‘small problem’.

Briggs Cunningham was a wealthy sports car racer and aspiring car manufacturer He was defender of the America’s Cup and was the driving force behind the three-car Corvette team at the 1960 Le Mans. A fourth car was entered by Camoradi USA.

Corvette faired very well at the event considering it was the heaviest car. It was also one of the few true production cars to take part. The Corvettes were modified with larger gas tanks, quick-fill gas caps, magnesium wheels, oil coolers, driving lights, racing seats and heavy-duty suspension components among their limited modifications. Most of the other machines were highly converted or one off race cars.

The car we feature here is the Cunningham’s No. 2 Corvette driven by Dr. Thompson and Fred Windridge.

Note the coloured headlamp colours. This is one of the first examples of multi-car teams using colour to distinguish each car. Fast forward to today and all the multi-car teams at Le Mans will have coloured mirrors or windshield strips.

This car had a strong start but as the sun began to set, heavy rain made the track very dangerous. The #2 car crashed, suffering extensive front and rear damage. The car made it back to the pits, where it was repaired, but with 2 hours lost, it was out of major contention.

With six hours to go, the #2 car retired. Thomspon recounts, “It was the brakes, indirectly, that took our car out of the race,” he said. “The engine failed in fairly dramatic fashion, but that was not because of a problem in the engine. The brakes gradually got worse and worse and we relied more and more on the downshifts to help slow the car. The engine had been over-revved by about 1,000 rpm on some of the downshifts, and this was recorded on the tell-tale tach, and it ultimately caused the engine to give up.”

The #1 car has retired earlier in the event after a crash wrecked the car. The #3 car of John Fitch and Bob Grossman finished the 24 Hours with a class win, 8th overall.
This car was lucky to make it.

During one of the last pit stops, a mechanic decided to remove the radiator cap. With all the pressure, water escaped and the team was unable to top up. In those days, you could not add water or oil within 25 laps of your last top up, so the team came up with a ‘cool’ plan.
Every three laps, the car would come into the pits and the engine would be surrounded by ice!!!!

The #3 car is making its pilgrimage to Le Mans this year from the UK and will be on display.

The second car on display was the 2nd Generation Corvette, which was entered at the 1967 Le Mans with ex-Penske driver, Guldstrand and Bob Bondurant driving. While the car was very quick, it retired just before the 12-hour mark.

The car does look fantastic, now owned by Harry Yeaggy the period paintwork and graphics sum up the late 60’s racing scene in North America.

Guldstrand was another guest at Laguna Seca, seen here with Thompson and two-time Le Mans class winner, Ron Fellows.

The third car at the event was a third generation Corvette. Sponsorship was now big business in motorsport, with BF Goodrich sponsoring the team from 1971-3.
This particular chassis started off as a 1969 PR car.

This was converted to a racecar in 1972 and then restored to 1973 Le Mans specification a couple of years ago.

As part of the Legends of Le Mans Celebrations, the Corvettes will race with Legends branding on the hood. It’s a shame the team didn’t go the whole way and have the cars in traditional Blue and White. That would have looked stunning.

Chevrolet have also created this one off Z06 in these colours, expertly parked by Ron Fellows – typical racer, perfect line, touching the rumble strips.

This car will end up in the National Corvette Museum.

This was a fantastic event and a piece of history. The interviews of Thompson and Guldstrand are available on YouTube (links below) and offer a great insight into racing at Le Mans all those years ago.

Today’s drivers had to admit; they have it easy compared to these American heroes.

As part of our Le Mans coverage, we will follow this up with the latest in Corvette racecars, the C6.R GT2

-Andy Blackmore from SPEEDHUNTERS

Additional Photo: GM/Richard Prince

HARD !!! Hells Gate 2013 – Graham Jarvis wins

Red Bull KTM factory rider Jonny Walker overcame the fatigue from the after effects of a virulent stomach bug to finish second in the notorious Hells Gate Extreme Enduro on Saturday in Italy. Despite being ill, Walker led the time sheet in the morning stages but had to concede victory to Husaberg rider Graham Jarvis in the evening.

Walker finished 12 minutes behind Jarvis in the challenging conditions at II Ciocco venue where heavy snow in Northern Italy had forced organizers to modify the track before the race. US rider Cody Webb finished third.
Walker looked strong and led the time sheets in the morning session and led Jarvis by five minutes after the three stages but his health issues caught up with him in the evening. Obvious fatigue from his illness kicked in in the evening when he was faced with the dreaded near vertical Hell’s Peak Climb. It was here that his nemesis, the very experienced Jarvis turned up the heat and pulled away to a comfortable win.

Walker, who needed medical assistance on the podium at the conclusion of the race now heads back to the UK to prepare for next week’s final round of the British Extreme Enduro championship.

Final Results
1, Graham Jarvis, UK, Husaberg
2, Jonny Walker, UK, KTM at 12mins 17secs
3, Cody Webb UK, Beta, at 17mins 32secs
4, Alfredo Gomez, Spain, Husaberg 21mins 52secs
5, Ben Hemingway, UK, Beta 29mins 28secs

J.Edmunds photos. Enduro 21.

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