ACE CAFE RADIO

    samedi 22 juin 2013

    Porsche 356 et bottes de cuir


    etite session photographique que l’on doit au studio zurichois Marc & Louis qui let en scène une Porsche 356 Speedster et une ambiance à la Chapeau Melon avec une Emma Peel un rien plus contemporaine mais toujours aussi séduisante ! Lien du photographe :http://www.marcandlouis.com/
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     via yanncom

    Le Mans : LA COURSE ENDEUILLÉE SUITE AU DÉCÈS D'ALLAN SIMONSEN.



    Le Mans; décès d'Allan Simonsen. Le Danois est sorti violemment de la piste au Virage du Tertre Rouge. Le pilote a immédiatement été pris en charge par le service médical, arrivé sur le lieux dans la foulée. Transféré dans un état grave au Centre Médical du Circuit, Allan Simonsen est décédé peu de temps après son admission.

    Pilote expérimenté, Allan Simonsen disputait ses septièmes 24 Heures du Mans. Il pilotait l'Aston Martin Vantage GTE #95 qu'il partageait avec Christoffer Nygaard et Kristian Poulsen. Il reste à déterminer les circonstances exactes de l'accident. La rédaction d'Endurance-Info présente ses plus sincères condoléances à la famille du Danois, à ses amis ainsi qu'au team Aston Martin Racing.

    Aston Martin Racing vient de communiquer officiellement sur la poursuite de la course des quatre Aston Martin Vantage GTE suite au décès d'Allan Simonsen, et ce à la demande express de sa famille. Le résultat passera de toute façon au second plan après cette tragédie. AMR a donc décidé de continuer les 24 Heures du Mans en mémoire de son pilote.

    Laurent Mercier (Endurance-Info.com)


    Following the ACO’s media statement concerning the tragic death of Aston Martin Racing driver Allan Simonsen, and at the specific request of his family, the team will continue to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in tribute to Allan.

    Source : Aston Martin Racing

    WRC : Victoire d’Ogier en Italie


    Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen Polo R WRC/Michelin) a renoué avec la victoire en remportant le Rally Italia-Sardegna 2013 devant Thierry Neuville (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) et Jari-Matti Latvala (VW).
    Leader de bout en bout, Sébastien Ogier a remporté sa 4e victoire de la saison WRC 2013 sur les pistes du Rally Italia-Sardegna et augmente son avance au championnat Pilotes à 64 points. Le Français a rapidement creusé l’écart sur ses poursuivants. Son principal adversaire ce week-end était sans doute son équipier Jari-Matti Latvala, vainqueur de la Qualifying Stage et meilleur performer sur la 1ère journée.
    Mais le Finlandais a perdu près de deux minutes dans l’ES1(choc flanc pneu avant gauche). Jari-Matti est ensuite reparti au combat pour remonter sur le podium final, à la faveur de plusieurs infortunes. Evgeny Novikov (Ford) est sorti définitivement de la route au début de l’ES2, Mikko Hirvonen (Citroën) a fait de même au départ de l’ES10, Andreas Mikkelsen (VW) a cassé une suspension dans l’ES14…
    Deuxième derrière Sébastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville (Ford/Michelin) a signé son plus beau résultat en WRC et se rapproche d’une 1ère victoire mondiale. Hormis un tête-à-queue en début d’épreuve, le Belge a roulé sur un rythme soutenu (il luttait avec Hirvonen pour la 2e place) et constant tout au long du rallye.
    Dani Sordo (Citroën) n’avait pas disputé cette épreuve l’an passé et termine au pied du podium. Il marque de précieux points pour l’équipe Citroën-Total Abu Dhabi qui se retrouve désormais à 46 points de Volkswagen au classement Constructeurs.
    Martin Prokop (5e, Ford) et Elfyn Evans (6e pour ses débuts en World Rally Car) ont eux aussi profité des faits de course pour signer de superbes résultats. Michal Kosciuszko (7e) échoue à 0s9 du Gallois pour ses débuts sur la Ford Fiesta RS WRC/Michelin. Après deux sorties de route, Mads Ostberg a terminé à la 8e place, juste devant le vainqueur WRC-2 Robert Kubica.
    Au volant de la Citroën DS3 RRC/Michelin, le Polonais a remporté sa seconde victoire WRC-2 consécutive avec une très confortable avance de près de cinq minutes sur Al-Kuwari. Pour sa 2ecourse en WRC sur la Ford Fiesta RRC, Lorenzo Bertelli a fini sur le podium de la catégorie devant Nicolas Fuchs. Christian Riedemann a remporté la 2e manche du Citroën Top Driver 2013 devant Keith Kronin et Quentin Gilbert.
    Le Championnat du monde des Rallyes FIA reprendra en Finlande début août après une pause estivale.

    BMW R75/5 - Josh Withers


    If you're like me, and many other custom bike riders out there, you've had to face the rather daunting task of getting that dream bike out of your head and into the skillful hands of your chosen builder. There's probably as many ways to do this as there are custom bikes on the road. Photoshop, sketches, emails - why, I bet there's a guy somewhere who's described his ideal two-wheeled vision using his deft mime skills. But if you're taking sheer cool efficiency as a means of judging the best brief, then Shane Balkowitsch's ‘make it match my '65 Porsche’ really takes the cake. And that's just the brief that Sothern Californian Josh Withers received when he decided to take on the classic BMW build of a lifetime.
    Here's Josh. “I was just coming off the high of my second 'frame off, down to the crank' airhead restoration when I got a random call from a guy in North Dakota. We got to chatting, and he quickly revealed his interest in having me do a custom motorcycle for him just like my latest build. Due to the internet and a few magazine articles, my bright blue 1973 R60/5 toaster cafe conversion was attracting attention from all over the world, and now from this guy ‘Shane’. In this first conversation with Shane, I prefaced that I was not a professional mechanic and I work out of the garage of my humble Southern California home. He was understanding of that, put his faith in me, and thus our project and friendship began.”

    “Before I knew it, I had not one but two
    R75/5 motorcycles in my garage.”

    “Within a month of starting, we found a carcass of a 1972 R75/5 for $600. It was in really bad shape. Broken rod, wiring was a mess with extra lights and switches drilled in the headlight and many other parts were missing, broken or downright bastardized. As I met the seller in the California desert, took the bike out of his pickup truck, began to take it apart to load it into my station wagon, a stranger walked up and asked if I would be interested in another R75. Considering I already had one halfway into my car, I laughed him off at first, but then we got to talking. I soon learned that he lived nearby and had a warehouse full of motorcycles. His R75/5 was a complete bike but hadn't run in twenty years, had no title, yet he was asking $400. I had to check it out and before I knew it, I had not one but two 1972 R75/5 motorcycles in my garage.”
    “Shane's one request was that the bike matched his recently restored silver 1965 Porsche. Given that this bike was for somebody else, I couldn't cut the same corners I did for my own personal restoration. This means completely rebuilding the engine, rebuilding and upgrading to a 5 speed transmission, new U joints, rebuilt final drive, wheel bearings, front forks, steering bearings, speedometer... I think you get the idea.”
    “We found a good selection of bodywork in the past few years since my last restoration and settled with Cafeboxer who even made a custom ridgeless front fender for us. After hearing good reviews from the Siebenrock piston and cylinder upgrade kit, we decided to buy a set instead of spending extra money on a BMW set of R75 pistons. The Siebenrock kit bolts onto the same rods and uses the same heads as the stock R75. Supposedly it offers a 20% upgrade in power. A lightened flywheel was a must. Electronic ignition from Dyna was added. Rear shocks from YSS. And what would be a classy café bike without some wide shoulder Akront rims laced on powder coated white hubs. Lets hope they stay clean!”
    “A battery has been tucked under the seat. The tail light came from an old British 6V turn signal. I found drag bars that matched my clubman handle bars on my blue café. Of course, I had to get some custom gray and silver throttle, brake and clutch cables made. I also had custom swing-arm caps made to match his Porsche, and the stripes on the toaster panels were painted white to match our sidecovers.”

    “We found a reproduction set of exhausts
    from a 1937 R12 BMW.”

    “To customize the bike even further, we found a reproduction set of exhausts from a 1937 R12 BMW. I had to customize them to fit the header pipes and then sent everything off to Jet Hot to get coated so the pipes would forever stay silver. They sound beefy too.”
    “Two years and four months after that first phone call, I was happy to let Shane know that his bike was complete. I've enjoyed every minute of the zen time in my garage designing another custom BMW. I had a lot of help along the way and continue to learn the nuances of these old bikes. Above all, through this process, Shane and I have shared countless phone calls, emails and text messages.”
    “We have became good friends and have shared the joys and sorrows of two separate lives from completely different parts of the country. Shane and I will meet face to face for the first time in a few weeks. It will be a bittersweet encounter for it also means that I will have to say goodbye to my two year labor of love and send it to North Dakota. In order to heal that anticipated wound, I've already started planning out my next build.”
    For those keen to get into the nitty gritty details of the build, head on over to Shane's build page or maybe even check out Josh's blog to get the lowdown on just how you'd go about replacing the cork seal on a R75's gas cap. Just in case you were wondering.
    via PIPEBURN

    Triumph vs Tragedy: The 5 greatest Le Mans victories



    The 90-year history of the Le Mans 24 Hours is rich in heroic wins that inspired the world, sitting alongside heartbreak and loss of life – often in the same race. As we wait for the Saturday start of the world’s greatest endurance race, we recall five of the greatest Le Mans victories in history…


    1924 – Playboys and Heroes

    Back in the 1920s, what could be more thrilling than to drive from Britain to France in an open-topped Bentley, enter the same car in a 24-hour road race… and win it outright, beating all the local French heroes? It was a real-life comic-book story, featuring super-wealthy playboys and outrageous derring-do. 

    The second-ever Le Mans race took place in 1924, and saw Captain John Duff and Frank Clement sweep past the chequered flag in their Bentley 3 Litre Sport – the first of five pre-War victories for the British marque and the legendary ‘Bentley Boys’. 


    1963 – The Ox That Pushed the Cart

    Enzo Ferrari was famously sniffy about mid-engined cars. “The ox pulls the cart” was his mantra, and he remained stubbornly insistent in the face of the engineers’ arguments – right up to the point when a mid-engined Ferrari, the 250P of Bandini and Scarfiotti, won Le Mans in 1963. 

    It was the first mid-engined car ever to win Le Mans and no front-engined car has won there since. With a result like this, even Enzo was forced to accept the arrival of the mid-engined revolution. 


    1969 – From Last to First

    At the start of the 1969 race, as the drivers sprinted across the track and leapt into their cars for the traditional ‘Le Mans start’, Jacky Ickx refused to run. Instead, he walked slowly across, climbed into his Ford GT40 and deliberately did up the belts, relegating himself to last place on the grid. It was a dramatic way to rebel against the dangers of not belting the driver in properly. 

    Despite his slow start, Ickx – and co-driver Jackie Oliver – came through to win the race… by a few nail-biting seconds only, the closest genuine finish in the history of Le Mans. (Only ‘staged’ finishes have been closer.) It was the last Le Mans to feature the traditional start: in a tragic endorsement of Ickx’s stand on safety, John Woolfe was killed in a first-lap accident. 


    1970 – Porsche's First of Many

    Over the entire history of Le Mans (so far), one marque has stood out as – far and away – the most successful. Porsche has, to date, won the 24 Hours a staggering 16 times… but it wasn’t until 1970 that the German marque scored its first outright win. Up until the late 1960s, Porsche had enjoyed immense success in the smaller-engined classes but steered well clear of the big boys. 

    Then came the Porsche 917: phenomenally fast and – at first – notoriously unstable. Rushed through in double-quick time for the 1969 Le Mans race, the lack of development time made it hair-raising to drive. (It was in a 917 that John Woolfe died in 1969.) But for 1970, the aerodynamic problems were – at least partially – sorted. The 917K of Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann crossed the line five laps in the lead. 


    2006 – Burning Oil

    In one of the biggest technical turnarounds in the history of Le Mans, the 2006 race was famously won by a diesel car – the Audi R10 TDI. Spectators were amazed as the oil-burning Audi sped between the stands that surround the start-finish line, emitting not the high-pitched wail of a petrol-engined endurance racer, but a softer, smoother whoosh. Not everyone was delighted by the change. 

    Nevertheless, after 24 hours of racing, when the Audi took the flag four laps ahead of the second-placed Pescarolo, it justified the German marque’s vast investment in the new breed of Le Mans car. The era of the diesel-engined racer had arrived. What would Enzo have said? 


    Text: Charis Whitcombe (Classic Driver)
    Photos: Rainer Schlegelmilch / Getty Images

    Dirt Track Heroes Exhibit at the National Motorcycle Museum

    Whether you call it flat track or dirt track racing, it's a thrilling form of motorcycle competition unique to America. Now Allstate Motorcycle Dirt Track Heroes presented by J&P Cycles brings together nearly 30 race bikes, over 20 sets of leathers and countless photos, paintings and prints. It's been assembled to build a great exhibition in tribute to the #1 Plate Grand National Champions, tuners and other dirt track greats and many of the motorcycles they raced.

    Screen shot 2013 06 21 at 9.31.41 PM Dirt Track Heroes Exhibit at the National Motorcycle Museum

    Screen shot 2013 06 21 at 9.33.05 PM Dirt Track Heroes Exhibit at the National Motorcycle Museum

    Lasting the Longest: Five decades, five Le Mans challengers



    Although the last 90 years have seen the Le Mans 24 Hours develop into a cutting-edge spectacle of high technology, it remains – above all – about just one thing: endurance. We've selected five cars on sale today that were up to the ultimate challenge...


    Out after 16 hours: Bentley 3 Litre Le Mans

    No listing of Le Mans cars would be complete without a pre-War Bentley. And this car, this very car, note, actually competed at Le Mans in 1926. Its owner, the generously named Tommy ‘Scrap’ Thistlethwayte, was paired with professional ‘Bentley Boy’, experienced racing driver, war hero and preparation expert Capt. Clive Gallop. 

    Sadly, after over 16 hours of hard running, mechanical maladies forced it to retire at 08:30 on Sunday morning. 

    To see this Bentley 3 Litre Le Mans in the Classic Driver Marketplace >>


    Failure with victory in sight: Lotus 17

    There’s no denying the genius of North Londoner Colin Chapman. With the Lotus 17, his final front-engined car, he pulled out all the stops to ‘add lightness’ with glassfibre bodywork (a first, for customer cars) and other extensive weight-saving measures that saw the small racer tip the scales at a dry weight of just 340kg.

    Two factory entries, fitted with tiny 750cc Coventry Climax engines, and driven by Stacey/Green and Taylor/Sieff, ran strongly at Le Mans in 1959, sadly retiring before a likely class victory. 

    To see this Lotus 17 in the Classic Driver Marketplace >>


    Flying Frenchman: CD Panhard Le Mans LM64

    ‘CD’? That’s not for ‘Classic Driver’, is it? No, the letters stand for the man behind these small, superlight and very aerodynamic cars, the Frenchman, Charles Deutsch. Vive la France!, we say, as for many years the small Panhards and Deutsch-Bonnets (DBs) carried the hopes of the host nation at the annual day-long race. 

    After success in the 1930s with Bugatti, and just a single win in the 1950s (Rosier and Rosier in a Talbot-Lago T26 GS), it wasn’t until 1972 that a French car crossed the finishing line first. Up till then, the home crowd had to support these puttering CDs and DBs, winning the small-capacity classes year after year. 

    To see this CD Panhard Le Mans LM64 in the Classic Driver Marketplace >>


    Best of the 1997 privateers: Porsche GT1-96

    “No listing of Le Mans cars would be complete without a...” Whoa! Haven’t we been there before? It’s fact, though, that Porsche’s name in the 70s, 80s and 90s was as synonymous with the French 24-hour race as Bentley in the inter-war years. 

    Was the 993-based GT1 of the late-90s any more related to a road car than the outrageous 935 K3 that won in 1979, Porsche’s very first 911-based winner? The jury is out. This 600bhp car, chassis 102, is the ex-Team Schübel entry that finished fifth overall at Le Mans in 1997. 

    To see this Porsche GT1 in the Classic Driver Marketplace >>


    Dutch courage: Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R

    The plucky Dutch manufacturer was up for anything: super-expensive sports cars of extravagantly different design, a bit of Formula 1, even a tilt at the Le Mans 24 Hours. This car (an orange-free zone, carrying sponsorship not from an aid to a better night’s sleep, but from the now-bankrupt Lithuanian bank Snoras) raced at Le Mans in 2008. 

    To see this Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R in the Classic Driver Marketplace >>


    Text: Classic Driver
    Photos: Classic Driver Dealers

    The Rise

    Devinci Global Racing entered the 2013 gravity arena with its stacked lineup of Steve Smith, Nick Beer, Mark Wallace and Gianluca Vernassa. With less than a week before the first UCI World Cup of the season we wanted to share some of the preseason preparation and testing the team did while in Canada.
    The Rise from Cycles Devinci on Vimeo.

    GATEBIL MANTORP FINAL THOUGHTS


    What the hell just happened? It may sound silly but when you cover an event through your viewfinder you actually notice very little of what is going on around you. As you spend your time preoccupied with capturing the defining moments of a race or a drift competition, it isn’t until it’s all over, once you are back in your office and going through your images that you begin to really see what went down. I’ve had a few days to reflect on the carnage that was Gatebil Mantorp and after having a chance to finally go through the 30GB of pictures I took…
    … it’s now kind of sinking in. It’s still hard to put it into words, but here goes nothing.
    As I travelled to Sweden with Miura-san of TRA Kyoto I made an extra effort to take notice of his reactions. For a first time visitor of Scandinavia and Gatebil it was all quite an experience for Japan’s leading trendsetter. After we’d been at the track a few days Miura turned to me and asked, “My god, how much money do these people have? How many tires are they going through this weekend?”
    I explained that with the cold and long winters car guys in this area of the world have to endure, they only have a few months to get their fix, and fit in a whole year’s worth of track days into a few short months.
    Miura understood this, but he went on to say, “Still, they are all nuts!”
    I’m not going to disagree there, they are all pretty crazy, but in a very good way. I mean, it’s like every other car you look at is the result of a dare. I was talking about this with Sean; it’s like the Scandinavians like to dare themselves over a drink or ten, and then rather than forget about it they go ahead and build what they were discussing! A V8-powered RWD drift Evo? Sure, why not!
    A front-engined Beetle with a BMW straight six. But of course…
    … or how about a Lancia Delta Integrale that looks as good as a modern day Super GT car?
    No problem, and to make it all the more fun, all of these cars are mostly built at night or during weekends in the garage.
    Some have bigger budgets than others, but it makes absolutely no difference; the end result will always stop you in your tracks…
    … and make you get a closer look because, no matter what car you may be looking at…
    … there is absolutely no way of knowing what is powering it or what has been done to it. Now if that doesn’t make for a cool event I don’t know what does. I spent as much time as I could walking around the various camp sites and main paddock areas, and in no way did I manage to get a good look at all the cars there.
    While Sweden and most of Scandinavia are very much oriented towards European cars, there is an small but ever-growing JDM culture. Here, Japan remains the place that most take inspiration from and while still rare, I did come across some very authentically modded cars like this RE-Amemiya Touge special inspired FD3S. It may not have a gazillion horsepower but it is a good example of another school of thought, and one that is thoroughly appreciated.
    Some take Gatebil more seriously than others, and the guys participating in the Extreme class were all about performance. Lap times count for everything to these guys and I even spotted people shaving their slick tires from all the crap they’d picked up on track from the rubber annihilation that was going on throughout most of the weekend.
    The Extreme class is the one I felt the most naturally attracted to. I spend my winters in Japan covering the JDM time attack scene and to see projects like the KRB Audi Quattro…
    … or their new silhouette-like Lotus Esprit in action was quite a contrast from the cars I’m usually used to shooting.
    There were also a few interesting surprises like this Aquila CR1, a Danish kit car that can be ordered with a variety of engines ranging from an 550hp LS7 all the way to a BMW M3 S65 4L V8, as was fitted to this particular one. It was nice to hear the driver machine gun through the sequential gearbox.
    Oh and this is probably the most extreme R35 I’ve ever come across; fully stripped out and with a custom roll cage and running the GT-R flag high in Europe!
    Remember this incredible Quattro? Sean shot it earlier this year and I was very happy I had the chance to have a closer look under the hood myself, not to mention see and hear it in action.
    Oh and if you plan to hit up Gatebil, it might be advisable to bring a mask as there’s usually more smoke in the air than at a D1 or Formula D event!
    I went pretty much all around the track to watch the drifters do their thing. Above is a shot of the back straight which is also used for drag racing but for Gatebil it served as a nice place to let the cars cruise and cool down a little before coming around the twisty bits on the other sections of the track.
    The Gatebil taxi in action!
    If you’re wondering what makes Gatebil different from, say a Drift Matsuri in Ebisu Circuit, well I would first have to say the all-wheel drifters. There aren’t many out there but when they’re on track they sure make themselves noticed! The coolest thing about AWD slides is the brutal way in which the drift is initiated, starting with an almighty high-speed Scandinavian flick to break traction and use the car’s momentum to get the tail out, and then it’s simply a question of Hold Stumt!
    Then there are the Volvos. I mean, how cool is it to see one of these angular tanks doing…
    … this sort of thing?
    Pro drifters are like the cherry on the cake, they add a final touch of awesomeness to it all…
    … and one car I was looking forward to seeing was the Finnish Black Smoke Racing Benz, a new build following the retirement of the old 300TD wagon we featured last year.
    After having seen both Mike and Fredric in Australia for the Formula D Asia round in April, it was a pleasure to meet up with these two guys again all the way across the globe in Sweden.
    They ended up being a big part of the show, exhibiting not only their unique cars but their impressive skills.
    Freddie especially is like a superstar in this corner of the world…
    … and every time he was out on track…
    … the crowds went wild.
    It was so cool to see the brand new Scania/Speedhunters rig that Fredric is using to haul his car and equipment around Europe.
    Never thought I’d shoot a big rig… but hey, there’s a first time for everything!
    When they weren’t driving they were signing autographs and #Maximum Attack books for their fans…
    … or posing for pictures in front of the impressive Speedhunters stand that had been erected for the event. Hell we even won the best stand award, a testament to all the hard work that everyone put in over the weekend. As expected, Gatebil was quite the rollercoaster ride; so much to see, so much to learn and so many cool people to meet. If you’re into cars you need to attend one of these events at some point; it’s pure unadulterated car culture, in an inimitable Scandinavian way. Your next opportunity is in three weeks time at ‘the big one’ in Rudskogen, Norway – the Speedhunters team will be there to soak up the craziness so we hope to see you there!

    Dino Dalle CarbonareInstagram: speedhunters_dino