WRC, Wales Rally GB : Peta, l’atout charme du rallye ! / Peta brings glamour to Rally GB

Dans ce monde très misogyne du sport automobile, il n’est pas surprenant de voir l’intérêt suscité par Peta Todd (Madame Cavendish) engagée ce week-end au Wales Rally GB. L’ex-modèle de charme a vite appris les rudiments du métier de copilote.

Peta Todd, aujourd’hui épouse du sprinteur Mark Cavendish, n’a pas hésité une seconde quand on lui a proposé de copiloter le vétéran Tony Jardine au Wales Rally GB 2014.

Les lecteurs assidus de Best-Of-RallyLive se souviennent sans doute de Tony Jardine, très connu dans le monde des relations publiques, qui chaque année invite des « people » pour le copiloter au Rally GB. L’an passé, il avait recruté la médaillée d’or olympique 2010 de skeleton Amy Williams. Le duo avait terminé 26^e du classement général et remporté sa catégorie.

Cette année, Tony est navigué par Peta, qui, il y a quelques semaines, ne savait pas ce qu’était un rallye ! Ni un copilote… Depuis qu’elle a dit « oui », Peta a disputé trois rallyes et s’est rendue sur différentes épreuves pour apprendre les bases.

Son apprentissage ne fut pas facile néanmoins. Après son premier rallye au côté de Tony, elle a souffert d’un affaissement d’un poumon. Après son traitement, le mal est réapparu et Peta n’a pu éviter l’intervention chirurgicale.

Pour beaucoup, ç’aurait pu être une excuse toute trouvée pour déclarer forfait. Mais pas pour Peta…

« Les docteurs m’ont dit que j’étais complètement rétablie », nous a dit Peta. « J’avais une petite douleur après l’opération, mais aujourd’hui ça va. A mon premier rallye, j’étais malade. Tout était nouveau pour moi et j’avais du mal à me concentrer. Je pense avoir compris comment ça fonctionne. J’ai juste un peu peur avec les maths et les calculs des temps sur le carnet de bord. Mais j’ai confiance. »

A la maison, les trophées rapportés par son mari Mark prennent toute la place, mais Peta est bien décidé à ajouter un trophée du Wales Rally GB dimanche. « Mark est jaloux », observe Tony Jardine. « Il a essayé de prendre sa place, mais Peta lui a dit de rester sur deux roues ! »

« Depuis le début du projet, c’est très sympa de collaborer avec Peta », conclut Tony, 62 ans, qui dispute son 16^e Wales Rally GB. « Elle est très déterminée, elle apprend vite et les médias britanniques adore l’histoire. »

In a predominantly misogynist world like motorsport, it’s no surprise to see how much interest the participation of lady co-driver Peta Todd in this week’s Wales Rally GB has generated. Learning the necessary skills and preparing for the start has been an extremely steep learning curve for the former glamour model.

Peta Todd, alias Mrs. Cavendish, wife of world champion cycle racer Mark Cavendish, didn’t hesitate in the slightest when she was asked to read out pace notes for amateur Tony Jardine on the 2014 Wales Rally GB.

Best-of-RallyLive visitors will recall that the British driver, a well-known specialist in the world of motorsport public relations, relishes the challenge of grooming celebrity guest co-drivers to accompany him on Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship. Last year, for example, he recruited the 2010 skeleton Winter Olympics gold medallist Amy Williams. The pair reached won their class and finished 26^th overall!

This year, Jardine is joined by Peta who, only a few weeks ago, had no idea of what sitting in a rally navigator’s seat involved.

Since saying ‘yes’, however, the mother of two children has contested three rallies and attended a number of specialised courses to help her learn the basics.

Her intensive apprenticeship wasn’t entirely trouble-free, though. After her first trial rally with Jardine, she suffered a collapsed lung. Following treatment, the ailment returned shortly afterwards and she was compelled to undergo surgery…

For many, men and women alike, that would have been the ideal excuse to turn down the opportunity to compete as a novice in Britain’s rallying showpiece. But not, Peta…

“The doctors say I am completely fit,” she says. “I was in a little pain immediately after the operation but now I’m fine. On my first rally, motion sickness was a problem. Everything was new to me and it was hard to concentrate. Now, I think I understand how it all fits together. I’m just a little concerned about my maths and adding up the times on the timecard. But I feel confident.”

At home, the trophies won by ultra-successful husband Mark tend to take pride of place, but Peta is determined to move them aside to add her won prize on Sunday.

“Mark is actually jealous,” observes Jardine. “He has tried very hard to take her place, but Peta told him he should stick to two wheels!

“It’s been great fun working with her,” adds the English ‘veteran’, 62, who calculates that this is his 16^th attempt at Rally GB. “She’s determined, she’s a fast learner and the British media loves the story. What else could I ask for?”

WRC, Wales Rally GB : Mikkelsen remporte le Shakedown / Mikkelsen tops shakedown order

Les trois Volkswagen Polo R WRC/Michelin ont signé les trois meilleurs temps du Shakedown. Andreas Mikkelsen s’est imposé avec 3/10e d’avance sur ses équipiers Ogier et Latvala ex-aequo. Les pilotes Ford Robert Kubica et Ott Tanak sont dans le rythme eux aussi.

La dernière manche de la saison WRC 2014 a démarré ce matin avec le Shakedown organisé dans les forêts de Clocaenog, à une quarantaine de kilomètres de Chester. Leremote-serviceétait situé à Ruthin.

Dès son premier run, le Champion du monde Sébastien Ogier a signé le meilleur chrono en 2min01s8. Il a un peu amélioré à son second tour avec un 2min01s6 qui restera le 2^e meilleur chrono de ce Shakedown, à égalité avec son équipier Jari-Matti Latvala.

Le Français était le premier à rentrer au parc d’assistance de Deeside. « Le Shakedown était représentatif du rallye avec de la boue, de la terre, mais sans les portions rapides typiques du Wales Rally GB. Deux passages nous ont suffi… » a commenté son copilote Julien Ingrassia.

Le chrono d’Ogier a été battu par Andreas Mikkelsen en 2min01s3 réalisé au troisième de ses quatre tours.

Les pilotes Ford Fiesta RS WRC Robert Kubica (4^e, 2min02s2) et Ott Tanak (5^e, 2min02s3) ont livré un aperçu de leur potentiel sur ces spéciales. Ils sont suivis par Kris Meeke, qui a bouclé pas moins de 7 tours, et Elfyn Evans (Ford). Les deux Britanniques n’ont pu se départager (2min02s4). Le bientôt-retraité Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) a signé 2min02s5.

Hayden Paddon (8^e, 2min03s2) a réalisé la meilleure performance du clan Hyundai à son troisième run, devant Thierry Neuville (10^e, 2min03s9) et Juho Hanninen (12^e, 2min04s8) qui n’a couvert que deux tours.

Tous les pilotes Michelin ont utilisé le pneu LTX Force S4 qui sera sans aucun doute le choix principal pour le rallye.

Les concurrents vont ensuite participer à la cérémonie de départ qui sera organisée ce soir à 19h00 à Colwyn Bay, au nord du Pays de Galles. Après une bonne nuit de sommeil, ils auront 105 km chronométrés à parcourir demain, à commencer par Gartheiniog (14,58 km) qui s’élancera à 7h44. L’entrée au parc d’assistance est fixée à 5h30 !

Volkswagen/Michelin’s trio monopolised the top three places on this morning’s shakedown. Mikkelsen completed the 3.32km test three-tenths of a second faster than team-mates Ogier and Latvala who recorded identical times. Ford drivers Kubica and Tanak also showed good pace.

Competitive action at the final round of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship kicked off with this morning’s shakedown which took crews to Clocaenog forest, around 45km southwest of Chester.

World champion Sébastien Ogier hit the ground running in his Polo R WRC to go straight to the top of the order with a time of 2m1.8s. He then improved marginally with his second pass to post what would remain the second-best time of the morning (2m1.6s), equal with team-mate Latvala.

The Frenchman called it a day after that and was the first driver to return to the main Service Park in Deeside where his co-driver Julien Ingrassia described the stage to us: “It was quite representative of the rally, with a good mixture of mud and gravel, although it didn’t include any of the long fast portions that are so typical of Wales Rally GB. But you can’t have everything! Two passes were enough to check that everything was okay.”

Ogier’s benchmark was eventually bettered by fellow VW driver Andreas Mikkelsen who appeared at the top of the list with a time of 2m1.3s on the third of his four attempts.

Ford drivers Robert Kubica (2m2.2s) and Ott Tanak (2m2.3s) gave an interesting indication of their speed by taking fourth and fifth places. They were followed in the order by Citroën’s Kris Meeke, who used the morning to notch up the highest number of passes of any driver (seven), and Elfyn Evans (Ford). The two Britons were equal sixth thanks to best efforts of 2m2.4s, chased by future retiree Mikko Hirvonen (Ford, 2m2.5s) who has recovered from the emotional farewell party that M-Sport organised in the Service Park yesterday evening.

Hayden Paddon (8^th, 2m3.2s) emerged as the fastest Hyundai representative after three runs, ahead of Thierry Neuville (10^th, 2m3.9s) and Juho Hanninen (12^th, 2m4.8s) who only tackled the stage twice each. Mads Ostberg (Citroën, 2m3.2s) was ninth.

All Michelin’s WRC partners used the soft compound version (‘S4’) of its gravel tyre which will no doubt be the choice for the entire rally.

After a final chance to relax this afternoon, competitors face a drive along the North Wales coast to Colwyn Bay for this evening’s ceremonial start at 7pm local time.

Hopefully, they will then be able to get a good night’s sleep to be ready for the 105km run out to the week’s first stage (‘Gartheiniog 1’, 14.58km) which begins at 7:44am tomorrow. That will necessitate starting from the Service Park at 5:30am!

WRC, Wales Rally GB : La fin de saison… déjà ! / the season’s finale… already

Le Championnat du monde des Rallyes FIA 2014 touche à sa fin. Ici, au nord du Pays de Galles, tous les ingrédients sont réunis pour avoir un beau Wales Rally GB, ou presque. Pour l’instant, les prévisions météo sont plutôt clémentes pour vendredi, samedi ET dimanche. Bon, on verra…

Depuis que l’appellation officielle du rallye comprend le mot « Wales », l’épreuve s’est déroulée exclusivement au Pays de Galles. Jusqu’en 2012, le Wales Rally GB était basé à Cardiff, la capitale du Pays de Galles. Mais, avec les formats actuels plus compacts et la volonté de visiter un peu plus le pays, les organisateurs ont dû implanter l’épreuve plus au Nord l’an passé.

Bien sûr, la ville-hôte devait proposer une grande capacité hôtelière pour les teams, les organisateurs, les médias, les spectateurs. Le choix évident était donc Chester… sauf que Chester est en Angleterre ! Donc, hormis le fait qu’elle soit ville-dortoir, Chester n’a pas de liens directs dans le rallye.

Le parc d’assistance et le Rally HQ sont situés à 15 minutes de Chester, au sein de l’usine Toyota de Deeside Industrial Estate, Queensferry. C’est à quelques kilomètres de la frontière entre le Pays de Galles et l’Angleterre, côté gallois, ce qui explique pourquoi les panneaux sont en deux langues.

Les cérémonies de départ et d’arrivée se tiendront à Colwyn Bay et Llandudno, comme l’an passé. Vendredi, les concurrents feront une halte auremote servicede Newtown, au cœur du Pays de Galles. De son nom gallois, Y Drenewydd… Les concurrents traverseront également les célèbres forêts du nord du Pays de Galles, Clocaenog, Gartheiniog, Dyfi. Le parcours chronométré total est de 305,64 km.

Bien sûr, ça va être humide et sombre… On aura des moutons, et peut-être même des dragons… Mais, aussi surprenant que ça puisse paraître, il ne devrait pas (trop) pleuvoir sur l’ensemble du rallye.

Le service météo de la BBC prévoit du vent et de la pluie demain à Chester, juste pour nous rappeler qu’on est bien au Pays de Galles. Mais ensuite, d’après les experts, ça devrait rester sec, avec des températures relativement douces pour la saison ici, entre 10 et 12°C.

Mais, avec toute mon expérience du Rally GB, je ne parierai pas davantage sur des prévisions météo exactes que sur le vainqueur du rallye…

The 2014 FIA World Rally Championship draws to an end this weekend with Wales Rally GB. All the traditional ingredients are in place for the British classic, or almost. For the moment, forecasters are predicting dry, mild weather on Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. Could this be the driest Rally GB in history? Seeing is believing…

Ever since, the official appellation of Britain’s WRC round has included the word ‘Wales’, the event has been based entirely in the land of the red dragon.

Until 2012, the new-look event was hosted by the capital, Cardiff. However, the combination of today’s compact formats and the desire to share the action with the whole country led the organisers to switch their base to the north in 2013.

That obviously necessitated a venue with sufficient hotel capacity to accommodate the teams, organisers, media and spectators, and the obvious choice was Chester… except that Chester is in England, but only just. As a result, apart from its dormitory status, it has no official involvement in the rally.

Instead, the Service Park and Rally HQ are located 15 minutes away, beside the Toyota factory on the Deeside Industrial Estate, Queensferry. That’s a few kilometres over the Welsh side of the border, which is confirmed by the fact that all the road signs suddenly become bi-lingual…

Meanwhile, like last year, Thursday evening’s ceremonial start and Sunday’s podium festivities will respectively be in Colwyn Bay and Llandudno, on the North Wales coast. On Friday, competitors will also return to the remote service and regroup in Newtown which, despite its English-sounding name is still in Wales. It is known locally as Y Drenewydd.

As for the competitive action, all the famous North Wales forest complexes like Clocaenog, Gartheiniog and Dyfi are visited in the course of the event’s 305.64 stage kilometres.

As usual, they will be dark, damp and populated by sheep and dragons, but the big surprise is that we aren’t expecting rain for the entire weekend.

As things stand, the BBC weather service predicts wind and rain in Chester tomorrow (Thursday), just to get us in the right frame of mind. After that, though, experts say it will remain dry throughout, and daytime temperatures will apparently be relatively mild for the time of year, around 10-12°C…

From my experience of Rally GB, however, I am as unlikely to gamble on that forecast proving accurate as I am to bet on the name of the driver who will spray the champagne on Sunday afternoon!

RECALL: A BMW R75 DRESSED TO KILL

By Wesley Reyneke | Rather Be Riding

As classic BMWs go, the “slash-5s” are pretty sought after. They’re packed with little styling details that eventually fell away on later models—like the rounded air box, ‘peanut’ engine covers and the ‘toaster’ tank.

Add those details to a luscious old-school paint job, and you’ve got a winner. This is ‘Recall,’ an R75 from Portugal’s Ton-Up Garage, and it absolutely drips with vintage style.

There’s a sentimental story behind this particular R75/5 too. Its current owner effectively grew up with the machine, because it originally belonged to his stepfather. When it left the family, it stood neglected for many years before the owner got his hands on it again.

“He then saw our BMW R80 ‘Dark Law‘,” says Ton-Up’s Pedro Oliveria, “so he was comfortable with our experience customizing R-series BMWs. He asked us for a bike with refined lines and glamour.”

Reviving the old boxer involved a complete nuts-and-bolts rebuild. The entire engine was overhauled, as well as the carbs—which were re-jetted and equipped with cone filters. Ton-Up redid the wiring too, installing a new ignition and a Lithium-ion battery—the latter stashed in the now-disused air box.

The wheels were rebuilt with a new pair of 18” rims and stainless steel spokes, and are now shod with Pirelli MT43 trials tyres. The rims and hubs have been powder coated black, and the brakes have been refurbished.

The bike sits lower thanks to a new, shorter set of rear shocks and modifications to the front suspension. Ton-Up also built a new subframe and seat—shorter than stock, but long enough to accommodate a pillion. The fenders and exhaust system are also custom-made items.

One of the R75/5’s nicest features is its headlight, which houses the ignition, speedo and rev counter. Ton-Up kept it mostly original, but designed and fabricated a new speedo outer ring and fitted new dial hands. They also replaced the turn signals and tail light with neater items.

Further upgrades to the cockpit include a set of low-rise bars, Brooks leather grips, and new levers and switches. The wiring now runs inside the bars for a cleaner finish.

With so much work going into resuscitating the R75/5, the paint scheme had to be on point. “It was very important for us to keep the BMW identity,” says Pedro. “We wanted to combine colors that gave it a mature, glamorous look—and a vintage touch that would allow our client to travel through his memories and ‘recall’ them.”

The combination of dark grey, red and pearl white hits the mark perfectly. Ton-Up haven’t just put the old boxer back on the road—they’ve also managed to make it even more charming than it originally was.

Belo!

Ton-Up Garage website | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Aloisio Brito.

via BIKEExif

Royal Enfield Custom by Bambukaat MC

My first ride was on my dads Royal Enfield, the memory of this is one I will never forget. So it is understandable I was stoked to feature today’s build, a Royal Enfield custom aka “Porus” which takes me on a trip down memory lane.

Many successful custom motorbike builders have appeared on Moto Rivista with their first attempt, and we have been fortunate to see them grow and improve their skills. This Royal Enfield custom is the first attempt from Bambukaat MC and is a good start for the guys from India.

Shubhendu contacted us to share their story “People tend to talk about things that interest them & we are no different. We are 4 guys, all of us motorcycle enthusiasts. Whenever we would gather up for a “GEDI” (Definition: A leisure stroll or around town on a vehicle (mostly motorbikes) with friends. Usually young boys go for these “gedies” to hoot at girls, but the word is in common usage with both girls and boys) or at someplace, most of our talk was on motorcycling. One day we were discussing the custom motorcycle scene in India & we all stumbled upon the same thought. We should start customizing motorcycles.

We were all a bit skeptical about it at first until one of us bought a second hand Royal Enfield, then we knew there’s no turning back. We rented a good small workshop out from the city area. While we were hustling in & about the workshop we still couldn’t come up with a name. Many different names popped up, but one stood out BAMBUKAAT, an unofficial name from the old days in Punjab that was given to motorcycles because of the simplicity of the machine itself. We wanted to bring that simplicity back in trend. We started working on the design; we all contributed ideas and at last we had it finalized, it was absolutely perfect for the start.

We named our first bike PORUS. King Porus was the ruler of the Paurava region in ancient India, which now happens to be Punjab. This was the perfect name for our first bike we all thought. (To give you little flashback the ancient Indian ruler King Porus fought against Alexander the Great)

In this Royal Enfield custom we’ve removed the stock wheels of 350cc standard. The complete headlight assembly has been changed. We have also extended the swing-arm. The wider custom handlebar features custom handle grips with no electricals on the handle except the horn. All the electrical components have been placed in a custom electrical box. The engine was cleaned and has been fitted with a megaphone exhaust. Other fabrication work includes a custom made fuel tank with 22L fuel capacity, custom rear fender and the brass accessories for a touch of class.

The build of this Royal Enfield custom took us one month, working almost every day and night. In the end it was all worth it. The bike has been showcased at many places and everywhere it has been getting a great response. The appreciation we have received makes us even more confident about the future of the custom motorcycle culture in India.”

via MOTOrivista

Queens of Trial - Women in Motorcycling

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