Rally Finland, étape 1 : Le match VW est lancé / a slender advantage for VW

Pour la quatrième fois consécutive depuis l’Argentine, deux Volkswagen Polo R WRC/Michelin ont bouclé la première étape en tête. Jari-Matti Latvala devance Sébastien Ogier de 4s5. Kris Meeke (Citroën) est troisième à moins de 10 secondes.

Dans le second passage de Lankamaa (ES3, 23,44 km), Jari-Matti Latvala et Sébastien Ogier ont signé le même temps, à 125,7 km/h de moyenne sur des pistes creusées d’ornières par endroits. Et sept pilotes ont amélioré le record détenu depuis 11 ans par Marcus Grönholm…

Ceci témoigne du niveau très relevé du WRC actuel et de l’intensité de la bagarre entre les deux pilotes Volkswagen. « Il fallait réagir car Jari-Matti avait remporté les deux 1^ères ES », racontait Ogier ce soir. « J’ai été assez prudent en début de rallye, je me méfiais des éventuelles flaques d’eau. Demain, on va attaquer, c’est sûr. Battre les Finlandais chez eux n’est jamais facile. »

Jari-Matti Latvala a maîtrisé son sujet aujourd’hui, malgré une petite chaleur à l’arrivée de la Superspéciale, Harju : « Dans le dernier droite en descente, il y avait un ballot de paille à l’intérieur. Je savais qu’il ne fallait pas prendre corde, mais j’avais oublié le ballot. J’ai freiné un peu tard et j’ai touché à l’avant-droit, mais sans conséquence. » Le Finlandais n’a perdu que 8/10^e dans l’aventure et reste leader du rallye avec 4s5.

Kris Meeke figure sur le podium provisoire depuis la 1^ère spéciale. Le pilote Citroën Racing dit avoir un bon feeling sur ces spéciales. « Il a toujours été très rapide ici », rappelle l’ingénieur Citroën Didier Clément, « l’an passé, on s’en souvient, mais aussi en Citroën C2 ».

En revanche, son équipier Mads Ostberg n’a jamais semblé très à l’aise avec sa DS3 WRC aujourd’hui. Le Norvégien pointe à la 7^e place, à 3s7 de son compatriote Andreas Mikkelsen (VW, 6^e). Les Finlandais Mikko Hirvonen (Ford, 4^e) et Juho Hanninen (Hyundai, 5^e) sont séparés par 7/10^e de seconde. « C’était très bien dans les deux 1^ères ES, mais la voiture était trop basse pour l’ES3 », a déclaré Juho.

Thierry Neuville, Robert Kubica et Hayden Paddon complètent le top-ten. En WRC-2, le leader Ott Tanak a perdu près de 5 minutes dans l’ES3 (crevaison). Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta R5) est donc en tête avec une avance relativement confortable de 35 secondes sur Karl Kruuda (Ford). Eyvind Brynildsen (Ford) n’est qu’à 1s2 de l’Estonien. En WRC-3, Martin Koci (Citroën DS3 R3) a signé deux meilleurs temps et devance Stéphane Lefebvre de 27s5. Demain, la journée est chargée avec 9 spéciales au programme du côté de Jämsa.

For the fourth time in a row since Argentina, there are two Michelin-equipped Volkswagen Polo R WRCs sitting on top of the leaderboard after Day 1. Jari-Matti Latvala is 4.5s clear of Sébastien Ogier, while third-placed Kris Meeke (Citroën) is less than 10s behind.

The second visit to ‘Lankamaa’ (SS3, 23.44km), saw Latvala and Ogier post identical times, at an average speed of 125.7kph despite some deeply rutted portions. Meanwhile, seven drivers bettered the stage’s record that has been held for the past 11 years by Marcus Grönholm, a good indication of the performance of today’s WRC machines.

The anticipated battle between Volkswagen’s two stars has got off to a flying start. “I needed to respond after Jari-Matti won the first two stages,” related Ogier this evening. “I was quite cautious to begin with because I was concerned about coming across standing water. I intend to push tomorrow, but it’s never easy to beat the Finns in their own back garden.”

Latvala ended the day in front, despite a scare towards the end of the ‘Harju’ super-special. “There was a hay bale on the inside of the last downhill right-hander. I knew I couldn’t cut the corner but I forgot the hay bale. I braked a little late and there was impact at the front-right. Happily, there was no damage.” The Finn only dropped eight-tenths to Ogier who completed the day with a deficit of 4.5s.

Meeke has had a footing on the podium since SS1 and the Citroën Racing driver says he had a good feeling. “He’s always been fast here,” notes his engineer Didier Clément. “Not only last year but also in the Citroën C2.”

In contrast, the Ulsterman’s team-mate Mads Ostberg appeared unhappy in his DS3 WRC this afternoon. He is provisionally seventh, 3.7s adrift of fellow Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen (6^th, VW). Finns Mikko Hirvonen (4^th, Ford) and Juho Hanninen (5^th, Hyundai) are split by just seven-tenths of a second. “I was fine on the first two stages but my car was a little low for SS3,” commented the Hyundai driver.

Thierry Neuville, Robert Kubica and Hayden Paddon round off the top 10.

The early WRC-2 pace-setter Ott Tanak dropped almost five minutes with a puncture on SS3, handing first place to Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta R5) who enjoys an overnight gap of 35s over Karl Kruuda (Ford), with Eyvind Brynildsen (Ford) a further 1.2s down.

In the WRC-3 fight, Martin Koci (Citroën DS3 R3) posted two fastest times to go 27.5s clear of Stéphane Lefebvre.

Friday’s busy programme features nine stages in the Jämsa region.

"Wheels & Waves '14" by YAMAHA Italia

MOTO GUZZI V7 STONE BY VENIER CUSTOMS

You don’t see many customs based on brand new motorcycles. It’s usually a good few years before the grinder is fired up and the sparks begin to fly. So this machine is something of a rarity: it’s a V7 Stone tweaked by Stefano Venier into a scrambler, and destined to do battle with the potholes and taxi cabs of New York City.

“The bike went straight from the store to the shop,” says Venier. “The idea was to build a Moto Guzzi scrambler, a really fun theme to work on.” The client was inspired by Venier’s NTX-based ‘Tractor 75’—a big hit with our readers a year ago—and he’s now got a bike that could almost be Moto Guzzi’s own interpretation of a scrambler.

The look is purposeful thanks to Continental dual sport tires and a black LSL headlight. ‘Tractor 02’ is also practical, and configured to be comfortable for two people. The seat is a little longer than usual and Venier has extended the rear frame by 30mm.

It’s the complete opposite of the usual shortened rear subframe, but the proportions work exceptionally well—with a kicked-up seat unit echoing the curve of the hand-made aluminum tank. The side panels are fabricated from aluminum too, and the spoked wheels are from Guzzi’s own V7 Racer.

Venier has removed the standard plastic valve covers, and installed vintage replacements. He’s also fitted strong head guards above the cylinder fins, to better protect the wide V-twin from mishaps. The mufflers are Norton Commando replicas: “I like the contrast of dual sport tires with the classic-style exhaust,” says Venier. “Elegance against roughness.”

Venier prefers muted colors, so for the V7 he’s employed two cool and glossy shades of grey with a simple gold stripe. The bars are Renthal motocross spec, but narrowed to make it easier to filter through traffic. Perched above the headlight is a Legendary Motorcycles GPS speedo, which works without a transmission sensor. “It’s not a small speedo, but it’s very functional to use.”

Like all Venier’s creations, the V7 is classy and amazingly well finished. It’s the kind of bike that Moto Guzzi itself could build if it wanted to go head-to-head with the hugely successful Triumph Scrambler.

Would you be tempted?

Images by Alex Logaiski. Head over to the Venier Customs website to see more of Stefano’s work, or follow his news via his Facebook page.

Get down and dirty with these 10 off-roaders for sale

The urban jungle has spawned SUVs of all sizes and all species; but it’s away from the roads that the real 4x4 roughnecks get down to business. We’ve found 10 dirt-ready off-roaders in the Classic Driver Market…

Market | Cars

1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40

EUR 51 292

Market | Cars

1972 Land Rover Series 1 - 3 - Serie III 88 LightWeight

EUR 7 500

Market | Cars

1939 Mercedes-Benz G-Class - G 4 Geländewagen (W 31)

P.O.R.

Market | Cars

2014 Land Rover Defender - 90 TD4 2.2 SW Sondermodell Ranger

EUR 32 900

Market | Motorbikes

1985 Yamaha XT - 500 Silbertank

EUR 6 850

Market | Cars

1985 Mercedes-Benz G-Class

EUR 18 000

Market | Cars

1942 Willys Jeep - Genuine World War 2

P.O.R.

Market | Cars

1987 Hummer H1 - Humvee

EUR 44 500

Market | Cars

2011 Land Rover Defender - 110 S TD4 Station Wagon

EUR 22 900

Market | Cars

1971 VW Type 181 - Kübelwagen 181

EUR 13 909

Back to top

More articles about Offroad

LIBRARY  

Magazine | Cars

Tundra Buggy: dancing with polar bears

LIBRARY  

Magazine | Cars

Audi A6 Allroad Quattro: Business Class hiking boots

Salty Speed Co CB400

Micah from Melbourne, Australia spent a year at Bible School on the South Pacific island of Venuatu with a $500 CM185 as his sole transport. The two-wheeled flame that had been burning since childhood was reignited and Micah scoured the web looking for his dream machine. Salty Speed Co. and their #2 CB400F build got Micah’s heart racing enough to put in an order, the brief; black brat.

A few weeks later, a not-so-good-looking 1975 CB400F was bought blind and delivered to Salty’s Wollongong HQ on Australia’s East Coast.

Matt from Salty has got Brats dialled in. Nothing over-fancy, just plain slicked-out cool. To get the look this good, obviously a complete strip down was required. The usual rear loop and de-tabbing sorted the frame out whilst a slim battery box was fabricated to hide electricity under the seat. The rear fender is original but shortened and the front came from WM Japan, held by a custom bracket.

Aluminium clip on bars with internal wiring for the Posh switchgear keep the cockpit looking super neat, leaving the Dime City tapered bearing top clamp to show off its machined handsomeness. A DCC mini speedo is all the instrumentation required and the Nissin master cylinder offers a bit more bite to the rebuilt front calliper should the needle get too far round to the East side.

Firestones were one request put in at the beginning of this build, so here they are, wrapped around powder coated rims and hubs with new stainless spokes. The seat base is custom with a wafer of neoprene rubber for comfort and a plain stitched leather cover. A coat of paint has rejuvenated the rear shocks and rebuilt internals for the front end with powdered fork legs adhering to the black theme. Dutchys Motorcycle Spray Painting did these parts and the fuel tank, and no, our own Dutch has not been moonlighting, I don’t think…..

The motor was deemed to be in good health and needing only a thorough service but while out of the frame was given a coat of wrinkle finish black paint. The MAC ceramic coated black 4 into 1 exhaust and pod filters help with acoustics and breathing, with the carbs requiring a rebuild and re-jet to 85 mains for smooth running.

Fed up with chasing wiring faults on forty year old looms, Matt now fits new set-ups from Spark Moto which are simpler and better made than the originals, and completely customisable. A reg/rec from Rick’s Electrics deals with the current and sends DC to the 8 cell Antigravity battery hidden under the seat. The Bates headlight is mounted on a water-jet cut bracket.

There you have it, a recipe for a clean and good looking Brat. I’m not very good at following instructions so if you’re the same get in touch with Matt and order from the menu knowing a side order of cool is on the house.

Follow Salty Speed Co here on their Bike Shed Page or Instagram, Facebook and their Website.

via The Bike Shed

Woolf 'Babe' Barnato, Gentleman Driver

On the face of it, Woolf 'Babe' Barnato was the perfect gentleman driver: hugely wealthy, entirely extrovert, brilliantly sporting and not a little arrogant - but, in ancestry at least, he wasn't quite so top drawer as he at first appeared.

Barnato's millions dated back barely one generation to his father, Barnett, the son of  a Jewish shopkeeper from London's East End. As soon as he was able, Barnett – or Barney, as he preferred to be called – changed his surname to Barnato, emigrated to South Africa and famously made a vast fortune out of the country's newly emerging diamond business. But, while sailing back to England from Cape Town in 1897, he vanished overboard with the result that the then-two-year-old Woolf inherited the majority of the family fortune.

A keen and able sportsman

Big and beefy, Barnato Jnr. grew up to be a keen and able sportsman with a drive to excel. His first venture into motor racing occurred in 1921, when he signed up to compete in the Brooklands Easter Meeting with an eight-litre Locomobile he had imported from America. He came third in the 100-mile Long Handicap, giving him a taste for racing that saw him drive a Calthorpe in the Whitsun meeting, followed the next season by Malcolm Campbell's old Talbot. For 1923, Barnato changed to a Wolseley Moth and, in 1924, established a class record at the wheel of his eight-litre Hispano-Suiza – the car that immediately preceded the start of his celebrated allegiance with Bentley, following the acquisition of a prototype, short chassis 3 Litre fitted with a boat-tail body by Jarvis of Wimbledon.

The Barnato-Bentley deal

 

He used the 3 Litre to win several major Brooklands races and, partnered by John Duff, set a new 3 Litre 24-hour record averaging 95.03mph in 1925. It was then that W.O. Bentley persuaded Barnato – who loved a gamble – to sink close to £100,000 in to his ailing car company on the condition that he could have the pick of the firm's products for his own use, plus a guaranteed place in the works team. But Barnato's place behind the wheel was entirely justified because, in W.O.'s opinion, he was one of the best drivers of the period, who rarely made mistakes and, importantly, always obeyed team orders.

It was this, combined with the famous Barnato grit, that helped him win Le Mans at his first attempt, together with co-driver Bernard Rubin, despite having to nurse their 4½ Litre across the finish line with a cracked chassis and no coolant. He repeated the victory the following year as part of Bentley's legendary one, two, three, four, adding a third win to his tally in 1930 after a protracted battle with Rudolph Caracciola's Mercedes. But by 1931, the Bentley business had become untenable and Barnato's advisers warned him off further investment in the company, which subsequently passed into Rolls-Royce hands – in which, fortuitously, Barnato had recently bought sufficient shares to merit a place on the board of Bentley Motors in 1931.

Bentley versus Blue Train

His subsequent racing career was largely limited to sponsoring and building competition cars, although he famously used his driving skills to beat the Blue Train from the Cote d'Azur back to Calais in his Mulliner-bodied Speed Six saloon. Having survived both World Wars – as an Artillery officer in the first and an RAF Wing Commander in the second – Barnato died at the young age of 53, following a thrombosis brought on by a cancer operation. He has since gone down in history as, perhaps, the most quintessential Bentley Boy of all.

 

Photos: Getty Images / Bonhams / Bentley

This article is part of the 'Gentleman Drivers' feature series that is presented and supported by EFG Bank.

Gentleman jet ski: Strand Craft V8 Wet Rod

While yachts can be timeless icons of style (think Wallys), jet skis have always been designed largely or even solely with performance in mind. Until now, that is. Strand Craft from Newport Beach has designed a jet ski that melds style and speed…

Despite its vast length (it’s nearly 16 feet long), the Strand Craft V8 Wet Rod is fast thanks to its lightweight carbon body and 300HP 5.7-litre V8, capable of propelling the jet ski up to 65mph. The gent’s jet ski also has a waterproof storage box, an ice-cooler under the seat and, if requested, a sound/navigation system. Personalisation stretches to different colours and materials, such as wood for the decking. In other words, it’s the perfect mode of transport for a jaunt in the Med. 

Photos: Strand Craft USA

You can find modern and classic yachts in the Classic Driver Market.