Yamaha Yard Built XV950 ‘Playa del Rey’ by Matt Black Custom

Words by Ian Lee.

I’m a sucker for a board track racer. V-twin low slung bikes, with handlebars that droop so low they make clip-ons look like ape hangers. Their styling is perpetually cool, and the inspiration for this off the chain custom. When Yamaha Europe were looking for their latest workshop to collaborate with for the next ‘Yard built’ project, they made their way to sunny San Pedro, to the Matt Black Custom workshop. Known for their ability to mix old school cool with late model reliability, this Spanish workshop is the best choice for a fresh take on Yamaha’s cruiser. Meet Matt Black’s own take on the Yamaha XV950, ‘Playa del Ray’.

Taking Yamaha’s low and lazy boulevarde cruiser, the idea was to utilise all of Matt Black’s technical team to create a ride ‘paying tribute to the board track racers of 100 years ago’. To do this, a range of  ‘one off’ parts have been manufactured, along with bolt on mods from Matt Black’s own shelves, to allow all XV950 riders to get their piece of ‘Playa’ action.

From the front to the back, little remains of the aesthetics of the metric cruiser. The original fuel tank has been chucked and in its place is an angular unit, fashioned up by the workshop’s own Anthony Partridge, with the fuel cap supplied by Crafty B out of the States. Anthony is also responsible for some of the other trick parts on the bike. To give the switch gear function as well as form, Kurt Lohse used his technical skills to ensure the layout of the Rebufini switch sets looked good and were laid out to suit the new dropped handlebar styling.

To keep XV owners happy, a range of bolt on parts were knocked up to fit. The 21 inch rims, cushion drive rear pulley, plexiglass cam gear cover as well as a raft of extras have been fitted to the Yammie. An adaptor plate was knocked up to mount the Crime Scene air filter cover. Exhaust is stock XV950 headers, matched to a custom collector and finished with a modified MIVV Ghibli silencer.

Keeping with the old school theme to the build, the front end now sports a Rebufini springer front fork, slightly modified to suit the XV. The factory bars have been reworked, in order to gain that board tracker aesthetique. Braking power has been beefed up at the front end with a set of PM calipers, and handling at the rear has been improved by a set of Ohlins shock absorbers.

According to Shun Miyazawa of Yamaha: ‘This combination of new and old mixed together is something we saw in the work of Matt Black’s previous builds As a result we knew they were the right people to take on the latest XV950 Yard Built project and the result is amazing. They’ve kept all the fun of the standard bike, but shown you can use it as a base to easily build something iconic with a perfect blend of vintage and modern without compromising the ride.” ‘Nuff said really.

Porsche celebrates historic one-two finish at Le Mans

With the 919 Hybrid’s one-two finish at Le Mans last weekend, the works Porsche team secured its 17th victory at the legendary endurance race…

It was the junior team that took the victory – current Formula One star Nico Hulkenberg taking the start on his debut at Le Mans, supported by teammates Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy. Despite strong pressure from the Audis, unscheduled pitstops for them allowed two Porsches, the second driven by Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, to take the chequered flag. Team boss Friedrich Enzinger said that last year’s technical education had been worth it and that the victory was a great success. Furthermore, during the victory celebration, Porsche boss Matthias Müller announced that the team will return to La Sarthe next year. See you there...

Photo: Porsche

You can find historic Porsche racing cars for sale in the Classic Driver Market. 

Short....

The Double Up Ford Escort

If you enjoyed my main event coverage from Malaysia’s Art of Speed show, that’s a good thing. It’s good because I haven’t even shown you my favourite picks from the event yet – I’ve selfishly kept them to myself, but only because I wanted to share them with you in far more detail.

To get the ball rolling let’s take a look at this Fast And Furious 6 inspired Ford Escort Mk1, which as you have probably seen in the opening shot, has given up its factory-spec four banger for something with double the cylinders.

Even the paint scheme isn’t enough to keep your eyes from automatically peering into the engine bay and finding something way too Japanese looking to be powering an old Escort.

The Toyota 1UZ-FE quad cam V8 fills up the space under the bonnet rather well, and with no apparent fitting issues. Even the stock intake plenum and plastic engine cover are retained.

It actually looks tighter than it really is, and both exhaust manifolds still have room to spare from hitting the chassis. Perhaps enough space for a future twin turbo setup?

The exterior of the Escort has been beefed-up with some flared arches front and rear, and classic 8-spoke style wheels running Hankook Ventus TD semi slicks at the front and some radials at the rear. Sounds like a bit of a drift setup, doesn’t it?

The same two-tone colouring scheme has been carried over into the interior, brightening things up quite a lot. But it isn’t the white seats, nor the leather work on the dashboard that grabs your attention – it’s what’s sprouting out of the transmission tunnel.

I’m still rather confused as to why the 1UZ was dropped into the car along with its Celsior-spec 4-speed automatic. It seems to go against the whole feel of a lightweight ’70s rear-wheel drive car, but that’s also what makes it unique I guess.

It all makes for one of the most memorable MK1s I’ve ever come across – albeit confusing due to the transmission choice. But maybe the owner just wanted to build a cruiser with decent levels of torque to play with. What do you guys think?

BY Dino Dalle Carbonare