WTCC Qualifications ; “ Pechito” López brille à domicile / ‘PECHITO’ LÓPEZ SHINES AT HOME

José María López n’a pas manqué l’occasion de briller devant sa famille, ses amis et fans en décrochant sa quatrième pole position de la saison à l’issue d’une qualification disputée dans la chaleur (32°C) de Termas de Rio Hondo.

L’Argentin s’est montré le plus rapide en Q2 et Q3 et s’est adjugé la pole position en 1’43’’766 pour devancer Yvan Muller et Sébastien Loeb, qui tous deux ont commis une erreur.

Derrière le trio Citroën, les Honda ont montré être en grande forme même s’ils auraient expéré un meilleur résultat à l’issue des essais libres. Le plus rapide fut Norbert Michelisz, qui a pris part à une véritable mission pour parvenir en Argentine depuis l’Europe.

Tiago Monteiro complète le Top-5, tandis que Gabriele Tarquini et Mehdi Bennani apparaissent parmi les huit premiers. Tom Chilton s’est classé meilleur pilote des Chevrolet RML Cruze, et Rob Huff s’élancera en pole position de la Course 2 grâce à sa 10^e place en Q2.

Quant à Franz Engstler, il décroche une nouvelle pole position dans la catégorie TC2T.

Q1 - Les qualifications démarrent sous une forte chaleur et Norbert Michelisz décroche le meilleur chrono dans les premières minutes avec un chrono de 1’45’’139 devant López, Chilton, Loeb et Münnich. Quelques minutes plus tard, Bennani se hisse en deuxième position, avec deux Honda en tête, donc, tandis que les voitures d’usine de Monteiro et Tarquini ferment toujours la marche, ayant avorté leur tentative. Les choses changent dans la deuxième partie de la Q1, lorsque Muller (1’44’’962) puis Lopez (1’44’’795) prennent les devants, avec Monteiro 3^e et Tarquini 5^e. Michelisz met finalement tout le monde d’accord en 1’44’’696.

Les pilotes qualifiés pour la Q2 : Michelisz, López, Muller, Monteiro, Tarquini, Bennani, Chilton, Münnich, Coronel, Huff et Valente.

Camilo Echevarría a de nouveau été frappé par un problème mécanique et n’a pu boucler qu’un tour.

Q2 - López domine dès le début de la séance (1’44’’128) devant Muller, Michelisz, Bennani et Monteiro, avant de passer sous le cap des 1’43’’. Avec un temps de 1’43’’813 dans sa deuxième tentative, il laisse Loeb à 315/1000^e et Muller à 70/1000^e de seconde. Michelisz conserve la quatrième place durant la majeure partie de la séance, tandis que la 5^eplace revient à Bennani au détriment de Monteiro. Chilton et Tarquini ne parviennent finalement pas en Q2 tout comme Bennani, Valente et Huff.

Q3 - Le dernier segment des qualifications reflète une certaine logique car l’ordre de passage coïncide avec le classement inversé de la séance. Monteiro est relevé en 1’45’’174, déçu d’une petite erreur dans le virage n°9. Michelisz est 4^e  en 1’44’’408 et Muller 2^e en 1’44’’194 à l’issue d’un tour qu’il décrit comme très prudent. Loeb prend la piste en quatrième position et échoue à 1/100^e de Muller à cause de deux petites erreurs. López prend enfin la piste en dernière position et boucle le tour parfait en 1’43’’766.

José María López didn’t miss the opportunity to shine in front of his family, friends and fans and signed his fourth pole of the season in an extremely warm (32°) afternoon in Termas de Río Hondo.

The Argentine was fastest in Q2 and Q3, eventually taking the pole in 1:43.766, beating his team mates Yvan Muller and Sébastien Loeb, who both did some small mistakes in their decisive attempts, by over four tenths of a second.
Behind the Citroën trio, the Honda cars showed good form although they could have hoped in better results after free practices. The fastest among the Japanese cars was Norbert Michelisz’s despite the Hungarian having missed the testing session on Friday because of an adventurous plane travel from Europe.
Tiago Monteiro was fifth, with Gabriele Tarquini and Mehdi Bennani in the top eight as well. Tom Chilton was the fastest Chevrolet RML driver, while Rob Huff, who made it to Q2 with the LADA Granta, will start from the pole in Race 2 by virtue of his tenth fastest time in Q2.
Franz Engstler repeated himself in the TC2 category, taking yet another class pole.

Q1 - Qualifying started with hot weather and Norbert Michelisz putting fastest time in the initial stages, with a time of 1:45.139, preceding López, Chilton, Loeb and Münnich. After a handful of minutes, Bennani posted the second-fastest lap, putting two Honda cars on top, whilst the works Civic cars of Monteiro and Tarquini were still lying in the last positions, having both aborted attempts. Things went back to normal in the second half of the Q1, when Muller (1:44.962) and López (1:44.795) took control, with Monteiro (3^rd) and Tarquini (5^th) finally among the top five. But Michelisz put everybody behind with a last lap of 1:44.696.
The following drivers advanced to Q2: Michelisz, López, Muller, Monteiro, Tarquini, Bennani, Chilton, Münnich, Coronel, Huff and Valente. Camilo Echevarría’s car was again plagued by misfiring problems and was able to complete only one lap.

Q2 - López dominated from the beginning (1.44.128) ahead of Muller, Michelisz, Bennani and Monteiro, before breaking the 1:43. threshold with a time of 1:43.813 on his second attempt that left Loeb 315 thousandths behind and Muller a further 70 thousandths adrift. Michelisz kept fourth place for most part of the session, with the fifth place switching from Bennani to Monteiro in the dying moments.
Chilton and Tarquini missed the cut just like Bennani, Valente and Huff; the latter winning pole for Race 2.

Q3 - The decisive part of the session had an orderly development, with the top five going on track and finishing almost in perfect reverse order. Monteiro set a time of 1:45.174, being disappointed by a slight mistake done in Turn 9. Michelisz took fourth with a lap of 1:44.408, and Muller was eventually second with a time of 1:44.194 after a lap he described as ‘too cautious’. Loeb who took the track as fourth lost a little bit over one tenth from Muller, after two small mistakes. López took the track as the last one and put in a faultless lap to take pole in 1:43.766.

‘80 Honda CB400 – Jasin Motorcycles

Seems like everywhere you look lately, there’s death and destruction all over the news. This country hates that country or some such ‘us and them’ type disaster. Makes you wonder what we could all achieve if we just got along. What if we worried less about our differences and instead we looked for more ways we could work together? Take, for instance, the Jasinski brothers from Poland. They’ve found their good Slavic selves becoming obsessed with Japanese customs done in a British café racer style with a little good ol’ American flat track thrown in for good measure. How’s that for loving thy neighbour?

“Hello again, Pipeburn. We are two brothers from Poland who really love vintage Japanese bikes. I’m Adam, and my brother’s name is Tom. You might remember our Honda CB 400 done up in Gulf colours that was on the site a while back. As you might have guessed, we prefer this model because they are pretty easy to get over here and their prices are still quite reasonable. Though that may not last much longer. This one is a 1980 model that we decided to make into our version of a café racer. We’re proud to say that it’s destined to take up residence in our own garage, too.”

While the boys are more than a little open to improving international relations, that’s not to say that they aren’t ready to give a little leg-up to Mother Polska where appropriate. Hence their choice to paint their latest creation in Poland’s national colours, red and white. And a whole heap of black, too. Let’s face it – it’s a hard combo to beat. Just ask the Red Baron. Or Santa.

“As always, we redid or repainted every part of the bike, including a new seat finished with some good quality black leather in a diamond stitch. It’s mainly inspired by café racers, but you’ll probably notice the tracker influence – especially with the ‘bars and the seat. There’s also the flat-track inspired tank decals.”

The boys handmade the gloss black air box boards and painted the rear arm to match the tank. On this they put some fairly hefty rubber boots to give the build that solid, meaty look. While they were down there they also added a custom exhaust to add a bit of go and to lovely up its sound. They also ditched the fenders in a well-proven ‘less is less’ parts selection process.

“The Honda rides so great that we can’t believe it has more than 30 years on the clocks. The engine has lotsof power. We were so impressed, in fact, that we decided to leave original filter box in place; this way we guaranteed that the bike would have a little more power in the lower rpm range; just what we wanted for around town.”

“The original CB400 isn’t that much of a looker. So every time we start a build with this model, we want to make something new and something refreshed. But mostly we want to make a bike that looks great. If you ride it and it isn’t grabbing everyone’s attention, we think that we probably haven’t succeeded.”

“That probably explains why it has so much tracker in it; a lot of people think that a café racer should be only black or better still, matt black. But we want to make a our bikes more living and vibrant. We like it, and we hope you do too.”

from PIPEBURN

JAN SALLINGS’ HONDA 350

Every now and then, it’s good to go back to the blueprint. And this is as good as you’ll get. It’s a textbook resto-mod of a classic 1970s Honda, dripping with charm and style.

Builder Jan Sallings has an eye for detail—and the steady hand required for quality work. The mods he’s made to his 1973 Honda 350 are a great guide for anyone who wants to give their vintage bike a dose of café racer flair.

The basics are all there: Jan has detabbed the frame and smoothed out the welds, and added extra bracing above and below the engine. The tank is a Benelli Mojave—probably one of the few remaining in the USA—and massaged to fit the frame. It’s topped off with a gas cap machined from billet aluminum.

Up front are custom fabricated aluminum clip-on bars with wood grips, and the headlight from a 1960s Honda Scrambler 305. The controls are minimal, adding to the pared-back vibe of the bike.

All components have been overhauled, and if they haven’t been painted in that lustrous red, they’ve invariably been polished to a deep sheen. That includes the fork legs, and the spokes and rims of the wheels. Look a little higher and you’ll spot chromed springs on the forks.

To give the Honda a bit of extra zip, Jan has completely rebuilt the engine and carbs. With painted cases and polished covers, the powerplant now looks better than factory-fresh. But the pièce de résistance is the hand-made exhaust system, fashioned from stainless sheet and tubing, with highly polished headers and mufflers. Perforated and painted guards keep the rider’s thighs as cool as the bike itself.

Out back is a custom cowl, which does double duty as a hiding space for the key electrical components. It’s finished off with a 1952 Chevy taillight with a blue dot center.

Anyone else out there tempted to trawl eBay and Craigslist for an old Honda 350?

via BIKEexif

Return of the Lagonda super-saloon

It’s back. In 2015, the Lagonda nameplate will once again be worn by a high-performance, luxury four-door, and will “draw inspiration from the highly sought-after William Towns-designed Lagonda of 1976”...

The new Lagonda will be built in a strictly limited series and will only be offered for sale in the Middle East.