CAFÉ RACER 76: 04/18/14

vendredi 18 avril 2014

Le circuit de Rivesaltes, situé dans le Sud de la France, accueille ce week-end la première épreuve du Championnat du monde FIM SuperMoto 2014.

Le Championnat du monde FIM SuperMoto fait escale pour la première épreuve de la saison sur les bords de la mer Méditerranée, à quelques kilomètres de Perpignan, sur le circuit de Rivesaltes. Après avoir accueilli la finale du Championnat du monde en 2013, Rivesaltes donnera le coup d’envoi de la saison 2014 ce week-end.

Champion en titre et auteur d’une superbe saison couronnée par 10 victoires en 14 courses, Mauno Hermunen (Team TM), désormais chaussé en Michelin, remet son titre en jeu.

Il devra affronter une concurrence plus nombreuse et plus affutée qu’en 2013 avec notamment le retour pour la saison complète de Thierry Van Den Bosch, champion du monde en 2004 (S1), au sein du Team TM Racing Factory (Michelin). Van Den Bosch aura comme coéquipier un autre champion du monde, Thomas Chareyre (2010 et 2012) qui compte bien accrocher un troisième titre à son palmarès. Thomas s’est imposé à Rivesaltes en 2013 en première manche.

Autre prétendant au titre, Adrien Chareyre, quadruple champion du monde de la discipline (2011 (S1) – 2009 (S2) – 2008 (S2) – 2007 (S1)) rempile pour une nouvelle saison avec le team Aprilia Fast Wheels (Michelin). Il avait particulièrement brillé en 2013 sur ce circuit en remportant la seconde course et terminant deuxième de la première.

Coté réglementation, une superpole d’une durée de 10 minutes fait son apparition réunissant les huit meilleurs pilotes à l’issue des essais chronométrés (30 minutes). Les pilotes disposent de deux séances d’essais libres de 30 minutes chacune et d’un warm-up de 20 minutes.

Le calendrier 2014 a été mis à jour :

CHAMPIONNAT DU MONDE FIM SUPERMOTO 2014
DATE	GRAND PRIX	CIRCUIT	COURSES Additionnelles
20 Avril	FRANCE	Rivesaltes	SM2
18 Mai	ROMANIE	Arad	SM2 \| SM3 \| SM85
15 Juin	REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE	Sosnova	SM2
6 Juillet	ITALIE	Cremona	SM2
20 Juillet	BELGIQUE	Zolder tbc	SM2
31 Aout	ESTONIE	Tabasalu	SM2
21 Septembre	CROATIE	Rijeka	SM2
12 Octobre	FIM SuperMoto of Nations	(tba)

Programme :

Samedi 19 avril :
11H25 : Essais libres
14H10 : Essais libres
16H10 : Essais chronométrés
16H45 : super chronos (8 premiers)
Dimanche 20 avril :
10H55 : warm-up
14H00 : course 1
16H30 : Course 2

GUZZI : MOTONERO BRONZE

If you own a Moto Guzzi and live in the UK there’s a good chance that you’ve heard of John, owner of Bristol basedMotonero Motorcycles. They’ve been working on and customising Guzzis for twenty years and what John doesn’t know about these old V-twins isn’t worth knowing. Last month one of his builds featured here in The Shed and it went down very well.

This latest offering has been built using the rare, spare hours John finds between working on customer bikes, and we’re glad he found the time, this one’s a beauty. The 850 T3 rolling chassis was relinquished by two friends who had tried to complete the project, one of them lasted eight years, the other four. It arrived with badly pitted Suzuki forks and ugly alloy slab yokes but also with the saving grace of a decent alloy fuel tank and seat unit. A pair of 36mm carbs were also present which went some way to sweeten the deal.

John set to work narrowing the seat unit and trimming a subtle upsweep to the tail section, later this would be painted a wonderful tone of bronze and have the crisp seat pad fitted. Support is provided by a chopped subframe with a new loop welded in, which looks much tidier from the rear.

The fuel tank had its fair share of McGyvering to alleviate beatings from the Suzuki forks, resulting in a good deal of smoothing out being required to make the front indents pretty again, and now the tank resembles a John Williams off-the-shelf version, very pleasant on the eye. Especially with another lick of that bronze paint complimented by the raw knee scoops and top panel, handsome. Black gloss side panels are fibreglass, from Germany and not something John usually fits but these seem necessary and well suited.

All of the black bits have been powder coated matt with dark grey accents on the shock springs, brake disc centres and headlight bracket. John might be subtle but he sure knows what he’s doing.

The alloy speedo mount is an in-house fabrication, along with the rear light mount. Levers were drilled to add to that ‘going fast while standing still’ look. In fact, if you’re into machining check out the Motonero blog. His mate has done a pretty awesome job of restoring a ’70s manual mill which will no doubt be put to use on the next build.

Whilst the 850 engine was in pieces it seemed only right to hot things up a bit and fit 950 barrels and pistons, matched to ported and flowed heads. Seals, bearings, gaskets etc were replaced as required in both engine and gearbox, along with clutch friction plates. The 36mm Dell’Orto carbs work well with the new heads and larger bore, heavy breathing is aided by a new exhaust. Stainless steel headers into reverse cone mufflers, painted black and heat wrapped, all suspended on custom bracketry sitting neatly behind the tasty Tarozzi rearsets. A Dyna III ignition and coils provides the bang and is fed by an all-new wiring loom with modern waterproof connectors.

If your Guzzi is feeling a little tired and in need of some TLC or a full custom job, give John a call. Maybe turn up with a project bike and a fistful of dollars and see if you can pry this one out of his hands…. Head to Motonero for more info and contact details or see more on The Bike Shed.

RAD 02 Wildcat by Radical Ducati

I was just thinking it is about time we featured another creation from the custom Ducatimasters Radical Ducati.

Lucky for me their latest had just been revealed at this years Mulafest, and was ready to be featured on Moto Rivista. Here it is suitably named Wildcat? Perhaps, that’s the question does this crazy custom match it’s name…read on to find out!

RAD 02 Wildcat started out with Radical Ducati’s Cromo Molibdeno frame and a Montjuich aluminum subframe, which was mated to a S2R single-sided swingarm with Extreme Tech rear shock. Wrapped in the Cromo Molibdeno frame is a Ducati Monster 1100 EVO engine that has been fitted with a RAD 02 two valves engine carbon fiber airbox. Pepo’s custom Ducati Monster WILDCAT also features a Wolfman exhaust system with BMW silencer.

At Radical Ducati the customization reaches to the extremes, these guys are not just buying parts off the shelf and putting the bike together. Most of Radical Ducati’s bikes come with in house produced parts. Now the use of carbon fiber in Radical’s bikes is pretty standard, Wildcat is no different and features various custom carbon fiber parts for one ultimate purpose and that is speed.

At the front Wildcat features RAD 02 Montjuich carbon fiber front fairing. Ducati 749 tin fork and a RAD 02 Montjuich aluminum front bracket. The wheels of this beast are BST carbón fiber, with Discacciati rotors, Discacciati radial calipers and Discacciati radial pumps. Other parts include an aluminum RAD 02 fuel tank and the RAD 02 CORSA EVO carbon fiber seat.

Without a doubt Radical Ducati builds some of the most amazing custom sports bikes of our time. Excuse me for a moment…I’m just imagining what it would be like to ride this beast Wildcat on the track!

Muchas Gracias to Pepo and Reyes for allowing us to feature Wildcat!!

Visit - Radical Ducati | Like Radical Ducati on – Facebook | Photos by – Javier Fuentes

Ford Mustang: Freedom for millions

This year celebrating its golden anniversary, the Ford Mustang differs from every other classic in its classless appeal. With this in mind, we recently sampled one of the more gentlemanly variants, a 1966 Mustang V8 coupé in an elegant anthracite hue…

Collective kings of cool

While the Porsche 911s and Mercedes-Benz Pagodas of the same era are more respected in their original specification, no such limits on modernisation and customisation apply to (most) classic Mustangs. As a result, few completely original examples of the first-generation ’Stang – produced between 1964 and 1973 – remain in existence.

Given that almost 1.3 million Mustangs were produced between 1964 and 1966 alone, it’s little wonder that many choose to individualise their machines. A popular route is to purchase a car from the more affordable end of the scale, and then to develop it into a dream car (often an ‘Eleanor’ recreation) – at significant expense, of course. The opposite end of the spectrum sees high-end collectors search for the rarest, Shelby-fettled variants. Last year, a unique 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake became the most expensive Mustang ever to be sold, fetching $1.3m at auction.

LA SUITE / MORE ......

LES CHAMPIONS RÉUNIS AU SUNDAY RIDE CLASSIC 2014

Rencontres extraordinaires lors

des Sunday Ride Classic sur le circuit Paul Ricard le week-end du 5 et 6 avril 2014 : Lors de cet évènement le Team Classic Racing Motorcycles a partagé le guidon des motos d’exception avec ses pilotes fétiches.

Giacomo Agostini, 15 fois champion du monde, roulait sur la MV Agusta 500 3 cylindres et la Yamaha 500 OW60 de 1982 du team.

Pour fêter les 30 ans du titre et les 20 ans de la victoire au Bol d’Or, Christian Sarron, champion du monde 250 en 1984, pilotera ses trois motos: Yamaha TZ 250 championne de 1984, FZR 750 R victorieuse du Bol d’Or 1994 et la 500 YZR de 1989.

Steve Baker, champion du monde 750 en 1977, s’est régalé au guidon de la Yamaha 500 YZR de 1986 du team.

Enfin, le responsable du team, Hubert Rigal, a roulé sur sa Yamaha TZ 750 de 1977 aux couleurs de la Principauté de Monaco.

Cerise sur le gâteau, Hubert fera quelques tours en compagnie de Giacomo et sa MV avec la toute nouvelle acquisition du Team, la Gilera 4 ex-Dereck Minter de 1957.

Superbe week-end ensoleillé, belles machines, magnifique circuit… pilotes et spectateurs étaient ravis.

Nous vous donnons rendez-vous pour le prochain évènement : ASI Moto Show sur le Circuit de Varano en Italie au mois de mai…