Hauts sommets / High altitudes

Depuis dix ans, le Rallye du Mexique permet au Championnat du monde des Rallyes FIA de prendre un peu de hauteur ! En effet, les spéciales mexicaines sont situées entre 1800 et 2800 mètres d’altitude.

Leon de los Aldamas, 6^e plus grande ville du pays avec près d’1,5 million d’habitants, se trouve à 1815 mètres d’altitude. Les montagnes alentour, dans lesquelles sont tracées les spéciales du Rally Guanajuato Mexico, culminent à près de 3000 mètres. L’intégralité du parcours se situe entre 1800 et 2800 mètres, des altitudes inquiétantes pour les ingénieurs-moteur et déroutantes pour bon nombre de pilotes.

Né dans les Hautes-Alpes et moniteur de ski, Sébastien Ogier est un vrai montagnard, mais son équipier Jari-Matti Latvala est sans doute moins habitué aux hautes altitudes. Le plus haut sommet de Finlande, l’Haltitunturi, qui se situe en Laponie à la frontière norvégienne, culmine à 1324 mètres ! Et côté Norvège, le pic se trouve dans le massif Galdhopiggen à 2469 mètres. C’est aussi le plus haut sommet d’Europe du Nord.

Kris Meeke et Elfyn Evans vont découvrir le Rallye du Mexique et les hautes montagnes de l’état de Guanajuato. Le plus haut sommet du Royaume-Uni se trouve en Ecosse, le Ben Nevis, perché à 1344 mètres d’altitude. Au Pays de Galles, chez Evans, le point culminant est le Mount Snowdon – Yr Wyddfa en celte - à 1085 mètres, qui se trouve dans le parc national Snowdonia, tout près des spéciales du Wales Rally GB 2013. Le plus haut sommet d’Irlande du Nord culmine à 850 mètres (Slieve Donard) et celui d’Irlande s’élève à 1041 mètres (Carrauntuohill).

Thierry Neuville a grandi près du massif des Hautes Fagnes qui accueille le point culminant de Belgique et de la région wallonne, le Signal de Botrange, à 694 mètres d’altitude ! En Australie, chez Chris Atkinson, le Mount Kosciuszko culmine à 2228 mètres d’altitude dans la cordillère australienne, en Nouvelle Galles du Sud. Un sommet nommé en l’honneur du Polonais Tadeusz Kosciuszko, peut-être un ancêtre du pilote Michal… En Pologne justement, le point culminant est le Rysy (2503 mètres), dans les Carpates, à la frontière slovaque. Côté tchèque, le plus haut sommet se situe lui-aussi à la frontière avec la Pologne, c’est le Sniejka, à 1602 mètres.

Parmi les pilotes WRC engagés sur ce rallye, c’est bien le Mexicain Benito Guerra qui semble le plus aguerri aux hautes altitudes. Les montagnes entourant Leon ne sont que des collines à l’échelle du Mexique ! Le pays est traversé par deux principales chaînes montagneuses, la Sierra madre occidentale et la Sierra madre orientale où trois sommets dépassent 5000 mètres d’altitude, le Pico de Orizaba (5610 mètres), le 2^e plus haut sommet d’Amérique du Nord, ou le Popocatépetl (5426) et l’Iztaccihuatl (5452 m) près de Mexico City.

Rally Mexico has been taking the World Rally Championship to new heights for a decade, with stages that climb to as high as 2,800 metres!

Leon de Los Aldamas, Mexico’s sixth biggest city with a population of almost 1.5 million, sits at an altitude of 1,815 metres. The surrounding mountains, which host this week’s stages, peak at practically 3,000 metres, while the entire route runs between 1,800 and 2,800 metres. That’s a big concern, of course, for the teams’ engine experts and frequently a little disconcerting for the crews…

Former ski instructor Sébastien Ogier was born near Gap and grew up in the Alps, so the altitude shouldn’t be a problem for him. In contrast, his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala hails from Finland where the highest spot – the Halti Fell in Lapland, near the Norwegian border –rises to just 1,324m! The highest point in Norway (2,469m) is Galdhopiggen, the tallest mountain in northern Europe.

Rally Mexico rookies Kris Meeke and Elfyn Evans from the United Kingdom can claim Scotland’s Ben Nevis as their most prominent feature (1,344m), but Evans will find nowhere higher in his native Wales than Mount Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa, 1,085m) in the Snowdonia National Park. Meanwhile, the highest areas of land in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are Slieve Donard (850m) and Carrauntoohil (1,041m) respectively.

Thierry Neuville grew up in Belgium’s Hautes Fagnes region which boasts the country’s biggest hill, the Signal de Botrange (694m), while Australian Chris Atkinson can point to Mount Kosciuszko (2,228m) in New South Wales. That was named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko, possibly an ancestor of rally driver Michal from Poland where the highest mountain is the Rysy (2,503m) in the High Tatras range near the Slovakian border. The highest peak in the Czech Republic is the Sněžka (1,602 metres), on the border with… Poland.

Of the WRC drivers contesting this year’s Rally Mexico, Benito Guerra is probably the least likely to suffer from altitude sickness, although the mountains near Leon are mere hills compared with the country’s other peaks! Indeed, Mexico’s geography features the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental where three mountains exceed 5,000 metres: the Pico de Orizaba (5,610m, North America’s second biggest mountain), the Popocatépetl (5,426m) and Iztaccihuatl (5,452m) near Mexico City.

CORONAS MODIFICADAS GILERA RAT

The grease smeared workshop phone rings, our hero answers, a mysterious Spanish exchange occurs betwixt him and a tattooed, moustachioed mystery man and the mission begins. A cross town sprint past gnarly hip flask hobos to an accomplices den for cash, then on again he dashes, arriving at a lock-up to acquire some alternative transportation to his weary legs. Then it gets interesting… He rattle roars away on the true star of the film, a gorgeous custom 58′ Gilera 150 SS.

To the streets they take, seeing off the local traffic light wannabes and carving the pot holed streets to a soundtrack of The Black Keys, Oasis and four stroke single. Bike left lent against the wall “The Purchase” begins. Our tattooed chihuahua wielding dealer inspects the readies and hands over the mysterious item of our heroes desire and finally the rush can wane. Home he cruises to Pink Floyd’s burning bridges. He saunters into his shed and gently pins the item, a rare Gilera horn, to a work in progress restoration. Mission accomplished. Roll credits.

Meet the men of Coronas Modificadas, a new custom workshop based out of Buenos Aires. It began the way most crews do, a serious hobby, a collection of like minded friends, and a passion for the unique. A Gilera 150 SS certainly qualifies as unique here on The Bike Shed. The groups creative streak resulted in the short film ‘The Purchase’ that showcases this build and Gabriel’s obsessive passion for every detail of these rare little machines.

Gabriel started the crew in 2006 after restoring a variety of bikes for friends who were inspired by his personal ride, an immaculate standard Gilera 150. One friend coveted the little Italian 150 so much that he recruited Gabriel to create a matching machine for him. The problem was the models scarcity, Gabriel had to travel over 700km to purchase the machine in these pictures. Upon being presented with the scruffy single his mate decided it would never scrub up into the original condition he craved so he left it with Gabriel. With the pristine standard variant already in his garage, Gabriel decided to go custom with the unwanted donor.

With the bike on the workbench in his Beatle’s poster clad garage Gabriel cut the frame, changed the dampers and swapped the standard forks out for a parallelogram unit that transforms the front end of the bike. Combined with the high mounted headlight on monogrammed struts the face of the bike is now unique and aggressive. The front fender was jettisoned and the surviving rear was sanded and bobbed, stopping well short of its protruding mounts, a nod to what was.

The tank, headlight and bars were sanded down to bare metal and the frame and wheels finished in gloss black. The monochrome theme is fired by white pipe wrap on the unmuffled header and flashes of bronze in the custom fabricated kick start, shift lever, fork nut, brake and clutch levers.

The tank and body artwork was applied by the brilliantly named artist Digga Crimson, who co designed the Gilera badge/skull and cross wrench combo with Gabriel’s master graphic designer brother. Gabriel now rides his rat Gilera more than its standard brethren, the inevitable custom weight loss sees it eek out an extra 10km/h over the standard model and reach the giddy highs of 110km/h. Not fast, admits Gabriel, but combined with the ever present potential of gearbox explosion and the racket from the straight through pipe creates an inexplicable adrenalin rush.

Many an Argentinian bystander has inquired after acquiring the bike, testament to the countries burgeoning romance with the custom bike scene, but Gabriel is unmoved preferring to keep his Gilera’s as a remarkable odd couple.

See more from Coronas Modificadas including their video ‘The Purchase” on their Facebook page.

lavage

Lost Lotus 'Breadvan' to meet famous Ferrari at 72nd Goodwood Members' Meeting

This year's Goodwood Members' Meeting will play host to a never-seen-before 'Battle of the Breadvans', held between the famous rebodied Ferrari 250GT and the lesser-known, independently built Lotus which it inspired...

Of course, the Ferrari – famously built on a 250GT SWB chassis – has long been a regular at Goodwood. Sporting bodywork that represented the pinnacle of aerodynamic knowledge at the time, the Breadvan remains unmistakable among its peers, thanks to the visual effect created by its arrow-straight roofline and kamm tail.

The tale of the Lotus is a less familiar one. Inspired by the competition success of the Ferrari, British racing driver Graham Capel chose to apply its aerodynamic principles to his Lotus Eleven. Having achieved many class wins, plus a second-in-class finish at Goodwood in 1964 during its final outing, it was then stripped of its unusual bodywork and refitted with standard panels.

The bread and butter of Goodwood

Now, its owner has instructed Twyman Racing to return the car to its ‘Breadvan’ profile, finished in its original Plumstead Racing livery, in time for a second coming at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting in March. The lightweight understudy will meet its mighty inspiration in the Moss Trophy, and while it might have eight fewer cylinders than the Ferrari, it should remain competitive. “I’d expect the Ferrari to be at the front with the Lotus not too far off the pace,” says Neil Twyman, “although if it rains that could all change, depending on who’s driving.” The prospect sounds like an enticing filling for a rapidly delivered sandwich.

Photos: Goodwood / David M Ross

Hundreds of classic Ferraris and Lotuses can be found for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

For further information on the 72nd Goodwood Members' Meeting taking place on 29-30 March 2014, visit goodwood.co.uk.