MOTO GP;2013 Brno: Jorge Lorenzo to improve on braking, Rossi happy with modifications

It was a rather tight lipped Jorge Lorenzo at the end of Friday’s two free practices at Brno, despite leading the morning session and being barely edged out by Stefan Bradl in the second.

The Yamaha rider was not completely satisfied with the performance of his M1 (electronics basically). especially when he was unable to continue to lower his lap times after setting his best lap on his fourth lap out, something unusual for the Spaniard, who like Rossi should have at least benefited somewhat from their recent private test, but now need the seamless transmission and maybe a new chassis.

“I started in a very good way in the morning and also in the beginning of the second practice,” said Lorenzo, “Then we started to try some things on the bike that weren’t as good as we expected. We spent all the practice trying things so I wasn’t very fast at the end of the session. Anyway, the positive thing is tomorrow we have a clear direction, so we can go more quickly to a better lap time. We can improve on braking, and the smoothness of the bike at the beginning of the corner.”

Would you believe that Valentino Rossi won his first ever GP race at Brno 17 years ago?

Whether it’s the track layout or the fact that he was immediately fast on the Czech circuit, but this is another Rossi compared to the one at Indianapolis just a week ago, now that he has modifed the ride height and weight distribution.

“I think that we are equal at this track because Dani won last year with the Honda after the battle with Jorge on the last lap. For sure the Yamaha is more competitive here in Brno and also I am more competitive because I like the track and I ride in a better way than in Indianapolis. Today it was a positive day for me, especially this afternoon, we modified the bike and I improved a lot. I was fast with the soft tyre and the hard tyre and I have quite a good pace. We are all very close; we are five or six riders within a few tenths. We hope for tomorrow and Sunday we have good weather because the forecast says it’s not so positive,”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

End of Day 2: a thriller in Germany / Etape 2 : Latvala (VW/Michelin) en tête

With half of Rallye Deutschland’s 16 stages completed, Volkswagen’s Latvala leads his employer’s home event. The Finn can’t relax, however, since second-placed Neuville (Ford) is only 7.3s behind. They are joined on the podium by Citroën’s Sordo who hasn’t quite matched the front-runners’ pace today.

A environ la moitié de l’ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2013, Volkswagen mène son « home rally » grâce à Jari-Matti Latvala. Mais le Finlandais ne peut se relâcher car Thierry Neuville (Ford) est à seulement 7s3. Dani Sordo (Citroën) complète le podium provisoire.

Jari-Matti Latvala has bounced back from his big mistake on home ground in Finland to find himself in front on the first ‘pure’ asphalt fixture of this year’s WRC.

The Polo R WRC driver was fastest on Friday’s last two stages to earn some breathing space after coming under pressure from Thierry Neuville, winner of today’s first four stages. The gap between them is only 7.3 seconds, however, so their exciting fight is poised to continue on Saturday.

“I loved those last two stages,” smiled Latvala after SS8 (Grafschaft). And that’s easy to believe, because they enabled him to extend his shaky margin over Neuville by a welcome 5.3s. “We changed the car’s set-up at service and it feels great now…”

Judging by his comments at the same Stop Control, his Belgian rival has no intention of giving up, yet he will be wondering where the Finn has suddenly found the extra speed. “I was maximum over the last two stages,” he said. “I didn’t make any mistakes and I can’t see where I could have gone any faster. When I see Jari-Matti’s times, it’s a bit frustrating.”

Third-placed Dani Sordo (+26.3s) made a small error on SS8 when he braked too late for a hairpin. It cost him another seven seconds to the leader. “I thinks it’s impossible to catch the others now,” shrugged the Spaniard.

Citroën team-mate Mikko Hirvonen is still fourth, but now 47.6 seconds behind Latvala. “C’est la vie!” was his first comment after today’s competitive action. “The others are some way ahead at the moment, but you never know…”

Mads Ostberg (5^th, +2m12.3s) is still wondering why he can’t match Neuville in his identical Ford Fiesta WRC and was visibly relieved to have reached the end of today’s programme: “I feel I have the potential. I just need to find a set-up I can work with.”

Perhaps the Norwegian’s luck will turn if it rains on Saturday, and thunderstorms are effectively forecast in the Trier region for Day 3…

A weather change could also play into the hands of Elfyn Evans (Ford) who is doing his best to stay with Citroën driver Robert Kubica in the WRC-2 class. The Welshman’s mission was helped when the ex-F1 racer lost an estimated half-a-minute after damaging a wheel in a compression. However, the Ford youngster then lost concentration due to a coughing fit on SS7. “I’m happy with my day,” he said. “I learned a lot and that was my objective.”

Meanwhile, New Zealander Hayden Paddon gained around minute on fellow Skoda driver Sepp Wiegand.

In the WRC-3/Citroën Top Driver class, Sébastien Chardonnet pulled sufficiently clear to be able to lose time after a collision with a dog. Christian Riedemann went off on SS4, while Quentin Gilbert suffered a mechanical problem.

Jari-Matti s’est racheté de son erreur du dernier Rallye de Finlande en virant en tête de l’ADAC Rallye Deutschland – premier rallye pur asphalte de la saison - à l’issue de la 2^e étape.

Le pilote de la Polo R WRC n°7 a remporté les deux dernières spéciales du jour et pris un peu d’avance sur son poursuivant Thierry Neuville qui avait aligné quatre meilleurs temps consécutifs sur les routes du vignoble mosellan. Le Belge n’est qu’à 7s3 du leader et l’étape de demain, avec deux passages dans la terrifiante Panzerplatte (41,03 km), s’annonce particulièrement animée.

« J’ai adoré ces deux dernières spéciales », résumait Latvala à l’arrivée de l’ES8. « On a changé les réglages de la Polo à l’assistance et elle est parfaite désormais. » Alors que Neuville grappillait dixième par dixième de seconde depuis ce matin, le Finlandais a repris 5s3 en deux spéciales.

Mais le pilote belge n’a pas l’intention de rendre les armes : « J’étais au maximum sur les ES7 et 8. Je n’ai pas fait la moindre erreur et je ne vois pas où il a pu aller si vite. C’est un peu frustrant. »

Troisième, Dani Sordo (+26s3) a fait une petite faute dans l’ES8 en freinant un peu tard pour une épingle. « Je pense qu’il est impossible de rattraper les deux devant », murmurait l’Espagnol.

Son équipier Mikko Hirvonen est toujours quatrième, désormais à 47s6 du leader. « C’est la vie », a déclaré Mikko en français. « Les autres sont loin devant, mais on ne sait jamais… »

Mads Ostberg (5^e, à 2min12s3) se demande encore pourquoi il ne peut pas suivre le rythme de son équipier Neuville sur la même Ford Fiesta RS WRC que la sienne. « Je pense avoir le potentiel pour y arriver. Je dois juste trouver les bons réglages qui me conviennent. » Peut-être que la pluie annoncée demain et dimanche viendra au secours du Norvégien.

Un changement de météo pourrait également aider Elfyn Evans (Ford Fiesta R5) qui fait ce qu’il peut pour rester au contact du pilote Citroën Robert Kubica en catégorie WRC-2. L’ancien pilote de F1 est leader mais estimait avoir gaspillé une trentaine de secondes aujourd’hui, notamment en cassant une jante dans une compression (ES6). Le Gallois était quant à lui content de sa journée : « J’ai beaucoup appris et c’était mon objectif. »

Toujours en WRC-2, la bagarre entre les deux pilotes Skoda est intéressante à suivre : Hayden Paddon était heureux d’avoir repris quasiment une minute à l’Allemand Sepp Wiegand sur cette étape.

En WRC-3, Sébastien Chardonnet est leader malgré avoir percuté un chien en spéciale. Le moteur de sa Citroën DS3 R3 chauffait à l’arrivée de l’ES8. Ses adversaires ont connu une journée encore plus difficile : Christian Riedemann est sorti de la route dans l’ES4 et la voiture de Quentin Gilbert a refusé tous services au parc d’assistance de Trèves.

Stefan Bradl pips Lorenzo in FP2 at Brno

Stefan Bradl regained the confidence that he had lost at Indy, with a hot lap in the dying minutes of the second free practice at Brno to top the timesheets in 1.56.500 and pip Jorge Lorenzo by a mere +0.038.

The reigning world champion had led most of the session, and while Brno track may be traditionally known as to favour the Yamahas, it was a very tight practice session with the top six riders separated by just three tenths of a second.

Dani Pedrosa was third, followed by Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Cal Crutchlow who was last of the six.

Yamaha Tech3 rookie Bradley Smith finished his session in seventh ahead of Alvaro Bautista who was the last rider to be within a second from Bradl, but he is having rear grip issues.

Ducati duo, Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden were as usual attached to each other with an invisible red string as they were 9th and 10th respectively, with Andrea Iannone followed the factory riders in 11th, but the Pramac rookie is still carrying his shoulder injury.

Aleix Espargaro was the fastest CRT rider and he left his fellow non MSMA riders more than one second adrift! Danilo Petrucci is battling food poisoning that he picked up in the States and he was 19th.

2013 MotoGP Brno FP2 results:

01- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – 1’56.500
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.038
03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.100
04- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.226
05- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.233
06- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.300
07- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.851
08- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.901
09- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.254
10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.396

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

The wall is a racetrack: Art prints by Cale Funderburk

Texan Cale Funderburk – crazy name, crazy guy, we know – is driven by two passions: motorsport and art. However, unlike many who work ‘in oils’, as a former race mechanic this one really knows how to get his hands dirty.

And as Funderburk the artist, rather than artisan, the American has produced a collection of racing-themed images, strong on colour and design.

For further information on the vibrant art of Cale Funderburk, visit www.calefunderburk.com

You can order prints online from www.society6.com

After SS5: Ogier retires, Latvala and Neuville battle for lead / Après ES5 : Ogier abandonne, Latvala et Neuville à la bagarre

This morning’s action in the Mosel Valley vineyards has eliminated the pre-start favourite, Sébastien Ogier. His Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala now leads, narrowly clear of Ford’s Thierry Neuville (+2.4s). Citroën makes it three makes on the provisional podium thanks to Dani Sordo (3rd, +15.1s).

Le début de cette deuxième étape de l’ADAC Rallye Deutschland a éliminé un des candidats à la victoire, Sébastien Ogier. Son équipier de Volkswagen Jari-Matti Latvala lui a succédé en tête mais ne compte que 2.4 secondes d’avance sur Thierry Neuville (Ford/Michelin) vainqueur des trois spéciales de la matinée.

The second stage of this morning’s competitive loop east of Trier saw Ogier crash out of the rally and leave the fight for victory in the hands of his main championship rivals, Latvala and Neuville.
The Frenchman’s disappearance on SS4 (Moselland) was a direct result of his accident on SS3. When he passed in front of us then, his Polo R WRC didn’t appear to be seriously affected. However, at the Stop Control, the front suspension was badly damaged and he was forced to make repairs on the following road section, using only the equipment he had in the car.
He and co-driver Julien Ingrassia succeeded in strapping the broken lower arm in place and they were able to start SS4. However, they ended up leaving the road on a blind crest not far from the finish. Latvala said the road went right but that he had seen black marks going straight, plus a warning triangle by the stage.
Ogier will no doubt be able to re-join the rally on Saturday, but the time-loss means he has little chance of finishing in the big points. It also means he won’t be crowned 2013 world champion on Sunday, and it now looks unlikely he will claim the title in Australia…
In contrast, his misfortunes will have given fresh hope to Latvala and Neuville who were equal second in the championship standings before this event. There has been very little difference in the speed of the two drivers since Thursday’s start and they are currently split by just 4.2s. The momentum appears to be with the Belgian driver, though, since he won all three of this morning’s stages.
“That was good,” he told us after SS5 (Grafschaft). “It was slippery in places and I braked too late once or twice, so I lost a little time. But I feel confident.”
Dani Sordo and Mikko Hirvonen were third and fourth fastest on the morning’s last stage and are in the same positions overall, followed by Mads Ostberg (Ford) who is practically a whole minute behind the Citroën pair. The Norwegian is uncomfortable with the set-up of his Fiesta WRC and is hoping to find a solution at the lunchtime service break.
Robert Kubica (Citroën) still tops the WRC-2 standings but is only 8.2s ahead of Elfyn Evans (Ford) after a “big moment” at a junction on SS5. “We made a mistake with our notes in recce,” he admitted.
There have been light showers in the Mosel Valley this morning, so teams will be trying to predict how the weather will turn this afternoon in order to choose between the soft- and hard-compound Michelin tyres they have available for the German event.

Après une touchette dans l’ES3 qui lui a coûté plus de deux minutes, Sébastien Ogier est sorti définitivement dans la suivante, abandonnant toute chance de victoire et d’un premier sacre mondial ici en Allemagne.
Quand sa Polo R WRC/Michelin est passée devant nous dans l’ES3, elle ne semblait pas trop endommagée. Mais au point stop, un bras de la suspension avant gauche était cassé. L’équipage est parvenu à bricoler sur la liaison pour prendre le départ de l’ES4. Mais Sébastien Ogier et Julien Ingrassia ont fini par sortir de la route sur un sommet aveugle près de l’arrivée.
Au point stop, Latvala a déclaré que la route partait à droite et qu’il avait vu des traces allant tout droit et un triangle de signalisation sur le bord de la chaussée. Ogier va peut-être pouvoir repartir en Rally2, mais ne sera pas titré ce week-end.
Le retrait d’Ogier a laissé place à une formidable bagarre entre Latvala et Neuville, à égalité au championnat avant ce rallye. Les deux hommes réalisent des chronos quasi similaires depuis le départ. Après cinq spéciales disputées, il n’y a que 2s4 d’écart, même si le pilote belge a remporté toutes les spéciales de la matinée. « C’était glissant par endroits et j’ai freiné trop tard une fois ou deux. Mais ça va, je suis en confiance », nous a dit Thierry à l’arrivée de l’ES5.
Dani Sordo et Mikko Hirvonen ont réalisé les 3^e et 4^e temps de cette spéciale et occupent les mêmes positions au classement général, suivis par Mads Ostberg qui compte pratiquement une minute de retard sur les deux Citroën officielles. Le Norvégien n’est pas à l’aise avec ses réglages et espère trouver une solution au parc d’assistance de Trèves avant les trois autres spéciales du jour.
Robert Kubica est toujours en tête en WRC-2 avec 8s2 d’avance sur un brillant Elfyn Evans. Le Polonais s’est fait une belle frayeur dans l’ES5 à cause d’une erreur de pris de notes en reconnaissances.
Il est tombé quelques gouttes de pluie ce matin dans la vallée de la Moselle et l’ES5 était bien humide sur ses derniers kilomètres. Les choix entre pneus Michelin S2 (soft) et H2 (hard) vont encore être délicats cet après-midi.

Ferrari at Pebble Beach 2013

This year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance threw up a few surprises like the launch of the $150,00 Spyker B6 Ventor but no one would have been too shocked to have seen millions of dollars change hands at a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 N.A.R.T. Spider went under the hammer at charitable event.

RM Auctions are claiming that the $27.5 million that the classic Ferrari was sold for is the world’s second most expensive car sold at auction. At £17.5 million it’s only a couple of million shy of the £19.6 that a Mercedes W196 raised in a Bonhams auction at Goodwood last month but it’s definitely the most expensive Ferrari sold at auction. The auctioneers listed the car, one of ten North American Racing Team convertible models, at between $14 million and $17 million. Other cars that went under the hammer included a 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Torpedo that fetched $8.25 million and a 1931 Bentley 4.5 litre Supercharged Le Mans that went for $4.65 million.

The 63rd annual Concours d’Elegance was a happy hunting ground for RM Auctions who saw a 1953 Ferrari 375 Spider go for $9 million, a 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spider fetch $4 million, a Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta sell for $3 million and a Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Aerodinamico Coupe achieve a $2.75 million price. Bonhams auctioneers didn’t fare as well with the Prancing Horse, but sold a 1953 Ferrari 250 Europa Vignale Coupe for $2.8 million.

Ferrari at Pebble Beach 2013

Four of the top ten sales over the weekend were for Ferraris, and overall a record breaking$301 million was spent at auction.

via Eurocarblog

BONNEVILLE: THE MOVEMENT OF LIGHT

Bonneville is unique. I don’t think there is any other motorsport location anywhere in the world that sees such a drastic change in light conditions within the space of just a few short hours. With that in mind, I wanted to take you guys through an early morning on the Salt.

In order to get a good head start on the sunrise Keith and I woke up at 5:00am every morning. Standing on the Salt and facing the paddock you can see a slight glow where the sun will peek out.

If you turn around you can see a long line of cars following each other’s light trails as they inch their way towards the paddock.

It’s unusually quiet around this time. Maybe the salt is acting as a natural sound deadening, but your speech seems to have less impact. Other early risers like us were getting some photo shoots in.

I tried my best to stay near our rental car as there is a real danger with vehicles coming from all directions. This truck whizzed by me at considerable speed.

In the pits cars are left overnight just waiting to be bathed with intense sunlight.

Slowly fans returned to their encampments to reclaim their viewing spots.

You find some cars parked on the starting grid with hopes of running first thing in the morning.

It’s 6:30am and the light is very blue. Each click of my shutter is muffled by the salt. It sounded like I was shooting my camera while it was wrapped in a big heavy jacket.

Color starts to come out of the sky and it’s evident that the sun is about to make a grand appearance.

Around 6:45am the officials scramble to get to the starting line. At 7:00am the first vehicle will be taking off.

Not a moment later the sun appears, and it’s right now that you want to have a car ready to photograph. In this case I was lucky, as we pre-arranged a shoot with this ’50 Mercury the night before.

Apart from the endless backdrop, Bonneville is an interesting location in that ‘golden hour’ does not happen during sunset. That’s not just because the sun dips below a mountain range and sets at around 8:45pm, but also because everyone gets kicked off the salt at 8:00pm sharp. So the best way to shoot in nice soft light is to get up early and brave those eye crusties.

When I was done with my shoot I laid flat on my stomach waiting for cars to pass by hoping that I would not get run over. At this point I would be happy with anything entering my frame as the light was just getting better and better by the second.

Off in the distance I saw a truck coming and braced myself. I snapped a few frames and this was the result.

Pretty soon the sun was too intense to shoot into. This was my last sunrise shot of the day.

It’s just past 7:00am and the first few cars have already made their runs. The faster teams can arrive late, because if you go over 300mph you can jump the queue once per event.

Pretty soon all four courses were filled with eager drivers and teams spanning many different classes.

This was the best time to get some shots of these cars out of the paddock. It was also a good time to chat it up with the owners to see which teams feel like being featured.

I’m sure it is always hard for the drivers to see where they are going as the sideways light just pierces directly into their visors.

Which is why there were are many umbrella guys walking around the starting line.

At around 8:00am it was a complete whiteout. Good luck trying to shoot in automatic exposure mode from here on out!

Dogs on the Salt need sunglasses too. I can only imagine how uncomfortable it is for our four-legged friends if they are blinded by the glare that bounces off the ground surface.

Whether you’re in a 1000hp muscle car…

… or on the back of a 100cc motorcycle, you have to deal with the same conditions. What amazes me is how wet the salt stays, even though temperatures soar in the daytime. It just traps moisture. Or maybe it sucks it out of the air?

The first teams to go are the ones that had a record-breaking run the day before. They need to back-up their run with another the very next morning.

Since the conditions are favorable to run in the morning, it is the perfect time to match or beat the speed you achieved the day before.

Around this time is really the limit of when I could shoot a car feature, otherwise there would be no detail at all in the salt. It’s just too bright.

Keith befriended one of the guys from the Rollin’ Bones Car Club, and we shot one of their ’34 Ford three windows. Full feature coming soon.

With our stomachs grumbling for breakfast we made one more stop before calling it a morning. We headed for the finish line where the cars come to a halt and the drivers get out of their toasty race cars.

If you’re not careful you will end up with heat stroke, so thick, fire-proof race suits are removed as soon as drivers get the chance.

Then they have a long wait, baking in the sun, for their tow vehicle to arrive.

Or in some cases, drivers will just drive their race cars back to the paddock.

Our normal routine was to shoot all morning, get breakfast, sort through photos and come back out to catch the afternoon racing and the sunset. From a photography perspective, it’s the best way to get the most out of Bonneville.

And the next day we would do it all over again…

Photos by Larry Chen