hélice

1956 BSA GOLD STAR TT FLAT TRACK RACER

This 1956 BSA Gold Star TT Flat Track Racer was bought in ’56 by Harvey Farrell and raced at the world famous Daytona Beach course throughout 1957, it was bought from him by a private collector shortly thereafter and has remained untouched, in a small collection since then.

The 1956 Gold Star was one of the fastest motorcycles you could buy in the 1950s, it was fitted as standard with a deeply finned alloy engine, a polished fuel tank, a 36mm bell-mouth Amal carburettor and racing derived swept-back exhaust. In factory-trim the bikes were capable of a 110mph top speed.

Harvey’s bike, pictured here, was lightly modified for racing but largely remains in stock condition. The headlight was removed and replaced with a racing number plate, the handle bars were switched out for a set of flat track bars and a pair of number plates were added at the rear.

If you’d like to add it to you collection it’s for sale today online via Mid-America Auctions here, if it doesn’t sell by tomorrow (the 16th of August 2013) it’ll go to the main Pebble Beach Antique Motorcycle MarketPlace.

via SILODROME

Oschersleben 8 Hours: YART tops free practice / le YART en tête des essais libres

The fastest time in today’s free practice session for the Oschersleben 8 Hours, the third and penultimate round of the 2013 FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC), was posted by YART (Michelin). The Austrian squad finished ahead of SERT, GMT 94 (Michelin) and BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent (Michelin).

Le YART (Michelin) a signé le meilleur temps des essais libres des 8 Heures d’Oschersleben, troisième et avant-dernière épreuve du Championnat du monde d’Endurance FIM (EWC). L’équipe autrichienne devance le SERT, le GMT 94 (Michelin) et BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent (Michelin).

Competitors at Oschersleben benefited from perfect conditions for this morning’s two-hour run. The dry, slightly cloudy weather enabled the expected front-runners to improve on the times they posted in 2012, and four of them squeezed beneath the 1m28s mark.

With two minutes remaining, Broc Parkes put the N°7 Yamaha-Michelin at the top of the timesheet with a 1m27.013s, an improvement of 0.637s over the best free-practice effort (SERT) this time last season. His flyer relegated the N°1 Suzuki (+0.359s/1m27.372) to second spot.

GMT 94 (David Checa/Kenny Foray/Maxime Berger) also went much better (0.816s) than 2012. The N°94 Yamaha ended up third (+0.524s/1m27.537s).

BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent (Michelin) followed in fourth place, 0.758s behind YART with a 1m27.771s, wand the top four were covered by less than a second.

Bolliger Team Switzerland was fifth (1m28.660s), while Team Louit Moto 33 (Michelin) topped the order in the Superstock class (1m28.867s). The N°33 Kawasaki is sixth overall.

The top 10 was rounded off by Team R2CL, Penz13.com Franks Autowelt Racing Team, AM Moto Racing and Team 18. It was a disappointing morning, however, for Honda TT Legends who were a lowly 15^th (1m30.190s).

Following the dropping of the night-time session and the shortening of qualifying to just 20 minutes per rider, the teams focused essentially on set-up work and evaluating tyre options for the race.

The first qualifying session follows later this afternoon at 3pm local time. You can follow the action at www.motoracinglive.com.

L’ensemble des équipes engagées aux 8 heures d’Oschersleben a bénéficié de bonnes conditions climatiques ce matin pour les deux heures d’essais libres. Un temps sec et légèrement nuageux a permis aux principaux favoris d’améliorer leurs propres chronos réalisés en 2012. Quatre équipes sont descendues en dessous de la barre des 1.28.

A deux minutes du drapeau à damier, Broc Parkes place la Yamaha-Michelin n°7 en haut de la feuille des temps en claquant 1.27.013 et améliore de 0,637 seconde le meilleur temps établi l’an passé par le SERT lors des essais libres. Longtemps détentrice du tour le plus rapide, la Suzuki n°1 est reléguée en deuxième position (1.27.372) à 0,359 seconde du YART.

Le GMT 94, emmené par David Checa, Kenny Foray et Maxime Berger, est en nette progression en améliorant de 0,816 seconde sa prestation de 2012. La Yamaha n°94 pointe à la troisième place en 1.27.537 (+0,524).

BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent (Michelin) se place en quatrième position en 1.27.771 à 0.758 seconde du YART. Les quatre premières équipes se tiennent en moins d’une seconde et confirment ainsi leur statut de favoris.

Bolliger Team Switzerland se classe cinquième en 1.28.660. Team Louit Moto 33 (Michelin) est crédité de la meilleure performance de la catégorie Superstock en 1.28.867. La Kawasaki n°33 est sixième au général. Team R2CL, Penz13.com Franks Autowelt Racing Team, AM Moto Racing et le Team 18 complètent le Top 10. Petite déception pour le Honda TT Legends qui occupe la 15^ème place (1.30.190).

Suite à la suppression de la séance de nuit et à la réduction des sessions qualificatives à 20 minutes par pilote, le travail s’est essentiellement concentré sur  les réglages et les choix pneumatiques pour la course.

La première séance d’essais qualificatifs est programmée aujourd’hui à 15 heures, à suivre surwww.motoracinglive.com.

Dani Pedrosa still not completely fit, Marquez raring to go at Indianapolis

MotoGP standings leader Marc Marquez is raring to go and take on the Indianapolis Speedway with his usual confidence, in the first of three back-to-back races (Indianapolis, Brno and Silverstone).

The Repsol Honda rookie has an excellent history at the Speedway with two wins in the lower classes, and even if he has never ridden there before on a MotoGP machine, we know by now that he absolutely has no problems learning track layouts.

The 20-year old conquered the extremely difficult Laguna Seca in one free practice, and later won the race, giving Valentino Rossi a taste of his own medicine at the corkscrew (Marquez even practiced several times running off track at the precise area - not that he will admit it).

“After a good break, where I’ve managed to relax a little and also do some training, I’m looking forward to getting back on track! It’s been good to have this time off to think about my first few months in MotoGP and reflect on my performances and what I’ve learnt but now I’m ready to get back on the bike! I like the Indianapolis track and I’m interested to see how the grip is on the Bridgestone tyres because it seems this has been an issue in the past. As usual, we will take our time in FP1 and try to find our feeling on the bike at this track and also after this Summer break, and hope for a good weekend!” said Marquez.

Dani Pedrosa also has a good track record at Indianapolis having won twice in the past (2012 and 2010). but the veteran rider is still not completely fit following his crash at the Sachsenring, which forced him to sit out the round. He finished in fifth place at Laguna Seca with a small frature to his collarbone, that was later diagnosed to be complete break - but did not require surgery, just physiotherapy.

“It’s been a good Summer break and I’m feeling much stronger physically,” commented Pedrosa. “I’ve had time to relax with some friends and also have lots of physiotherapy on my shoulder to prepare myself for this second part of the season. I’ve had a medical check in the last days and we can see the bone getting stronger. It still needs a few more weeks to recover completely but my feeling is already much better than in Laguna. It’s important to remain focused, especially now as we have three races in a row. I’ve had good results at Indy in the past few years, I enjoy riding there and now I am eager to get back on the bike and ride at my best!”

via TWOWHEELSBLOG