dimanche 17 août 2014
PIKES PEAK WITH PER EKLUND
Per Eklund is a racing driver that has enjoyed an extraordinary career racing in both WRC Rally and European Rallycross, he’s still racing today after having started his professional career in 1971 – which I’m sure must be recorded somewhere as the longest professional career for a racing driver.
This film covers Eklund’s record attempt at Pikes Peak – it’s an extraordinary hour long film that shows the bootstrap-level effort that went into the run. The film is also remarkable because it contains one of my favourite motor racing quotes of all time.
“Our goal is to build a car with as much horsepower as we can get, with as little weight as we can get. We don’t need to make it crash proof, if you drive off the cliff you will not land again.”
DTM : NÜRBURGRING – INTOUCHABLE WITTMANN !
par Thomas Criqui
Marco Wittmann (BMW team RMG) a signé sa quatrième – et sans doute plus importante – victoire de la saison ce dimanche, au Nürburgring, et touche presque du doigt le trophée de champion qui devrait lui revenir en fin de saison. Mike Rockenfeller (Audi Sport team Phoenix), longtemps distancé, a tout tenté mais échoue de peu derrière son compatriote. Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport team Abt), en lutte avec les Mercedes durant toute la course, complète le podium. Résumé :
Facile poleman la veille, Marco Wittmann n’avait qu’à prendre un bon départ pour maîtriser la course. Si le leader du championnat parvenait à conserver sa position, Edoardo Mortara, lui, voyait Mike Rockenfeller le déposer dans la ligne droite. Un peu plus loin, une première altercation entre pilotes Audi allait mettre à mal la course à Miguel Molina, dont la suspension rompait suite à une friction avec Jamie Green et Timo Scheider.
Décriée deux semaines plus tôt suite à la disqualification de Robert Wickens pour Unsafe Release, la direction de course s’est fait discrète 1h30 durant. Les pilotes l’ont bien remarqué après la bataille un peu trop musclée qui opposait Timo Glock à Gary Paffett, ceux-ci n’étant ni sanctionnés, ni même sous investigation. La 7ème manche de DTM de la saison prenait alors un air de course de stock car, dont Mattias Ekström faisait les frais. Comme son équipier, il était victime d’une rupture de suspension et n’avait d’autre choix que de renoncer.
Quelques boucles plus tard, Robert Wickens se montrait opportuniste et tente de passer Timo Scheider à l’approche du 1er virage. Les deux hommes se touchaient et Timo Scheider partait tout droit, fonçant de plein fouet sur le pauvre Nic Müller. Audi perdait deux voitures supplémentaires et n’était pas au bout de ses peines. En difficulté, Jamie Green se faisait rapidement passer par plusieurs pilotes, dont Augusto Farfus Jr, qui n’hésitait pas à le tasser. Le Britannique répondait au virage suivant et entraînait le dauphin 2013 bien au delà du virage. Là encore, pas de sanction contre l’un ou l’autre.
La course perdait en intensité après une dizaine de tours. Pour la première fois de la saison – voir en deux ans – les pneumatiques option ne semblaient pas aussi performants sur le long terme. Augusto Farfus Jr. se voyait contraint de les enlever dès le tour 19, très rapidement imité par tous les hommes de tête. Dans les stands, Joey Hand ressortait de façon très limite devant Antonio Felix da Costa, mais profitait lui aussi de la clémence des commissaires, aux abonnés absents (et peut-être en congés d’été avant l’heure).
La fin de course voyait Adrien Tambay et Bruno Spengler débuter une folle remontée, finalement stoppée par Robert Wickens. Seule la première place, qui semblait pourtant acquise à Marco Wittmann dès les premiers tours, restait encore à définir. En effet, Mike Rockenfeller grappillait dixièmes sur dixièmes et se retrouvait finalement dans la fenêtre du DRS à deux tours du but. En vain, puisque son probable successeur franchissait finalement la ligner d’arrivée avec 1,2 seconde d’avance. Edoardo Mortara, en lutte avec Paul di Resta et Daniel Juncadella durant 40 tours, s’offrait quant à lui un nouveau podium.
Paul di Resta ralliait l’arrivée en 4ème position, devant Daniel Juncadella, Christian Vietoris, Maxime Martin, Martin Tomczyk, Robert Wickens et Pascal Wehrlein. Adrien Tambay échouait finalement à la porte des points, en 11ème position.
A day with Shinya Kimura
We recently travelled 7,530 miles from Sydney to California to race in the Hell on Wheels MC Rally. It’s a long way to go for a day of dirt bike racing, so we arranged to meet a few of our favourite bike builders along the way. Number one on our list was Mr Shinya Kimura. For motorcycle aficionados, he probably doesn’t need an introduction but for those who haven’t heard of him, he started Zero Engineering back in Tokyo in the early 90’s. He then left Zero and moved out to California and started Chabott Engineering. Shinya has a truly unique style, building stripped back, bare metal, works of rolling art. Each bike he builds takes around 6 months, so usually only builds 2 bikes a year.
When we arrived at Chabott Engineering in the foothills of Azusa, it was like walking into a motorcycle museum. Everywhere you looked, there were jaw dropping machines and motorcycle artifacts. Everything felt like it just belonged, as though some thought had gone into its placement. Like pages torn out of a 1975 Cycle World magazine, sitting next to a vintage trophy and a well used set of old school wrenches.
We were greeted by Ayu – Shinya’s smiling wife – who walked us through to meet the man himself. She explained he was working on his Knucklehead, getting it ready to race for a land speed record at El Mirage on the weekend. We nodded and kept on drooling as we continued to look around in awe at all the amazing bikes and collectables.
The next hour flew by as we just walked around his shop taking photos – like big kids in a candy store. If this wasn’t motorcycle heaven, it was at least God’s garage.
It’s probably no surprise to tell you that Shinya is a really humble guy. You won’t hear him talking about himself, or the bikes he has built for guys like Brad Pitt. Actually, you won’t hear him talk much at all. So we sat back and just watched him in his element as he worked away. He had blown the casing on his 1946 Knucklehead he calls ‘Spike’, and was welding the broken pieces together for his big race.
We mentioned to Shinya that we were on our way to Hell on Wheels MC but the bikes we had been promised were still in a container coming back from Hell on Wheels Japan. It was a major set back to travel all this way and now faced the likelihood of not being able to ride in the rally. Looking around his garage I joked that “maybe we should borrow one of his bikes…” I thought he would laugh at the absurd remark. But after thinking about it for a bit, he turned to me and said: “I have a bike you could borrow.”
My eyes lit up, before I did another quick scan around his workshop. All I could see were hand built machines that he spends months building and probably sells for $100,000 upwards.
“Not in here” he says. Almost reading my mind, like the zen master he is. “In another garage”. So we walked a few garages down. He lifts the large doors to reveal a sea of bikes, in all different conditions, shapes and sizes. My eyes were now darting around at all these amazing bikes wondering which one he was going to lend us. Having just been offered a bike by Shinya to race, we would have been stoked with a Honda Monkey. Then Shinya points to a pretty little red Honda SL100 at the back. “This one” he says. “It goes well”. We had a bike and she was a beauty. So we went to work prepping it in Shinya’s workshop of all places. We pulled off the stock pipe and Shinya found a straight through pipe that looked and sounded more our style. We then removed the lights and everything else that might be broken on an mx track.
The day had gone fast and it was time to hit the road. So we loaded our new prized possession in our $19.95 a day U-Haul van and headed out to Milestone MX Park. Promising Shinya we would return his much loved SL in a few days – and hopefully in one piece!
We did return a few days later with a Hell on Wheels trophy in hand. Andy Baker received a 2nd place in the 100cc and under class, channeling the spirit of Shinya in the final and pushing the SL to new limits.
Shinya didn’t do as well as he had hoped at El Mirage. He blew a gasket in his first race attempting a land speed record, and that ended his day. Luckily we caught up with him just before he left and got a couple of photographs of him and his El Camino with his Knucklehead in the back. Unfortunately, his van had broken down that morning, so it wasn’t the best day for him. But that didn’t stop him smiling.
It was an amazing experience meeting Shinya. To watch this master at work. And then to actually be able to work along side him on a bike – albeit it a Honda SL100. It was one of those days that even now seems like a dream. A day that years from now will still leave us grinning like fools when ever we think about it. This day alone was worth travelling 7000 miles for.
[Photography by Andy Baker]
Shinya test riding the SL100 he lent us.
via 
Victoire de Pedrosa au Grand Prix bwin de République Tchèque / Pedrosa victory ends Marquez winning streak
Dani Pedrosa a remporté sa première victoire depuis le GP de Malaisie de l’an dernier dimanche en République Tchèque et mettait ainsi un terme à la série de victoires de Marc Márquez, quatrième de la course derrière Jorge Lorenzo et Valentino Rossi.
Après un début de course mené à un rythme effréné et au cours duquel se sont succédés en tête Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), auteur du meilleur départ en première ligne, puis Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) s’est emparé de la première position dès le cinquième tour et a ensuite mené jusqu’au drapeau à damier, sans jamais être menacé par ses poursuivants.
En pole position sur la grille, son coéquipier Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) a une fois de plus réalisé un départ décevant qui l’a immédiatement relégué à la sixième place, derrière Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Pedrosa, Lorenzo et Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP). S’il a réussi à passer les trois Italiens au bout de quelques tours, le Champion du Monde en titre n’a cependant pas pu rattraper Pedrosa et Lorenzo et s’est fait devancer par Rossi peu après la mi-course.
Márquez n’avait auparavant jamais manqué le podium en MotoGP™, hormis l’an dernier au Mugello, où il avait chuté, et à Phillip Island, où il avait été disqualifié.
En tête du 2e au 5e tour, Lorenzo a tenté de creuser l’écart mais a rapidement été rattrapé par Pedrosa et a ensuite laissé son compatriote filer en tête, avant de revenir à une seconde en fin de course. Le Majorquin montait sur la seconde marche du podium pour la seconde course consécutive tandis que Rossi signait son septième podium de la saison à l’occasion de son 245e GP en catégorie reine.
Impressionnant au départ, Iannone s’est ensuite battu en duel avec Dovizioso, qu’il rejoindra chez Ducati l’an prochain, jusqu’à l’arrivée et a eu le dernier mot dans la lutte pour la cinquième place. Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) a terminé en septième position, à cinq secondes des deux Italiens, devant Aleix Espargaró (NGM Forward Racing), Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Álvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini).
Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) était de nouveau le premier pilote sur RCV1000R à l’arrivée et devançait Michele Pirro, en wildcard avec Ducati, ainsi que Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar).
Contraint à l’abandon une semaine plus tôt à Indianapolis lors de ses débuts en MotoGP™, Leon Camier, qui remplace Nicky Hayden chez Drive M7 Aspar, a cette fois-ci pu finir la course et marquer le point de la quinzième place, juste derrière le Tchèque Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing).
Alex de Angelis, de retour en MotoGP™ à la place de Colin Edwards chez NGM Forward Racing, a pris la seizième place, devant Héctor Barberá (Avintia Blusens), Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Blusens) et Broc Parkes (PBM).
Cal Crutchlow (Ducati) a chuté en début de course avant de repartir puis de plus tard jeter l’éponge et rentrer aux stands. Michael Laverty (PBM) et Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3) ont eux aussi chuté tandis que Yonny Hernández (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) a été forcé à abandonner en raison d’un soucis technique.
Cliquez ici pour accéder aux résultats.
In the Brno MotoGP™ race Dani Pedrosa won for the first time since Malaysia last year as he ended the winning streak of Marc Marquez, with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi second and third, whilst Marquez came home just off the podium.
From fifth on the grid Pedrosa returned to his best form to blast through the pack and eventually take victory by 0.410s from Lorenzo in front of more than 138,000 fans. For Lorenzo it was his third successive podium result and he also produced a great ride, having started in sixth on the grid.
Rossi got his seventh rostrum result of 2014 in his 245th premier class race as he equaled the all time appearance record in the top class, pulling level with Alex Barros on that front.
With Marquez finishing fourth it is the first time this year that he did not win the race and this is the first time he has finished a MotoGP™ race off the podium. Marquez is of course still in a commanding position in the standings with a 77 point lead.
Marquez lost out in a midrace battle for third with Rossi, having earlier had a close fight with Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) in the opening laps – with the two former Moto2™ rivals clashing on two occasions.
Iannone would later get the better of Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) for fifth in the final stages.
The top ten was completed by Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP), Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing), Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini).
Home rider Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) scored points in 14th, with substitute rider Leon Camier (Drive M7 Aspar) scoring his first ever MotoGP point in 15th.
A crash and subsequent retirement saw Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) end his race early. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Michael Laverty (Paul Bird Motorsport) both crashed out, whilst Danilo Petrucci (IodaRacing Project) and Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) both retired with technical issues.
Masbou décroche sa première victoire en Grand Prix Moto3 / First career victory for Masbou in hard fought Brno contest
A 27 ans, Alexis Masbou tient enfin sa première victoire en Championnat du Monde après s’être imposé dans une course survoltée au Grand Prix bwin de République Tchèque. Enea Bastianini et Danny Kent ont soufflé les deuxième et troisième places à Álex Márquez et Jack Miller.
Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold) est sorti vainqueur d’une course extrêmement serrée à l’Automotodrom Brno, où plus de quinze pilotes se sont maintenus dans le groupe de tête du départ jusqu'au drapeau à damier.
Septième sur la grille de départ du 134e Grand Prix de sa carrière, le Français est resté dans le Top 10 tout au long de l’épreuve, passant brièvement en tête à la mi-course puis descendant jusqu’en dixième position à deux tours de l’arrivée, au moment où Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo), le leader de la catégorie, s’emparait de la première position pour la première fois de la course, devant Álex Márquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0).
Masbou est alors rapidement revenu dans la lutte pour le podium et s’est imposé sur Miller et Márquez dans le dernier tour. Ses deux adversaires ont ensuite été battus sur le fil par Enea Bastianini (Junior Team GO&FUN), qui s’offrait un deuxième podium pour sa première saison en Grand Prix, malgré une blessure à la cheville, et Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo), troisième avec quelques millièmes de seconde d’avance sur Márquez et Miller.
Brad Binder (Ambrogio Racing), Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra Racing), Efrén Vázquez (SaxoPrint-RTG), Álex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) et Isaac Viñales (Calva Team) complétaient le Top 10 à l’arrivée. En tête au bout de l’avant-dernier tour, Rins a commis une grosse erreur en célébrant ce qu’il pensait être une victoire, un tour trop tôt.
Les derniers points sont revenus à Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46), Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo), Niccolò Antonelli (Junior Team GO&FUN) et les Tchèques Jakub Kornfeil (Calvo Team) et Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo), qui étaient à moins de deux secondes du vainqueur.
Jules Danilo (Ambrogio Racing) a pour sa part fini en dix-huitième position.
Miller conserve la tête du classement général avec 23 points d’avance sur Márquez et 24 sur Vázquez. Grâce à sa première victoire, Masbou consolide quant à lui sa sixième place, à 52 points du leader et avec encore sept courses devant lui.
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Another superb Moto3™ race at the bwin Grand Prix České republiky saw Alexis Masbou secure victory after a long battle featuring a huge leading group, with Enea Bastianini and Danny Kent joining him on the podium.
A deserved win for Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold) in his 133rd Grand Prix race came by just a 0.157s margin from Bastianini (Junior Team Go&FUN Moto3), who rode bravely with a broken heel. The win for experienced Frenchman Masbou makes him the rider to have competed in most Grands Prix before tasting victory.
Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) returned to the podium in third, with 15 riders crossing the line tightly packed in a front running group.
Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) just missed the podium in fourth having led on several laps, whilst his teammate Alex Rins finished ninth, having remarkably celebrated a lap early, thinking he had won the race.
A fifth placed finish for Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was enough to increase his championship advantage to 23 points.
The top ten was completed by Brad Binder (Ambrogio Racing), Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra Racing), Efren Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG), Rins and Isaac Viñales (Calvo Team).
With local rider Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) finishing just 1.838s behind winner Masbou but back in 15th place, the race produced the closest ever top 15 in the history of the World Championship.
Jorge Navarro (Marc VDS Racing Team) and John Mcphee (SAXOPRINT RTG) crashed out on the first lap, with wild card Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA Racing Team) and Luca Grünwald (Kiefer Racing) also suffering crashes. None were seriously injured. Ana Carrasco (RW Racing GP) retired with a technical problem.
CARL’S STREET TRACKER
When it comes to R-Series Boxer Twins the guys at Down & Out Cafe Racers are still on a roll. It’s not all that Shaun & Carl can build by any means, turning out some stunning bikes this year, from W650s to XVs to a GS1150 and there’s a lovely Triumph on the way, but after each new Boxer build along comes another customer wanting one “just like they’ve seen on The Bike Shed” …Sorry fellas.
This latest Street Tracker was originally built by Carl for his own daily use, so he put a lot of effort in, making the wise choice of choosing a R100 RT as the donor, as they have a stonkingly good engine. That extra 200cc over the R80 makes a significant difference – as I found out when swapping my R100RT cafe racer for the R80 Gold Top.
While each D&O build is different, they do share Shaun & Carl’s personal engineering style, with brackets, subframes and battery boxes that all have a recogniseable design, and are all build to last. I recon we could pick one of their builds out from a single exhaust hangar or speedo bracket. The subframes are also built to individual spec, where you can pick details like seat height. Carl’s was kept high and aggressive, as he’s a big lad.
After the dry build out came the engine for a full rebuild and new gear box. The differential was also reconditioned and pretty much every part of the bike was rebuilt with new parts, and with improvements made over stock items where possible.
The wiring was also replaced with a bespoke D&O loom, and also built as a one-off was the high-level, single-sided, two-into-one exhaust, which looks distinctive and purposeful. Bear trap style footrests finish off the aggressive tracker/scrambler looks of the bike (mind yer shins though) and with a lick of tasteful black & white paint from Arny at Pro Customs the bike was ready to be put back together for a shakedown.
As with all pro bikes that are built for “one of the guys in the shop”, this build is going up for sale, as demand for these D&O beemers is exceeding supply, and for good reason. Check out The Bike Shed Custom Classifieds and make sure you don’t miss it.
Meanwhile you can see more bikes from Down & Out Cafe Racers on The Bike Shed, their Website and theirFacebook Pages, and thanks as usual to Simon Krajnyak for the photos.
via The Bike Shed
HONDA CM400 BY JUNIOR BURRELL
Custom motorcycles that have hand built fairings always draw a little extra attention from me, I love naked bikes and classic cafe racers but there’s something genuinely captivating about a sheet of metal that’s been hammered into a landscape of curves designed to bend the wind around itself.
The faired bike you see here is the work of the talented metal-worker Junior Burrell, it started life as a Honda CM400 before having a Honda CB450 engine shoehorned into its frame. The bodywork was formed from sheet aluminium in an act that I can only assume was black magic, voodoo or witchcraft.
The wheelbase was stretched 3″ with a longer swing arm to improve handling, the headlight was fabricated from copper tubing and then mounted down on the right side of the front fork to maintain the clean lines around the upper portion of the bodywork.
Junior has quickly earned himself an impressive list of followers with his focus on hand making almost all of the elements that go onto his builds – which has resulted in some remarkable motorcycles rolling out of his garage in Fort Worth, Texas.
To see more from Junior Burrell you can click here to visit his official website, or here to follow him on Instagram.
via SILODROME
GARB: SUMMER SETS
RRL Seattle Work Shirt ($295). H&M Slim Chino Pants ($25). Vans for J.Crew Sneakers ($60). Tsovet JPT-PW36 ($250). Persol Retro Sunglasses ($310). Pentax Q White Kit Camera ($300). Steadbrook VSCO x Ebbets Field Hat ($49). A.P.C. Canvas Zip Round Wallet ($150). Topo Designs Camp Blanket ($169). Stanley Classic Flask($28).
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