Red Bull Romaniacs: The most diversified Extreme Enduro track ever in 2014

The 11th edition of the "Red Bull Romaniacs" (RBR) is only two weeks away and the organizing team around Martin “Frein” Freinademetz is on cruise control for final preparations. The team is now growing by a dozen per day and will reach it`s race-mode size of 400 people with the start of the registrations.

The group of track managers around director Klaus Sorensen had finished the race track-routing months ago and is now focussed on preparing a world-class marking of the trails.

With ten years of experience, the track management team of the Red Bull Romaniacs was facing their ultimate challenge during the preparation of the 11th edition: Adding a completely new class to the existing lineup of three classes meant adjusting 600 km of trails to the profile of the new “Iron-Class” (profile = rideable).

The Red Bull Romaniacs is a five-day Extreme Enduro race, that kicks off with an inner city prologue, followed by four extremely demanding offroad days through the Southern Carpathian wilderness.

In 2014, Offroad-Day Two will be the most challenging one: With a very high frequency of uninviting sections for all classes and extremely steep profiles. In 2010, we considered the area still “unrideable”.

Offroad Day Three will be almost as gnarly but it makes up for it with a great mix of landscapes, flowy trails and the biggest altitude deltas. It is track-director Klaus Sorensen`s favorite.

Founder Martin Freinademetz however prefers Offroad Day Four for it`s high paced rallye-style, the beautiful passages through high-mountain areas and the special surprises at the end (overall finish).

Offroad Day Four will be the toughest one for the Iron Class and will bring all classes to their limits. Which leaves Offroad Day One as the day that gently eases competitors into race-mode. At least more gentle than Offroad Day One 2013.

The first half of Offroad-Day 1 is all about getting into race mode: With relative easy riding in open spaces for the Iron- and Bronze-Class. The same could be said for the Gold- and Silver-Class, if there wasn`t the gnarly “Doomed”-section just before the service point.´

The second half of the race day continues with flowy riding for the Iron-Class but already leads the Gold-, Silver- and Bronze-Class into the higher mountains where they get their first taste of Red Bull Romaniacs racing. They will also pass through the sections “Hunter 3”, Hunter 4”, “Bad Shape”, “Sherco River” and deliver some spectator-friendly action in the quarry.

Offroad-Day Two and Three will greet the Iron-Class with a rough awakening in the morning and a few technical challenges to chew on. After the service point, they will face a more relaxed pace on the way home (both days). For all other classes, it will be the opposite on Offroad-Day Two: a set of fun, roller-coaster-like rides will provide them an enjoyable morning until the service point.

Only the Gold-Class gets hit by a surprise with “10A” just before the break. After the service point, it will be altitude crunching: the Bronze-, Silver- and Gold-Class will face climb-ups from 400 m altitude up to the level of 2000m and descents back down. The Silver- and Gold-riders will learn to fear the names “The Beast” and “Tsuika-Line” and for the Gold-Class it will get even worse in “The never ending story”!

Offroad-Day Three greets all classes with gently easing them into the day, except the Iron class, who will have their workout in the morning again. But soon enough, all three other classes will be hit by “1000 Stone Travers” and “SkiDoo River”, while the Gold- and Silver class receive exclusive treatment in the “Expert Killer”.

After the break at the service point, there is no stopping for the Iron-Class, heading straight for the finish on the roof of the factory in Petrosani. The other classes will get to learn why Offroad Day Three is track director Klaus Sorensen`s favorite: in a high-mountain loop, they will experience a great variety of terrain and sections like the “Trial Uphill”, “Heavy Shit”, “Frontflip”, “Armpump River”, and “Switchback Heaven”.

Offroad-Day Four welcomes the riders to their longest and fastest day with a technical, 500m rock-crossing that will be especially tough for the Iron-Class. After that, all classes will crunch some kilometers heading for the service point. Only the Gold- and Silver-Classes get a little workout at “Sigi Zig Zag”.

The second half of the day is all foreplay for the famous Gusterita hill-climb finish in front of thousands of spectators. It will be spiced with river-crossings for all classes, among them a wall-ride, variations of tricky ups & downs for the Bronze-Class and the toughest climb of the race for the Silver-Class. Some of the the Silver riders will push their bike upwards for up to two hours - depending on the weather. They will also face, together with the “Golden Boys”, the “Slimy River”-section.

The Gold-Class itself will of course never run out of interesting challenges and will get hit hard by “Long Walk Junior”, “Congo”, and “Black Mamba” before getting relieved in the finish arena. There will be some nice offroad-riding towards the finish right through Sibiu.

For more informations please visit the official website at [ REDBULLROMANIACS.COM ] 

The 5 Reasons

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AUTO FABRICA TYPE 4 YAMAHA SR250

For the past few weeks, I’ve had a KTM Freeride 350 in my garage—a press bike on loan. The most striking thing about the KTM is its weight, which is a smidge under 100 kg (220 lbs).

My own Moto Guzzi V7 Classic is no heavyweight either, at 182 kg dry, but the KTM feels like a toy in comparison—in the best possible way.

Having been introduced to the delights of riding a superlight bike, I cast my eye over this new build from Auto Fabrica with interest. It’s based on a Yamaha SR250, and almost certainly weighs less than the 130kg of a stock SR250. Which can only mean one thing: it’s easy and fun to ride.

Auto Fabrica are based in the unlikely location of Southend-On-Sea, a resort town sitting on the Thames river, east of London. Shop boss Bujar Muharremi and his crew have a passion for SR250s, with this being their fourth build.

This time, they’ve changed the stance of the bike—ditching their usual 16/19” wheel combo for a pair of 18” rims and matching Mitas trial bike tires. “This enabled us to re-lace a bigger and better front twin leading shoe hub, which was a much-needed upgrade from standard,” says Bujar. “The rear has slightly higher shocks and we’ve lowered the front end to give the correct side profile.”

The focal point of the build is the aluminum tank, which was fabricated in-house.
“We reduced the visual weight by making it shorter than OEM, but with a bit more roundness to match the lines of the engine. It means that the seat can be relatively thick without dominating the tank.” The fabrication is first-class, with scalloped knee indents on the tank and a black suede seat covering, complete with a little orange triangle to give a hint of color.

The engine was dispatched to legendary tuner Bob Farnham for a full rebuild with new piston and rings. It came back with a slightly bigger bore and a gas flowed head, and was promptly hooked up to a custom stainless steel straight-through pipe, also created in-house at Auto Fabrica.

“The bike is extremely fun to ride, due to its light weight and small size,” Bujar reports, and I don’t doubt him for a second. The classy looks are just the icing on the cake.

Follow Auto Fabrica: Web | Facebook | Instagram

via BIKEexif

WSSP : Sofuoglu signe sa 19e pole au Portugal / Sofuoglu claims his 19th career Pole in Portugal

Le Turc a pris la pole de justesse en qualifications.

Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India) a décroché la pole position pour la huitième épreuve du Championnat du Monde Supersport 2014 dans les dernières minutes des qualifications aujourd'hui à Portimao, où le Champion en titre comptait au final moins d'un dixième de seconde d'avance sur Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport), le leader de la catégorie.

Vainqueur à Misano lors de la dernière course, Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) a progressé tout au long de la séance pour s'assurer de partir en première ligne avec ses deux principaux adversaires.

Jack Kennedy (CIA Insurance Honda) avait longtemps occupé la première position mais a fini par être battu et mènera la deuxième ligne devant son coéquipier Raffaele De Rosa ainsi que Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport).

Sur le podium pour la première fois à Misano, PJ Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) s'élancera de la huitième position, juste devant Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres). Valentin Debise (COM Plus SMS Racing) tentera quant à lui de marquer un maximum de points en partant de la quinzième position dimanche à 13h30, heure locale.

Pole Position fight goes to the wire.
 Kenan Sofuoglu has grabbed the 8th World Supersport Pole Position in the final ten minutes of today’s qualifying session at Portimao in Portugal despite a late charge from series leader Michael van der Mark who will start 2nd.

Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) improved as the session progressed eventually ensuring the final front spot in 3rd.

Jack Kennedy will start 4th after holding provisional pole for the majority of the session, the Irishman showing the form that we know he is capable of aboard his CIA Insurance Honda.

He will be joined on the second row by his CIA Insurance Honda team mate Raffaele De Rosa and Pata Honda’s Lorenzo Zanetti who were 5th and 6th respectively.

Podium finisher last time out PJ Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) will start 8th despite falling in the final minute of the session.

WSBK ; Sykes s’offre une nouvelle Tissot-Superpole au Portugal / Portuguese Superpole goes to Sykes

Le Champion en titre est en pole à Portimao pour la troisième année consécutive.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) s'est emparé de la Tissot-Superpole pour la huitième manche du Championnat du Monde eni FIM Superbike sous un soleil radieux samedi après-midi à l'Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Déjà qualifié en tête de la grille à Misano deux semaines plus tôt, le leader du classement World Superbike 2014 a décroché une seconde pole consécutive, sa troisième de l'année, en concrétisant un excellent chrono d'1'42.484.

Le Britannique partira donc en pole à Portimao pour la troisième année d’affilée et aura derrière lui, sur une première ligne regroupant trois constructeurs, Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) et Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team), les deux seuls pilotes à avoir fini à moins d’une demi-seconde du Champion en titre.

Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) a devancé d’un rien Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) et Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), bien remis de sa chute en FP4, pour prendre la quatrième position, avec respectivement 0.010s et 0.038s d’avance sur les deux Français.

Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) mènera pour sa part la troisième ligne devant Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) et Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) tandis que Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia), auteur du deuxième temps en Superpole 1 et premier pilote EVO sur la grille, a réussi à se qualifier dans le Top 10, devant Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) et David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team EVO).

La séance de Superpole 1 avait été interrompue par drapeau rouge dès la 4e minute suite à la chute de Claudio Corti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), qui sera dix-neuvième sur la grille de départ, devant Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia), qui n’a pas pu rouler en Superpole 1 en raison de problème technique sur son RSV4.

Jérémy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) et Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India) étaient quant à eux qualifiés en vingt-deuxième et vingt-troisième positions à l’issue des essais libres.

Sykes on Pole for third consecutive year in Portugal.
 Tom Sykes (Kawsakaki Racing Team) will start the 8th round of the Superbike World Championship from the front of the grid after winning this afternoon’s Tissot-Superpole at a very hot and sunny Portimao circuit, his third in a row at the Portuguese track.

A thrilling Superpole 1 saw David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) progress to join the already seeded top ten from the combined free practice sessions with the 12 riders then doing battle for the final 15 minute grid deciding shoot-out.

The opening session wasn’t without incident as after 4 minutes the red flags came out as the marshals tended to Claudio Corti who had fell on the rollercoaster section of the circuit. He was taken to the medical centre for further checks. Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) also failed to record a time as his Aprilia developed a technical problem on his out lap.

In the final 15 minute Superpole 2, the times at the top changed almost every time a rider recorded a time but at the flag and with less than a second covering the top 9 Sykes emerged as the fastest, ahead of Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) and Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) who will join him on row one tomorrow.

Row two will see Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team), Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) who recovered from a high speed FP4 crash to claim 6th.

In the battle of the EVO riders, Sylvain Barrier will start 10th and David Salom 11th.

Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) crashed in the final minute of the session and will therefore start 11th tomorrow.

LE MANS CLASSIC : Gros plan sur 90 ans d’innovation technologique aux 24 Heures du Mans

par Laurent Mercier (Endurance-Info.com)

Depuis 1923, les 24 Heures du Mans font la part belle à l’innovation technologique. Le double tour d’horloge sarthois est le banc d’essai automobile le plus prestigieux. Le Mans Classic retrace 90 ans d’innovation au sein du village avec plusieurs autos exposées.

1925 : Tank Chenard (1er prototype)

Dès 1925, les constructeurs ont compris qu’il fallait avoir une auto spécifique pour les 24 Heures du Mans. Le Tank Chenard est le premier prototype conçu pour Le Mans. Ses lignes sportives, l’étude aérodynamique et l’économie de poids du châssis pointent vers une illégalité du règlement de l’époque mais l’idée ne va pas tarder à se généraliser.

1926 : Lorraine-Dietrich B3-6 (1ère auto équipée d’un phare antibrouillard)

Trois ans après la première édition des 24 Heures du Mans, Lorraine-Dietrich décroche le premier triplé de l’histoire. Le tandem Bloch/Rossignol dépasse la barre des 2500 km. Cette même année, les Lorraine-Dietrich B3-6 sont équipées du tout premier phare antibrouillard, innovation visant à contrôler la brume matinale au-dessus du ruisseau du Roule-Crottes.

1953 : Jaguar Type C (1ère auto équipée de freins à disque)

Le début des années 50 marque une nouvelle ère avec Jaguar qui équipe ses Type C de freins à disque afin de pallier aux difficultés chroniques des freins à tambour. ce changement a bien aidé Jaguar à s’offrir le doublé en 1953.

1965 : BRM Rover (auto équipée d’une turbine)

Deux ans après avoir débuté aux 24 Heures du Mans, une auto équipée d’une turbine fait son retour dans la Sarthe avec la BRM Rover. L’avantage de la turbine se trouve dans l’absence de boîte de vitesses, ce qui permet à la voiture et au pilote une grande souplesse et une meilleure adaptation sur les circuits.

1974 : Porsche 911 RSR Turbo (1ère auto équipée d’un moteur turbocompressé)

Porsche est le premier constructeur a avoir introduit au Mans le moteur turbocompressé en 1974 avec à la clé une belle deuxième place entre deux Matra Simca. Cette innovation permet de contrôler la pression des gaz.

1982 : Sauber SHS C6 (une nouvelle ère de l’aéro)

Le début des années 80 marque une portée publicitaire accrue sur les différentes autos. 1982 marque les débuts du Groupe C et du nouveau championnat du monde des voitures sport-prototypes apportent du sang neuf aux constructeurs. Les deux Sauber SHS C6 engagées cette année-là ouvrent la voie d’un aérodynamisme précurseur du Groupe C.

1991 : Mazda 787B (victoire d’un moteur rotatif)

La réglementation 1991 va permettre à un moteur Wankel de s’imposer, ce qui marque la toute première victoire d’un constructeur japonais. Le son de la Mazda est resté dans les tympans de tous les fans présents dans les tribunes et autour du circuit.

2006 : Audi R10 TDI (victoire du moteur diesel)

Audi Sport a été précurseur dans la motorisation diesel aux 24 Heures du Mans avec plusieurs victoires à la clé, la première remontant à 2006 avec un moteur TDI qui roule au carburant spécialement créé pour elle.

2012 : Audi R18-e-tron quattro (victoire d’une voiture hybride)

Après l’époque purement diesel, Audi Sport a ouvert une nouvelle voie avec la technologie hybride qui combine une double énergie. Le constructeur allemand s’est une fois de plus montré comme précurseur dans cette nouvelle technologie. Audi reste sur trois victoires avec son e-tron quattro.

WEZ’S MB100

If you grew up in the countryside you’ll know that bus stops, the wooden sort, are good things. You can have a cheeky smoke in one, keep dry in one, canoodle a young lady in one, drink cider in one and even get a lift to the bright lights from outside the front of one. As a yooff I did all of these things but one moment stands out. On a summers day many, many years ago behind a very fine bus stop my recently acquired but recalcitrant, single handlebared Honda MB5 sucked in and spat out the last dregs of white spirit and petrol mix (one of the bigger boys thought he was clever – he wasn’t!). It bogged, popped and cleared then screamed a buzzing two-stroke howl for all the village to hear, and see. Elation and jubilation on the faces of my chums and smug, self-congratulation on mine as that day I was God, the creator of fun, the giver of speed. Apparently the real God had pitched up beforehand and made land and vegetation on day three of his new job, so thanks to him, we had a woodland to shred and cricket pitches to plough.

If that was fun on a 50, imagine what Wez Jopson feels like with his 1981 Honda MB100 (HA 100 if you’re foreign) packing twice the punch! Wez is a grown up with a wife, small people and a proper job at the family manufacturing firm in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. But he knows how to have fun so after hours heads to the shed to build bikes. This featherweight is his third build to date and so far so good from where we’re sitting.

In true shed-builder style, Wez rescued a heap of a machine from someones backyard after it suffered a 5 year hiatus from SA’s fantastic roads. A blessing in disguise really as many rotten parts needed no excuse to be discarded which would eventually help achieve the stripped out look.

The striking frame had unnecessary tabs ground off and the battery box removed before a visit to the powder coaters. With such a minimal set of tubes to work with, hiding wiring, albeit not much of it, was a tricky task. The battery lurks under the rear mudguard but as it doesn’t have to do very much, was replaced with a smaller unit.

Just when the random fuel tanks on customs phenomena is at fever pitch Wez decided from the outset to go old school and keep the oil injector set up rather than converting to pre-mix. Honda inadvertently made a pretty cool tank with both lube and juice sharing space, with the ignition in easy reach, helping to keep the cockpit tidy. The original instrument cluster was scrapped and replaced with a mini-speedo, wrapped in matt black vinyl. The reading of 200 metres suggests snapper Marc Sing Key got in there while everything was still box fresh.

The headlight is from a CD200, with ignition and neutral lights grafted into the lamp bucket for further sleekness. Yellow glass, with fresh blue paint and lots of black, just works doesn’t it.

The engine was opened up and and found to be in really good order so the exterior received further attention instead with a trip to the bead blaster and powder coater. Attention to detail is everything and the polished cooling fins on the barrel are testament to that. All of the pipes, cables, fasteners and wiring had to be replaced along with a brand new carb and foam Uni-Filter, the result looking as if Marty McFly has transported us back to 1981, stunning! No wonder Wez’s mate named the bike, The OCD. The exhaust was resurrected with high temp paint and some wrap.

Wheels and spokes had the black powder treatment with oversized 3.00 x 18″ trail tyres fitted for a slightly more aggressive look, and to maximise traction when cranked over on the BMX track. Forks were re-chromed and rebuilt but the rear shocks were too far gone so had to be replaced. The sloping frame tubes are uninterrupted by a front mudguard meaning lots of furious cleaning will be required.

A vintage set of Enduro bars found in a scrap yard had the cross brace cut out before joining the black powder party. Biltwel Thruster grips match the seat pattern, there’s that attention to detail again. The indicators are positioned high and wide, which come to think of it is probably the best place for all bikes.

The rear fender was chopped & painted it to match the tank and a converted Harley Davidson turn signal now functions as the stop light. The original seat pan was shortened, trimmed and recovered it in retro-style diamond stitch.

Wez wanted to build a small capacity fun machine that reignited childhood memories for him and those that saw it, thank you Wez you’ve done exactly that, with bells on!

A TW200 might be coming next so we’ll clear a space in The Shed for it later in the year.

via The Bike Shed

1981 SUZUKI GN400

When it comes to custom motorcycles we don’t often hear about the guys building sub-$1,000 machines in their garages – most of the builds that garner attention cost a minimum of $10,000 with some of the more labour intensive builds costing many tens of thousands more again.

So it was with great interest that I opened an email from a man called Adam Bendig a couple of weeks ago that contained a remarkably professional looking Suzuki GN400 custom that had been bought and rebuilt for under $1,000.

The bike belongs to Adam’s friend Chris and the two of them spent weeks working on it together, the finished bike uses a number of unique elements to keep costs down – the seat is made from 5 layers of Yoga mat and the frame has been painted with a hard-wearing bedliner, though both of these ideas strike me as being a good idea regardless of budget.

The engine was cleaned, tuned and tweaked, the stock air box was discarded and replaced with an air-filter pod and the forks were lowered 3.5 inches and raised up the triple-tree to allow the addition of a set of clip-on handlebars.

The stock rear shock absorbers were replaced with a 1 inch longer all-black model from MikesXS and the careworn, factory fitted instrument cluster was replaced with a 2.5″ unit from Drag Specialties.

The bike is fitted with a Firestone ANS 5.0-16 on the back and a Dunlop K70 4.5-18 on the front. The electrics are now mounted to the bottom of the seat pan and the stock battery was replaced with a small sealed lead-acid unit.

With the huge number of super cheap, if slightly ratty, old motorcycles available on eBay and Craigslist it’d be great to see more sub-$1,000 customs like this being made. The fact that it makes the dream of building and owning a vintage custom open to almost everyone is highly appealing – it’s also great to see these old classics getting a second shot at life.

All of the images you see here were taken by the remarkably talented photographer Adam Bendig, he also shoots cars, motorcycle races, mountain bike races and just about everything else under the sun. If you’d like to see more of his work, you can click here to visit Adam Bendig Photography (it’s well worth a visit).

via SILODROME