CAFÉ RACER 76: 10/26/13

samedi 26 octobre 2013

Ben Spies Retires from Motorcycle Racing

Ben Spies is to retire from motorcycle racing. The shoulder injuries the Texan suffered in the past year have cast doubts over whether his shoulders will ever be strong enough to race a motorcycle again, and so Ducati and Spies have come to a mutual agreement for Spies to terminate their contract after just one year. Accordingly, Spies’ retirement leaves the second seat at Pramac Ducati vacant for 2014.

The trouble started for Spies during his difficult second year with the factory Yamaha team. After a series of strange mechanical issues and a few crashes, which led to his decision to leave the team, Spies had a massive highside in the wet at Sepang, in which he badly damaged his right shoulder.

He had surgery to fix that injury late 2012, in the hope of being ready to test at Sepang with the Pramac Ducati team. Riding that soon after such major surgery proved to be a mistake, and after the Austin round of MotoGP, Spies decided to pull out.

A brief return at Mugello followed, and then a return to full fitness at Indianapolis in August. Anotherhuge highside damaged saw Spies damage his left shoulder, and be forced to pull out for the rest of the season.

Spies retirement brings to an end a spectacularly successful career. The Texan won three-straight AMA Superbike championships against Mat Mladin with the Yoshimura Suzuki team, before moving to World Superbikes with Yamaha. Spies impressed everyone in WSBK, taking the title at the first attempt, on race tracks he had never ridden before.

A move to MotoGP followed, where he spent a relatively successful year with the Tech 3 team, before moving up to the factory Yamaha team in 2011. His first year with the factory Yamaha team saw him win at Assen, and he looked set to make another step in 2012, but a disastrous year followed. Spies joined Ducati for 2013, but barely rode.

What Spies will do next is unknown, but the Texan already has several business interests, including the Stackhouse burger restaurant in Dallas. He also owns a cycling team, in which he is actively involved.

The press release does not make it entirely clear whether Spies intends to retire from motorcycle racing permanently, but it is clear he will not be racing in 2014. Even if he does attempt a return, it is unlikely he will return to MotoGP.

With Spies out, speculation is now commencing over who will take the second seat at Pramac Ducati. What seems clear is that the bike on offer will not be a 2014 prototype, to be raced by Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone next season, but a 2013 Desmosedici run under the Open rules,meaning the bike will have more engines, more fuel and run the spec Dorna software.

Eugene Laverty has been linked to the ride, but the package offered meant he had no interest. Paddock rumor currently puts either Danilo Petrucci or Yonny Hernandez on the bike. With Hernandez already filling in for Spies, the Colombian is likely to be favorite for the ride.

Below is the official press release issued by Ducati on Spies’ retirement:

Ducati and Ben Spies announce the American’s retirement from racing competition

Spies announces retirement after a successful career in Superbike and MotoGP
Decision taken jointly by Ducati and the Texan rider
Retirement prompted by doubts about physical ability to race next year

Borgo Panigale (Bologna, Italy), October 26, 2013 – Ducati Motor Holding and Ben Spies announced today that the American will not be racing in 2014 after the parties reached agreement to resolve Ben’s current contract with the Italian racing manufacturer. The 29-year-old Texan had signed a two-year agreement with Ducati at the end of last season to race in MotoGP in 2013 and 2014 as part of the factory-supported Ignite Pramac Racing Team.

Ben has been sidelined for most of this season due to an injury to his right shoulder sustained in October 2012 while riding for another manufacturer team. While he began 2013 racing with Pramac, it quickly became clear that he was not fully healed from his injury and needed to undergo further rehabilitation on his shoulder. Unfortunately, on his return to racing at Indianapolis in August, Ben had another setback when he suffered a season-ending crash during practice.

The resulting operations on both shoulders have left Spies feeling that his physical ability to ride next year remains in question and a decision was jointly made by Ducati and Ben to release Ben from any requirement to race in 2014.

The 2009 World Superbike Champion, three-time AMA Superbike Champion and MotoGP race winner announced his retirement from the sport in the following way: “I had such high hopes for racing for Ducati, and Ducati has been incredibly supportive of me during this challenging year, so I am tremendously disappointed that I have not been able to fulfill my personal goals and team goals with Ducati. I want to thank everyone from racing organizations, factories, teams and all my fans for helping me and supporting me throughout my career. I never dreamed that I would reach the level of success that I have over the past 20 years of racing, but the time has come to stop and I do so with great sadness.”

Spies’ manager/mother Mary Spies added: “Wherever Ben has raced over the years—from AMA Superbike to World Superbike to MotoGP—he has always felt the warmth and appreciation of the organizers, circuits, teams and fans. We are so grateful to them for their support.”

Ducati MotoGP Project Director Paolo Ciabatti declared: “We had high expectations when Ben joined Ducati in MotoGP this year, and we really hoped that he would fully recover from his Indianapolis crash injuries and continue to race for us in the future. However we understand the reasons for his decision and respect them. It is really a shame for our sport that Ben will not be racing anymore, because in our opinion he is one of the most talented riders in the world. We will miss him and wish him all the best for his future life.”

via http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/motogp/ben-spies-retires/

Leg 2: Good to be leading? / Un leader en mauvaise position ! + VIDEO Leg 2 - 2013 WRC Rally de Espana

With one day remaining, Jari-Matti Latvala (VW/Michelin) tops the provisional leaderboard in Spain, which means he will be first into Sunday’s gravel stages. Dani Sordo (2nd, +1.6s), Thierry Neuville (3rd, +29.3s) and even Sébastien Ogier (4th, +46.5s) are perhaps better placed to take the win tomorrow afternoon.

Jari-Matti Latvala (VW/Michelin) est leader du RallyRACC-Rally de Espana, mais il va ouvrir la route demain, sur les spéciales en terre. Dani Sordo (2e, +1s6), Thierry Neuville (3e, +29s3) voire Sébastien Ogier (4e, +46s5) semblent donc mieux placés pour s’imposer demain après-midi.

The classification which determined Sunday’s start order was that after ‘Colldejou’ (SS8, the Power Stage), so that’s where we headed this afternoon. We arrived early, which gave us time to work out our own ‘optimal’ strategy, as though we were in the shoes of Ogier, Sordo, Latvala and Neuville… All hypothetical, of course, but at least it was a way of killing time until the stage start…

After the ground he lost with an off on SS6, Sébastien Ogier didn’t really have any tough decisions to make: “Our aim tomorrow will be to drive flat out and hope that our start order will play in our favour,” commented the Volkswagen driver who faces the task of making up a deficit of 46.5 seconds on Sunday’s six, predominantly gravel stages.

The overnight leader, Latvala, will have the ‘privilege’ of being ‘road sweeper’ on the morning’s loop of 68 competitive kilometres. “I wanted to take points on the Power Stage, so I had to push. I just hope the weather decides to help me tomorrow,” he grimaced. The Finn picked up one bonus point on SS8 and will have an extra hour tonight (see separate story) to perform a ‘rain dance’ with his co-driver Miika Anttila.

The three Power Stage bonus points went to Thierry Neuville, which ticked one of items on his shopping list for the weekend in his bid to secure the 2013 runner-up honours. “We changed the set-up of my Ford and it feels much better this afternoon, with less understeer.”

The Belgian will be third on the road tomorrow, behind Dani Sordo who complied with Citroën Racing’s instructions to finish SS8 one second behind Latvala. The Spaniard consequently won’t be first into tomorrow’s stages, but he could find himself in Latvala’s dust if there is no wind…

Evgeny Novikov (5^th) was fast again on SS8 (5^th quickest), while Mikko Hirvonen (6^th) destroyed his tyres on the previous test. This evening, the two men are split by just one-tenth of a second. Talking of tenths, it’s interesting to note that four drivers completed El Priorat 2 (42.03km) on the same second! Also, five drivers broke the previous record for this stage (2010) during the first attempt this morning.

Robert Kubica is having a problem-free cruise in the WRC-2 battle. The Citroën DS3 RRC/Michelin driver sits two minutes clear of Elfyn Evans (Ford) and leads Sepp Wiegand (Skoda) by four minutes. The WRC-3 class is topped by Enrique Garcia-Ojeda who is five minutes clear of his closest threat. Finally, Yeray Lemes appears to be heading for second place in the 2013 Junior-WRC. Marius Aasen and Sander Parn trail some distance behind.

Le classement qui détermine l’ordre des départs dominical étant figé à l’issue de l’ES8 (Power Stage), c’est donc à l’arrivée de Colldejou qu’il fallait être. Et nous y étions, largement en avance d’ailleurs, ce qui nous a laissé tout le loisir pour établir notre propre stratégie, comme si on était dans la course au milieu des Ogier, Sordo, Latvala et Neuville… Totalement utopique, mais il fallait bien tuer l’heure qui nous séparait du départ de la spéciale.

Après sa touchette/crevaison dans l’ES6, Sébastien Ogier n’était plus vraiment concerné par une quelconque stratégie : « Notre objectif est de rouler à fond demain, en espérant que notre position sur la piste nous soit favorable » Le pilote Volkswagen partira 4^e demain avec un handicap de 46.5 secondes sur le leader.

Et le leader ce soir, celui qui aura donc l’immense « privilège » de balayer les pistes terre sur les 68 kilomètres de la boucle matinale, c’est Jari-Matti Latvala : « J’avais besoin des points de la Power Stage, je n’avais donc pas vraiment le choix. Et puis Dani était derrière… J’espère simplement que la météo sera avec moi demain. » Le Finlandais a terminé 3^e de l’ES8 (un point de bonus) et disposera d’une heure de plus cette nuit pour faire la « danse de la pluie ».

C’est Thierry Neuville qui a remporté les trois points de la Power Stage, l’un de ses objectifs du week-end dans l’optique du titre de vice-champion du monde. « On a modifié les set-up de la Ford et ça va beaucoup mieux cet après-midi, avec moins de sous-virage. »

Le Belge partira en 3^e position demain, derrière Dani Sordo qui a respecté les consignes de Citroën Racing de terminer l’ES8 une seconde derrière Latvala. L’Espagnol n’ouvrira donc pas la piste demain, mais il pourrait se retrouver dans la poussière de Latvala. A suivre…

Evgeny Novikov a signé un nouveau bon chrono dans l’ES8 (5^e meilleur temps), alors que Mikko Hirvonen avait déjà détruit ses pneus dans l’ES7. Ce soir, les deux hommes sont 5^e et 6^e et 1/10^ede seconde les sépare. En parlant de dixièmes, il est intéressant de noter que quatre pilotes ont fini les 42,03 km d’El Priorat 2 (ES7) dans la même seconde ! On peut également souligner que cinq pilotes ont battu le record (2010) de cette spéciale lors du 1^er passage ce matin…

En WRC-2, pas de problème pour Robert Kubica qui survole la concurrence au volant de sa Citroën DS3 RRC/Michelin. Elfyn Evans (Ford) est à deux minutes et Sepp Wiegand (Skoda) à deux minutes supplémentaires. En WRC-3, Enrique Garcia-Ojeda dispose de cinq minutes d’avance sur son plus proche rival. En Junior-WRC, Yeray Lemes a le titre de vice-champion en point de mire. Il devance largement Marius Aasen et Sander Parn.

Foundry MCs ’56 Triumph Bobber

Tom Simpson and Simon Lunn met 5 years ago on a Creative Blacksmith course. Like you do. According to Tom they had both reached a crossroads with their careers and were looking for something they were more passionate about. And so was born Foundry Motorcycle, a name that reflects their fascination with metalworking, and motorcycles – obviously.

Foundry has been up and running properly now for 6 months, with 5 stunning bikes under their belts and a waiting list for more. They are also importers of the gorgeous Gasolina boots and jackets, and serve coffee in their shop just outside Chichester in the UK. In this short space of time they have made their presence felt at the ‘must see’ shows like Festival of 1000 bikes, Goodwood Revival and of course our very own Bike Shed Events.

Unlike some builders the guys don’t want to be seen as one marque specialists, as evidenced by the current projects on the bench which include Hondas, BM’s, a Ducati and a Moto Guzzi. They also don’t want to be known for one particular genre either as Simon is into his cafe racers and contemporary trackers, where as Tom prefers old school trackers and bobbers, like this one.

When it comes to complete builds, sometimes its difficult to know where to start. In the case of ‘Old 56′ it started with a pair of black Biltwell Tracker bars that a customer spotted lying around in the shop. He had recently seen an article on old bobbers in a Classic Bike mag and decided to start a project. Of course, a pre-unit engine was pretty critical to the look but Tom & Simon tell us the style of the bike really was driven by those bars.

They wanted to keep the stripped down minimalist look of the bikes in the original article. So they built the hard-tail in house and went for no front ‘guard, ’12 o’clock’ rear and 19 inch wheels, and mounted the original ‘chrono’ speedo at the back of the tank to keep the front end clean. The oil tank was fabricated from a fire extinguisher and the pin up decal is a Vaga Vagas illustration from an Esquire magazine desk calendar. The seat is Biltwell too, cantilevered from cut down truck springs, giving a nice clean line to the back end.

The bike lives at the shop and gets ridden most weeks. After a year, the engine is now totally sorted and apparently pulls really strongly on the single carb, which you can see and hear for yourself as it’s featured in a video for a leading British clothing brand.

Foundry’s aim is to produce bikes that look like they were always ‘meant to be’. Maintaining some visual and engineering continuity with the original bike, but improving things wherever possible. ‘Old 56′ is a great example of that. A lot of people think it came out of the factory looking like this and that the guys just went about a restoration. Far from it. Tom & Simon have poured their hearts into building their own unique interpretation of the Bobber. Not only that, they are both top guys who have supported what we’re trying to do here at The Shed from day one. For both those things, we’d like to say thanks Foundry. We can’t wait to see what’s next.

Photos by Nick Carter.

via The Bike Shed

Hare-Force One: Boarding the Playboy plane

From ferrying a prized ape to a widowed mate, to rescuing refugees from Vietnam in Operation Babylift, Big Bunny – or Hare-Force One as it was otherwise known – served Hugh Hefner and the Playboy family for five years. No doubt it had its fair share of ‘mile-high’ flying exploits...

At its peak, over a quarter of all male American college-goers picked up Playboy magazine every single month. And what does the patriarch of this booming empire, idolised and hated in equal measures by both men and women the world over, do to cement his status as the kingpin of the media world? He buys a private plane; and we’re not talking about a Cessna 172. Nope – in the birth of the hugely exciting jet age, Hugh Hefner bought an airliner for use at his (and several significant others’) convenience.

Taking the maiden flight

In February 1970, Hugh Hefner took his maiden flight aboard the Playboy plane – a brand-new McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, bought for an alleged USD 9m (a simply colossal sum at the time). This particular DC-9, though, was worlds away from its commercial brethren. In typical Playboy fashion, it was packed to the rafters with flamboyance and excess. Painted jet-black with Playboy rabbits adorning the tail fin, it was crammed with lavish décor and then-state-of-the-art technology. Those wanting to rest and relax could do so in the 12 folding sleeper chairs, while those in the mood could choose from several recreational activities – dancing in the discotheque or catching a film in the onboard cinema, for example.

Where the magic happened

Mere mortals (playmates and celebrities) entered the jet through the front staircase, while Hugh’s personal boudoir – complete with Tasmanian opossum-fur-covered elliptical waterbed – was entered via a private folding staircase at the rear of the fuselage. There’s no doubt that here is where the proverbial magic happened. It wasn’t all fun and games aboard Big Bunny, though, and with air travel comes serious risk and responsibility, hence Hugh took the liberty of officially training several playmates as air-stewardesses; though the rabbit ears and bushy tails were dispensed with, in favour of knee-high boots and white aviator scarves.

Vietnamese babies and a gorilla named Baltimore Jack

Aside from shuttling Hefner and world-famous celebrities (Elvis, and Sonny and Cher, to name but three) from city to city, Big Bunny took some unusual excursions in the name of publicity. She not only rescued Vietnamese babies following the fall of Saigon, but also ferried a gorilla named Baltimore Jack across America to meet a recently widowed mate. Jack reportedly took a liking to Hefner’s waterbed; make of that what you will. But all good things must come to an end and, in 1975, Big Bunny was gutted and sold to a Venezuelan airline. Of the thousands of passengers who subsequently flew on her, we wonder how many knew of the earlier goings-on aboard Hare-Force One.

Photos: Getty / Taschen