The Landie lives on… as a £10,000 pedal car

While adult Land Rover enthusiasts will soon have to let go of the Defender after a record 67 years in production, adventurous children have a reason to rejoice: the all-terrain legend will return to production in Spring 2016 as a pedal car…

Preserve of the privileged

Despite rumours of a production run extension, Land Rover recently confirmed to us that production of its iconic off-roader will cease in January. However, the legend will live on for some time yet: the first examples of the new fun-sized Defender will be delivered to their gleeful new owners in Spring 2016. However, they’ll have to raid their piggy banks first, as the pedal car will cost around £10,000, owing to its hand-crafted aluminium body and genuine leather seats. In miniature form, it appears the Defender has finally completed its transition from the workhorse of the working class, to the preserve of the privileged.

You can find many (full-sized) modern and classic Land Rover Defenders for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

This Outlaw Porsche 356 is a Family Tradition

About an hour northeast of Los Angeles, nestled among the joshua trees and the hush-hush R&D operations of the aerospace industry, sits the home of Emory Motorsports. The company’s founder and nonstop ball of energy is Rod Emory who, along with his father Gary, effectively kickstarted the “outlaw” Porsche movement with their eye-catching 356 builds. Rod's history as a visionary outsider is even deeper than we knew, as we discovered when we recently visited him and his team at their shop.

In 1948, Rod’s grandfather Neil cemented the Emory name in automotive history when he started Valley Custom Shop in Burbank, Calif. While other hot rod builders were chopping rooflines, shaving trim, and pulling fenders, Neil Emory developed a reputation for his streamlined builds that employed techniques such as channeling and sectioning. The goal then, as now, was to create a customized car that did not draw attention to any single modification but which rather presented itself as a coherent whole.


Neil Emory eventually found his way into the world of European cars when he joined the Chick Iverson Porsche/Volkswagen team in Orange County, Calif. in 1962. Neil’s son, Gary, came aboard a few years later, working his way up to Parts Department Manager and later, in partnership with Iverson, as the founder of Porsche Parts Obsolete in 1974–the same year his son, Rod, was born.

By the time he was ten years old, Rod had spent countless hours in the shop with his father and grandfather as they pulled bumpers, louvered decklids, and painted numbers on the sides of Porsche 356s. Eventually, family friends dubbed the Emorys “outlaws,” referring both to the cars themselves as well as to the their relegation to the parking lot during big Porsche events.

  


Much has changed, however. Over time, the artistry of Emory Porsche builds became not only accepted but celebrated for their attention to detail in addition to their faithfulness to the Porsche tradition of design and performance. Perhaps most importantly, as you’ll see in this video, these cars are just a whole lot of fun to drive.



Drive Tastefully®

AUTO MOTO RETRO ; engouement à Rouen (2)

Kajetanowicz s’impose à Chypre / ERC leader Kajetanowicz wins in Cyprus

Kajetan Kajetanowicz a remporté le Rallye de Chypre CNP ASFALISTIKI.

Copiloté par Jarek Baran, la star polonaise a rallié sans encombre l’arrivée au volant de sa Ford Fiesta R5 LOTOS Rally Team. Kajetanowicz qui s’impose avec une avance de 4’25’’1, accroît également son avance en tête du Championnat d’Europe FIA des Rallyes.

« Ce fut un rallye fantastique, a déclaré Kajetanowicz. Nous avons beaucoup attaqué jusqu’à atteindre la ligne d’arrivée. Plein de pilotes ont eu des soucis, ce qui montre à quel point ce Rallye de Chypre est difficile. Notre team a fait du très bon travail une fois de plus. C’est une belle victoire et ces points que nous avons inscrit aujourd’hui sont très précieux. »

Bruno Magalhaes se classe 2^e sur sa Peugeot 208 T16 tandis qu’une crevaison n’aura pas eu raison de Robert Consani. Sa Citroën DS3 R5 grimpe sur la 3^e marche du podium

Bruno Magalhaes n’est pas un grand fan de la poussière qui, outre le fait de recouvrir sa voiture, l’empêche de respirer et de bien voir.

Son copilote Hugo Magalhaes et lui pointent en 2^e position du Rallye de Chypre CNP ASFALISTIKI mais la journée fut très compliquée pour le duo/

Il y a plus de poussière à l’intérieur de la Peugeot qu’à l’extérieur. Le Portugais roulait avec le radiateur enclenché pour refroidir un maximum la température du moteur mais quand il l’a arrêté, plein de poussière est entrée à travers les bouches d’aération.

Autant dire que Magalhaes n’attend qu’une chose : prendre une douche après la cérémonie d’arrivée.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz a décroché le titre en ERC Gravel Master au terme d’une année fantastique, un trophée qui vient s’ajouter à celui conquis en ERC Ice Master.

Le pilote de la Ford Fiesta R5 LOTOS Rally Team est assuré de recevoir ce prix avant même l’arrivée du Rallye de Chypre CNP ASFALISTIKI.

« C’est vraiment très dur de reprendre votre souffle surtout après ces spéciales, a déclaré Kajto. Ce n’est pas évident d’exprimer ce que je ressens mais le fait d’être désormais assuré de décrocher ce titre d’ERC Gravel Master me procure beaucoup de plaisir. Je pense à toutes ces spéciales que nous avons parcouru pour en arriver là : des routes à couper le souffle en Estonie, à celles extrêmement rapides de l’Estonie et pour finir celles de Chypre. »

« Durant ce rallye, nous avons essayé de ne pas y penser. Notre objectif était avant toutde rester concentrer et de ne pas commettre la moindre erreur. Même maintenant qu’il est acquis je ne veux pas y penser. Le temps des célébrations viendra après cette longue et épuisante saison. Nous avons encore beaucoup de spéciales à disputer sur ce rallye ; ce pourquoi nous préférons mettre ce titre dans un coin de notre tête. »

Kajetan Kajetanowicz has won the CNP ASFALISTIKI Cyprus Rally 2015.

Co-driven by Jarek Baran, the Polish star completed the 16 mixed-surface stages in his LOTOS Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5 almost without drama, to win by a massive 4m25.1s. In doing so, Kajetanowicz has increased his lead in the FIA European Rally Championship.

“It’s been an amazing rally for us,” said Kajetanowicz. “We pushed very hard right up until the finish. Many drivers had problems, which shows how difficult the Cyprus Rally is. Our team has worked so well again this weekend. It was a big rally and a big win for us, and the points we have scored here are very important for the championship.”

Bruno Magalhães finished second in his Peugeot 208 T16, while a last stage rear puncture couldn’t deny Robert Consani a well-earned podium finish in his Citroën DS3 R5.

Bruno Magalhães is no fan of dust. He can’t breath, he can’t see and it’s a huge distraction. It’s therefore a bit of a shame that his Peugeot 208 T16 is full of it!

He and co-driver Hugo Magalhães are second with just two CNP ASFALISTIKI Cyprus Rally stages to go, but it’s been a dirty day for the Portuguese pair.

With more dust inside the Peugeot than outside, Magalhães was at a loss to where it was all coming from.

However, he’d been running with the heater on, to help keep the engine temperature as low as possible – but when he turned the heater off, a lot of the dust stopped coming into the car through the air vents!

So Magalhães is a lot happier now – but nonetheless looking forward to a good scrub in the shower after the Cyprus Rally finish ceremony!

Kajetan Kajetanowicz has added the 2015 ERC Gravel Master title to the ERC Ice Master title he won earlier in the year, after a fantastic year long performance on the loose.

The LOTOS Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5 driver secured the award today, before the finish of the CNP ASFALISTIKI Cyprus Rally.

“It is really hard to catch your breath after completing these stages so frankly speaking this news has not soaked in yet,” said Kajto. “I find it really difficult to express my feelings but I know for sure that clinching FIA ERC Gravel Master title gives a lot of pleasure! I think of extremely diverse gravel stages which we won in order to achieve this success. Breathtaking roads of Rallye Açores, extremely fast stages in Estonia and punishing gravel tests here in Cyprus come to my mind.

“During this rally we tried not to think about claiming the FIA Gravel Master award here. The closer you are to your goal, the easier it is to lose your focus and make an error. We managed to stay focused and this is our success in this event. Now, after achieving it, I still do not want to think about it. The time for elation, joy and celebration will come after the end of this long and exhausting season. We have still a lot of steps to make in this rally, including the most important one: which brings us closer to completing the great, ambitious task. This is why we forget about this award and focus on the next corners of the twisty road leading us towards the most important goal.”

Lorenzo vainqueur au MotorLand et à 14 points de Rossi / Lorenzo takes a bite out of Rossi’s lead

             

Jorge Lorenzo a décroché la 60e victoire de sa carrière en Grand Prix devant Dani Pedrosa et Valentino Rossi au MotorLand Aragón.

             

Après avoir subi les caprices de la météo deux courses de suite et une très coûteuse chute à Misano, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) a quasiment réduit son retard sur son coéquipier Valentino Rossi de moitié en s’imposant en solitaire au Grand Prix Movistar d’Aragón. 

Deuxième sur la grille de départ derrière Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda), le Majorquin est parti comme une fusée pour prendre une demi-seconde d’avance dès le premier tour. Distancé au classement général, le Champion en titre n’avait rien à perdre et a pris beaucoup de risques pour revenir sur Lorenzo mais est allé trop loin et est tombé dès le deuxième tour, dans le virage n°12, abandonnant pour la cinquième fois de la saison.

Suite à la chute de Márquez, Lorenzo s’est retrouvé bien seul en tête de la course et s’est concentré pour accomplir sa mission et décrocher la 60e victoire de sa carrière en Grand Prix. Mais plus que la victoire, ce seront certainement les neuf points repris à Rossi que retiendra le pilote espagnol, qui réduisait son retard de 23 à 14 points avant les quatre dernières courses de la saison 2015.

                 

Qualifié en sixième position, Rossi a dû patienter sur les premiers tours avant de pouvoir dépasser Andrea Iannone (Ducati) et a ensuite fait toute sa course, ou presque, sur les talons de Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda). 

Plus rapide sur la longue ligne droite qui débouche sur la dernière courbe du tracé aragonais, Pedrosa n’a pas eu de problème à garder l’avantage sur Rossi, jusqu’à ce que ce dernier ne passe à l’attaque sur les cinq derniers tours. S’en est suivi un duel de haut vol entre les deux prétendants à la seconde place, que Pedrosa a fini par décrocher suite à dépassement par l’intérieur aussi osé que réussi dans l’enchaînement des virages 13 et 14.

Passé devant le Catalan à plusieurs reprises mais a chaque fois rapidement repris, Rossi a tout tenté pour concéder le moins de points possible à Lorenzo mais remontait au moins sur le podium suite à sa décevante cinquième place à Misano.

Présent sur la première ligne de la grille, Iannone est resté aux avant-postes aussi longtemps que son épaule le lui a permis et a ensuite légèrement baissé en cadence pour faire sa course en solitaire et prendre la quatrième place, son onzième Top 5 en quatorze courses cette année, cinq secondes derrière Rossi.

Son coéquipier Andrea Dovizioso, qui avait complètement manqué sa qualification et partait treizième, a terminé en sixième position, à une quinzaine de secondes de Iannone et avec quelques dixièmes d’avance sur Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3).

                 

Quatorzième à l’arrivée, Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP) s’est offert la victoire en catégorie Open devant son coéquipier Nicky Hayden, Héctor Barberá (Avintia Racing) et Loris Baz (Forward Racing) tandis que Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) a fini 20e.

                

Suite à cette quatorzième manche, le paddock MotoGP™ va se préparer pour une tournée Asie-Pacifique qui comprendra trois courses en trois semaines et commencera le 11 octobre au Japon, lors de la quinzième des dix-huit manches de la saison, que Rossi abordera donc avec quatorze points d’avance sur Lorenzo.

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Jorge Lorenzo takes his sixth win of the season ahead of Dani Pedrosa and championship rival Valentino Rossi as Marc Marquez crashes out.

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo rode brilliantly to secure his 60th career GP victory in front of 67,000 fans at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón. Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa was involved in an excellent fight with Rossi over the final few laps for the second step of the podium at MotorLand Aragon. Eventually Pedrosa would beat Rossi to the line by just a tenth of a second, while his teammate Marc Marquez crashed out of the race.

This means that Lorenzo has reduced Rossi’s advantage in the standings by 9 points to just 14 heading into the flyaway rounds, with just four races remaining. Movistar Yamaha’s first double podium since Brno saw them lift the team title for the first time since 2010.

                

There was drama at the start, as Marquez seemed to make a mistake allowing Lorenzo to lead into the first corner with Iannone in second, as the pole man dropped down to third. The Spaniard recovered to make a move on Iannone into second through the first few corners and set off after Lorenzo at the front.

Rossi, who knew he couldn’t let Lorenzo get away, started making his way through the field from sixth on the grid immediately, moving up to fifth at the end of the first lap at the expense of Pol Espargaro. The Italian was already two seconds behind Lorenzo in second.

Unbelievably, just as he was closing down Lorenzo at the front, Marquez lost the front at turn 12 and crashed out of the Aragon GP for the second year in a row. It was Marquez’s fifth DNF of the year - the most he has ever had in a World Championship season - which sees him now trail Rossi by 70 points in the standings with only 100 up for grabs.

               

Marquez's crash moved Iannone up into second, but not for long as Marquez’s teammate Pedrosa passed the Ducati man on the 3rd lap. All the while Lorenzo was looking untouchable at the front as he opened up a 2.4s lead by the end of lap 3.

Rossi knew he had to get a move on and he passed Iannone to move into 3rd on the 4th lap, although at this point he was lapping 0.3s a lap slower than Lorenzo as his teammate opened up a 3 second lead at the front. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Espargaro was involved in the battle for fourth with Iannone when he ran wide on lap 6 and dropped down to 11th.

                

By lap 8 both Pedrosa and Rossi started to lap faster than Lorenzo and the gap had been reduced to 2.6s. Lorenzo got the “hurry up” signal from his pit board and responded, managing his pace beautifully over the next few laps.

Further back through the field Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro had caught Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in sixth and was starting to attack, while Cal Crutchlow and Danilo Petrucci also started to close in on the duo in front of them. That was before Petrucci trailed the brakes too much into turn 14 with 13 laps to go and lost the front, leading to Petrucci’s first DNF since the Malaysian Grand Prix last year. Smith, Espargaro and Crutchlow caught up with Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso in fifth with 12 laps to go and an excellent battle ensued between the four riders. However Smith ran wide at turn 1 and dropped to the back of the group, undoing all of his hard work.

                 

With 10 laps to go the gap at the front between Lorenzo and Pedrosa was up to 3.3s, with Rossi still hanging onto the back wheel of the Repsol Honda in third. Lorenzo was riding a simply brilliant race at the front, consistently running in the 1’48s and increasing his lead on every lap.

Rossi meanwhile, was starting to size up Pedrosa ahead of him in an effort to secure a vital extra 4 championship points by finishing in second. With 5 laps to go he made his first move in anger into turn 4 but Pedrosa immediately responded to re-take the Italian. Undeterred, Rossi tried it again into turn 1, but he couldn’t get it stopped and once more Pedrosa fought back as the two became embroiled in a spectacular duel over the final few laps.

On the penultimate lap, once again Rossi made a move under braking into turn 1, but once again he could not get his M1 stopped and couldn’t make it stick as Pedrosa showed incredible grit to fight back. It was shaping up for an epic final lap battle between the two and it didn’t disappoint, Rossi went past in turn 4, before Pedrosa stuffed it up the inside into turn 7. It seemed as though Pedrosa had second in the bag, before Rossi made an outrageous move through turn 15, but once more he couldn’t make it stick. The Italian sacrificing the drive onto the back straight in an effort to make the pass, meaning Pedrosa could power his way back past Rossi. 

In an incredibly exciting finish Pedrosa managed to hold on through the final corner to take second by just nine-hundredths of a second from Rossi. All the while Lorenzo rode the perfect race at the front as he took his 39th premier class victory by over 2.6s.

                 

It was Pedrosa’s 97th premier class podium, but only his third of the season and first since the German GP. Rossi claimed his 14th podium from just 15 races this season and the 209th in his illustrious GP career, although the damage done to his championship lead could prove to be costly in his bid for a tenth title.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone ended up in an excellent fourth despite having to ride through the pain due to the shoulder he re-dislocated earlier in the week. He crossed the line 16 seconds ahead of his teammate Andrea Dovizioso who finished in fifth after holding off the charging pack behind him.

Aleix Espargaro came out victorious in the battle for sixth, crossing the line ahead of Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith in a frantic dash to the line. Pol Espargaro managed to fight his way back into ninth, while Yonny Hernandez on the Octo Pramac Racing Ducati completed the top ten.

                   

EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Scott Redding finished in twelfth, while Aprilia Racing Team Gresini's Alvaro Bautista crossed the line in 13th in his 100th GP. Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP Team) took his first Open victory in 14th as he beat his teammate Nicky Hayden to the line by less then a tenth of a second. Forward Racing’s Loris Baz was in 17th having earlier announced he will make the switch to the Avintia Racing team for 2016. Australian Jack Miller on the Open LCR Honda finished in 19th while there were crashes for Karel Abraham and Alex De Angelis.

                 

All of this means that Rossi (263pts) saw his advantage over Lorenzo (249pts) in the MotoGP™ championship standings reduced by nine to just 14 points with four races remaining. Marquez (184pts) remains in third, but now he is only 8 points ahead of fourth placed Iannone.

Check out the full MotoGP™ race results and the latest championship standings.