Slow-mo awesome. Bouncy bouncy Super Stadium Trucks.

Leaps, bounds, bounces, slides, crashes. It’s the Super Stadium Trucks! Yaaaay!

We love motorsport at crankandpiston.com. We love the challenge of the World Endurance Championship, the technical boundaries pushed by Formula 1 and the paint-trading action of touring cars and NASCAR.

But we really, really love the Super Stadium Trucks series. Why? Well, watch this video and you’ll see exactly why. Because it’s wall-to-wall awesome, and it’s even better in slow motion.

If you’re unfamiliar with Super Stadium Trucks, it’s a race series of identical, purpose-built race trucks designed to look like TRAXXAS radio-controlled trucks, after the company that sponsors the series. With 600bhp though, they’re far from slow. Oh, and did we mention the tracks have jumps in them? Oh yeah.

Source: Drive

WSBK ; De Puniet : « Ma saison 2015 commence maintenant »

Le Français fait ses débuts avec Crescent Suzuki cette semaine à Jerez.

Après une longue carrière en Grand Prix, Randy de Puniet se prépare à faire ses débuts dans le Championnat du Monde eni FIM Superbike avec Crescent Suzuki pour la saison 2015. Le Français est impatient de relever ce nouveau défi avec la GSX-R1000 qu'il pilote pour la première fois aujourd'hui à Jerez, où il dispose de quatre journées d'essais avant le début de la trêve hivernale. WorldSBK.com a eu l'occasion de discuter avec lui la semaine dernière au Motorcycle Live de Birmingham.

Tout d'abord, bienvenue en WorldSBK ! Tu pars pour Jerez où tu feras ton premier test avec la GSX-R, quel est ton sentiment avant cette première sortie en tant que pilote WSBK ?

« Je suis excité, ce sera le début de ma saison, ma saison 2015 commence maintenant et ce sera un test important. Je vais essayer d'en faire le plus possible parce qu'après Jerez, nous n'aurons plus d'autre test avant l'année prochaine et qu'il n'y en aura pas beaucoup avant la première course. Je dois donc travailler pour connaître le team, la moto, les pneus et avancer étape par étape. Mon objectif sera d'être rapide sur les derniers jours. »

Après le MotoGP, tu arrives dans un nouveau championnat, avec un format différent, avec deux courses… Qu'attends-tu de ta première saison en WSBK ?

« Je ne sais pas, ce sera un nouveau challenge mais il y a beaucoup de pilotes rapides, qui ont beaucoup d'expérience en Superbike. Je n'en ai aucune et je vais donc devoir repartir de zéro. Je vais faire de mon mieux et nous verrons ce que ça donnera. Le test devrait nous donner une meilleure indication de ce que à quoi nous pouvons nous attendre. »

Quel va être le plus gros défi pour toi ?

« Je veux être rapide, je veux gagner mais il est trop tôt pour dire quoi que ce soit. Nous devons d'abord voir le potentiel de la moto, en prenant en compte le nouveau règlement. Je dois établir une bonne connexion avec le team, un bon feeling, mais je ne m'inquiète pas de ça. Si nous travaillons dur et que je peux donner le meilleur de moi-même, nous devrions pouvoir nous battre devant l'an prochain. »

Il y aura de nouveaux circuits. Ça fait longtemps que tu n'as pas eu à apprendre de nouveau tracé. Comment aborderas-tu cet aspect de ta saison en WSBK ?

« C'est une bonne chose mais il n'y aura pas beaucoup de nouvelles pistes pour moi. Je n'ai pas encore été à Portimao mais nous ferons un test là-bas en janvier. La Thaïlande sera une nouveauté mais elle le sera pour tout le monde. Je devrai apprendre la piste russe mais ce n'est pas un problème et je suis content d'aller sur des circuits différents. »

Ton expérience aux 8 Heures de Suzuka sera-t-elle un avantage pour tes débuts en WSBK ?

« Oui parce que quand je courais à Suzuka, je ne savais pas encore ce que j'allais faire mais je m'étais fait plaisir sur la moto et je voyais le Superbike comme une bonne option pour mon avenir. Maintenant je suis ici et je suis content parce que je me suis vraiment fait plaisir au Japon avec la Suzuki et que c'est l'une des raisons qui m'ont poussé à choisir le WSBK et qui me font penser que nous pouvons faire une bonne saison. »

Des circuits de la saison 2015, quel est celui où tu es le plus impatient de courir ?

« J'adore Phillip Island et Portimao semble aussi être un circuit génial à la télé, je suis impatient d'aller là-bas. »

BULL CITY BOBBER

I’ve always liked the idea of firearm manufacturers building motorbikes. Companies like BSA and CZ who exploited engineering synergies in the technologies and their manufacture. At the end of the day, the outcome is very similar; harnessing the energy of an explosion to propel a lump of metal down the metaphorical or literal road. Then there is Royal Enfield. Their original tagline, “Made like a gun, goes like a bullet”, playing off the legacy of the old Enfield weapons manufacturer, still represented in the canon of the Royal Enfield logo. Sure, in performance terms modern Enfields are more Musket than Minigun, but the basic principles are the same. That Enfields have now been made in India for almost as long as the original company made bikes in Britain is quite astonishing.  The resurgence in cafe racer culture globally has meant the Chennai workforce putting in double shifts to meet demand.

The fabulously monikered Reginald Hilt from New Delhi is one of the new breed of bike builder finding life in the old Enfield. A fashion designer by trade, customising bikes started as a hobby to sate his creative urge for a stylish two wheeler. Having watched his father tinker with bikes since a young age, it was inevitable really. “Over the years I’ve seen bikes like the RD350, Yezdi, Yamaha RX100, Rajdoot and even a Suzuki 125 roll in an out of our place every 6 to 7 months, depending on how long it took my Dad to get over his current ride and crave for his next indulgence”. Sounds familiar, right? As soon as college was done and dusted Reginald started modifying his own Enfield in search of something he could call his own. From this Bull City Customs was born and this is their second build.

What started life as a Royal Enfield 350 cc Twin Spark Thunderbird with 5 speed ‘box, has been stripped and bobbed to update the classic workhorse. Reginald’s client wanted the bike to have a more modern, metallic edge; the clean edges of the metalwork and satin blue paint certainly achieve this. A number of brass elements and the brown pipe wrap contrast with the modern metalwork and tyres to create the classic. The Twin Spark engine also helps, the more panhead-style rocker covers giving a blockier, modern look to whole powerplant. A sinuous high level exhaust is tucked in close to the bike, the pipe wrap and and brass heat shield help keep legs cooler in the New Delhi sun. Along with the free flowing exhaust the 29mm Pacco carb was rejetted to make the most of the K&N filter.

With hints of an oversize Sportster tank, the custom 14 litre fuel cell, is a great display of the fabrication skills Bull City offer. Combined with the frugal powerplant it also happens to give a useful range for all day cruising. Details abound, the tank is adorned with a neat physical fuel gauge, and machined alloy fuel cap. Along the flanks brass knee inserts have been beautifully machined . All of the steel bodywork has been made specifically for this bike. An oval battery was made to be tucked away under the seat, emulating the oil tanks of old, whilst offering a home for unsightly electrics. Impossible to tell but the headlight is an old Yamaha RX100 unit with a new outer bezel to enhance it’s diminutive stature.

Most of the chassis cycle parts have been revised or replaced. The front 35mm forks have been shortened slightly and are held in wide 9-inch custom yokes, beefing up the stance of the bike. With the headlight centrally mounted, shrouds for the fork uppers were fabricated with more than a passing glance to the heatshield on gun barrel. Gas shocks at the rear with machined aluminium top caps give 80mm of travel, enough to offer comfort at the genteel pace the bike will be used at.  Wheels are have rebuilt to 17″ rims at either end but are considerably wider than standard. This allows the fitment of modern 140/70/17 Continental rubber, further enhancing the modern look asked for.

A steel seat pan was hammered out before being clad in fine black leather; not too much padding but the seat springs add any missed compliance. Custom forward controls hunker down by the engine, transforming the riding position when combined with some wide Pro-Racer bars. These are capped with knurled aluminium grips to match the footpegs, all made up in-house on the Bull City lathes. It’s the handmade details on this bike that tie it all together; just enough to break up the simple lines but not too much to be a distraction. Reginald and his team have produced a confident looking bike that straddles the new and old and we look forward to see what appears from guys next!

More bikes and likely more Enfields are in the pipeline for Bull City Customs, follow progress on their Facebook Page where far more of the build progress is captured.

 via The Bike Shed

Myth-busting: Morgan chassis are made of wood, true or false?

False. One of the great urban myths of the motoring world is that Morgan chassis are made of ash, but they’re not. Morgans have – and have always had – conventional steel chassis, but ash is used for the frame: the structure that supports the body...

What isn’t a myth, however, is that Morgans are built up through time-honoured, time-intensive methods that demand real craftsmanship, following patterns that haven’t changed since the 1930s. The video above – intriguingly titled ‘This is How We Do It’ – shows each stage in the manufacture of a modern Morgan. First, it covers the creation of that ash frame; and then the steel rolling chassis. After the highly skilled work of shaping, hammering and folding the aluminium panels to fit the ash structure is complete, you can see the familiar shape of the traditional Morgan emerge. 

A classic coming-together

The chassis and body are united, and the bonnet is ‘rolled’ and fitted to the car. Still no paint, of course, the Morgan softly shining in its bare aluminium skin, and before the paint can be applied there is the painstaking work of sanding out every tiny imperfection. But even that’s not the end of the story because, to quote from the video, “The great thing about Morgans is that we have 40,000 colours to pick from.” And if none of those 40,000 take your fancy, “We can even match any colour possible.”

A Morgan is born

Off to the trim shop. Leather, carpets, brightwork, windscreen, side-screens, seats – and of course, the Morgan ‘weather equipment’. Or ‘hood’, as the rest of us would call it. The hoods of classic Morgans were always notoriously tricky to raise and lower, but if the owner could see the care and time invested by Morgan craftsmen in individually tailoring each hood to each car, they might think twice before having a grumble.

After what the Morgan craftsmen call ‘final finish’, it’s time for the road test. Hood down, sun shining (if they’re lucky), and engine revving – that’s when the fun starts. Assuming all is well, the brand-new Morgan is handed over to the customer, a full three weeks after the start of production. 

Photos / video: Morgan Motor Company

You can find numerous Morgan cars for sale in the Classic Driver Market.