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    mardi 24 juin 2014

    Wheels & Waves 2014

    Some motorbikes and cars exposed at the lighthouse, Biarritz, during the Wheels & Waves edition 2014.

    Wheels & Waves 2014 from Surfvideofactory on Vimeo.

    ERC : 9e victoire de Loix à Ypres


    Le « 9 » est le chiffre des grands du sport automobile : Sébastien Loeb, Tom Kristensen et désormais Freddy Loix, vainqueur pour la 9e fois du Rallye d’Ypres. Le Belge s’est une nouvelle fois imposé au volant d’une Skoda Fabia S2000/Michelin devant son compatriote Cédric Cherain (Ford R5) et l’Allemand Sepp Wiegand. Rallye difficile pour les Peugeot 208 T16 et le leader du championnat Esapekka Lappi.
    Malgré ce 9e succès en Flandre – nouveau record sur le Rallye d’Ypres -, l’homme fort de cette 50e édition fut peut-être le Néerlandais Kevin Abbring qui découvrait ce rallye. Au volant de sa Peugeot 208 T16/Michelin, le pilote de la Peugeot Rally Academy a remporté 9 spéciales et comptait 20s9 d’avance sur la référence Freddy Loix avant de devoir renoncer à l’issue de l’ES13 (transmission). Une spéciale plus loin, son équipier Craig Breen a lui aussi dû abandonner (moteur cassé), de même que Pieter Tsjoen (Peugeot 208 T16/moteur) lors du Shakedown.
    Freddy Loix (Skoda Fabia S2000/Michelin) a donc récupéré la place de leader à l’issue de l’ES13 et n’avait plus qu’à contrôler ses adversaires avant de monter pour la 9e fois sur la plus haute marche du podium sur la Grand Place d’Ypres. Son équipier chez Skoda Motorsport, Esapekka Lappi, était parti sur un rythme soutenu avant de sortir de la route dans l’ES9. Le jeune Finlandais reste néanmoins leader du championnat.
    Cette 50e édition s’est déroulée sous le soleil. Malgré tout, les routes salies par les passages répétés dans les cordes ont piégé de nombreux concurrents, comme les revenants Luca Rossetti (vainqueur en 2007), 5e après être passé au fossé, et Xevi Pons (champion du monde SWRC 2010, Fiesta R5). Les partenaires de Michelin ont majoritairement roulé en pneus R21 (medium).
    Au volant de sa Ford Fiesta R5/Michelin, Cédric Cherain a assuré un doublé pour la Belgique, alors que le pilote Skoda Deutschland Sepp Wiegand complète le podium. Un autre pilote Belge, Kevin Demaerschalk (Peugeot/Michelin) s’est imposé en catégorie Junior où la bagarre fut intense jusqu’aux derniers mètres de course pour la 2e place. Stéphane Lefebvre et Andrea Crugnola ont fini ex-aequo sur leur Peugeot 208 R2 ! La victoire est revenue au Français au bénéfice d’un meilleur temps dans l’ES1, et malgré avoir parcouru la dernière spéciale avec un capot ouvert. Pour la seconde année consécutive, Andy Lefevre (Mitsubishi) a remporté la catégorie Production.
    Prochaine épreuve ERC, le Rally Estonia (17-19 juillet)

    Breslau Poland 2014 - Coming Soon


    Harley Davidson Sportster – ODFU Customs


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    Written by Ian Lee.
    Motorcycles are much like dogs in their visual complexity. A basic blueprint, and from that so many aesthetically different versions of the one type can be produced. The major difference I can see between the two is that it is much easier to ride a motorbike. Trust me. Today’s feature bike is of a special breed, a paradox in that it is a Harley dirt tracker with an incredibly clean appearance.  Built by One Down Four Up customs, the Ironhead Sportster has been given the full vintage race treatment. With a slant towards a race inspired theme, the builders weren’t looking to produce a mock-up race bike, just something that would appeal to the older track racing crowd. In doing so, they have created something that is appealing to many more people on the custom scene. Hell, the custom exhaust system itself is a textbook example of how to use pipewrap.
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    The Harley came to the One Down Four Up workshop in a sad state, sans front end after a truck had backed over it. Parked up in a garage for the last 30 years, luckily it fell into the hands of a shop who could do it justice, and give it a new lease on life. It was decided that the Harley XR750 should be the inspiration, but without going all the way to a full race duplicate. To do this the bike was stripped of it’s stock parts, giving a chance for the frame and swing arm to be given a fresh powder coating. A new rear sub frame was fabricated and mounted, and new steel rear body shell mounted, to suit the sporting aesthetic of the machine.
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    At the front end, a clover style hub is mounted on a simplified Narrowglide forkset. The factory brake set was reversed, moving it from behind the forks to ahead of the forks. Bringing the pressure to the front brakes is a Nissin master cylinder pumping fluid through a stainless brake line. At the rear, the factory brake drum has been drilled. In the rolling stock department, a set of 19”Borrani WM3 rims are shod in Duro HF308. If the profile looks familiar, you’ll find it’s because these tires are  a replica of the classic Pirelli MT-53 rubber that so many flat trackers raced on.
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    The engine mods on this build are not massive, the idea of a high maintenance race bike being far from the minds of the builders. A remote oil filter has been mounted, a Uni air filter sits in place of the factory one. The shift controls have been inverted, and modified to suit the rearset riding set up. Electrics have been simplified, an Antigravity 8 Cell tucked up under the seat, the headlight being used on the build is a 4.5” LED unit, as well as an LED tail light. The exhaust system is a unique setup, the rear exhaust pipe wrapping itself around an engine cover to meet it’s sibling on the upturn. Stainless steel silencers from Cone Engineering point skyward, with the whole exhaust being ‘heat wrapped to keep your right leg safe’.
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    Aesthetically, the bike’s styling is subdued, it isn’t in your face. The lines are smooth, the One Down Four Up changing the traditional cruiser styling to something much more appealing. To keep the same theme running through the bike, the seat, foot pegs, kickstart and handlebars have all been wrapped in the same material. With a view to brushed metal, rather than polishing the bike is given a more utilitarian look, plus it saves time polishing that could be used riding. Sitting up under the freshly made seat is an aluminium oil tank, made in-house at the One Down Four Up workshop. As well as the oil tank, a custom points & starter was fabricated to suit the style.
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    With a mid 70s barn find Harley as the solid platform for a build, The One Down Four Up workshop has created an American masterpiece. A superleggera version of it’s former self, this Ironhead Sportster has been built for reliability and rideability. The exhaust system is an artwork in itself, and it complements the rest of the bike by not being over the top. This view was shared when the bike was entered in it’s first show, taking out first place in the 1 Moto show in Portland, in the ‘Yes I Would’ category. This bike is certainly no dog.
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    via PIPEBURN

    Art Basel 2014: The art market as art itself


    The highlights of Art Basel 2014? It's a highly subjective question: while major gallery owners were delighted by the millions achieved from the first day’s sales, talent scouts were drawn to the art scene that populated the smaller, edgier events in the programme...
    One starts to wonder whether the art market has itself become a work of art
    You could choose to see Marc Spiegler as rather more than simply a director of Art Basel; you could, in fact, see him as a megalomaniacal artist who – year after year – puts on the largest work of performance art the world has ever seen, one that incorporates the creativity of 4,000 other artists. There seems no limit to what this vast and unrivalled exhibition of contemporary art can achieve, until one starts to wonder whether the art market has itself has become a work of art, so colourful, energetic and distanced from the ‘real world’ has it become. From the event’s first VIP previews, Art Basel witnesses millionaire collectors, publicity-conscious gallery owners, well-known artists and (one suspects) a number of well-dressed imposters mingling in the Basel exhibition halls. The smell in the air is straight from the hip Australian cosmetics brand Aesop, while visitors wear everything from colourful suits to casual shorts and – most importantly – neon-colored running shoes, hot off the 3D printer.

    32 million in 15 minutes

    It’s hard to say who, in this sea of ​​English, Korean and Russian individualists, has billions in the bank. But they are here somewhere, the great collectors and decorators: on the very first preview day, more than ten works sell for over a million dollars. ‘Fright Wig’ by Andy Warhol fetches 32 million U.S. dollars for the Skarstedt Gallery in the first 15 minutes alone; and the inflatable dolphin sculpture by Jeff Koons changes hands for 5 million U.S. dollars. The insurer AXA Art estimates that a staggering 4 billion dollars’ worth of exhibits is on show at this year's Art Basel. And the demand is huge. In addition to European and American collectors, there are more and more customers from South America, Asia, Russia and the Middle East. The artworks range in style from classical modernism to contemporary, expressed through paintings, sculpture and prints, along with photography and – increasingly – film. 

    Grabbing attention

    More than 1,700 artists are represented – but the big sellers are the big names, with predominantly bold, loud and colourful works. At the display by Jay Jopling's London gallery White Cube, visitors are entranced by one of the famous cabinets by Damien Hirst, the Gagosian Gallery delights visitors with Jeff Koons' Hulk pushing a barrow of flowers and, a few steps further on, you stand before Ai Weiwei's bicycle pyramid. Small-scale coloured pencil drawings don't generate much attention in Basel – unless you’re talking about the billboard artwork of renowned artist Sigmar Polke.  

    Christmas trees and stuffed snakes

    More dramatic (and for non-millionaires more satisfying) than the brightly coloured multi-million-dollar supermarket of the exhibition halls is the section titled ‘Art Unlimited’, where especially bulky and oversized works can be seen. This sort of art would not even fit into the most outrageously vast bachelor penthouse in London, Moscow or Shanghai, and is therefore of little interest to the ‘new money’ set. For instance, there is a huge orange fabric created by Sam Falls, which spans the hall. Equally impressive is the forked tree of Giuseppe Penone; or the giant stuffed snakes from Sterling Ruby's room-filling installation ‘Softwork’ that aims to awaken childhood memories. It’s a great artist who, in the midst of this dazzling exhibition, can still evoke real emotions.

    Shockingly human

    More shocking even than the apocalyptic corpses of the Chapman Brothers (as seen by visitors to major British art galleries) is the sight of a normal human body: in the glare of a spotlight sits a nude woman on a bicycle saddle, trying, with visible effort, to keep her arms outstretched. The ‘living work of art’ by Marina Abramovic is one of 14 performances in the ‘14 Rooms’ exhibition curated by MoMA Masterminds Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Klaus Biesenbach. It is surely the most impressive section of Art Basel 2014 because nowhere else are the observers so utterly consumed by what they are seeing. Whether observing the twins in the ‘Live Art’ by Damien Hirst, or waiting in the uncomfortable darkness of the room by Yoko Ono, the spectator becomes part of the artwork. Not, perhaps, the ideal decoration for your living room, these volatile human artworks are nevertheless intriguing in the extreme. 

    Invasion of the space stations

    Following firmly in the footsteps of Art Basel, there is also Design Miami, where 51 galleries from 13 countries show classic and modern furniture and objects of design. Scandinavian design classics, mid-century pieces in the Mad Men style and industrial furniture by Jean Prouvé are all featured – the Laffanour Gallery of Paris offering one of the latter’s tables for sale, at a price of 500,000 euros. One interesting feature is the return of experimental architecture, clearly attracting the attention of collectors: the easily movable prefab ‘F 8x8 BCC’ of Jean Prouvé and Pierre Jeanneret, designed and built in 1942, serves as an exhibition space for the Patrick Seguin Gallery. The Jousse Entreprise Gallery, meanwhile, has brought the ‘Maison Bulle 6 Coques’ to Basel, a modular home with the look of a space station, And the ‘TT Pavilion’, developed for Audi by Konstantin Grcic, also resembles a lunar base, but perhaps useful in the urban jungle. If the windows of the pavilion look familiar, it's because they were previously used in Audi TT tailgates.

    The right to slide

    The fact that architecture doesn’t always have to be deadly serious is proved by furniture manufacturer Vitra in nearby Weil am Rhein. As part of the annual summer party for Art Basel, the Slide Tower was designed by Carsten Höller – a lookout tower giving views of the architectural gems of the site, with a built-in 'people slide’. At the opening, Carsten Höller proposed the ‘right to slide’, citing the slide as a more joyful alternative to stairs and lifts before the premiere audience was collectively invited to drop into the tube. Marc Spiegler couldn’t have found a better conclusion to his monumental performance of Art Basel.
    Photos: Jan Baedeker / 14 Rooms
    Art Basel 2014 runs until 22 June 2014. Further information can be found at artbasel.com

    Wheels and Waves 2014

    Random shots of a fantastic weekend in Biarritz put together in a small video…

    Wheels and Waves 2014 from Manuel Portugal on Vimeo.


    These are the Pyrenees Mountains’ sharpest curves


    For the latest edition of ‘Curves’ magazine, photographer Stefan Bogner has explored the serpentine roads of the Pyrenees Mountains, high up between Banyuls and Biarritz. Here are the most beautiful sections for you to drive...

    Barren landscapes and treacherous roads

    Having photographed the most beautiful winding roads and passes in Europe, Munich-based photographer Stefan Bogner has made quite a name for himself with the popular ‘Curves’ magazine. Following issues dedicated to France, Switzerland and Italy (now available in English), the fourth edition focuses on the lesser-known, lesser-developed roads of the Pyrenees Mountains. The barren landscapes and frequently treacherous roads on the c.430km range of mountains between France and Spain have been extensively photographed and documented across more than 200 stunning, glossy pages. Although the photographs themselves are devoid of any humans or machines, behind the lens Bogner had quite the means to carry out the job. A helicopter was used for the aerial photos, while a team on the ground was armed with a classic Italian Fanini bicycle and a Porsche 911 Turbo – just the weapon for travelling swiftly from pass to pass. 

    Turbo and Fanini


    Photos / Video: Stefan Bogner
    The fourth edition of 'Curves', focusing on the Pyrenees Mountains, can be ordered online at delius-klasing.de.

    10 reasons from the Classic Driver Market for throwing a 'sickie'


    In the Classic Driver Market, there are many worthy excuses for taking an impromptu sick day – whether it be a car, a motorcycle, a camper van, or even a yacht. Here are the 10 we think are most likely to see you placing that croaky phone call to your superior…