cromwell

A four-star celebration: 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL honours the champions of the world

While high above Rio de Janeiro, Christ the Redeemer is softly illuminated in black, red and gold light in tribute to Germany’s momentous World Cup victory, this Mercedes-Benz 300 SL appears to have taken a less subtle approach…

At the German Mercedes-Benz restoration specialist Mechatronik, unusual classics are not uncommon. But a 300 SL in the national colours of Germany – that’s quite a sight, whether you like it or not. Fortunately the ‘paint’ on the Gullwing is merely a spray-on film that doesn’t affect the original bodywork and is easily removable. 

The fact that this particular 300 SL was built in 1954, the year in which Germany won its first World Cup, is, of course, no coincidence. We wonder if any other high-end classics will follow suit? 

You can find Mechatronik’s current inventory in the Classic Driver Market.

1951 BSA STAR TWIN BONNEVILLE RACER

There’s something unusual about the salt flats at Bonneville, for some reason the sodium from this location in Utah inspires some of the most jaw-dropping amateur engineering on earth – the veterans call it “salt fever” and once you’ve got it, you’ve got it for life.

One such sufferer of salt fever is Dan Daughenbaugh, a remarkable man capable of backyard engineering at a world class level. His current project centres around a 1951 BSA Star Twin engine that he’s rebuilding and re-engineering into a world record capable salt flat racer.

Rather than dilute his words by retyping them, I’ve decided to format them and add them below, so you can read the story of how this bike came to be. A team of filmmakers has united behind Dan and they’re currently raising funds to create a documentary surrounding him and his BSA Star Twin called “A Line in the Salt”, if you’d like to see the trailer and kick in a few bucks to help, you can click here to visit the campaign on IndieGoGo.

“About the summer of 2011 I was beginning to toy with the idea of building a bike to race at Bonneville. I had been involved a little with other forms of motorcycle racing but never as a competitor. I had begun to assemble parts. The front frame loop I traded a guy a Harley wheel.

The bottom of the loop was rusted through the tubes. David Bird made the rear loop and I welded it up in my shop on a homemade frame-jig. The front end is a Honda CL350 that I machined the trees to fit the head tube. I had to machine an axle to use the spool wheel in the Honda fork legs. The suitable pre 1956 motor for the class I wanted to be in was found after a local shop had burnt to the ground.

A few days later they had a Fire Sale and there it was blackened and charred, all the pot metal parts had melted off but the cases were still good! The motor is a real mongrel inside. The stock crank had been know as a week link from when they were new and at the power levels I wanted to make would surely fail. I got to machining a later crank from a 70′s lightning in my garage to fit in the early cases.

With that done I wanted to use longer rods to lower piston speed and take advantage of less rod angularity. I settled on Carillio Triumph 650 units hat were 1/2 inch longer than original. These had to be narrowed .160 on the big end to fit the crank. Nothing like milling away on brand new $600 rods. With those fitted Im running Triumph trident pistons in STD size.

There is a .063 spacer under the barrel to keep the pistons from hitting the head Compression comes in at 13.6:1 and I run it on a Methanol/Nitromethane mix. The camshaft is a Harmon and Collins roller unit that was made in the 60′s, I have never seen another one. I made the pushrods out of aluminum and the valvetrain is a mix of modern ford V8 parts and Titanium pieces.

The rocker arms as well as many other internal parts have peen polished to reduce windage and stress risers. Since the race In Ohio I have rebuilt the top end, made a new stainless 2-1 exhaust, rebuilt the trans complete machining the trans case for better bearings and upgraded the wheel bearings. Im hoping with the new upgrades and additional room we will go well above the current 111mph record.”

Click here to visit the official A Line in the Salt website.

via SILODROME

IPOTHESYS BY FILIPPO BARBACANE

The motorcycle you see here is called “Ipothesys”, it’s officially labelled “Prototypo 1″ and it’s the first in a limited edition of bikes that will be produced by renowned custom motorcycle builder Filippo Barbacane of Officine Rossopuro.

Ipothesys is directly based on the frame and engine of the Moto Guzzi Griso, a 1200cc V-Twin that Moto Guzzi has been selling just about as fast as it can make them. Barbacane wanted to take the Griso and create something with more advanced performance capabilities, so in late 2012 the stock bike was rolled into the Officine Rossopuro garage and work began.

The Griso was stripped to its bare essentials, the front and rear suspension was discarded as was the fuel tank and existing body work. The air box was replaced with a stand-alone pod filter and a new subframe was added to lower the riding position and reduce weight. A new fuel tank, rear cowl and front fairing were created and bolted into place.

A bespoke 2-into-2 exhaust was fabricated and fitted, once this was done Barbacane turned his attention to the springs, in order to give the bike serious performance chops the suspension and braking was replaced and tuned for the track. Up front, a pair of beefy Marzocchi SBK-spec RAC 50mm forks were added courtesy of a new triple-tree, on the back a Bitubo XXF-11 mono-shock was bolted into place.

The front and rear brakes were replaced with Brembos, as an Italian it would have been absurd for Barbacane to have chosen anything else, the slew of other, smaller parts is too extensive to list here but if you’d like to read more or order your own you can click here to visit the official website of Ipothesys Motorcycles, they’re currently producing these in limited numbers and have plans for Ipothesys 2 in the coming year.

Additional information via Bike EXIF.

via SILODROME