WRC, Argentine : Elfyn et Daniel gagnent le Challenge / Evans/Barritt – the fastest guns in the West!

Pour offrir un peu de spectacle avant le départ du Rallye d’Argentine, WRC-TV avait organisé le « Wheel Change Challenge 2015 » ce matin (jeudi), près du parc d’assistance. L’équipage M-Sport Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barrittt a été le plus rapide pour changer sa roue arrière gauche.

Si jamais vous êtes au Pays de Galles et que vous avez besoin de faire changer une roue, arrêtez-vous dans l’un des garages de Gwndaf Evans vers Dolgellau. Avec un peu de chance, son fils Elfyn sera dans le coin pour vous changer ça en moins d’une minute !

Le jeune pilote gallois et son copilote Daniel ont remporté le « Wheel Change Challenge 2015 » organisé à Villa Carlos Paz avant le départ du Rallye d’Argentine. Le principe de cette compétition très fun était très simple : 11 des 12 World Rally Cars engagées ce week-end étaient alignées sur les rives du lac San Roque. Pilotes et copilotes étaient sanglés dans les autos.

Au signal, ils devaient bondir hors du cockpit, sortir la roue de secours du coffre, changer une des deux roues gauche, replacer le cric, la roue et les outils dans le coffre, courir pour récupérer un drapeau argentin des mains d’une « promotion girl », revenir près de la voiture et lever l’étendard.

En fait l’explication des règles fut plus longue que le challenge lui-même ! Elfyn Evans et Daniel ont sans doute mis moins d’une minute pour agiter le drapeau argentin au-dessus de leur Ford Fiesta, suivis de près par Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul et des champions du monde Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia.

« J’espère que je ne vais pas devoir défendre mon titre pendant le rallye », a déclaré Evans en soulevant son trophée. « Notre record pour changer une roue en course est de 1min09s. »

Kris Meeke avait quant à lui ôter deux écrous avant le départ du challenge. Andreas Mikkelsen s’est aperçu de la supercherie, mais l’Irlandais du Nord lui a répondu du tac-au-tac : « je les ai perdus en spéciale, pourquoi ? »

Ce premier « Wheel Change Challenge » est à l’initiative de WRC-TV, comme le furent lescodrivingexperience à Monaco avant le Rallye Monte-Carlo avec des célébrités. Les équipages étaient filmés par six caméras, 10 GoPro et un drone. Les images seront intégrées au résumé de 52 minutes qui sera diffusé sur les chaînes TV du monde entier. On les verra sans doute sur WRC+.com bien avant…

To provide a little light-hearted entertainment before the start of this week’s Rally Argentina, WRC-TV organised the ‘Wheel Change Challenge 2015’ this morning (Thursday). The competition on the lakeside in Villa Carlos Paz was won by M-Sport World Rally Team’s Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt.

If ever you find yourself in mid-Wales one day and need a wheel change, type the Gwndaf Evans Motors garage in Dolgellau into your satnav. With a little luck, the former rally driver’s son Elfyn will be around, and it’s now official that the Ford/Michelin driver is the fastest (wheel) gun in the West!

Official, because the Welsh youngster was the winner of this morning’s Wheel Change Challenge 2015, a bit of harmless fun organised near the sunny Villa Carlos Paz service park before crews headed out on the 237km drive to Rally Argentina’s SS1 in Merlo-San Luis.

The concept of the competition was simple. Eleven of the 12 WRC cars entered for Rally Argentina (the absentee being Al Qassimi’s Citroën) lined up along the side of picturesque Lago San Roque with the driver and co-driver sat inside. At the sound of a horn, their mission was to jump out; take a spare wheel and tools from the boot; change a left-hand wheel (front or rear); replace the jack and removed wheel securely; run to collect an Argentine flag from a promotional girl; run back to the front of the car and wave the said flag.

In fact, it was all over faster than it probably took you to read the above rules, and Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt were the happy couple who were the first to agitate the sky blue-and-white ensign, followed closely by Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul and world champions Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (VW).

The first prize was a specially-commissioned trophy for each crew member.

“I hope I don’t have to find out if I’m that quick during the rally,” joked Evans who has been timed at 1m9s for a real-world wheel change on a stage – belts fastened to belts fastened.

Kris Meeke removed two wheel nuts before parking his car. When accused of cheating by Andreas Mikkelsen, the Northern Irishman refuted the claim stating: “Hey, I lost them on the stage!”

The (TV) game was the initiative of WRC-TV and was described as the ‘inaugural’ Wheel Change Challenge, suggesting there will be more. The crews’ antics were filmed by no fewer than six cameras, 10 GoPros and even a drone. Images are expected to be included in the post-rally 52-minute round-up programme, although it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them posted on WRCplus.com before that...

Sealine Cross Country Rally ; Qatar's Al-Attiyah, spain's Coma and Poland's sonik on course for Sealine Rally victories

• 
• Saudi’s Al-Rajhi wins fourth car stage; second place for Russian Vasilyev
• Team HRC’s Barreda Bort claims maiden stage win; Gonçalves in second
• Poland’s Sonik has big quad lead; Qatar’s Abu Issa sheds a wheel on a rock 
• Spaniard Joan Roma sidelined with transmission issues before PC1 in SS4

SEALINE (Qatar): Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, Spain’s Marc Coma and Poland’s Rafal Sonik remain firmly on course for victory in the car, motorcycle and quad sections of the 2015 Sealine Cross-Country Rally, after the penultimate 406.78km selective section through the Qatar deserts on Thursday.

KTM’s Coma began the day with an overall lead of 10min 12sec in the motorcycle category and that was reduced to 7min 57sec after Joan Barreda Bort claimed the stage win for Team HRC. The leading six riders finished the stage in the customary group, but a favourable starting position and a determined pace ensured that Barreda Bort claimed his first stage win and moved up to second overall

.

“You never know until the end, we have a long day to go,” said Coma. “It’s never finished until the end. You cannot just take it easy and that’s it. The level of the stage is high all the time. You cannot relax one minute. It is very difficult to break the group here with the difficult navigation. It is easy for the riders starting behind to catch you. This is the game of this race.”

“Today was normal strategy, I catch the front riders,” said Barreda Bort. “Tomorrow, Marc starts four minutes in front of me and it will be difficult. We need to finish like this. Paulo (Gonçalves) and I were together and we catch the group and there is nothing to do. I think this race needs to change something. It has difficult navigation, but it is the same. Maybe we need a situation where there is a chance to push and make a difference.”



Portugal’s Paulo Gonçalves was his Honda colleague’s closest rival and the second fastest time lifted the CRF 450 rider a place to third overall. Pablo Quintanilla holds fourth and Jordi Viladoms and Sam Sunderland are classified fifth and sixth on their three KTMs.

Al-Attiyah lost time on the day’s special with three flat tyres, but he found a competitive pace in between and reached Sealine with the third quickest time. This ensures that the Qatari will start the final stage on Friday with a lead of 16min 36sec in the car category. Thursday’s stage win fell to Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi, with Russian Mini driver Vladimir Vasilyev 3min 49sec behind.

“Three punctures today,” admitted the rally leader. “From the beginning we had a flat tyre ad we don’t take any risks and we stay behind Vasilyev, but after we decide to pass and then we have another flat tyre. We were very careful after that because we only had one spare, but we had a slow puncture in the last 10km and we decide to change it. Altogether we lose 11 minutes, but we only lost five minutes to Yazeed and still have a good lead. Tomorrow I start third and that is a good position for me to manage my race.”

Al-Rajhi was upbeat about his stage win and comfortable second place, as German co-driver Timo Gottschalk explained: “I think this was the day of the punctures. We had two quite early in the stage and then we were careful. We were scared to lose a third tyre. At the end it was difficult and we had to find a good rhythm, because it was very rough and rocky. The target now is second place and points for the championship.”

Two-time Dakar Rally winner Joan Roma lost his hold on fifth overall in the car section when he suffered transmission issues with the team’s development gearbox near a sand dune before the first passage control and was unable to continue. 



Vasilyev now holds a comfortable third overall, Brazilian Reinaldo Varela is fourth in a second Overdrive Toyota Hilux and Czech Miroslav Zapletal is fifth with his H3 Evo 7.

Mohammed Abu Issa hassled and pressurised Rafal Sonik from the start in the quad category and the Qatari managed to pass the defending Dakar champion and move ahead. But the Pole hit back and when Abu Issa clouted a rock and shed a wheel within sight of the finish, the contest was all but settled in the Pole’s favour with the Honda rider now taking a 40min 23sec lead into the final stage.

Sonik said: “Mohammed was pushing too hard and he lost a wheel. He was pushing so hard, kind of motocross. It’s hard to follow him even and I think he was too hard on the bike. It cannot resist this treatment, hitting rocks, stones and jumps. He’s a tough guy, but my bike would not survive this punishment. I don’t think about the lead now.”



SS4 – as it happened

Twenty-five cars, 21 bikes and four quads were given start times for the penultimate 406.78km selective, which was also the longest of the entire event. Temperatures were already into the thirties Centigrade at 06.30hrs when the leading motorcycles left Sealine for the short trip of 940 metres to the stage start.

Matthias Walkner was the unfortunate rider left with the task of opening the road. Barreda Bort slotted into seventh and leader Coma was fifth. But the Austrian hit a rock after 10km of the special and damaged his factory KTM. He returned to the bivouac to enable KTM technicians to make emergency repairs and this meant that the task of opening the road fell to Jordi Viladoms. Barreda Bort headed Coma by 10 seconds through PC1, after 56.27km, and Walkner eventually rejoined the race with the loss of around 1hr 20min.

The Spaniard continued to edge a little ahead of Coma and moved back up to second overall at PC2, while Vasilyev was the quickest of the cars at PC1, with Adam Malysz and Marek Dabrowski in second and third and Al-Attiyah 2min 51sec adrift after a puncture. Joan Roma, Zapletal, Raul Orlandini and Kamat Shagirov all lost substantial time in a dune before PC1, but Roma’s troubles were worse and transmission issues cost the Spaniard fifth overall. 



Abu Issa had gained 54 seconds on Sonik and was 1min 07sec behind the Pole heading towards PC3 and Al-Attiyah began to close the gap on early car stage leader Vasilyev. Abu Issa managed to pass Sonik and edge into a 1min 49sec lead at PC3. That meant the Pole headed into the remaining 217km of the stage just 12 seconds in front of the Qatari.

The leading six motorcycle riders were together in the customary group for the remainder of the stage and Barreda Bort held firm over the closing kilometres to confirm the stage win from Honda team-mate Gonçalves by the margin of 1min 59sec. 



Vasilyev and Al-Rajhi were locked in a fight for the stage win in the cars and the Saudi prevailed, despite two flat tyres, with the Russian in second place. Poland’s Marek Dabrowski survived a minor transmission issue and only dropped around 20 minutes to his closest rivals and held sixth place in the overall standings.

This year’s Sealine Cross-Country Rally is being organised by the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) with support from GAC and the Salam International Group.

Tomorrow (Friday), competitors tackle the final stage of the event – a loop of 381.89km through the southern Qatar deserts – to a finish at Sealine, which will also host the post-event press conference and ceremonial finish later in the afternoon.

2015 Sealine Cross-Country Rally – positions on SS4 (unofficial @ 14.00hrs):



Cars 

1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottchalk (DEU) Overdrive Toyota Hilux	4hr 06min 13sec
2. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing	4hr 10min 02sec
3. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Mini All4 Racing	4hr 11min 56sec
4. Reinaldo Varela (BRA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Overdrive Toyota Hilux	4hr 27min 36sec
5. Adam Malysz (POL)/Rafal Marton (POL) Mini All4 Racing	4hr 31min 13sec

Bikes

1. Joan Barreda Bort (ESP) Honda CRF 450 Rally	4hr 32min 38sec
2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Honda CRF 450 Rally	4hr 34min 34sec
3. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica	4hr 36min 38sec
4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) KTM 450 Rally Replica	4hr 38min 40sec
6. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM 450 Rally Replica	4hr 40min 43sec
6. Jordi Viladoms (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica	4hr 42min 41sec

Quads 

9. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700	5hr 29min 26sec
13. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Honda TRX 680	6hr 07min 48sec

2015 Sealine Cross-Country Rally – positions after SS4 (unofficial @ 13.50hrs):
Cars 

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Mini All4 Racing	13hr 48min 00sec
2. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottchalk (DEU) Overdrive Toyota Hilux	14hr 04min 36sec
3. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing	14hr 13min 49sec
4. Reinaldo Varela (BRA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Overdrive Toyota Hilux	14hr 52min 04sec
5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) H3 Evo 7	15hr 30min 24sec
6. Marek Dabrowski (POL)/Jacek Czachor (POL) Overdrive Toyota Hilux	15hr 46min 26sec
7. Adam Malysz (POL)/Rafal Marton (POL) Mini All4 Racing	16hr 00min 35sec
8. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Arslan Sakhimov (KAZ) Hummer H3 Evo	16hr 16min 53sec

Bikes 

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica	15hr 30min 40sec
2. Joan Barreda Bort (ESP) Honda CRF 450 Rally	15hr 38min 57sec
3. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Honda CRF 450 Rally	15hr 39min 09sec
4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) KTM 450 Rally Replica	15hr 42min 55sec
5. Jordi Viladoms (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica	15hr 46min 55sec
6. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM 450 Rally Replica	15hr 47min 43sec
7. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM 450 Rally Replica	16hr 46min 22sec
8. Armand Monleón (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica	17hr 41min 35sec
9. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) KTM 450 Rally Replica	18hr 09min 39sec

Quads

10. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700	18hr 23min 32sec
12. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Honda TRX 680	19hr 03min 55sec

WRC, Argentine : Ogier et Meeke ex aequo au Shakedown / Ogier and Meeke top shakedown order /+ vidéo

Sébastien Ogier (VW) et Kris Meeke (Citroën) ont signé le même chrono sur le Shakedown du Rallye d’Argentine, quatrième manche du championnat FIA WRC 2015 qui s’élancera demain (jeudi) avec une Superspéciale inédite à Merlo. 

Après un long break depuis le Mexique, le WRC est reparti cet après-midi avec le Shakedown du Rallye d’Argentine tracé près de Villa Carlos Paz. Cette séance d’essais a permis aux teams de régler les voitures avant cette épreuve qui s’annonce très cassante, peut-être la plus cassante du championnat 2015.

Tous les pilotes ont confirmé que les pistes argentines se sont dégradées au fil des années et les récentes pluies diluviennes tombées sur la région ont accentué le phénomène. Certaines portions sont vraiment défoncées.

Le Shakedown (Villa Garcia-Cabalango, 4,59 km) a donc permis aux teams officiels de régler leurs véhicules et d’évaluer l’usure des pneumatiques Michelin LTX Force soft et hard. La version soft (S4) est nominée ce week-end, mais il est aussi possible d’utiliser la version hard (H4) en pneus joker. Certains pilotes ont évalué les deux options au Shakedown.

Le meilleur temps (2min30s9) avait été réalisé par Sébastien Ogier à son 3e run, mais dans son 4e tour, le Britannique Kris Meeke a signé exactement le même chrono que le pilote VW qui ouvrira la route sur 270 des 316 km du rallye (85% du parcours).

Mads Ostberg (Citroën), auteur du meilleur temps lors du 1er run, s’est finalement classé 4e derrière Andreas Mikkelsen (VW). Jari-Matti Latvala, retardé en début de séance par un problème de direction, comme Tanak, a signé le 5e meilleur temps devant Neuville et Sordo (Hyundai).

Sébastien Ogier and Kris Meeke hit the ground running this afternoon to top the Rally Argentina shakedown timesheets for Volkswagen Motorsport/Michelin and Citroën Racing/Michelin ahead of Round 4 of the 2015 FIA World Championship. Third fastest was the world champion’s team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen (+1.2s) who was marginally faster than Meeke’s colleague Mads Ostberg (+1.3s). Jari-Matti Latvala (VW, +1.7s) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai, +2.0s) were fifth and sixth respectively.

After the long spring break since early March’s visit to Mexico, WRC action resumed at last today with the pre-Rally Argentina shakedown near host-town Villa Carlos Paz. The test provided teams with an important opportunity to set up their respective cars for what is gradually becoming one of the world championship’s most punishing rallies.

The drivers agree that the South American event’s stages are degrading from year to year and recent heavy rain in the region hasn’t helped the situation, causing extra damage in the form of ruts and pot holes.

As a result, the 4.59km shakedown stage (‘Villa Garcia Cabalango’) played a key part in the build-up to this weekend’s sport as the engineers used the session to fine-tune the balance of their respective cars, while at the same time evaluating the two types of compound that are available here for the Michelin LTX Force gravel tyre.

The ‘soft’ option is the nominated version for Argentina, but some cars went out on both the soft tyre and the harder variant this afternoon for comparison purposes.

The fastest time (2m39.0s) ended up in the hands of both Citroën’s Kris Meeke and the world champion Sébastien Ogier who now faces the prospect of running first on the road for 270 of the event’s 316 competitive kilometres (85% of the distance!). The start order will only be revised for Sunday’s two stages (16.32km x 2).

Mads Ostberg (DS3 WRC) was the fastest driver after everyone’s first attempts at the shakedown but he eventually ended up with the fourth-best time. Latvala and Ott Tanak (Ford, +4.0s) were both slowed on one run by power-steering problems.

Le guide animé du Hard Enduro

Retracez l'évolution de la discipline la plus exigeante des sports mécaniques !

De la boue, de la sueur et de la gloire, voilà la Sainte-Trinité du Hard Enduro. Mais ce n'est pas tout.

Si vous vous émerveillez devant le cran, la détermination et le talent des pilotes qui prennent part à des évènements aussi bien nommés que Hell's Gate ou The Tough One, alors cette vidéo est faite pour vous.

Vous apprendrez comment cette nouvelle discipline a débuté et s'est développée progressivement pour devenir l'un des défis les plus physiques et mentalement exigeants que les sports mécaniques peuvent offrir.

Le guide animé du Hard Enduro

AUTHORDamn Fine Media

MEAN GREEN’S ALCHEMIST

Last weekend at Bike Shed Paris we were incredibly spoiled, not only with the incredible bikes on display but by having the pleasure of being in the company of the men and women who built them. In Europe, and especially the U.K. one can become rather complacent and sometimes disparaging of some builds such is the glut of decent bikes being turned out of sheds and workshops.

In order to create these wonderful machines a decent stock of donor vehicles is required, another thing we take for granted. Some parts of the world aren’t blessed with such an array of mechanical canvases on which customisers can express themselves. India for example is bursting at the seems with Royal Enfields, old and new, and customising them is certainly nothing new, for decades it has been harder to find a standard one than one with at least some form of adornment or improvement. Some though take things a bit further, Aditya of Mean Green Designs from Mumbai is one such talented individual pushing himself, and the resources around him. One could say that he’s mastered the Enfield, take a look at the Nevermore that we featured a while back, just the tip of Mean Green’s custom iceberg.

Now into the third paragraph and you might be wondering what this waffle is all about as there’s no picture of an Enfield here, but there is a KTM. Why? Well, the Bajaj Group now manufactures the KTM Duke on behalf of the Austrian two-wheeled power house, meaning there are a few trellis framed donors kicking about the place. Aditya managed to bag himself one and set about his assault on the 2015 India Bike Week, with this, The Alchemist.

His steampunk inspired, or retrofuturistic in his words, take on the 200cc Duke is a far cry from a new tank and some pipe wrap. Out came the sketchbook and CAD software to extract the ideas from Aditya’s mind and transition them to metal, not without a great deal of trial and error in a bid to achieve the desired look.

The KTM frame is a handome construction in its own right, so Aditya extended it rearward, providing an angular platform for the seat and tail. The faceted bodywork is made from stainless steel, and anyone who’s worked with this material will attest that there isn’t much margin for correction once a shape or bend has been made.

Brass has been used extensively to temper and age the aggressive look of the angled panels. Some parts are plated whilst others like the foot pegs, machined from a billet. Hopefully Aditya has a more accommodating metal supplier than the ones we are used to in London.

The exhaust is of course handmade in-house, giving the revvy, 4 valve single a more grown up sound.  A welcome aural change from the rather sedate tune emitted by the 350 & 500cc Enfields swarming the city.

With two short months to complete the bike Aditya put in some long days and nights and was duly rewarded by winning the MOD Bike Challenge against some pretty stiff competition. Despite working on future designs there are plans to upgrade the 200cc motor to the latest 390cc version, which should see those brass capped forks heading for the sky.

Aditya and his compatriots are doing one hell of a great job in producing some fantastic and original custom motorcycles despite having a comparatively limited pool of donor vehicles available. What’s next on the bench? Keep an eye on Mean Green Facebook page for updates.

Snapshot, 1967: You won't get a tan in a suit, Frank!

In this promotional shot from the 1967 neo-noir film ‘Tony Rome’, Jill St John looks a little perplexed as to why her co-star Frank Sinatra is sunbathing in a suit and a fedora…

In the film, Sinatra plays the role of Tony Rome, a private eye who finds himself embroiled in the theft of a precious diamond pin. Miami Beach is ‘his scene’, according to the film – so you too might be wondering why his attire is so inappropriate? Well, Tony lives on a small boat that he moors in Key Biscayne, and uses the beach loungers to catch some shut-eye. And with the likes of Jill St John and Sue Lyons vying for his ‘services’, it’s important that he gets plenty of rest. Best to make sure you’ve kept some energy in reserve, Frank – Raquel Welch is your co-star in the sequel…

Photo: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

A gold rush of adrenalin with the BMW 3.0 CSL

It wasn’t only the sporting wedges from Italy that embodied the charm of the 1970s – but also a handful of athletic Germans, such as the BMW 3.0 CSL. We organised a rendezvous with the lightweight coupé in the basement of a building from the same era, in Hamburg…

In the early 1970s, BMW collaborated with Alpina in order to create a homologation special for the European Touring Car series, based on the existing E9 platform. The resulting 3.0 CSL instantly became the sharpest road version of the model – not because of the strong performance of the 180HP six-cylinder engine, but rather because it had been subjected to a crash diet. The engine block, doors and boot lid were upgraded to aluminium, while the heavy chrome bumpers were replaced with plastic items to further justify the ‘L’ designation (short for Leichtbau, or lightweight) over the regular 3.0 CS models.

The weight-loss programme even extended to the windows – which were reduced in thickness – and the interior was stripped down to the bare essentials. Practically overnight, the car had rid itself of some 200 surplus kilogrammes, with the CSL tipping the scales at 1,165kg.

CSL meets CCH

In contrast, the Congress Center Hamburg was anything but lightweight. Opened on 14 April 1973, the 38,000 cubic metre building required much local funding (and even more concrete), with architect Jost Schramm responsible for its hallmark 1970s design. Standing five storeys tall with a two-storey underground car park beneath, it was built for the stratospheric sum of 146 million deutschemarks. Still, at least it was completed – which is more than can be said of its local modern equivalent, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

Glistening in gold

After its opening, several international celebrities and heads of state visited the CCH – but did one ever arrive in a CSL, we wonder? The young porter, who granted us free admission on the day of our production due to his love of the car, wasn’t able to tell us. We all agreed, however, that the golden sculpture on wheels occupying the photographer’s viewfinder represented a perfect symbiosis with the tiled concrete walls of the CCH.

The car pictured...

The gold example seen in the pictures (from Hallier Classic Cars) is a 1974 model, one of the third and final evolutions of the 3.0 CSL. The second series brought a fuel-injection system and a displacement increase for the six-cylinder engine, which was enlarged to almost 3.2 litres. In this guise, it produced 206HP at 4,300rpm. It was the third series that earned the CSL its famous ‘Batmobile’ nickname, adding an aerodynamic package that included a roof spoiler and prominent rear wing. Legend has it that when Hans-Joachim Stuck was refueling his company CSL, he was asked whether the primary function of the aerodynamic devices was to hold a pair of skis. Well, we’ve heard of stranger questions asked by uninformed bystanders…

Photos: Felix Liebel, AD: Dustin Lundt

You can find several BMW 3.0 CSLs for sale in the Classic Driver Market. 

CBX1000 Badseeds

BLACK MAMBA - 1500hp TT Ford GT

Armik’s BLACK MAMBA TT Ford GT - Talk about an EARGASM! There was some cool sh*t at Shift S3ctor, but every time this TWIN TURBO Ford GT pulled to the line literally EVERYONE stopped what they were doing to drool in awe of the sound and crazy acceleration of the car!  You could close your eyes and STILL be satisfied by this wicked machine!!  The car is capable of 1500hp but was dialed down several times during the event due to traction.

Scoot......