ACE CAFE RADIO

    mardi 1 avril 2014

    Valentino Rossi à l’assaut du Dakar


    Nonuple champion du monde, Valentino Rossi va tenter l’expérience du célèbre rallye raid, le Dakar, au guidon d’une Yamaha-Michelin, dès 2015.
    A 35 ans, Valentino Rossi se lance un nouveau défi en participant à l’édition 2015 du Dakar. « The doctor » affrontera les pistes exigeantes d’Argentine, de Bolivie et du Chili pour tenter de rallier l’arrivée le 17 janvier à Buenos Aires. L’Italien ne se fixe pas d’objectif précis même si franchir la ligne d’arrivée dans le Top 10 serait une énorme satisfaction.
    Suite au départ de Cyril Despres chez Peugeot Sport, l’arrivée de Valentino Rossi est une bonne nouvelle pour Yamaha. Les premiers essais seraient programmés au mois de juillet lors de la traditionnelle trêve estivale en MotoGP.
    A suivre …

    A strong entry for the Algarve / Du (beau) monde en Algarve !


    With the exception of Rally Finland, which frequently attracts some 100 starters, the 2014 Vodafone Rally de Portugal is the WRC’s most popular round for five years, with an entry of 85 crews. Sébastien Ogier and Volkswagen are the big favourites.
    The entry list features 15 World Rally Cars, 17 WRC-2 runners and 14 crews in the WRC-3 and Junior categories, plus 13 Drive DMack Fiesta Trophy contestants and 14 Portuguese Championship contenders.
    Volkswagen Motorsport is on a run of seven straight wins and its line-up includes three-time Portugal winner Sébastien Ogier, along with Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen who drove the Polo R WRC/Michelin for the first time here in 2013. The championship’s leaders Ogier and Latvala will be first on the road on Friday, but that shouldn’t be a big handicap because rain is forecast all week in the Algarve.
    Despite their Mexican woes, Mads Ostberg and Kris Meeke have a good momentum going at the moment, and the Citroën DS3 WRC is likely to be competitive on Portugal’s technical stages. Meanwhile, Hyundai Motorsport is running three i20 WRCs for the first time (for Neuville, Hanninen and Sordo) and the rally promises to provide the first real indication of the car’s potential after the team’s top-three finish in Mexico.
    In the M-Sport camp, Mikko Hirvonen has yet to win in Portugal after six attempts (he was disqualified after his 2012 victory), while Elfyn Evans was eighth in WRC-2 last year following a transmission problem. Even so, the Welshman was fastest on all the final leg’s stages. Robert Kubica also took part in the 2013 WRC-2 battle but used the Rally2 ruling twice en route to sixth place. Finally, Portugal will be Ott Tanak’s second appearance of the season in the Fiesta RS WRC.
    This year’s WRC-2 entry stars Jari Ketomaa, Yuri Protasov, Pontus Tidemand, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Julien Maurin, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Martin Kangur, all in Ford Fiestas (R5, RRC or S2000), so there is every chance the category will be won by an M-Sport built car!
    The 2014 Junior-WRC kicks off in Portugal, too, and the 14 Michelin-equipped Citroën DS3 R3s will be driven by the likes of Stéphane Lefebvre, Simone Tempestini, Christian Riedemann, Alastair Fisher, Jan Cerny and Molly Taylor who are the class’s most internationally known names.
    The Drive DMack Fiesta Trophy has attracted a number of former J-WRC runners, such as José Suarez, Yeray Lemes, Sander Pärn and Marius Aasen. Others to watch include Quentin Gilbert, Ghislain de Mevius and Max Vatanen.
    The host country’s top representatives are three-time Portuguese champions Ricardo Moura (Fabia S2000) and Adruzilo Lopes (Subaru), plus the 1995 P-WRC champion Rui Madeira (Fiesta R5).
    The traditional format visits familiar stages (Silves, Ourique, Almodovar, Santana da Serra, etc.) after the official start on Thursday afternoon in Estoril, for the first time since 1994. Competitive action will begin with a super-special alongside the Tagus River in Lisbon.
    Hormis le Rallye de Finlande qui réunit régulièrement une centaine d’équipages, le plateau du Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2014 est le plus fourni du WRC depuis cinq ans avec 85 engagés. Sébastien Ogier et Volkswagen sont plus que jamais favoris.
    Parmi les 85 engagements, on dénombre 15 World Rally Cars, 17 prétendants en WRC-2, 14 en WRC-3 et championnat Junior, 13 en Drive DMack Fiesta Trophy et 14 pilotes engagés au Championnat du Portugal.
    Après sept victoires consécutives, Volkswagen Motorsport sera de nouveau l’équipe à battre ce week-end avec le triple vainqueur du Portugal, Sébastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala et Andreas Mikkelsen qui avait débuté au volant de la Polo R WRC/Michelin ici-même l’an passé. Leaders du championnat, Ogier et Latvala ouvriront la piste vendredi, mais ce ne devrait pas être un lourd handicap puisqu’on annonce de la pluie toute la semaine sur l’Algarve.
    Malgré leurs déconvenues au Mexique, Mads Ostberg et Kris Meeke sont sur une bonne dynamique et la Citroën DS3 WRC devrait encore être performante sur ces spéciales techniques. Pour Hyundai Motorsport, qui aligne pour la 1ère fois trois i20 WRC – Neuville, Hanninen, Sordo -, ce sera un vrai indicateur sur le 1er rallye représentatif de la saison. Là aussi, Hyundai Motorsport est sur une bonne dynamique après son 1er podium mondial au Mexique.
    Quid de M-Sport ? En six participations, Mikko Hirvonen n’a jamais réussi à s’imposer officiellement sur ce rallye (sa victoire en 2012 avait été annulée). Elfyn Evans avait terminé 8edu classement WRC-2 l’an passé après un problème de transmission. Mais le Gallois avait signé tous les meilleurs temps de la catégorie le dernier jour. Robert Kubica évoluait lui aussi en WRC-2 en 2013 : il avait eu besoin de deux Rally2 pour venir à bout du parcours et prendre la 6eplace. On attend confirmation de l’Estonien Ott Tanak pour sa 2e course de la saison sur la Fiesta RS WRC.
    En WRC-2, il y a là aussi du beau monde avec Jari Ketomaa, Yuri Protasov, Pontus Tidemand, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Julien Maurin, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, Martin Kangur, tous sur des Ford Fiesta (R5, RRC et S2000). On ne voit pas comment la catégorie pourrait échapper à une voiture sortie des ateliers M-Sport !
    Le championnat Junior-WRC 2014 débute au Portugal avec 14 Citroën DS3 R3/Michelin également engagées en catégorie WRC-3. Stéphane Lefebvre, Simone Tempestini, Christian Riedemann, Alastair Fisher, Jan Cerny ou encore Molly Taylor sont les plus connus sur la scène internationale.
    En Drive DMack Fiesta Trophy, on retrouvera d’anciens pensionnaires du championnat Junior comme José Suarez, Yeray Lemes, Sander Pärn ou Marius Aasen. A suivre les prestations de Quentin Gilbert, Ghislain de Mevius et Max Vatanen. Enfin, parmi les pilotes portugais, on retrouvera les triples champions nationaux Ricardo Moura (Fabia S2000) et Adruzilo Lopes (Subaru) ou encore le Champion du monde PWRC 1995 Rui Madeira (Fiesta R5).
    Le parcours est des plus classiques avec des spéciales connues (Silves, Ourique, Almodovar, Santana da Serra…). Le départ sera donné jeudi après-midi à Estoril pour la 1ère fois depuis 1994. Les concurrents disputeront ensuite la Superspéciale de Lisbonne, sur les rives du Tage.

    Clubbed to deaf: The best of the 72nd Goodwood Members' Meeting


    With the Festival of Speed and Revival brim-full in recent years, 2014 saw Lord March add another event to the Goodwood calendar. The weekend’s 72nd Members' Meeting was held at the circuit, almost 48 years after the 71st…
    Between 1948 and 1966, the Members’ Meetings were held every few months, with the era’s finest drivers descending on Sussex for the benefit of British Automobile Racing Club members. This year, the limited-entry affair drew more than 20,000 spectators to the resurrected event – which several attendees likened to a ‘distilled crowd’ Revival meeting, along with the added bonus of more liberal racing categories, including those for post-1966 machines. Of these, the Longtail Le Mans cars, Group B rally monsters and Turbo F1 cars garnered most attention, the latter group particularly relevant with their modern-day descendants simultaneously in action in Malaysia.

    Red-blooded racing

    While those categories were limited to sprints and demonstration outings, red-blooded racing was also on offer throughout the weekend. The Moss Trophy saw an epic battle, with the Ferrari 250 Breadvan taking a lengthy lead as expected, only to drop down the pack later in the race. This left the DK Engineering Jaguar E-type, Lotus Eleven Breadvan and Aston Martin DB4GT to fight for first, the Aston pipping the Lotus by a car length after a prolonged dogfight. The latter’s performance was particularly commendable, given its underdog status in the ‘Battle of the Breadvans’ as a result of a 50-year competition absence. Another fascinating tussle saw RM’s Max Girardo spin his increasingly pendulous Ferrari TdF on the final lap of the Tony Gaze Trophy, relinquishing first place to an AC Ace-Bristol that had, incidentally, also won at its last Members’ Meeting outing, back in the 1960s.

    Sensory overload

    Sights, smells and sounds of rare machinery were prevalent across the motor circuit – thunderous American muscle vibrating your core, while the screaming V12 of the 1972 Le Mans-winning Matra-Simca MS670B went to work on your eardrums. Incidentally, the Members’ Meeting took up two of the five days this year during which the Goodwood circuit’s decibel limit is waived, the other three being the Revival. Other multi-sensory spectacles included Jochen Mass expertly dancing a Gullwing around the ultra-technical circuit, and Sir Stirling doing parade laps in the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione in which he won five significant races in period.

    Even safety a spectacle

    Many Classic Driver affiliates were in action in some capacity or other, including JD Classics,William I’AnsonDesmond Smail and DK Engineering. The Cottingham family behind the latter not only raced a GT40 and an E-type, but also piloted the Ferrari F40 safety car duo that kept the demonstration-only classes from turning competitive. Indeed, the safety cars were an exhibition in themselves – only at Goodwood would an Aston DB5, a McLaren P1, a Jaguar XJS and a Bullitt Mustang be employed in such a role. As is traditional at Goodwood, there were plenty of forms of non-automotive entertainment – an aircraft hangar-turned-nightclub, a spectacular fireworks display and a Spitfire fly-by just a few examples. The question on the lips of the departing spectators on Sunday evening was a poignant one: how can Lord March possibly improve the 73rd Meeting? He’s managed during the last few decades with the Festival of Speed and the Revival, so it’s a question to which we're already looking forward to the answer.
    Photos: Tim Brown
    Thousands of classic cars can be found for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

    Bell & Ross B-Rocket: Lift-off, with a twist


    Alfa Romeo's heavenly-looking 4C might have been voted 'most beautiful car of 2013' at January's International Automobile Festival in Paris - but it was watch brand Bell & Ross that caused the biggest stir of the event...
    On home turf, the French watchmaker pulled the wraps off a wild-looking motorcycle which has just been 'officially' unveiled at the Baselworld watch show.
    The B-Rocket is heavily based on the watch brand's associations with aviation
    The retro-futuristic 'B-Rocket' is the work of British custom bike builder Shaw Harley-Davidson, which first collaborated with Bell & Ross three years ago when Shaw's chief sales executive, Steve Willis, proposed creating a unique machine as a promotional tool for the brand. The result was the 'Nascafe Racer', which came third in the 2011 American Motorcycle Dealer world custom championships and has subsequently served as an irresistible crowd puller at Bell & Ross events around the world.
    The success of the Nascafe prompted B & R founder Bruno Belamich to commission Shaw to build the even more radical B-Rocket, which is heavily based on the watch brand's associations with aviation.

    E.T. go prone

    The idea of building the bike so it is ridden in a prone position came from a 1930s Brough Superior speed record machine seen at last year's Salon Privé in London, although the basis of the B-Rocket was a standard Harley-Davidson FXS Softail Blackline cruiser.
    Shaw's in-house fabricator, Dave Rollison, crafted the steel, jet-like bodywork entirely by hand, while design and build genius Neil Sefton carefully pieced everything together to create the beautifully finished product.

    Precision-engineered projectile

    The tail piece is made from 30 separate sections of steel with Plexiglass lowers covering the chain, rear brake and solid wheel covers. Hand-made brass grilles help to cool the 10-inch brake discs, while the front end of the bike features a pair of small, adjustable 'wings' mounted on the girder forks to optimise airflow.
    To coincide with the bike's unveiling, Bell & Ross has launched two 'B-Rocket' watches - the 46mm BR01 B-Rocket chronograph and the 42mm BR03 B-Rocket with large date and power reserve indication. Prices start at around 4,500 euros.
    Photos: Bell & Ross
    You can find plenty of classic motorcycles and Bell & Ross watches for sale in the Classic Driver Market.
    Shaw Speed and Custom is based in the English town of Lewes, East Sussex, and builds one-off Harley-Davidson-based bikes to order. For an idea of what can be achieved, see shawspeedandcustom.co.uk

    DPPB

    via bubblevisor
    I don't think the work of Dutch CAD designer Mark "Duckman" van der Kwaak needs an introduction on this blog. Most people will know his Cadbike 33 Beemer and he did the Cad work and developed the frame with adjustable trail, rake and seat height for Veon. The bike that was built by Krugger and winner of the 2010 AMD World Championship of Custombikebuilding.
    But here are some more of his Cad designs.

    I really like his latest creation, inspired by Roth's Megacycle, but
    this version will have BMW power. 
    Check his site for much more 

    z




















    Road Race-T. 1927 LeMons Racer. BIG MUSCLE


    BIG MUSCLE investigates a 1927 Road Race-T built for the 24 Hours of LeMons endurance race.
    BIG MUSCLE
    What happens if you take a lemon and add a little sugar? That is the question posed by Mike Musto from BIG MUSCLEwho each week “travels the country with the goal of showcasing the best and baddest muscle cars and hot rods around”. We think Big Mike needs to start adding ‘bizarre’ and ‘surreal’ into that description as well. Especially when you check out the focus of this latest episode…
    Taking a 1927 Ford Model T, dropping in a 1986 Mustang drivetrain and adding the front end off a Pinto is an extreme case of ‘only in America’. How is this thing even road legal? And how come it still weighs 2400lbs (1088kg) even though it has, well, nothing? And is it possible that Dennis “Fish” Newman and Dave Schaible – who built it – might be stretching the rules of the 24 Hours of LeMons endurance race? Is it cool? Is it a deathtrap? Actually, just WTF is it?
    Don’t look at us for answers, we have no idea. This is BIG MUSCLE.
    Source – DRIVE

    From Grocery-Getting To The Grid. 300hp Of Escort Awesome


    From Grocery-Getting To The Grid. </br>300hp Of Escort Awesome
    I’m sure I speak for my fellow Speedhunters when I say I can appreciate any car that’s had blood, sweat and tears poured into it, but every now and then, a build comes along that really piques my interest. Something that I really wish was parked in my garage.
    Today, that car is a Ford Escort. But not any Ford Escort…
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-1
    It’s hard to believe it looking at it now, but when the two-door Mk2 rolled off Ford’s production line in the mid-’70s, it did so in rudimentary 1300L guise.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-2
    The transformation from sensible grocery-getter into the tough-as-nails circuit race car that tips its hat to the Zakspeed’s Castrol-sponsored Group 2 machine didn’t happen overnight, but rather through a number of evolutionary phases that began when its current owner, Tony Paxman, purchased the car in 2007.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-8
    Like so many of the stories we get to tell, there were no grand plans to begin with – just an idea to go oval short track racing with a car largely built up from parts that Tony amassed through 20 years of involvement in motorsport. Working on and off, that original build consumed around a year, setting in place the majority of custom fabrication work that you’ll still find in the car today.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-28
    Initially the Escort was powered by a relatively tame 2.0L SOHC Pinto motor, but like so many aspects of this car, it’s so much more than that now. The more extensive modifications were spurred by a focus change and switch to longer distance, semi-endurance events at the end of the ’08 season, and it was then that Andy Pyke – a driver Tony met when both were competing in the V6 Eurocar series – came aboard with the project.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-11
    Sharing the drive divvied up the running costs, allowing the team to expand its racing programme, from local UK events to classic race meetings in Belgium, Portugal and as far afield as Daytona International Speedway in Florida, USA. The SR Rolex Endurance Series, Heritage Racing, and JD Classics Motor Racing Legends – this Escort has seen a lot of action over the past few years.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-35
    It’s a high competitive package among the pre-1978 classic and sports car ranks too, which has a lot to do with the dedication of the dedicated team behind the car. It’s a year-round thing – racing in the summer followed cold UK winters spent in the garage fine-tuning the set-up to extract every last ounce of potential from it.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-5
    Of all those upgrades, it’s the one that came at the end of of the 2010 season that has had the biggest impact. I’m not talking about the wild Zakspeed Castrol bodywork either – another important facet of this build that I’ll get to shortly – but what’s sitting beneath the bonnet.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-41
    Yes, it’s still a Pinto, but as you can see it’s far from stock now. Feast your eyes on 300hp of 2.3L four-cylinder Warrior by Connaught Competition Engines.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-44
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    The idea to get Connaught in on the act was a no-brainer as far as Tony was concerned. Not only had the team worked with CCE’s Tim Swadkin in the past, but a Warrior DOHC conversion would stroke a nice balance between delivering loads of power and maintaining a nostalgic feel in the engine. If you know anything about CCE’s Warrior packages though, you’ll know they’re a lot more than a simple cylinder head conversion. The block for example, has been fitted out with Connaught-spec pistons, rods and an Arrows crankshaft to lift displacement to 2.3L.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-45
    There are a couple of options you’ve got when it comes to building a Pinto-based engine with a twin cam head – the Warrior way, or the Cosworth route. Each have their strengths, but the Warrior benefits from being designed especially for natural aspiration, as opposed to the Cosworth component which was tooled with the turbocharged Sierra in mind. To take full advantage of its huge flow characteristics, there’s a quartet of Jenvey 48mm throttle bodies on the side, fitted on a Warrior-spec inlet manifold.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-43
    As awesome as the quads are, the custom fabricated Simpson Race Exhausts stainless steel header is the highlight of the engine bay for me. I mean, look at it! Simpson also knocked up the full stainless exhaust system running a straight path beneath the car to single stainless race muffler at the rear, and it’s equally impressive too.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-37
    There are many more performance-adders in the mix as well: a Sytec high-flow pump and adjustable regulator feeding from a 60L tank in the boot, a Mocal oil cooler and Radtec radiator, plus an MBE ignition mode and MBE engine management system wired in through a custom harness. A tad over 300hp is the result, and that’s plenty of wick for a chassis that weighs as little as the Escort does.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-17
    Ensuring that the MkII can put all that energy to the ground in a reliable fashion is a driveline that’s been on the receiving end of some serious modification. There’s the gearbox for starters – a Quaife Engineering QBE89G seven-speed, sequential-shifted and ultra close-ratio number that’s perfectly suited to the engine’s narrow power band and set up for flat shifting. Further down the line you’ll find a Tran-x Atlas LSD rear end with SHP Engineering axles and Quaife floating half shafts. Suffice to say, I don’t think there are any chances of breakage in this area of the car.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-19
    Things are very well sorted in the suspension department as well: an adjustable custom four-link in the rear married to Ohlins coilovers wearing Eibach springs and SHP Engineering top mounts.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-48
    The front end features SHP Engineering adjustable links, rose joints and sway bar, plus an uprated Gartrac steering rack. No detail has been spared in the quest for ultimate Escort performance.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-47
    That’s something which definitely extends to the stopping system too. Wilwood six-pot front and four-pot rear calipers, plus SHP Engineering rotors and Ferodo competitions pads at all four corners, equip the Escort with a brake package befitting its extensive mechanical modifications. Furthermore, an in-cabin Wilwood proportioning valve lets Tony or Andy fine-tune the split on the fly.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-4
    As unremarkable as the original road car might have been, the initial motorsport transformation and subsequent upgrades have turned it into one of the toughest old school Escort race cars out there. But there’s still more to talk about – starting with the oh-so-cool Zakspeed replica bodywork and Castrol-inspired colourway.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-6
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    As muscular as the Group 2 spec kit makes the Mk2 look, the idea to outwardly extend the car’s proportions wasn’t because of a need or want to radically change its appearance, but rather improve airflow over and around the car – for speed’s sake.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-10
    Of course, the giant over fenders allowed for easy fitting of big feet too, and under the front and rear guards you’ll find 15×9-inch Compomotive ML wheels where thirteens once resided.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-12
    The rear wing is an SHP Engineering item, and beautiful crafted too. Not so obvious is a Kevlar bonnet and boot lid, polycarbonate windows and a custom undertray. Andy tells me that the aero is one area the team isn’t quite finished with, and without taking too much away from the Zakspeed look, there are some subtle tweaks still to come.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-21
    Given what I’ve shown you so far, I’m pretty sure you’ll be banking on a quality fit-out inside. To that end, the Escort’s interior space definitely lives up to expectation. There’s a full roll cage of course, plus a Corbeau seat flanked by a Luke six-point harness, and a Mountney wheel. You can see how much work has gone into fitting the sequential transmission too – not only a custom tunnel, but also a fabricated mount which positions the lever and SPD shift knob at the optimum height.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-24
    I love the meticulous tin work in the back too. At the very bottom of the image you can see some of the box-work for the custom multi-link.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-27
    But more than that, I love the way that the cabin perfectly combines modern and vintage elements. Take the classic-style toggle switches for instance – pure period stuff.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-34
    And then you get a digital gear position meter for the Quaife box. It’s the perfect balance.
    Ford Escort MKII Zakspeed-3
    ‘Balanced’ is actually a pretty good way to describe the entire build, because this is a car that stays faithful to the Escort’s past yet still manages to embrace the future – not an easy task. Right now though, Tony and Andy have their sights set on a successful European summer season and a return to Daytona in November. There’s still unfinished business at the iconic North American circuit, and with a third more power now than when the Escort gave some of the big guns a run for their money on its first trans-Atlantic excursion, it’s time to show everyone what this awesome little machine can really do.
    Brad Lord
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    Paddy McGrath