ACE CAFE RADIO

    mercredi 12 mars 2014

    Harley vs. Indian: The Great Race 2013 (Australia)

    A digital memoire of the 2013 Great Race, Australia 
    (Please note that the digs at Indians are in jest! Some of my good friends ride the other brand) When you hear me laugh during the video, I'm not laughing at the water logged Indians on the side of the road...I'm laughing and the lunacy of riding in hail that was 1/2'' or 12mm in diam and belting the bejusus out of me.

    The Indian vs Harley Great Race is a navigation, reliability, and time-trial event. This year the event was based in Jinabyne NSW. The courses that we traveled over, were some of the best touring and cornering roads in Australia. There is no real speed involved - it is more about getting your bike around the course and checking in and out of check-points whilst correctly answering questions at each check-point... Overall, the Great Race is about riding with your mates, regardless of whether they are riding a Harley or an Indian.

    As competitors, we all take it seriously and the time honoured rivalry that has existed between the 2 brands since their inception, is still alive and well.

    Most of this video footage was shot in the beautiful High country.

    Harleys were the winners this year!

    For those of you who are interested, check out my frame products to restore old Harley frames.
    website: http://www.raceframe.com.au/


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    The Best Bar in America Sneak Peek

    This clip from the feature film The Best Bar in America follows Sanders (Andrew Rizzo) as he begins another day of his cross country motorcycle trip to visit all the bars and taverns in the America West. Good road or bad, it's always an adventure. A special edition of the DVD is now available for pre-orderthttp://www.bestbarinamerica.com

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    YOKOHAMA HOT ROD CUSTOM SHOW 2013

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    Wednesday’s WRC notes: Mexico / Les brèves du mercredi…


    The Wednesday after every WRC round, we look back at some of the anecdotes and stories thrown up by the event. Today, it’s the turn of Rally Mexico…
    Before traveling to Leon, Mikko Hirvonen spent three days in Los Angeles to watch a hockey game and visit Hollywood. The Finn is known to be a big cinema fan. After Sweden, Andreas Mikkelsen took a few days off in New York.
    Volkswagen’s trip back to Germany was something of an ordeal: Leon to Dallas, then on to London and Frankfurt, before taking a train to Hannover. All the obvious flights were full because of the CeBit Computer Show.
    Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, last year’s WRC-2 vice-champion and the class’s winner in Mexico in 2013, had to withdraw his entry when a sponsor pulled out. The North American event will still count as one of his seven nominated rounds for the season, says the FIA. Abdulaziz is expected to compete in Argentina.
    Volkswagen Mexico had planned to organise a ‘road show’ in the streets of Mexico City ahead of the rally but the event was eventually cancelled. The team’s drivers used their visit to the capital to attend a number of interviews.
    The FIA’s Rallies Commission meets in Paris today. The agenda includes the possible use of asphalt rain tyres from Rallye Deutschland onwards and ‘Rally2’ start orders…
    A pace note error was the cause of Ott Tanak’s ‘off’ 500 metres into SS3: “It was a fast flowing portion and I thought I heard ‘right over crest’. It turned out to be a ‘left’.” After that misadventure, the Estonian collected all the WRC-2 fastest stage times. In Portugal, he will be back in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC/Michelin.
    M-Sport (N°6 Ford) and Hyundai Motorsport (N°7 i20 WRC) were fined €2,500 and €5,000 respectively for service park infractions during fuel tank changes (no fire extinguisher, no safety cordon, etc.). Hyundai recalled that it is new to the WRC, but its defence apparently wasn’t taken on board…
    Frenchman Quentin Gilbert, who was competing in a Ford Fiesta R5 for the first time, had a different co-driver in Mexico. His usual right-hand man, Renaud Jamoul, was in Belgium for the birth of his son, Robin. Congratulations to the happy family. Nicolas Klinger stepped in as replacement at the last moment. However, after an early ‘off’ and a turbo sensor problem on the Saturday, their rally ended on Sunday morning (radiator).
    Mexico’s Benito Guerra hopes sixth place on his home event will lead to other things. He would like to contest Rally Argentina (although he is not yet on M-Sport’s list for the event), and two or three other rounds of the WRC in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. All his sponsors were in Leon to follow last week’s event and a big business dinner was organised on Saturday evening. We shall see…
    Le mercredi après chaque rallye WRC, Best-of-Rallylive revient sur l’épreuve écoulée au travers de petites anecdotes et autres faits croustillants. Arriba, voici les brèves rapportées du Mexique
    Avant de se rendre au Mexique, Mikko Hirvonen a passé trois jours à Los Angeles où il assisté à un match de hockey et visité Hollywood. On sait que le Finlandais est un grand fan de cinéma. Après la Suède, Andreas Mikkelsen avait pris quelques jours « off » à New York.
    Le retour du team Volkswagen en Allemagne n’a pas été des plus directs : Leon, Dallas, Londres, Francfort et pour finir, en train jusqu’à Hanovre. Les vols étaient tous complets en raison du Salon mondial de l’informatique.
    Le vice-champion WRC-2 2013 et vainqueur de la catégorie au Mexique l’an passé Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari a déclaré forfait suite à la défection d’un sponsor. La FIA n’a pas accepté sa requête et ce rallye comptera bien dans son quota de sept manches WRC-2 nominées cette saison. Il devrait être présent en Argentine.
    Volkswagen Mexique devait organiser un « road-show » dans les rue de Mexico avant le rallye, mais il a été annulé. Les pilotes ont tout de même profité de leur escale dans la capitale mexicaine pour répondre à de nombreuses interviewes.
    La Commission des Rallyes se réunit aujourd’hui à Paris. Au menu des discussions, la possibilité d’utiliser des pneus pluie sur asphalte à partir du Rallye d’Allemagne, l’ordre des départs des voitures en Rally2 et diverses petites choses…
    Une erreur de notes est à l’origine de la sortie de route d’Ott Tanak après 500 m dans l’ES3 : « C’était dans une partie rapide où les virages s’enchaînent. J’ai compris « droite sur crête » et c’était un « gauche ». L’Estonien a ensuite réalisé tous les meilleurs temps WRC-2. Il retrouvera la Ford Fiesta RS WRC/Michelin au Portugal.
    M-Sport (Ford N°6) et Hyundai Motorsport (i20 WRC N°7) ont reçu respectivement 2500 et 5000 € d’amende pour des infractions commises au parc d’assistance lors du remplacement de réservoir d’essence (absence d’extincteur, pas de périmètre de sécurité…). Hyundai a plaidé ses débuts en WRC, mais n’a visiblement pas été entendu…
    Pour son 1er rallye sur la Ford Fiesta R5, Quentin Gilbert n’avait pas son copilote habituel, Renaud Jamoul, resté en Belgique pour assister à la naissance de son fils Robin. Félicitations aux heureux parents. Nicolas Klinger l’a remplacé au pied levé. Après une touchette, puis des ennuis de capteur de turbo samedi, le rallye s’est terminé dimanche matin (radiateur).
    Le Mexicain Benito Guerra espère une suite à sa 6e place au Mexique. Il aimerait disputer le Rallye d’Argentine (mais il n’était pas encore inscrit au planning chez M-Sport), voire deux ou trois autres manches mondiales cette saison sur la Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Tous ses sponsors étaient sur le rallye et avaient organisé un important dîner « d’affaires » samedi soir… A suivre.

    THE MUSKET ROYAL ENFIELD V-TWIN


    Musket Royal Enfield V-Twin  2
    The Musket is the motorcycle that Royal Enfield should be building – or at very least the engine that they should have used in the the new Royal Enfield Continental GT cafe racer. It was designed from the outset to use as many stock Enfield parts as possible, with only the only significant new parts being the crank, exhaust and the engine case, the rest of the engine (and motorcycle) is built from original parts including the cylinders, pistons and heads.
    This further convinces me that Royal Enfield need to buy the rights to this engine, then drop it into their ageing production line.
    Originally designed and engineered by Aniket Vardhan, a native of India, the home turf of the Royal Enfield Motorcycles and a nation well-known for repurposing older technologies to keep them relevant and useable in the modern day. Aniket grew up like many Indian boys, love the putt-putt-putt of the antiquated single cylinder motorcycles pottering around the streets and alleyways of the subcontinent.
    As he grew older he learned about the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company and their iconic V-Twins – a plan began to form and by the time he had moved to the USA to get his Masters in Industrial Design he had a well-formed idea in his head for a new kind of Enfield. An Enfield that would be twice as powerful, twice as loud and at least twice as much fun.
    Musket Royal Enfield V Twin  740x495 The Musket Royal Enfield V Twin
    Aniket’s first attempt at the Enfield V-Twin was based on two 350cc engines, he created an entirely new crankcase and sandcast it himself. He was careful to over-engineer any new components and so with this in mind he made sure that the new crankcase was actually thicker and heavier than it really need to be – just to make sure it was the strongest link in the chain.
    When he released his new 700cc Enfield to the world the motosphere lit up like a fireworks display over the Bikini Atoll, people all over the world contacted him with requests that he sell them one of his engines and the demand was such that he put the new V-Twin into limited production. Skip forward a couple of years to the present day and Aniket is well-known for building exceedingly reliable engines, as is always the case people wanted more power and so he’s been hard at work creating an entirely new engine based on two cylinders from the larger 500cc Enfield single.
    The bike you see here is fitted with the new 59 degree, 998cc V-Twin and early reports indicate that it’s capable of over 70hp. Somewhat incredibly the new engine can be bolted into the frame of an original Royal Enfield Bullet 500 with only a slight bend in the top tube required to make it fit. The new engine with a slightly tighter angle between cylinders looks almost like the iconic V-Twin from the Vincent Black Shadow – perhaps not surprising when you consider that the Vincent engine was also originally constructed from two cylinders originally designed for a single cylinder motorcycle.
    If you’d like to read more about the Musket or order your own, you can click here to visit the official website.
    Musket Royal Enfield V Twin 6 740x493 The Musket Royal Enfield V Twin
    Musket Royal Enfield V Twin 5 740x493 The Musket Royal Enfield V Twin
    Musket Royal Enfield V Twin 4 740x493 The Musket Royal Enfield V Twin
    Musket Royal Enfield V Twin 3 740x493 The Musket Royal Enfield V Twin
    Musket Royal Enfield V Twin 1 740x493 The Musket Royal Enfield V Twin
    via SILODROME


    HAKOFUGU cafe

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    15frontcowl

    11hakofugu-tank

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    03leftside

    2015 YAMAHA SR400 BY PALHEGYI DESIGN


    2015 Yamaha SR400 USA model
    Is any confirmation needed that a large sector of the motorcycle-buying public is bored with anodyne, plastic-clad offerings? This is it: The venerable Yamaha SR400 goes on sale in the USA in June, following its relaunch in Europe.
    Yes, we’re talking about a simple mid-capacity roadster with a narrow frame, a kickstart, old-style switchgear and a flat bench seat. For some folks, that simplicity is reason enough to buy an SR400. But for many others, the biggest plus is getting instant access to a staggering number of custom parts from around the world—and owning a bike that is remarkably easy to work on and personalize.
    2015 Yamaha SR400 USA model
    Jeff Palhegyi has managed to get his hands on one of the first SR400s to land in the USA, and he’s shown what’s possible with relatively simple mods. Even better, he built this bike in eight days flat.
    2015 Yamaha SR400 USA model
    “An old-school TT500-style custom was the plan,” Jeff explains. “On Day One we installed the cool Heidenau tires, and measured the chassis for custom shocks from Racetech.” Next came the chassis work, but even that was easy.
    2015 Yamaha SR400 USA model
    “Chopping off the rear of the chassis—along with the excess tabs and mounts—was a breeze. Then we formed up a new rear frame hoop, mounted custom fenders, and mocked up new side panels.” While the side panels were being fabricated, Jeff installed a new headlight from Dime City Cycles, a Koso instrument, and bars from Observe Design Innovate. To clean up the back end, a new aluminum Omega Racer swingarm from MotoLanna was installed, and Howard McKee fashioned an ultra-simple old-style seat.
    2015 Yamaha SR400 USA model
    Jeff then mocked up a new exhaust system, using little more than offcuts of stainless steel tubing. That used up the rest of the week, but still left time for Benny Flores to craft the immaculate paint job.
    The result is a lightweight, timeless urban scrambler that should put a smile on the dial of even the most hardened biker. We’re sold on the idea, and betting that the USA market will be too.
    Images by Ryan Hagel. There’s more on the Yamaha SR400 USA model here. And take a look at this SR400, commissioned by Yamaha Europe from the Wrenchmonkees.
    2015 Yamaha SR400 USA model
    via BIKEEXIF

    1979 Yamaha XS 750





    1979 Yamaha XS 750 “Triple Black Widow
    by Motoforza, Czech Republic







    via 

    Inazuma Cafe


    Supercharched Grand Prix Cars 1924-1939


    Manfred von Brauchitsch is airborne in his Mercedes Benz at Melbourne Rise. Donington Grand Prix.  740x366 Supercharged: Grand Prix Cars 1924 1939
    Warning: This film contains graphic racing accident footage including 2-3 probable fatalities, don’t click the play button if you’re likely to find that upsetting.
    Supercharged: Grand Prix Cars 1924-1939 is a vintage film that covers some of the formative years of Grand Prix racing, it’s a fascinating look at some of the most technologically advanced engineering from the era – ending with the onset of World War II in 1939. The film contains a remarkable amount of race footage – including some of the first drifting ever caught on film, there’s also some great video of the Auto Unions displaying their trademark power sliding in the late 1930s.

    Mercedes Benz History Biography Rudolf Caracciola504804 885084 3463 2518 30262 740x538 Supercharged: Grand Prix Cars 1924 1939
    1924 gp de lacf lyon   louis zborow 740x555 Supercharged: Grand Prix Cars 1924 1939
    1924 gp de lacf lyon robert benoist delage v 12 2 litre sc 3rd 740x555 Supercharged: Grand Prix Cars 1924 1939
    via SILODROME

    Home Is Where You Build It: The Slammer Garage


    Home Is Where You Build It: The Slammer Garage
    A workshop, to most of us, is more than just a convenient work place. Over the last few days, you’ll have seen a lot of garages and shop tours from around the world already. I can’t say for certain – I’m writing this before I’ve read any other features put together by the rest of team – but whilst what I’m about to show you is humble. It is for me the most important set-up of them all…
    Slammer Garage PMcG-33
    Last year, Ben and I went on an adventure to Sweden. By now, you’re likely familiar with the cars we found on that trip: the Hemizon, the 1JZ Caddy, the 1294whp Supra and a particular diesel Chevy rod with more torque than a Bugatti Veyron. With a cast of cars like that, it was pretty easy to become over-awed. But nearly a year on, and it turns out that it was in fact one of the people we met who left the lasting impression.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-39
    His name is Emanuel Sandén. In the last twelve months, three of his own cars have been featured on Speedhunters. Quite a feat considering these were cars he built in his own spare time and for himself.
    Chevy Rod Extra PMcG-1
    Emanuel embodies all that is right about global car culture. He’s humble and happy to talk about cars until the sun comes up. It was through one of these conversations as we were finishing up a shoot on the Hemizon, that he invited us to come and take a look at his personal workshop, in a sleepy Swedish suburb.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-1
    Sweden is a utopia and as such a lot of it looks quite alike. However, when we arrived at Slammer Garage, we were immediately aware that Emanuel had carved out his own little corner of Sweden.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-31
    I’m sure his neighbours must be horrified at the sight of hot rod projects strewn about outside his workshop’s doors.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-18
    Inside, as they say, is where the magic happens.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-8
    Whilst the space is compact, it’s used efficiently and doesn’t feel cramped. In fact, there were four rolling projects on the floor inside, and probably enough room for a fifth.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-4
    As this was the first time we had seen the Cummins-powered Chevy, I’ll admit that it did steal a lot of our attention for the first hour or so.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-3
    But once the novelty wore off (actually, I’m lying, the novelty never wore off), it was time to take a closer look at all those small things that to Emanuel are probably just in the way, but to us are what defines the character of this workshop.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-5
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    I would love to know what this looks like to an American reader. To see your national flag proudly hanging on the wall in a country thousands of miles away and not a fellow US citizen to be seen for miles around. It’s clearly a positive thing, but am I the only one who finds these sort of homages fascinating?
    Slammer Garage PMcG-23
    It’s not unique to Slammer Garage of course, but something that can be found in every workshop around the world. All those little pieces of paraphernalia that we try to assemble to bring us closer, in spirit at least, to achieving a certain amount of authenticity with our projects and builds.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-20
    Even things as easily attainable as magazines that we can’t buy in our local newsagents but can perhaps source online. Not only do they inspire us but I believe they put us in the right state of mind.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-9
    Of course, no workshop is complete without the obligatory bias and banter. It’s never to be taken too seriously, more a playful shove than anything else.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-21
    Against each wall, you will find parts for upcoming projects. This Mercedes diesel engine has since found a new home.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-17
    In this ’49 Chevrolet pickup.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-16
    Which was spread pretty evenly around the workshop.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-6
    There were complete cars too, like this half and half (half painted, half rusted) ’40s Buick Super. Emanuel told us an amusing anecdote where they rolled down a street one day in this, before turning around and driving back the way they came. ‘Hey, did you just see that rusty version of that old car that went by a few minutes ago?”
    Slammer Garage PMcG-28
    This is the sort of character that you can’t buy off a shelf.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-7
    The same can be said for pretty much everything that Emanuel puts his hands on…
    Slammer Garage PMcG-22
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    So, aside from the amazing cars, the interesting parts and the random pieces of ephemera that reside here, what makes this garage more special than any other?
    Slammer Garage PMcG-19
    Well, nothing really. Slammer Garage exemplifies what is great about every workshop around the world.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-26
    This is not just Emanuel’s sanctuary, it’s yours and mine too. It’s like a network of safe houses the world over, where we can all take shelter.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-36
    A place where even the thrash fascinates us and starts up a conversation.
    Slammer Garage PMcG-30
    You see, garages aren’t just four walls and a roof. They’re places where we make things happen. It’s a place where we can walk inside, close the door and forget about the outside world for a couple of hours. It’s a place of gathering, where we can hangout with friends, work on our cars or just talk shop. Our garages and workshops define who we are as petrolheads and each one tells you everything you need to know about its owner.
    You can take the cars out and still know exactly what type of person the owner is. These are our churches. These are our temples, our shrines or whatever else you want to call them.
    This is where speed is born.
    Paddy McGrath