Qui pour arrêter Zarco en République Tchèque ?

Le Français a continué à consolider son statut de leader du Moto2™ en finissant deuxième des deux épreuves précédant celle de Brno.

          

Álex Rins (Páginas Amarillas HP 40) s’est offert une superbe première victoire en Moto2™ dimanche dernier au Grand Prix Red Bull d’Indianapolis, après l’une des courses les plus disputées de la saison. Enfin au sommet du podium après avoir affiché un excellent potentiel sur la première moitié de sa première saison dans la catégorie, le Barcelonais retrouve ce week-end en République Tchèque un circuit où il avait malheureusement fêté la victoire un tour trop tôt et avait ensuite fini neuvième l'an dernier. Sa victoire à Indianapolis lui a permis de reprendre la seconde place du classement général au Champion en titre Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), avec trois points de plus que son compatriote. 

Battu par Xavier Siméon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) en Allemagne puis par Rins à Indy, Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) a néanmoins prolongé une série qui comprend maintenant neuf podiums consécutifs et qui lui a permis de continuer à creuser l’écart en tête du classement général. Suite à une course splendide à Indianapolis, où il a répondu présent au bon moment au bout d’un week-end compliqué, le Français mène le Championnat du Monde Moto2™ avec 71 points d’avance et tentera d’à nouveau se battre pour la victoire ce week-end à Brno, où il avait fini deuxième en 2011 lorsqu’il se battait pour le titre 125cc avec Nico Terol puis cinquième en Moto2™ en 2013. 

L’an dernier, Rabat avait remporté l’épreuve tchèque avec trois secondes d’avance. La saison 2015 s’avère jusqu’ici bien plus compliquée pour le Champion en titre, en raison de plusieurs chutes et blessures qui l’ont quasiment privé de ses chances de défendre sa couronne. L’an dernier, sa victoire à Brno avait été la première d’une série de trois, le genre de résultats dont il aurait bien besoin pour réaffirmer se relancer.

Parmi les pilotes à surveiller ce week-end, le Suisse Tom Lüthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) a fini dans le Top 5 de Brno ces quatre dernières années, avec deux podiums : une deuxième place en 2012 et une troisième en 2013. Régulièrement dans le Top 6 depuis le début de l’année, Lüthi occupe la quatrième place du classement général, devant Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing) et Siméon, et pourrait bien rejoindre Rins et Rabat dans la bagarre pour le titre de vice-Champion.

BMW's 2015 GS Enduro – Bourke to Victor Harbor

Follow 110 riders through 2500km of rugged Outback Australia, as they push through the deep sands of Hattah and encounter a menagerie of stunning wildlife.

Marcus Walz' killer XV950 cafe racer

Volkswagen Baja Bugs! Starting an Off-Road Club with the Iconic Beetles

Fred and his friend Dave start an off road club, buy Volkswagen Baja Bugs and head to the desert to have a drive like idiots and have fun.

2015 Yamaha Yard Built VMAX InfraRed

2015 is a very special year for the legendary Yamaha VMAX as it celebrates its 30-year anniversary. The game-changing bruiser dropped jaws across the motoring world on its original launch in 1985 with its awe-inspiring power.

To mark the special occasion Yamaha has formed a new collaboration in the Yard Built world with cult German builder JvB-moto to create a fitting tribute to the iconic VMAX.



  

JvB-moto’s vision for the VMAX Yard Built special was to transfer the stock VMAX into a radical dragster meets café racer concept, exaggerating the brutal power for all to see. A second key element in the design is a tribute to the 30-year history of the machine, encapsulating elements from the first roll out of the bike in 1985.

Starting at the front end, a custom-made aluminium mudguard sits below a JvB-moto signature style custom carbon fibre headlight unit integrated into the front forks and Motogadget indicators above custom carbon wheel covers. Modified aftermarket clip-on bars add the café racer element and the rider looks down on an authentic American dragster rev counter by Autometer.



  

A beautiful custom carbon tank cover sits over a heavily modified airbox and electrics and is complemented by special air intake scoops crafted from stock aluminium units taken from the original 80’s VMAX.
The stunning craftsmanship continues with a handmade aluminium subframe crafted from bits of the stock unit and a custom fuel tank placed under the seat, also made from aluminium and holding the same fuel as the standard tank for an unspoiled riding experience.

The rear is beautifully finished with another JvB-moto signature piece, a custom carbon tail unit, handmade by Jens. A bike that looks this good needs the right sound and this machine doesn’t disappoint. The exhaust system is modified with a custom 4-1 collector and finished with a growling Termignoni silencer.

Last but by no means least is a beautiful paint job. Again reflecting the history of the bike, and of Yamaha, JvB-moto chose a retro colour scheme based on the livery of Yamaha’s 1985 GP team for real authenticity.

Every custom aluminium and carbon part on this Yard Built special was handmade by JvB-moto, perfectly blending the VMAX story with the German builder’s signature style.

Desert storm in the Mercedes 500 SL Rallye

German engineering meets nature’s might when a Mercedes-Benz 500 SL Rallye endures the blistering sun of the Californian desert...

The Californian desert is no place for the faint-hearted. The temperatures drop below freezing at night and climb up to 50 degrees Celsius by day – only cactuses thrive in this climate… oh, and a 1980 R107 500 SL Rallye. Unusual as it seems, this Mercedes-Benz classic tackled the strains of desert life remarkably well during a 14-hour photo shoot. At the wheel sat Constantin von Klageneck of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center USA, with a host of photographers plus a hexacopter drone hard on the 500 SL’s tail. But see for yourself, and have a peek at this video of the R107 drifting along rough desert paths – man, machine and nature in perfect harmony. 

Text: Frank Diebel

Photos: Mercedes-Benz

You can find hundreds of classic Mercedes-Benzes for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

BMW K100RT – Motofication

Written by Marlon Slack.

Some bikes lend themselves to customisation more than others. Twin-shocked stalwarts like the SR500 and CB750 are so easily stripped back and chopped, lowered and lightened it takes something pretty special to grace the pages of Pipeburn. Other bikes, like this 1985 K100RT from Nuremberg’s Motofication, take considerably more finesse, planning and cutting discs to be transformed into something truly attention-grabbing.

Motofication is a small team lead by Marc, whose work first gained an online presence a few years back after a K-series cafe racer he’d built was featured on a few motorcycle blogs. It generated some interest and more than a few compliments so he decided to attach some photos to an online store, with the aim of branching out into building some customs on commission. And that’s where the owner of this bike first saw his work, clicking the ‘add to cart’ option and paying online right then and there. That was Friday night. ‘Next Monday morning I had a phone call, asking how I was going to ship the bike to him,’ Marc says. ‘Ouch. That’s not possible, it’s mine and it’ll stay mine!’

After an apologetic phone call explaining that no, he hadn’t bought the K café racer, he told the customer he’d love to put together something for him, but he’d need to hunt for his own suitable donor bike as a starting point. Thankfully, the client understood and in a short period of time found himself a clean metallic grey BMW K100RT which he packed up and shipped to the workshop. After he swung by to talk over the options with Marc and the team, they were ready to go to work. They were given carte blanche to design everything, with the only caveat being he wanted some Motogadget-gadgets to hold the build together.

‘We started in December 2014, ripping everything off and cutting up the frame’ Marc says. ‘We cut the frame and bent it so the lines would flow a little better.’ The workshop cut down the tail too, welding a new loop in which holds the new brake and tail light unit together with the aluminium cowl. The seat was sourced from a local saddler, Martin Kuethe while some aftermarket rearsets, last manufactured in the 1980s, were tracked down and mounted.

That kind of frame work is pretty much par for the course, but other aspects of the K100 were a little tricker to work with. ‘The BMW K is full of electronics. Bosch fuel injection, digital speedo signal, gear display, brake light safety system and so on. We had to run those through a little device from a flying brick forum member named ‘Maru’. We improved it a little, managing to run the device and battery in the tail section.’ The finish was already decided on, with Motofication opting to use as little paint as possible. The fuel tank and tail have been polished, while powder coat was only used sparingly.

By the time this BMW was finished, the porky K was shaved down to 200 kilograms, which, when matched to a new injection system and a revised airbox, might surprise a few people with its acceleration. They were tempted to go a little further with the mods, with USD forks, carbon or magnesium wheels and even an ABS system being considered. ‘But that’s not what we want from the K. It’s just a cool ride that not everybody has,’ Marc says. ‘And it’s a tribute to the flying brick system, first on the road in 1983, 32 years ago.’

[Photos by Thomas Riese] via PIPEBURN

Soul motor co 13 TEASER ¨ The Payback ¨

Soul motor co 13 TEASER ¨ The Payback ¨ from Soul Motor Co on Vimeo.

Photo ....