Chaque printemps, la traditionnelle course de moto TT a lieu sur les routes de l’île de Man. Assoiffés de gloire et d’adrénaline, les pilotes de moto intrépides s’y rendent. Mais flirter avec le danger a son prix: plus de deux cents individus ont perdu la vie au cours de ce spectacle. A une allure d’enfer, les participants passent en trombe dans les virages, toujours conscients qu’il s’agit peut-être de leur dernière course. Mais pourquoi les pilotes continuent-ils de s’adonner à cette pratique périlleuse? Ce documentaire palpitant en 3D aborde tant les victoires glorieuses que les horribles tragédies qu’a vécues la course de moto la plus folle du monde.
samedi 15 août 2015
Zarco en pole pour la cinquième fois de l’année à Brno / Zarco claims 5th pole of the season
Le Français a battu les Espagnols Tito Rabat et Álex Rins d’un quart de seconde en qualifications.
Seulement huitième de la troisième séance d’essais libres samedi matin en République Tchèque, Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) a très vite rattrapé sa journée en qualifications et a battu le record du circuit de Brno dès son cinquième tour, avec un chrono de 2’01.614.
Le Français, leader de la catégorie avec 71 points d’avance, n’a ensuite pas été inquiété par Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) et Álex Rins (Páginas Amarillas HP 40), qui, malgré leurs efforts, n’ont pu se rapprocher qu’à un quart de seconde de la pole position et ont respectivement pris les seconde et troisième positions, séparés de seulement 0.028s.
À l’instar de Zarco, Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) et Tom Lüthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) ont signé leurs meilleurs tours respectifs dès le début de la séance et ont terminé aux quatrième et cinquième places, devant Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten), sixième à 0.828s de Zarco.
Septième, le Champion du Monde Moto3™ 2014 Álex Márquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) réalisait sa meilleure qualification depuis son arrivée dans la catégorie Moto2™ et finissait devant Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing), Axel Pons (AGR Team) et Jonas Folger (AGR Team).
Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing) devra se contenter d’un départ en 13e position après une défaillance de sa suspension arrière.
Plutôt bien parti depuis le début du week-end, Louis Rossi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) a chuté en début de séance et sera vingtième sur la grille de départ, derrière Xavier Siméon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) et devant Marcel Schrötter (Tech3 Racing).
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Johann Zarco makes it five pole positions this season as he finishes on top of the timesheets ahead of Tito Rabat and Alex Rins.
Ajo Motorsports Johann Zarco secured his fifth pole position of the season in ideal conditions at the bwin Grand Prix Ceské Republiky. The Frenchman who currently enjoys a 71-point lead in the Moto2™ World Championship set a 2’01.614 to break Tito Rabat’s 2014 pole record (2’01.911) in the process.
Zarco finished 0.259s ahead of Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS’s Rabat, with the Spaniard missing out on pole after leading the way in FP3 earlier. Rabat also went under his pole record from last year as the top four riders all set times under the 2’02 barrier.
Indianapolis race winner, Paginas Amarillas HP40’s Alex Rins (+0.287s), completes the front row. Rins was just 0.028s off the pace of Rabat and it should be an incredible battle between these three on Sunday.
Dynavolt Intact GP’s Sandro Cortese (+0.376s) will start from the front of the second row in fourth as he matched his best qualifying performance of the season (Qatar). Derendinger Racing Interwetten’s Thomas Luthi (+0.464s) was fifth fastest, ahead of his compatriot Dominique Aegerter (+0.828s) on the Technomag Racing Interwetten Kalex.
Reigning Moto3™ World Champion Alex Marquez (Paginas Amarillas HP40) put in his best qualifying performance of the season and will start from seventh.
Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team), Axel Pons (AGR Team) and his teammate Jonas Folger complete the top ten with the returning Forward Racing’s Lorenzo Baldassari and Simone Corsi in 11th and 12th respectively.
Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes will be forced to start the race from 13th, his worst qualifying performance of the season, after his suspension collapsed and he was forced to miss the last ten minutes of the session.
Check out the full Moto2™ Qualifying results, the 20-lap race is due to start at 12:20 local time on Sunday.
Lorenzo retrouve la pole position à Brno / Lorenzo destroys lap record to take pole
Le Majorquin a décroché sa seconde pole position de l’année en pulvérisant le record du circuit samedi à l’Automotodrom Brno.
Après avoir été le plus rapide vendredi lors de la première journée du Grand Prix bwin de République Tchèque, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) avait confirmé son excellente forme sur le circuit de Brno en battant le record du circuit dès la troisième séance d’essais, samedi matin, et a frappé encore plus fort en qualifications.
Le double Champion du Monde MotoGP™ n’a en effet pas mis longtemps à améliorer le nouveau record du circuit tchèque et, alors qu’il semblait déjà assuré de la pole, a de nouveau progressé sur sa dernière sortie pour conclure avec un chrono de 1’54.989, faisant de lui le premier et pour l’instant unique pilote moto à tourner en moins d’1’55 à Brno. Il s’agit de sa seconde pole position de la saison après celle de Jerez et sa troisième depuis l’épreuve de Misano de l’an dernier, où il avait remporté son unique pole de la saison 2014.
Lorenzo a bien fait d’insister jusque dans son dernier run puisque Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda), qui était à une demi-seconde de son compatriote à mi-séance, a lui aussi réalisé un sensationnel dernier tour pour revenir à seulement 0.074s de la pole, avec un chrono de 1’55.063.
Le Champion en titre, vainqueur des deux dernières courses, partira donc au milieu d’une première ligne que complètera Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), qui a récupéré la troisième position au dernier moment, en étant 0.364s moins vite que son coéquipier.
Privé de la première ligne par son compatriote, Andrea Iannone (Ducati) partira en quatrième position avec une fois de plus l’objectif de rester le plus près possible du podium en course. Il partagera la deuxième ligne avec Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et son coéquipier Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), qui cherchera à ramener un bon résultat après ne pas avoir fait mieux que neuvième sur les cinq dernières courses.
Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3), qui avait dominé la Q1, et Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), vainqueur à Brno l’an dernier, s’élanceront pour leur part de la troisième ligne, devant Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda), le deuxième pilote issu de la Q1, Héctor Barberá (Avintia Racing), qui réalisait sa meilleure qualification de l’année et assurait la présence d’un pilote Open en Q2, et Yonny Hernández (Octo Pramac Racing).
Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) et Loris Baz (Forward Racing) se sont respectivement qualifiés aux 17e et 18e positions, derrière Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing), Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar) et Stefan Bradl (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini).
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Jorge Lorenzo smashes the lap record to secure pole position ahead of Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi at the Czech GP.
Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo obliterated the lap record at the Automotodrom Brno to take an incredible pole position at the bwin Grand Prix Ceské Republiky. The two-time MotoGP™ World Champion secured his second pole of the season with Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and championship leader Valentino Rossi completing the front row.
Unlike on Friday when track temperatures reached over 50˚C, conditions were almost ideal for Q2 at the iconic Brno track. A track temperature of 42˚C and a light breeze meant grip levels were at their optimum, and the thousands of fans at the 5.2km Autodromo Brno were treated to one of the most exciting qualifying sessions of the year. As always, the outcome came down to the final few seconds of the session when riders popped in a fresh softer option rear tyre and headed out on their last flying laps.
Lorenzo had already broken Cal Crutchlow’s 2013 pole record in FP3 (1’55.527), and after his first run found himself on top of the timesheets with a 1’55.238. Things would just get better for the Spaniard on his second run, as he managed to set the fastest ever lap by a motorcycle around the circuit, and the first ever under the 1’55 barrier. Lorenzo’s record-breaking 1’54.989 securing his second pole position of the season and 32nd in his MotoGP™ career in the process.
Marc Marquez followed up his back-to-back wins at Indianapolis and the Sachsenring by qualifying in second. The reigning MotoGP™ World Champion missing out on pole by just 0.074s as he also decimated the previous pole record.
Current championship leader Valentino Rossi had to dig deep in an effort to cure his qualifying woes and will start Sunday’s race from the back of the front row. The Italian had completed a Yamaha 1-2 behind Lorenzo in FP3 & FP4, but could not quite match the pace of his teammate in Q2, finishing 0.364s behind Lorenzo.
Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone (+0.401s) stuck with the older version of his GP15 to set the fourth fastest time on his very last lap. The Italian had received an updated version of the Desmosedici for Brno with a new engine and fairing, but opted for the older model for the entirety of the session.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith was the leading Satellite rider, and will start from the middle of the second row after putting in his best qualifying performance of the season. Smith has shown an impressive race pace throughout the weekend and found himself just 0.471s behind Lorenzo in fifth.
Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (+0.946s) was almost a further 0.5s back as he made use of his updated GP15 to secure sixth on the grid. Maverick Viñales on the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR once again out qualified his more experienced teammate and will start from seventh on the grid.
Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) had earlier made it through as the fastest rider from Q1 and will start from eighth. A rather battered and bruised Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda recovered from his crash in FP2 to set the ninth fastest time.
CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow had to settle for tenth, after he was also forced to battle it out in Q1. The British rider will start from the front of the 4th row, with Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera in eleventh on the leading Open class bike after he made it directly through to Q2 for the first time this season. Octo Pramac Racing Yonny Hernandez, who also made it through automatically to Q2, completes the fourth row.
Scott Redding will start from 14th on the grid after failing to make it through to Q2, while Irishman Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP Team) is the leading Open Honda rider in 20th.
Check out the full MotoGP™ Qualifying results, the 22-lap race is due to start at 14:00 local time on Sunday.
Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk II – Kevin Rudham
Written by Martin Hodgson.
While every brand has its share of fanatics, it’s the Italian marques that seem to inspire the most passion. Some people fawn over their race-bred Ducatis, some battle mercurial Laverdas while the remainder squirrel away in their sheds, tinkering at old Moto Guzzis. While not strictly a Guzzi fanatic, Johannesburg-based professional photographer Kevin Rudham will no doubt have Italian fans nodding in appreciation at his re-born 1980 Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk II. Impressively, he completed nearly all the work himself. ‘It took two years,’ Kevin says, ‘and I outsourced only the powder coating and electroplating, but the rest I did myself, including the paint job with a borrowed compressor and a cheap Chinese touch up gun.’
Kevin has been riding motorcycles since the age of 16, but stopped riding shortly after buying the Mark II 20 years ago while deep in the throes of a midlife crisis. The bike sat unloved in his garage for years, until in 2012 work began in earnest to restore it to its former glory. And the Le Mans special was truly glorious in its day. Named after the 24 hour motorcycle race of the same name, the Le Mans (or ‘Le-mon’, as it was rudely dubbed) was the flagship bike for Moto Guzzi in the 1970’s, with the 85 horsepower v-twin featuring a typically Guzzi mix of solid handling and guttural power delivery. It found quite a following among The Faithful as a fast, albeit heavy motorcycle with a reliable powerplant.
Kevin’s Mark II was completely stripped down for the rebuild, with its engine receiving much of the attention. While getting it apart was straightforward enough, putting it back together was a different task entirely. Kevin says ‘I’m fairly handy with a spanner but after the strip down I found myself wondering how it was that, as a professional photographer, I hadn’t taken detailed pictures before taking it all apart to make it easier to get back together.’
But with the aid of a factory parts list (that included some exploded diagrams) and the always-helpful Guzzi fans that lurk online, everything came together nicely, with a few hidden gems inside. A factory big bore kit was fitted, sucking from 40mm Dellorto pumper carburettors, while a rebuilt and re-shimmed close ratio gearbox and deep spline clutch kit should make the shifting a far less clunky affair than when the bike was new. The whole assembly barks through stainless steel ceramic-coated Brian Wilson pipes with a twist of the Tomaselli throttle.
Kevin mounted Koni shocks to the rear and progressive springs and factory air-assisted dampers to the front, while Tarozzi rear sets and period-correct handlebars sourced from a scrapyard help keep the bike under control around bends. The electrics, bane of many Italian bike owners, were also refreshed, with a new regulator/rectifier and Dyna miniature coils ensuring reliable spark and feed to the LED headlight and instruments. The bodywork was altered too, with a custom front fender, sidecovers and a retrofitted Mark I fairing mounted, and in a particularly African twist, a black-dyed Gemsbok hide acts as the seat cover.
Since the Mark II’s rebirth Kevin hasn’t exactly babied the bike, keen to test out exactly how fast his engine work would carry him. ‘I’ve only had the guts to take it to 190km/h (119mph) since the rebuild. The bike was willing to go faster but I wasn’t.’ That’s nothing to be scoffed at, especially considering the Guzzi has to breathe the thin Johannesburg air at 1,750 meters. And as he punches through the gearbox around town Kevin has to have an extra-wide grin on his face, knowing that his tweaked classic bike is all his own creation.
via PIPEBURN
How the King of Cool got pushed to boiling point at Le Mans
It was a passion project that nearly destroyed him – the new documentary ‘Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans’ explores the troubled circumstances of the making of Steve McQueen's all-time cult classic racing movie, ‘Le Mans’. Watch the trailer of the documentary now and stand in awe...
“I come from the gutter and I am not a compromiser” – these words uttered by McQueen set the stage for the new documentary Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans, directed by Gabriel Clarke and John McKenna. With a wealth of unseen footage, the film promises to give a captivating insight into the production of McQueen’s groundbreaking racing movie Le Mans (1971). Although audiences around the world had a blast watching it, the making of it tainted McQueen’s relationship with motor racing severely. Clarke and McKenna went to extraordinary lengths to track down unseen footage for the documentary, which came from private family collections, super-eight home movies from Paul Blancpain – who was one of the drivers – and out-takes from the movie itself.Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans had its world premiere earlier this year in Cannes, and will soon come to a cinema near you. No doubt, this is a rare treat not to be missed.
Text: Frank Diebel
THE PACIFIC MOTORCYCLE CO. N-ZED
In 1980 the motorcycling world was awash with the very latest in performance packages from the land of the Rising Sun. Rev counter needles flirted with double digits and power outputs nudged three, yet there were some surprising alternatives to the heavyweight four-bangers of the day. Kawasaki confused the market, and probably its own showroom staff, by offering a KZ750 in both twin and four cylinder formats. With nearly 60 ponies on tap from the twin version, one could question why we don’t see a glut of KZs in the ‘Shed. Thankfully, this one by New Zealand’s Pacific Motorcycle Co. should stoke the eBay frenzy, but therein lies the problem, donors are rarer than honest politicians.
Alan, proprietor at PMC had taken a call from a guy called Richard, who wanted to commission brat-tracker build based around a KZ650. As is often the case in the custom world, phone calls are cheap, deposits and orders are what pays the rent so Alan thought nothing more of it. Until a more lucrative call came in, Richard had got carried away on an auction site and bagged a purple monstrosity complete with fibreglass fairing and fitted luggage. But when the bike landed it was soon clear that the diamond in the rough was a low mileage motor and well serviced mechanicals.
Richard shared his Pinterest board of ideas and it was clear, he needed a street tracker in his life, although Alan didn’t warm to the rather non-racy colour choices of olive and moss green. Perhaps arms could be twisted further at a later date. Once the strip down was complete Alan could turn his attention to the aesthetics, but not before upcycling one of the panniers into a new mailbox for the workshop, every cloud and all that.
The slightly bloated, and now rusty, fuel tank was chopped up and blasted before being carefully welded back together, forming a lithe and sporty shape much more akin to those flat track classics of yesteryear, yet still maintaining the original Zed silhouette. Whilst in coach builder mode, Alan rolled out an aluminium tail section that suits the build perfectly and neatly houses the tail light.
The frame also required modification but with an eye on retaining the original looks. An infill piece bridges the gap between seat and tank, negating the need for an awkward shaped saddle. An added bonus is that a small lithium battery and a bunch of wiring is now hidden by this plate, leaving the rear triangle open. Perhaps a little too cavernous Alan thought so the corners were gusseted to lessen the visual impact, and offer future fixing points should Richard want to add side panels.
There’s a practical rear mudguard too, modded from a CB350, which frankly makes complete sense on this type of build. Seeing guys on the side of the road squeezing water out of foam filters at Wheels & Waves this year testament to style over function not always being cool. Continuing with the sensible vibe, the subframe rails are bunged with LED indicators.
Despite the years of maintenance the Zed’s ponies were corralled by carbon and gunk so a top-end rebuild was required to set them free once more. Whilst at it, the barrels and cases were vapour blasted and painted. With all new cap-head fasteners replacing the original made-from-cheese cross-heads, the finished product looks more modern and robust. Slight geekery, but the use of domed versions to mount the rear brake master cylinder makes me happy, satisfying to know Alan thinks about these things too.
Modified and re-machined GSX-R1100 rearsets not only look the part but should see Richard sitting in a proper position with feet somewhere in line with his hips. That is unless he finds a trail, and then it’s left leg out and open the taps.
So as not to make the muffler a focal point it has been relegated to an underslung position utilising an in-house design of a triple chamber, stainless oval box with exits pointing either side of the rear tyre. The result is deep and sonorous thunder rather than obnoxious bark.
Whilst rebuilt forks and replacement YSS take care of the suspension, the wheels required more thought. Initially stock 19″ front and 18″ rear were considered but slightly chunkier rubber choices became an issue so a 17″ Triumph Thruxton alloy rear wheel, complete with brake assembly, was fitted. Up front an 18″ Excel hoop on the stock hub was a pain to line up but looks the part finished with a 120 section Shinko 705 Trail Master.
Despite Alan still not being overawed by Richard’s colour choice, there’s no denying that this is both an accomplished and handsome looking bike. The grey frame allows the black bits to look properly black and the painted bits to subtly stand out without needing to scream Kawasaki Team Green.
Richard has now moved to Wellington so if you are one of those who pronounces biscuit a bit weirdly and live nearby keep an eye and ear out for the N-Zed blasting between cafés.
via The Bike Shed
New interactive map displays 12 famous road trips in U.S. literature
The road trip has long played a significant role in American literature, whether it’s Jack Kerouac criss-crossing the U.S. in his 1940s novel ‘On the Road’ or Tom Wolfe’s psychedelic journey in ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’. The trajectory of 12 well-known road trips has now been mapped...
To explore the vast American landscape in an automobile has always been the epitome of freedom. Numerous classics of U.S. literature are centred around driving along the sheer endless highways of the American continent. Richard Kreitner and Steven Melendez have now mapped 12 famous road trips for the publication Atlas Obscura. Among the illustrious journeys are Mark Twain’s ‘Roughing It’ from 1872, F. Scott Fitzgerald's ‘The Cruise of the Rolling Junk’, Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ (1957), Tom Wolfe’s ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’ (written in 1968) and Cheryl Strayed’s novel ‘Wild’, published in 2012. Here is the complete interactive map.
Photo: Getty Images
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