Les brèves du mercredi…/ Wednesday’s WRC notes

Au menu des brèves de Trèves, des sorties de route, des histoires de reconstruction, une vente aux enchères qui promet, des accidents et une Porsche enfin à l’arrivée d’un rallye WRC depuis 1986 !

Le vainqueur Thierry Neuville portait un casque édition-limitée avec le logo de son partenaire Stars and Drive (golf) qui sera vendu aux enchères en fin d’année. Cette victoire lui aura sans doute donné beaucoup de valeur !

Le Rallye Deutschland est « l’épreuve à domicile » pour tous les teams WRC. Le siège de Hyundai Motorsport, à Alzenau, se trouve à 221 km de Trèves. Le HQ de Volkswagen Motorsport est à Hannovre, à 456 km de la ville hôte du rallye. Citroën Racing est encore plus près, à Versailles, à 443 km de Trèves. Pour l’équipe française, le Rallye Deutschland est plus près de ses bases que le Rallye de France puisque Strasbourg se trouve à 511 km de Versailles ! Le total des distances parcourues par Hyundai, VW et Citroën pour se rendre à Trèves est sensiblement équivalent à celle de M-Sport pour venir du nord-ouest de l’Angleterre (1117 km). Ceci dit, le siège européen de Ford, à Cologne (comme celui de Toyota Motorsport) n’est qu’à 166 km de Trèves…

Le rallye de Kris Meeke aurait pu s’arrêter samedi matin quand sa Citroën DS3 WRC a été impliquée dans un accident sur la liaison menant à Panzerplatte. Un policier avait autorisé le pilote Citroën à doubler une file de voitures, mais un véhicule venant en face a percuté la DS3 WRC, occasionnant que peu de dégâts. Ca n’a pas perturbé le pilote britannique qui a signé le 3^e meilleur temps dans Panzerplatte Lang 1.

Des représentants de rallyes WRC étaient à Trèves. On a ainsi vu des délégations de France, de Grande-Bretagne, du Portugal et du Monte-Carlo. Tous les organisateurs devraient se réunir à Paris jeudi 28 août pour le second meeting annuel.

L’histoire se répète parfois… Ainsi, Thierry Neuville n’est pas le premier à avoir gagné un rallye WRC après être sorti au Shakedown. En 2003, Petter Solberg avait lui aussi détruit sa Subaru Impreza la veille du départ du Tour de Corse. Le Norvégien s’était imposé trois jours plus tard.

Richard Tuthill a ramené sa Porsche 997 GT3 à la 27^e place du général. Il a évidemment remporté la catégorie RGT (il était le seul engagé !) et le pilote britannique a déclaré que c’est la première fois en 28 ans qu’une Porsche termine un rallye WRC.

Rallye Deutschland’s post-event stories include tales of travel, rebuilds, auction items, road accidents, contracts and historic landmarks…

Winner Thierry Neuville was wearing a one-off, special-edition helmet in Germany. It features the logo of the Belgian’s partner Stars and Drive (golf events) and will be auctioned off for charity later in the year. Its value has no doubt soared following the result of the rally!

Rallye Deutschland was the closest event to home for all the WRC teams. Hyundai Motorsport had the smallest distance to travel, since its base in Alzenau is only 221km from Trier (source: viamichelin.com). Volkswagen had to travel 456km from Hannover to take part. Ironically, though, Citroën Racing’s base in Versailles, near Paris, is only 443km away. That’s shorter than its journey to Strasbourg for the Rallye de France (511km)! The total distance covered by VW, Citroën and Hyundai combined was only marginally longer than the trip from M-Sport’s base in northwest England (1117km). That said, Ford of Europe’s head office in Cologne is only 166km away, as is that of Toyota Motorsport.

Kris Meeke’s weekend nearly ended on Saturday morning when his DS3 WRC was involved in a collision on the road section to the Panzerplatte stages. The Citroën driver was being waved past a queue of vehicles by a policeman when he was hit by a car coming in the opposite direction. Thankfully, damaged was limited to his rear-left wheel and it didn’t prevent the Briton from producing a first class run to stay second after Panzerplatte Lang 1.

Most of the current driver contracts come up for renewal at an end of the season. There remain four rounds of the 2014 WRC (two on asphalt, two on dirt) for those concerned to convince their existing or prospective bosses of their credentials.

There were representatives from several WRC rounds in Trier to talk to teams and gather ideas. We saw delegations from France, GB, Portugal and Monte Carlo. We hear that all the organisers will gather in Paris on Thursday (August 28) for the second of their two annual meetings. They could be important discussions.

The fact that Neuville went on to win Rallye Deutschland after his Hyundai i20 WRC had to be rebuilt following an accident on shakedown reminds us of a few similar fairy-tale stories. The case of Petter Solberg who comprehensively destroyed his Subaru Impreza the day before the start of the 2003 Tour de Corse comes to mind. He, too, went on to win. In June, Audi’s N°2 prototype came second at Le Mans despite a complete rebuild necessitated by a horrific crash in practice.

Richard Tuthill steered his Porsche 997 GT3 to 27^th overall. He naturally won the RGT class (he was the only entrant!) and the British driver claims it is the first time in 28 years that a Porsche has completed a WRC rally…

Rally dos Sertões: Both Ford Rangers reached top speeds above 175 km/h.

Less than 7.5 minutes split the top-4 cars in the T1 FIA class of Brazil`s "Rally dos Sertões": Tuesday the competitors faced a 209 km stage, in a total of 360 kilometers from Catalão (to the bivouac located in Paracatu, already in Minas Gerais state.

Once again, the South Afican NWM Ford Rangers 4x4 brought by the Baumgart brothers´ "X Rally Team" showed a staggering pace, closing the gap heading the lead of the seven-stage competition, and reaching the top speed of 179 km/h in the Ford 5-litre V8 engine.

The Ford Ranger #316 with Cristian Baumgart/Beco Andreotti became second, just 1:18 minutes behind the stage-winning Overdrive Toyota Hilux of Reinaldo Varela/Gustavo Gugelmin. Mitsubishi´s Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad, who won Monday´s stage, were third, 40 seconds behind the fastest Ford Ranger.

"I have to tell, it was a crazy race today," said Christian Baumgart. "The design of the track allowed the drivers to see each other several times during the stage, so we could see how we were going. Is was a little bit out of Sertões standards, but it was good fun, especially in the final kilometers, when we´ve reached a good top speed. We´ve got two long days ahead of us."

The X-Rally Ford Ranger #303 of Marcos Baumgart/Kleber Cincea reached fourth position once more - only 1:16 minutes behind the Mitsubishi ASX Proto of Spinelli. The quartet shows a close competition, and the gap between the top-4 cars is only 7:28 mins after three stages and 836 kilometers run.

Tomorrow they move another 585 kilometers from Paracatu to São Francisco, with a 364 km stage, the longest of the Sertões so far and the one before the marathon stage.

"One more day, one day less to go in the marathon-stage," reported Marcos Baumgart. "Our goal is to grow more and more in this rally, and we could already feel some evolution. Wednesday is another day and we want to get closer to our competitors."

"The thing is: This car is resistant, tough, and I think if I was with any other car today we would be out of the race, because I hit a hole in the stage and absolutely nothing happened to the car. It´s unbelievable."
via www.marathonrally.com

Motors & Soul

Voici un an Virage8 organisait son premier Run en Vallée de Chevreuse. Depuis lors, ces Runs, Rides et Balades ont accueilli un nombre croissant de participants. Pour fêter ce premier anniversaire, ils ont décidé d'organiser une rencontre à la hauteur de l'événement. Les 6 et 7 septembre prochains, le Château de Villiers situé à une quarantaine de kilomètres au sud de Paris sera le lieu de rendez-vous des amateurs de motos et d’autos de caractère. Passion, partage et plaisir seront nos maîtres mots. Au programme, des balades, une exposition des plus belles motos et autos de caractère, des artistes, un concert de blues-rock, et de nombreuses autres activités. Un week-end d’Art de vivre la moto et l’auto de caractère unique en région parisienne.

 Motors and Soul from Virage8 on Vimeo.

motors-and-soul.com/
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Rally dos Sertões: Marc Coma wins again in Bikes and remains the leadership. / Stagewin for Toyota´s Varela in S3 but Spinelli still leader.

A hard and technique special in the third stage of the 22nd edition of the "Rally dos Sertões" was disputed on Tuesday (26th). Starting from Catalão, the stage finished in Paracatu, which receives the Rally for the first time in history. There were 360.45 km in total, with the largest special edition disputed so far in 2014 (209.86 kilometers).

In bikes, the Spaniard Marc Coma (KTM Red Bull Factory Team) won again. The leader of the FIM World Cross Country Rally and the Rally dos Sertões champion in 2010 closed the special with the time of 02:36:10 hours. The Brazilian Jean Azevedo (Honda Mobil de Rally) was the first runner-up, followed by the Portuguese Paulo Gonçalves (Team Honda HRC).

Overall, Coma - who also won the 1st stage - leads with 05:18:37, 3:19 minutes lead to Gonçalves and 3:34 mins to Azevedo. Thirty-six motorcycles remain in the dispute. "It was a little bigger stage, a hard day, where I was trying to take as much time to recover. It was a good stage, but always difficult to find an appropriate pace," said Coma.

For the experienced Jean Azevedo, who is disputing his 19th Sertões, it was a day with the characteristics of the event. "It was a longer day, with characteristics similar to those of yesterday, with less bumps, curves and slow sections. It was a typical day of Sertões and fun to ride," Azevedo said.

Fourteen quads completed the 3rd stage on Tuesday. The Brazilian Marcelo Medeiros (Taguatur Racing), who had won the prologue in Goiânia, got the victory in the 3rd stage with the time to 02:46:58 hours. With the result, the rider also took the overall leadership with 1:57 minutes advantage for Robert Nahas (RNN Sports), who finished fourth on Tuesday, and 3:45 mins ahead of Polish Rafal Sonik (Sonik Team), who was third in the day.

Twenty UTVs remain in the fight for the title of the Rally dos Sertões. The victory in the 3rd stage was with André Sawaya and Eduardo Costa (S2 Rally / Bike Box), who recorded the time of 02:51:02 hours. The category is also well balanced and not repeated winners in the first stages.

Denisio Casarini and Eduardo Shiga (Casarini Can-Am) were the first runner-up and are in the overall leadership, but with the duo Rodrigo Varela / John Arena (Divine Stove Rally Team) just 30 seconds behind.

On Tuesday´s 3rd stage of the Brazilian "Rally dos Sertoes", the competitors departed in the morning of Catalão, Goiás State, and finished the stage in Paracatu, town of Minas Gerais State that receives the largest rally in Brazil for the first time. There were 360 km in total and a special test of 209.86 km.

In cars, the duo Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin (Overdrive Toyota Hilux) won the stage with the time of 02:34:29 hours. "Today, the car went well, we finished first and we could reduce the difference for the leaders. Now, we have to be prepared for the marathon stage", said the two time World Cross Country Rally Champion Varela, who is overall 7:28 minutes behind the leaders.

Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti (X-Rally Team / NWM Ford Ranger) finished second, with Guilherme Spinelli and Youssef Haddad (Mitsubishi Petrobras) in the third place. Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea (NWM Ford Ranger) were fourth. Spinelli and Youssef remain in the overall leadership, with the advantage of 2:47 minutes to Baumgart and Andreotti.

In the trucks, six-time Rally dos Sertões champion, Edu Piano and the co-drivers Solon Mendes and Antonio Carlos de Sales (Ford F4000 / Território Motorsport) won the third stage in a row. They are in the overall lead, with 13:14 mins advantage for Kenner Garcia / Rafael Dal Bello / Raphael Bettoni (Ford F4000), fourth on the stage today.

On Wednesday (27th), the competitors depart towards São Francisco (Minas Gerais State) in the dispute of the 4th stage of the Rally dos Sertões 2014. There will be 585.30 km in total on the fourth day (135.24 km of initial liaison, 363.85 km of special and 86.21 km of final liaison).

Between Goiânia and Belo Horizonte, Sertões will go through five more cities. Three will host the rally for the first time: Catalão, Paracatu and São Francisco. Caldas Novas and Diamantina complete the route.
via www.marathonrally.com

Dakar 2015 : les premiers essais du Peugeot 2008 DKR

A 6 mois du départ du Dakar 2015, le 2008 DKR dévoile de nouvelles caractéristiques à l'occasion de ses premiers essais officiels, avec un V6 diesel biturbo chargé d'animer les deux roues motrices.


Un buggy V6 diesel 4x2
En action en photo et vidéo, le 2008 DKR a effectué ses premiers roulages le 27 juin du côté de Freneuse, dans les Yvelines, sur un terrain boueux mais offrant des tests de franchissement et de motricité. Justement, Peugeot réaffirme avec conviction son choix d'opter pour une transmission à deux roues motrices contre les traditionnelles 4x4.


Selon le constructeur français, ce choix radical permettrait d'alléger considérablement le bolide - "le poids est l'ennemi de la performance" rappelle le responsable projet Jean-Christophe Pallier - d'augmenter la taille des roues à 37 pouces, ainsi que celles des suspensions passant de 250 à 480 mm de débattement.

Peugeot précise que le choix du 4x2 offre un autre avantage, celui de choisir la pression des pneus via un "télé-gonflage" dans l'habitacle afin de gérer rapidement les différents obstacles et surfaces.

Autre confirmation de l'équipe, celle du moteur, qui sera un diesel V6 biturbo, de cylindrée et de puissance inconnues. Ainsi, le but de Peugeot Sport est de faire du 2008 DKR "la première deux roues motrices à motorisation diesel à gagner le Dakar."


Pour rappel, le Peugeot 2008 DKR sera pilotée par l'Espagnol Carlos Sainz - auteur des essais ici en images - ainsi que par les Français Stéphane Peterhansel et Cyril Despres, dans l'édition 2015 du Dakar se disputant du 4 au 17 janvier.

Source sur MYTF1 : Dakar 2015 : les premiers essais du Peugeot 2008 DKR en photos et vidéo

 

 

Baja Poland: Overdrive Racing with five Toyota Hilux and Nasser Al Attiyah.

The Belgian Overdrive Racing Team continues its hectic August by entering five Toyota Hilux in this weekend’s "Baja Poland", round eight of the 2014 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. The three-day Polish event is an important one for the Overdrive Team for three different reasons and takes place on August 29-31.

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Matthieu Baumel are chasing outright honours in this year’s FIA World Cup, the Polish Team Orlen quartet of Marek Dabrowski/Jacek Czachor and Adam Malysz/Rafal Marton will be hoping to reach the podium on their home round of the championship and the talented Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke joins the team for the first time with Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul to begin their preparations for the 2015 Dakar Rally.

Polish driver Tadeusz ‘Taddy’ Blazusiak drives the third Team Orlen car under the Overdrive Racing banner and is partnered by the Frenchman Edouard Boulanger. The 31-year-old Pole is an esteemed motorcycle rider in trials, enduro and endurocross and is a five-time winner of the Erzberg Rodeo, a four-time champion in the FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup and a winner of the AMA EnduroCross title on five occasions. He has also won four Moto X Enduro gold medals and a bronze at the X Games.

The Overdrive Racing team is also taking part in this week’s 22nd "Rally dos Sertões" in Brazil with the local duo of Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin. The pair won the Prologue and the first of the selective sections on Sunday. This event reaches its conclusion on Saturday, August 30th.

The team also plans to enter one Toyota Hilux in the exciting "Great China Rally", which takes place at the start of September and has been organised by the Chinese in collaboration with former Dakar Rally chief organiser and consultant Hubert Auriol. The experienced Zhou Yong will drive the car. He has already taken part in several Dakar rallies.

Al-Attiyah and Baumel sealed a dramatic last stage win in the "Hungarian Baja" two weeks ago and know that a second successive outright victory would give them a superb chance of overhauling Vladimir Vasilyev at the top of the FIA World Cup standings with two more rallies to follow in Morocco and Portugal.

Dabrowski finished eighth two weeks ago after earlier delays and Malysz will be hoping to bounce back from a disappointing outing in Hungary. Overdrive Racing’s team director Jean-Marc Fortin announced Ten Brinke was joining the team last month and the Dutchman is relishing his opportunity to work with the Belgian team in Poland.

"This is an important rally for everyone connected with our team," said Jean-Marc Fortin. "Nasser needs to keep the momentum going if he is to win the FIA World Cup for the second time and both Marek and Adam will want to perform well in front of their home supporters and hopefully, challenge for the podium. It is great to have Bernhard and Tom in the team and we wish them well and are confident that they will be competitive from the start. We also give a warm welcome to Taddy and Edouard and look forward to working with them this weekend."

In addition to FIA World Cup leader Vasilyev, the Overdrive Racing quartet face a fierce challenge from the likes of Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal and strong Polish rivals, Martin Kaczmarski and Krzysztof Holowczyc.

In 2012, Overdrive Racing only fielded two cars in Poland for Szymon Ruta and the Hungarian Erik Korda, but the team enjoyed a superb result last year, with Russian Aleksandr Zheludov claiming the outright win from Dabrowski. Malysz finished fourth and a time penalty cost Nunzio Coffaro a potential second place and he reached the finish in fifth to give Overdrive Racing four cars in the top five.

The competition gets underway on Friday evening with the start ceremony at the Sports and Entertainment Arena in Szczecin Bezrzecze at 17.30hrs (CET) and this will be followed by an 8.00km Prologue stage, starting at 18.00hrs.

The first of the longer selective sections (Drawsko Pomorskie 192 km) gets underway at 08:00 hrs on Saturday morning and this will be repeated from 14:00 in the afternoon. A shorter 65 km selective section (Dobra) is run on two occasions on Sunday morning (09:15) and early afternoon (13:15) and the podium finish is planned for 15:30. In a total route of 795.50 km, there will be 522 km of competition. 

TOSSING DIRT: THE TORC OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP

About two hours north of Green Bay, Wisconsin, past idyllic countrysides, dairy farms and wide-open roads sits the small town of Crandon, where the peaceful silence of nature is replaced by the roar of 900 horsepower engines competing in the Off-Road Racing Championship (TORC), battling for victory as they jump, drift and wreck at the world-famous Big House.

One of the most exciting pairs in the league is the Husqvarna team, made up of brothers Jaritand Jessie Johnson. Their extensive motor sports experience and familial DNA (their other brother is Jimmie Johnson) helped them to win Rookie of the Year last year and makes them a major contenders for 2014. From pits to paddock we were granted an all-access pass to watch team Husqvarna do what they do best: race. We left with a little more respect for the sport and a lot more respect for drivers who risk their lives for what they love.

‘75 Moto Guzzi 850T – Olympia Motorcycles

Written by Martin Hodgson.

Building a custom motorcycle that does one thing well is an achievement in of itself, building a custom motorcycle that is capable of being three different bikes is exceptional, from a first time builder it is a Herculean effort. This Guzzi is an automotive piece of sculpture, built for breaking records on the salt flats and registered for the road, it’s three bikes in one and it completes each task with flawless perfection.

The bike is the creation of Los Angeles artist David Miezal who took his inspiration from German speed merchant  Ernst Jakob Henne and the speed trial bikes from days of old. Simple, defined and  minimalistic with the purpose of going absolutely flat out across the salt. David started with a 1975 Moto Guzzi 850T, the Italian sports tourer that was arguably the makes best bike of the 70’s. With a strong motor and drivetrain the decision was made to simply give it a freshen up, new seals and gaskets and a carby clean means the bike will run all day long. While modern wiring, new Dyna coils and an updated regulator make the electrics just as reliable.

As an artist with a certain vision in mind David stripped the bike bare revealing a blank canvas with which to work. The frame and forks were all de-tabbed, all the unrequired cosmetic clutter was disposed of and anything that doesn’t serve an essential purpose destined for the scrap bin. Both the handlebars and the exhaust were meticulously handcrafted from stainless steel, while the custom under seat electrics box is finished with welds that match the original beads laid down in the factory. Wanting to maintain a certain patina the engine, transmission casing and wheels were all carefully cleaned by hand with David not wanting to remove any of the staining.

Increasing the visual impact of the bike is the distressed leather used to cover the custom created seat, tank and fender pads. The scars matching well with the hand sculpted and lightly stained body reminding all that this bike really lives. The switch blocks, lights and indicators are long gone, with just GT grips to hang onto, custom rearsets and polished levers to keep control and a single tacho being all that David requires.

With ambitions of top speed salt flat passes and the ability to ride on the street the suspension and tyres of 40 years ago were never going to do the job. The smoothed out front forks now sport Wirth progressive springs and FAC dampers while the rear is controlled by vintage Bitubo shocks. All of which keeps the new Avon racing rubber firmly pressed into the chosen surface of the day.

Nicknamed Heracles, both the Italian custom creation and the Greek God exhibit a defined masculinity, strength, courage and ingenuity that will maintain their legend status forever more. And when it’s not doing the ton on the salt or cruising the streets, just like its name sake , this Guzzi would be equally at home in a museum, where even static it can be admired.

via PIPEBURN

illustrations by Gannet

via http://gannetdesign.com/

clim !