samedi 12 octobre 2013
MOTONOMAD - 7000km, 7 countries, one big Adventure!
From the Alps to the Deserts, Join Motology Film's Adam Riemann on a motorcycle adventure of a lifetime - Austria to Egypt on KTM 500EXC's! No film crew, no support vehicles, you've never seen a journey like this before!
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7 countries,
MOTONOMAD - 7000km,
one big Adventure!
ERC :A third Sanremo victory for Basso / « Hat-trick » de Basso à Sanremo
Italy’s Giandomenico Basso (Peugeot 207 S2000/Michelin) picked up his third Rallye Sanremo win today, ahead of Finn Esapekka Lappi (Skoda) and compatriot Alessandro Perico (Peugeot). Bryan Bouffier and Paolo Andreucci both led at one point.
L’Italien Giandomenico Basso (Peugeot 207 S2000/Michelin) a remporté sa troisième victoire au Rallye Sanremo, devant le Finlandais Esapekka Lappi (Skoda) et l’Italien Alessandro Perico (Peugeot). Bryan Bouffier et Paolo Andreucci se sont succédé en tête avant d’être retardés.
Giandomenico Basso earned an early 40th birthday gift in his Michelin-equipped Peugeot 207 S2000 when he provided the French make with its 10th victory on the celebrated Italian event.
He figured among the top three on all Day 1’s stages before inheriting the lead when compatriot Paolo Andreucci (Peugeot) lost time with an ‘off’ on today’s SS8. Basso only scored one stage win SS8, yet he led Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot/Michelin) by seven seconds going into the final stage (Colle d’Oggia, 20.73km).
Bouffier had led on Friday afternoon, but an ‘off’ on SS3 relegated him to eighth spot. The Frenchman driver bounced back to challenge for first place, however, thanks to a score of five fastest times. On the last test, though, he was forced to stop and change a wheel, which dropped him to fourth overall, 5.8s shy of the podium.
Like Markku Alèn, Miki Biasion, Didier Auriol and Gilles Panizzi before him, Basso secured his third Sanremo success. Second place went to Esapekka Lappi who was in Italy to gain experience on asphalt. The Skoda/Michelin factory driver clinched runner-up spot by winning the last stage. Italy’s Alessandro Perico (Peugeot) was third.
Peugeot 207 S2000 drivers Albertini and Andreucci came fifth and sixth, ahead of the Production class victor Federico Gasperetti (Renault Mégane RS) and the best-placed two-wheel driver runner Alex Vittalini (Citroën DS3 R3). The 2013 Italian champion Umberto Scandola (Skoda) was eliminated by an overheating engine, as were Peugeot’s Jérémi Ancian and Jean-Matthieu Léandri. Craig Breen was side-lined by an ‘off’ on SS4 but restarted today under the Rally2 ruling.
Austria’s Andreas Aigner (Subaru Impreza R4) and Hungarian driver Zoltan Bessenyey (Honda Civic) wrapped up the European Production Cup and Two-Wheel Drive titles in Sanremo.
A quelques jours de son 40e anniversaire, Giandomenico Basso s’est offert un 3e succès au Rallye Sanremo au volant d’une Peugeot 207 S2000 équipée de pneus Michelin. Peugeot a remporté sa 10e victoire sur ce rallye mythique.
Présent dans le top-3 de chaque spéciale au cours de la 1ère étape, le pilote italien s’est retrouvé en tête du rallye après une touchette du leader Paolo Andreucci (Peugeot) dans l’ES7. Basso a ensuite remporté l’ES8 (sa seule victoire) avant de se présenter au départ de l’ultime spéciale, Colle d’Oggia (20,73 km), avec sept petites secondes d’avance sur Bryan Bouffier.
Premier leader, le Français avait perdu plus d’une minute dans une touchette (ES3). Relégué en 8e position au général, le pilote Peugeot/Michelin est revenu dans la course à la victoire grâce à cinq meilleurs temps. Mais dans l’ultime spéciale, Bryan a dû s’arrêter pour changer une roue et échoue au pied du podium pour 5s8.
La victoire revient donc à Giandomenico Basso - triple vainqueur à Sanremo comme Markku Alèn, Miki Biasion, Didier Auriol et Gilles Panizzi avant lui -, devant le pilote officiel Skoda/Michelin Esapekka Lappi, venu avant tout prendre de l’expérience sur asphalte, qui a arraché la 2e place grâce un meilleur temps dans la dernière spéciale. L’Italien Alessandro Perico (Peugeot) complète le podium.
Les Peugeot 207 S2000 d’Albertini (5e) et d’Andreucci (6e) devancent le vainqueur de la catégorie Production Federico Gasperetti (Renault Mégane RS) et celui de la catégorie 2-roues motrices Alex Vittalini (Citroën DS3 R3). Le Champion d’Italie 2013 Umberto Scandola a dû abandonner (surchauffe moteur sur sa Skoda), tout comme Jérémi Ancian et Jean-Matthieu Léandri (Peugeot). Après une touchette dans l’ES4, l’Irlandais Craig Breen est reparti en Rally2 le lendemain.
Après Jan Kopecky et Molly Taylor titrés à l’issue du Rally Croatia, l’Autrichien Andreas Aigner (Subaru Impreza R4) et le Hongrois Zoltan Bessenyey (Honda Civic) ont décroché les titres européens Production Cup et 2-roues motrices ce week-end.
The title to be decided in Morocco / Titre en jeu au rallye du Maroc
The rally raid World Championship will end next week in Morocco, last race of the season as the Pharaons rally have been cancelled. The title will be decided during the six stages of the Oilibya rally of Morocco, between Marc Coma (KTM Michelin) and Paulo Gonçalves (Speedbrain Honda) who are tight within three points!
Le championnat du Monde des rallyes tout terrain se terminera la semaine prochaine au Maroc, épreuve finale qui remplace le rallye des Pharaons. Le titre mondial se jouera sur les six étapes du Oilibya du Maroc, entre Marc Coma (KTM Michelin) et Paulo Gonçalves (Speedbrain Honda) qui ne sont séparés que par trois petits points !
The title has never been so undecided, and after five rally raids the Spaniard and the Portuguese are really closed even if Coma won three races (Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Sardinia) while Gonçalves won only the last one in Brazil. But Gonçalves has been regular all season long, and scored ten points more than Coma in Brazil to reduce the gap.
In Morocco, they will have six stages to end the season and to prepare the next Dakar, and except Cyril Despres all the favourites of the Dakar will be there; KTM Michelin lines up five riders (Marc Coma, Jakub Przygonski, Chaleco Lopez, Rubens Faria, Kurt Caselli), Honda HRC comes with his factory team (Helder Rodrigues, Sam Sunderland, Javier Pizzolito) while Speedbrain Honda will have Joan Barreda alongside Paolo Gonçalves. The first stage will start next Monday, and the rally will end on Saturday.
Rarement titre n’aura été aussi indécis, puisqu’après cinq épreuves l’Espagnol et le Portugais n’ont pas réellement pu se départager. Coma a beau avoir gagné trois épreuves (Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Sardaigne) contre une seule à Gonçalves (Brésil), l’écart reste minime avant cette ultime épreuve qui se disputera en six étapes comportant chacune entre 200 et 300 km de spéciale.
Cet ultime rallye raid avant le Dakar 2014 verra, à l’exception de Cyril Despres, tous les hommes forts de la discipline s’aligner au départ ; KTM Michelin aligne son équipe officielle (Marc Coma, Jakub Przygonski, Chaleco Lopez, Rubens Faria, Kurt Caselli), tout comme Honda HRC (Helder Rodrigues, Sam Sunderland, Javier Pizzolito) alors que le team Speedbrain Honda pourra compter sur Joan Barreda aux côtés de Paolo Gonçalves. La première spéciale se disputera lundi, et le rallye se terminera samedi.
Positions au championnat : 1.Coma (ESP, KTM Michelin), 107 ; 2.Gonçalves (POR, Speedbrain Honda), 104 ; 3.Przygonski (POL, KTM Michelin), 55 ; 4.Despres (FRA, Yamaha), 47 ; 5.Lopez (CHI, KTM Michelin), 33 ; etc…
Way of The DTRA
Way of The DTRA from dael on Vimeo.
For information about how to get started or watch the races dirttrackriders.co.uk
For information about how to get started or watch the races dirttrackriders.co.uk
Márquez signe la pole et un nouveau record au Circuit International de Sepang
Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) a encore frappé. Sanctionné d’un point de pénalité pour l’incident d’Aragón avant l’ouverture du GP Shell Advance de Malaisie et presque passé inaperçu lors des trois premières séances essais libres, le leader du Championnat du Monde avait fait son retour au sommet en FP4 et a une fois de plus excellé en qualifications pour décrocher la pole position au tout dernier moment, avec un nouveau record du circuit malaisien, de 2’00.011.
L’exceptionnelle performance du rookie espagnol prive de la pole un certain Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing), qui venait tout juste de passer en tête devant Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech3), avec 0.023s d’avance sur le Britannique. Les deux pilotes sur YZR-M1 comptent au final plus de trois dixièmes de seconde de retard sur Márquez, qui visera dimanche une septième victoire en MotoGP™.
Les pilotes s’étaient montrés prudents en début de séance en raison de l’instabilité des conditions météo et de plusieurs zones qui demeuraient humides suite aux averses qui avaient précédé des qualifications dont était absent Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda). Tombé lors de séance FP4, le jeune Allemand s’est fracturé la cheville droite et a été déclaré inapte à reprendre la piste pour le reste du week-end. Coup pour le Champion du Monde Moto2™ 2011, blessé dès la première des trois étapes de la tournée outre-mer et qui sera opéré samedi soir à Kuala Lumpur.
Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) et Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), qui avait survolé la journée de vendredi, se retrouveront quant à eux en deuxième ligne, en ayant fini à plus d’une demi-seconde de Márquez, qui les devance respectivement de 39 et 59 points dans le classement général et menace de faire un nouveau pas vers le titre 2013 ce week-end en Malaisie.
Sixième, Álvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) sera juste derrière ses deux compatriotes sur la grille de départ tandis que Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) et Aleix Espargaró (Power Electronics Aspar), qui avait dû passer par la Q1, seront en troisième ligne après avoir devancé Andrea Iannone (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) et Nicky Hayden (Ducati). Randy de Puniet (Power Electronics Aspar) a de son côté fini les qualifications avec le dix-huitième temps.
via motoGP.com
MOTO MORINI BIALBERO RACING MOTORCYCLE
The Moto Morini Bialbero is a testament to the engineering prowess of Alfonso Morini, a man who stayed actively involved in the racing side of his company well into his 60s.
Alfonso saw a staggering amount of change over the course of his life, being born in 1898 he was raised in a world of horses that were rapidly being replaced by automobiles and motorcycles. He was a remarkably intelligent young man and had a strong affinity for motorcycles, this lead to him opening his own professional garage at the age of 16 where he could repair, modify and improve his customers motor-bicycles.
By 1925, Alfonso’s work had caught the eye of Mario Mazzetti and the two men formed a partnership. Alfonso would build and race motorcycles very successfully under the “MM” marque until 1937 when the two men parted ways and Moto Morini was born. The new Italian company would win a slew of Italian Championships and a list of international grand prix, they were known for producing complex, high-performance 125cc and 250cc engines that were as good or better than anything coming out of Britain or Japan.
The bike you see here was Moto Morini’s foray into the world of World Championship Grand Prix racing, they designed a double overhead-camshaft, 250cc single-cylinder engine and built an advanced racing motorcycle around it. The goal was to defeat the mighty Honda Factory Team and by the close of the 1963 season Morini and their factory rider, Tarquinio Provini would be only 2 points behind in second place. An astonishing achievement for a relatively small Italian company.
The bike you see here was a big part of that famous 1963 season, it’s in perfect working order and is almost entirely original save a few parts that didn’t stand the test of time. If you’d like to read more about it or maybe even add it to your personal collection, you can click here to visit Bonhams.
via SILODROME
MORIWAKI Wayne Gardner
A virtually unknown Wayne Gardner came from Australia to race in England in 1981. He raced the Moriwaki Z1000 and slept in his car. Towards the end of season he went to Olivers Mount, a public road/park circuit in Scarborough, and beat former two-time World Champion, Barry Sheene, who was on a factory Yamaha GP bike. I'm assured that's Bob Smith tucked in behind Sheene. 1981 Daytona-Moriwaki Kawasaki-Wayne Gardner
via BIKE DUC
Matra On The Edge: Street Extremes
Matra were always a special kind of car company. Often years ahead of the competition with technology, they were maybe a little too far ahead at times. Whilst Matra might be best associated with their short but glorious run of racing success, achieved as the 1960s came to a close and the ’70s dawned, there’s also a parallel stream of street machines to investigate – and an unexpected 40 years of history at that.
At the Musée Automobiles Matra at Romorantin, the counterpoint to lines of beautiful, proudly blue single seaters and sports cars was a line-up of out-there street cars, prototypes and concepts that showed Matra to always be on the cutting edge. Even as their own sports car range died a death and their Renault partnership stripped away some of their individuality, they were actually still industriously working away in the background on what could be the next big thing. Matra never shouted loudly. But when they spoke, people really should have listened.
My love of Matra is mostly down to family holidays in France as a child, hoovering up Majorette toy cars at every opportunity. My favourites were the Matras and Alpines: at the time they looked up there with Ferraris and Porsches, and I think they still do. Underrated? Definitely.
Matra’s automotive story began back in the early 1960s, with a toe-in-the-water collaboration in the production of the Deutsch-Bonnet Djet. It was one of the first ever mid-engined road cars, featuring a super lightweight body: features that would be signatures for Matra sports cars for 20 years.
Going back to the beginning, we start with a racing version of the Djet. It was quite a pretty little car – almost Elan like from some angles. This particular model was the Djet Tubulaire, referencing the tubeframe chassis developed for competing in the 1963 Nürburgring 1,000km. The weight? A featherlight 544kg, allowing a top speed of 200kph from the diminutive 1,000cc Gordini motor mounted behind the seats.
Matra branding was added for the subtly renamed Jet 6 that followed after the Matra buy-out of DB, whose lineage was direct from the Djet in more than just name. This car was actually made for the Matra owner’s son.
The quirky M530 of 1967 was next up, and is considered the first Matra proper. With its mid-rear layout, sub-ton weight and 1.7-litre Ford engine, handling made up for its polarising looks; then there were the pop-up headlights, F3-derived suspension, disk brakes and targa top. I came across a whole phalanx of these at the Montlhery Heritage Festival back in June – almost 10,000 were built, so a more than healthy number for a first car.
A budget model followed, the SX, which ditched the more luxurious things like the T-top, chrome and pop-up lights. For customers, it was important to fill in the correct prefix at the Matra dealer: asking for an R530 could lead to one of Matra’s missile systems turning up, and a lot of awkward questions…
Production of the M530 model continued in the background as a pretty successful programme whilst the racing division concentrated on snatching a Formula One championship and the trio of Le Mans 24 Hours victories. With the racing boxes ticked, Matra’s focus returned to the road car division and their Simca partnership. The car that emerged in 1973 couldn’t have been more different: the Bagheera.
Its sleek, Italianate wedge style was matched with light weight, but the car was let down by an underpowered engine taken straight from the Simca range – as many components were. The first variant looked great but in proper European tradition had mostly rotted away as soon as you drove it off the forecourt. The Bagheera 2 improved power and reliability, but the steel body was still its weak point. 50,000 would be made in its eight year production run, though not many survive intact because of the manufacturing issues.
In ’77 Matra again went off in an unexpected direction with the Rancho. Okay, it wasn’t actually four-wheel drive, but I still think this has the looks, if not capability, of the Land Rover Discovery – a car it predates by a decade.
The even more compact Murena replaced the Bagheera in 1980 as part of the relationship with Peugeot: I think it has MR2-like style potential, a car it beats by four years. Much improved power now matched up to the handling potential, and the tubs were zinc-galvanised to prevent corrosion. Rust and European cars of the ’70s (and ’80s if I’m honest) are still a painful memory…
Mainstream motorsport might have been off the agenda, but there was one more programme that surfaced. Matra took the Murena into rallycross in 1981 and ’82. It was no lemon either – but then, it was a Matra. The Murena Polytechnic took the French title in ’82.
And then there’s the Espace. Matra’s prototype for the vehicle that would introduce the MPV segment to the world was given a polite ‘non’ by Peugeot when it was offered to them in the late ’70s. There must have been some serious face-palming when Renault took it up a half a dozen years later and sold the best part of a million units over the next three decades…
With Renault’s backing for the Espace from 1983 (making up for the commercial failure of the Murena), Matra’s Romorantin factory reverberated to the sound of industrial-scale production.
This particular model celebrated the 500,000th Espace to roll off the line and was signed by Matra workers and key people in the team’s history, including many of their famous drivers: Jackie Stewart and Jean-Pierre Jassaud are clear here.
Espaces might be ten a penny, but there’s one that particularly stands out. Or sits down. Low. 1994′s Espace F1 was more the latter than the former, under the body at least.
On the outside, a fattened up silhouette of an Espace J63 using carbon panels.
On the inside, its chassis was based on F1 technology and the 3.5-litre V10 engine was lifted from the Williams FW15C that had taken Alain Prost to the ’93 F1 title.
And it still had four seats. And space for shopping. As long as you didn’t mind it getting a bit warm.
The frontage might have looked bluff, but then you see all the aero going on: enormous ducting on the front and sides and a substantial wing on the rear helped keep the thing on the relative straight and narrow. Which it needed to be: Renault Sport upped the power of the V10, just to be sure, to over 800hp. It wasn’t just the 200mph top speed that was impressive, but the face-melting deceleration courtesy of the carbon ceramic brakes.
Not quite as extreme, but definitely just as mad, was the Espider Étude from 1998: a five-seater chop-top Espace, produced in collaboration with the Sbarro design school.
It was demonstrated ahead of the start of that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. Sadly, the extreme styling wasn’t backed up by anything as powerful as the Espace F1: Renault’s new V6 was tucked away up front, delivering a sensible 200hp.
However, I’m not sure that would have made sitting in one of these exposed seats feel any safer…
Completing the story, the short-lived avant garde Avantime MPV also came from the Matra stable, made between 2001 and 2003 – which was also the year Matra’s production of the Espace came to an end.
With the Espace production ticking away, you could be forgiven for thinking that in the ’80s and ’90s Matra settled back on their corporate deal with Renault and let the Euros roll in. But Matra weren’t that kind of company.
Special projects continued unabated. This was a side to Matra I really wasn’t familiar with: an entire secret projects department who seem to have evidence of beating pretty much every modern innovation to market, years before any appeared in the mainstream. The problem was that they didn’t tell many people, and the ones they did tell weren’t particularly adventurous…
To get truly to the heart of what was going on inside the head of Matra in the ’90s, it was time to descend to… *the secret basement*. There were hints of what was in store from what was displayed in the foyer. The 1989 Matra P25 concept car was showing off its carbon-kevlar construction. 650kg and a turbo-charged Renault engine made the P25 as fast as a Testarossa and as light as an F1 car…
Downstairs was an Aladdin’s Cave, a peak into the automotive drawer marked Top Secret. Amongst the wood and clay prototype concepts was a car that would have become the 205 had the Peugeot partnership not ended, an electric town car that scissored up to be shorter for parking, a three-litre GT version of an Espace and more.
That the Bagheera was underpowered wasn’t unknown to Matra at the time, but more a result of what was available from the Simca range. So, Matra took two four-cylinder units and stuck them together to make a U8 for this 1974 prototype, which unfortunately didn’t make it into production – another victim of the mid-’70s oil crisis.
This is the original Espace ‘Monospace’ P18 concept presented first to Peugeot and then to Renault; to its right is a 4×4 prototype – an SUV a decade before the SUV…
Most interesting was the P29 concept from 1986, which showed off a whole raft of technology being developed at Matra. A mobile laboratory, the P29 was a two-seater with a mid-mounted, supercharged four-cylinder hiding in the rear.
The outside might not be pretty, but if the F1 nose and matching dynamic rear wing, along with exposed front suspension, doesn’t grab you then the five second 0-60mph time might.
The chassis was aluminium honeycomb, and on the inside you could find GPS, weather radar, a rear-view camera, mobile phone and more.
1990′s P41 featured a panoramic roof and rotating seats with modular interior: it would later be used as a basis for the Twingo.
Had the P43 come to market just a year earlier, could we be talking about Matra rather than Mazda as the kings of affordable, rear-wheel drive, two-seater fun? Beaten to production, the P43 was abandoned.
The M72 lightweight two-seater from 2000 was one of the final concepts to emerge from Matra. With a motorcycle engine at its heart, which meant it could be driven by 16 year olds, I think this looks pretty funky, and definitely more pleasing than a lot of modern city concepts…
But in 2003 it all came to an end. Matra’s manufacturing base at Romorantin was closed down as the last Espaces and Aventines rolled off the line. It ended the company’s time in both Romorantin and the automotive world, and it’s left the world a poorer place.
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