sparks, metal, clay, putty, markers and paper, tea... and Coco ... one day either in ad hoc cafe racers workshop. song "another love" by Tom Odell
lundi 14 octobre 2013
Some cross-country rally news / Quelques news du Rally-Raid
While the majority of the 2013 FIA European and World Rally Championships have been settled, the cross-country community is busy getting ready for the 2014 Dakar (January 5-18).
Tandis que les championnats d’Europe et du monde des Rallyes FIA ont trouvé la plupart de leurs lauréats 2013, le monde du Rally-Raid se prépare activement pour le prochain Rallye Dakar du 5 au 18 janvier 2014.
To prepare for the 2014 Dakar, which will visit South America for the sixth year, a number of competitors have been taking part in the 2013 Dakar Series which featured a round in Argentina (June’s Desafio Ruta 40) and another (last weekend’s Desafio Inca) in Peru’s Ica region.
The first, a six-day affair which ran from San Salvador de Jujuy to San Juan (5,200km), was won by Nani Roma (Mini ALL4 Racing/Michelin), ahead of local hero Orlando Terranova (Mini/Michelin) who took a 15-minute penalty. Victory in Peru went to Brazilian driver Guilherme Spinelli (Mitsubishi/Michelin) who won all three stages.
Other teams have founded their 2013 programme on the Cross-Country Rally World Cup, the final round of which will be early-November’s Baja Portalegre in Portugal. The series is currently topped by the Qatar winner Jean-Louis Schlesser, six points clear of Nani Roma (first in Abu Dhabi, Spain and Hungary). Krzystof Holowczyc, third, can also still win the title.
This week, a number of competitors are contesting the OiLybia-Rally of Morocco, the year’s major big fixture ahead of the Dakar. The Belgian team Overdrive is running four Toyota Hilux pick-ups, while X-Raid has entered five Mini ALL4 Racings/Michelin, including one for the former WRC driver Federico Villagra. All nine cars are on Michelin tyres.
Busy test programmes are planned, too. Qatar Red Bull and Nasser Al-Attiyah, for example, put their extensively-revised buggy through its paces in the south of France at the beginning of October. Two or three of these machines are expected to contest the Dakar.
Et pour préparer cette épreuve qui se déroulera pour la 6e fois en Amérique du Sud, certains ont participé aux Dakar Series 2013 qui comprenaient deux rallyes Tout-Terrain sud-américains : le Desafio Ruta 40 en Argentine au mois de juin, et le Desafio Inca au Pérou le week-end dernier.
Nani Roma (Mini ALL4 Racing/Michelin) avait remporté le Desafio Ruta 40, un Rally-Raid étalé sur six jours entre San Salvador de Jujuy et San Juan (5200 km). L’Espagnol avait devancé l’Argentin Orlando Terranova (Mini/Michelin) pénalisé de 15 minutes. Au Pérou le week-end dernier, la victoire est revenue au Brésilien Guilherme Spinelli (Mitsubishi/Michelin) qui a remporté les trois spéciales du rallye tracées dans les dunes autour d’Ica.
D’autres ont axé leur programme 2013 sur la Coupe du monde des Rallyes Tout-Terrain dont la dernière manche (Baja Portalègre) se déroulera début novembre. C’est Jean-Louis Schlesser qui est leader du championnat (victoire au Qatar) avec six points d’avance sur Nani Roma (victoire à Abu Dhabi, en Espagne et en Hongrie). Troisième, Krzystof Holowczyc est lui aussi dans la course au titre 2013.
Cette semaine, de nombreux pilotes et teams participent au OiLybia-Rally of Morocco (Maroc), le dernier grand rallye Tout-Terrain avant le Dakar, comme l’équipe belge Overdrive qui aligne quatre Toyota Hilux/Michelin ou encore le team X-Raid qui engage pas moins de cinq Mini ALL4 Racing/Michelin, dont une pour l’ancien pilote WRC Federico Villagra.
Les essais privés se multiplient également. Le team Qatar Red Bull et Nasser Al-Attiyah étaient en test début octobre dans le sud de la France avec un Buggy profondément remanié depuis le début d’année. Deux ou trois modèles seront engagés au Dakar 2014.
ridebarstow.com by 100%
Ridebarstow.com has just gone live for the new barstow goggles by 100% with lots of photos and some videos shot by Dimitri Coste, starring former factory racer Scott Burnworth as well as ubertalented bike builder Kim Boyle. There are some nice interviews on the site as well.
The goggles would look as good on the local MX track as cruising any big metropolis I reckon.
Great website too, well worth checking out!
5 Monkeys
So usually we feature just 1 item per post here at Silodrome, today we have 5. Although if you combine the weight of them they’d probably amount to a single normal-sized motorcycle. These bikes and many others are coming up for auction with Bonhams on the 20th of October 2013.
Monkey #1
This Honda ST50 Dax was hand-built by Japanese custom motorcycle legend Seigu Ikeuchi, whose company Bodyline Customs is one of Japan’s foremost custom vehicle builders. It was inspired by the long, low motorcycles used for drag racing although with its 4.5hp rating from its 49cc engine, it probably won’t break the 11 second 1/4 mile.
Estimated value - £5,000 to £7,000.
Link to auction page at Bonhams.
Monkey #2
This Monkey has all the hallmarks of a Shinya Kimura bike, it looks an awful lot like Shinya’s work for Zero Motorcycles although with a 49cc engine, it probably doesn’t sound quite as throaty. One of the benefits of this bike versus Monkey #1 is that you’re far less likely to suffer genital burns from the exhaust pipe.
Estimated value – £5,000 to £7,000.
Link to auction page at Bonhams.
Monkey #3
If I could only choose one, this would probably be it. A miniature “Baja” race bike that looks for all the world like it’s ready to take on the Southern Californian desert, this little beast is possibly the all-time greatest “pit bike” you’ll ever see. If you actually take it out and race it across the Baja desert you’ll instantly become a motorcycle legend. If you survive.
Estimated value – £1,600 to £2,400.
Link to auction page at Bonhams.
Monkey #4
This is by far the most technologically advanced Monkey here, in fact it’s not even really a Monkey. It was built by Kunshan Kepspeed Metal Company in China, they specialise in manufacturing parts and accessories for Honda Monkeys, their catalogue is so extensive that it’s possible to build a complete, customised bike. The model you see here has a 149cc engine rated at 13.1hp which is good enough to propel it to a top speed of over 80mph. If you dare.
Estimated value - £3,000 to £4,000.
Link to auction page at Bonhams.
Monkey #5
This is an original, 2007 model Honda Monkey – making it one of the last of the originals ever made. Honda switched to a newly designed, fuel injected Monkey in 2008. Although it’s always been relegated as a pit-lane or “fun bike” the Monkey has earned itself a place in history, it’s been used and loved by some of the biggest names in motorsport (both 2 and 4 wheel) since its introduction in 1964.
Estimated value – £1,600 to £2,400.
Link to auction page at Bonhams.
from SILODROME
Breaking The Rules: A Slammed-Out 7
Taking a platform designed for one purpose and modifying it to conform with another is a sure fire way to make an impact in the modified car world. Here at Speedhunters we thrive on fresh thinking and unconventional approaches to car building, whether it be a Volkswagen Golf dealt a rear-wheel drive conversion and 1000-plus horsepower of twin turbo Chevy V8 (it’s coming – I joke you not!), or – as in this particular instance – a svelte, black series seven Mazda RX-7, simply built for show over go.
I’m sure the idea of taking a bonafide sports car and installing the sort of modifications that are largely known to exacerbate rather than enhance, will be lost on many readers, but for Steve Palmer and his RX-7 – the subject of an impromptu Paddy McGrath photo shoot at the recent UK Players Show – this build was never about conforming to the accepted norm. It was about taking the car he dreamed about owning long before he could even drive, and putting his own creative spin on it.
As a modifying base, the final (for now at least) incarnation of Mazda’s revered rotary-powered platform is ripe for it. It’s an early ’90s design, granted, but this is a car that still enjoys a huge amount of aftermarket support, so personalisation is an easy proposition more than two decades after the fact.
When it came to the specific direction of the build however, the route wasn’t so clear-cut. Essentially Steve was torn between two approaches: track-spec, so caged-up and wearing an RE Amemiya bodykit and functional lightweight rims – or smoothed over and fitted with the widest, deepest-dished wheels he could get his hands on. He chose the latter.
The only aspect of the FD where Steve didn’t need to second guess himself was in the overhaul of the interior…
… which makes perfect sense considering Steve’s an auto trimmer by trade, and right from the project’s inception had planned to use the RX-7 to demonstrate the talents of his company Edge Automotive Interiors.
To achieve the clean look he was after, Steve smoothed over the front bumper and fitted Concept 7 front guards. Although he’s adamant that the wheels would have squeezed under the factory fenders with some subtle – or perhaps not-so-subtle – refashioning, an extra 25mm width each side with the FEED-inspired fibreglass replacements are a perfect fit.
The look continues to the rear, with massaged guards, a smooth boot lid and an extremely subtle yet very cool, Concept 7 duck tail lip spoiler which perfectly complements the Mazda’s organic curves. That low-slung stance? It’s a static set-up, courtesy of HSD DualTech twin-tube coilovers with 14-way damper adjustment.
It’s quite easy to overlook the subtle enhancements that Steve has made to RX-7′s body, but you can put that down to the impact collectively being made by the wide wheel and stretched tyre combination.
The oh-so-tough polished Work Rezax II rims measure up at 18×10.5-inch with a +15 offset on the front end and 18×12-inch +/-0 offset at the rear, shod with 225/40 and 265/35 Falken FK452 rubber respectively.
There’s a lot of room under FD3S rear guards, but even though they’ve had a good pull, they can barely contain the zero offset Works. Actually, they don’t contain them at all, which is understandable considering they were originally set up for wheels that sat inwards 20mm from the current set up. According to Steve, there’s still a little more give in the steel arches yet, but with bigger plans being brewed for the rear end, the aggressive fitment will suffice in the meantime.
Working with his favourite materials and a needle and thread, Steve has done an amazing job in transforming the RX-7′s cockpit from the sea of black plastic that once consumed it.
A pair of Recaro Pole Position racing seats were on Steve’s must-have list, but in lending his craft to the cause they’ve taken on a whole new look. Black Alcantara now features on the cushions, with high-grade leather (dyed in his company’s official blue hue) wrapping around the front side of the frames.
The splash of colour extends to the Nardi Torino Deep Corn steering wheel, the shifter and handbrake, and a few other pieces around the interior. To be honest, I’m not normally a fan of this sort of thing, but I actually really like what Steve’s done here.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen anything like this before, but the retro-styled Asda clock that shares space with a Smiths boost meter in a custom gauge pod is a quirky and original addition to the space. From this angle you also get a good look at the dashboard, which Steve also dealt the full Alcantara treatment.
Vintage Iron - Jerry Robin / Guy Cooper / Brett Cue
Ever wonder what it would be like if Brett Cue rode a vintage bike? How about what Guy Cooper was up to these days? Or maybe you want to know what was going on in Jerry Robin's head the weeks leading up to Loretta Lynn's? Sometimes you just need to answer questions like these all at once. Sit back and enjoy as Brett, Jerry and Guy shred some Oklahoma red dirt on vintage bikes!
MOTO GUZZI NEVADA SCRAMBLER
A super-stylish Moto Guzzi custom from Italy, the kind you just want to throw a leg over and ride? That must be an Officine Rossopuro bike, right? Well, kind of. This very appealing scrambler built on the Nevada platform does indeed come from the Officine Rossopuro workshop—but it’s not strictly one of Filippo Barbacane’s builds.
“This is the bike of my friend Salvatore Scalamandré,” says Filippo. “Last fall we decided to build two scramblers to ride around the beautiful roads of Abruzzo, east of Rome. We wanted to build two ‘real’ motorcycles that we can use to go on- and off-road—so we had no intention of using heavy donor bikes.”
Filippo and Salvatore both wanted Italian motorcycles with two cylinders, and chose Moto Guzzi’s Nevada middleweight cruiser. “It’s 750cc, economical to run, light, very simple mechanically, and reliable,” explains Filippo.
Salvatore built his bike in the Officine Rossopuro workshop, so Filippo gave him a hand. It’s a 2002 model Nevada, with surprisingly few mods. The rear suspension is new—custom made by Asatek—and the exhaust system is from Mass Moto.
The bodywork is also new, fashioned from metal, and a single tiny speedo is all that sits on the bars. Salvatore resisted the temptation to cut the frame, but he’s fitted new bars, lights, tires and a custom seat.
It’s no show pony, and is regularly ridden off-road. And if it’s the kind of simple, classic scrambler that you’d like in your garage, Filippo and Salvatore are happy to build more.
Images by Filippo Barbacane. Head over to the Officine RossoPuro website for more images of Barbacane’s builds, and follow his news via the company’s Facebook page.
from BIKEEXIF
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