Dakar, étape 6 : Al-Attiyah revient sur Peterhansel-Dakar – Al-Attiyah slashes the gap to Peterhansel

At the end of the first Chilean stage of the 2013 Dakar Rally, Nasser Al-Attiyah has fought back to less than two minutes adrift of Stéphane Peterhansel, who retains the overall lead. Robby Gordon went third-quickest again, whilst Nani Roma and Giniel De Villiers found themselves stuck in the sand.

A l’issue de la première étape chilienne du Dakar 2013, Nasser Al-Attiyah est revenu à moins de deux minutes de Stéphane Peterhansel, toujours leader au général. Robby Gordon a signé le 3e meilleur temps alors que Roma et De Villiers se sont ensablés.

Etape 6 : Arica-Calama (768 km)

The end of this sixth stage of the rally was situated at an altitude of 3,000 metres and around 30 kilometres from Calama, very close to Chuquicamata and its mining machinery that made Gordon’s monstrous Hummer appear almost like a scale model in comparison.

The American set the third-fastest time today, despite losing some ground at the start of the stage. In the dunes near Iquique, overall leader Stéphane Peterhansel found himself buried in the sand for a few minutes: “I got trapped in some very soft sand, 800 metres in front of Nani Roma,” the Frenchman explained at the finish. “I had to have two efforts at getting out of the dune again, which cost me in the region of three minutes.”

Roma, for his part, found himself stranded there for quite some time, in the process inadvertently delaying Giniel de Villiers by ten minutes: “My car tipped up in the dune and I saw Nani stuck in the sand below; I had to brake hard to avoid him, and that meant I got stuck too. Later in the stage, we then had to change a wheel,” revealed the South African, who nonetheless maintained his third position in the overall standings ahead of Leonid Novitskiy.

In winning the stage with an 8m36s margin over Peterhansel, Nasser Al-Attiyah made significant gains in the overall classification. The Qatari has recovered from his earlier misfortunes to lie less than two minutes shy of the leader. By stark contrast, his team-mate Carlos Sainz was forced to retire from the event with engine problems.

In the ‘Truck’ class, after Gerard de Rooy had found himself stuck in the sand two days ago and the dramas that befell Ales Loprais, Hans Stacey rolled his Iveco/Michelin in the Iquique dunes. There were fortunately no injuries to either driver or co-driver, but the pair will be going no further. Whilst leading the stage, Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz) was reported to have stopped at 384km.

L’arrivée de cette 6^e étape était jugée à 3000 mètres d’altitude, à une trentaine de kilomètres de Calama, tout près de Chuquicamata et ses engins miniers reléguant le monstrueux Hummer de Gordon au rang de modèle réduit.

L’Américain a signé le 3^e meilleur temps aujourd’hui, malgré avoir concédé quelques minutes en début de spéciale. Dans les dunes d’Iquique, le leader du classement général Stéphane Peterhansel s’est ensablé quelques minutes : « je me suis fait piéger par du sable très mou, 800 m avant Nani Roma », expliquait le Français à l’arrivée. « J’ai dû m’y prendre à deux reprises pour passer la dune, j’ai perdu trois minutes environ. »

Nani Roma est quant à lui resté de longues minutes dans ce piège de sable et coûta, involontairement, dix minutes à Giniel de Villiers : « j’ai basculé derrière la dune et j’ai vu Nani ensablé en contrebas, j’ai dû freiner fort pour l’éviter et je me suis ensablé à mon tour. Ensuite, on a changé une roue en spéciale », commentait le Sud-Africain qui préserve sa 3^e place au général devant Leonid Novitskiy.

En remportant la spéciale avec 8min36s d’avance sur Peterhansel, Nasser Al-Attiyah a réalisé une excellente opération au classement général. Le Qatari est revenu à moins de deux minutes du leader. En revanche, son équipier Carlos Sainz a dû abandonner (moteur cassé).

En Camion, après l’ensablement de Gerard de Rooy avant-hier et les ennuis d’Ales Loprais, Hans Stacey est parti en tonneau par l’avant dans les dunes d’Iquique. Pas de mal pour l’équipage, mais l’Iveco/Michelin n’ira pas plus loin. Leader de l’étape, Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz) était signalé arrêté au km 384.

Classement étape 6

1. Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk (Buggy), 03:32:08 – 2. Peterhansel/Cottret (Mini), + 8min36s – 3. Gordon/Walch (Hummer), + 13min52s – 4. Terranova/Fiuza (BMW) +14min13s

Classement après étape 6

1. Peterhansel/Cottret (Mini), 14:36:16 – 2. Al-Attiyah/Cruz (Buggy), +1min18s – 3. De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz (Toyota), +42min31s – 4. Notvitskiy/Zhilstov (Mini), +44min47s – 5. Chicherit/Garcin (SMG) + 1h16min26s

Lotus Exige V6 Cup R announced for Autosport International

Lotus has unveiled the 2013 Exige V6 Cup R, ahead of its debut at Autosport International.

Based on the Exige V6 Cup, the R variant is a track-focused model that features an aerodynamic body kit with a front splitter, canards and a rear diffuser. The car has also been equipped with a sports exhaust system, AP-Racing brakes and two-way adjustable dampers.

Unsurprisingly, the cabin has been stripped of non-essential equipment to keep the car's weight as low as possible. However the company has added a roll-cage, a fire extinguisher and a racing seat with a six-point harness.

Power is provided by a supercharged 3.5-liter V6 engine that develops 366 HP (269 kW) and 413 Nm (295 lb ft) of torque. It is connected to a six-speed manual transmission which enables the 1040 kg (2,293 lb) sports car to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 3.8 seconds and hit a top speed of 274 km/h (170 mph).

Source: Lotus

Dakar 2013 – Leg 6: Lopez in form on home soil!

KTM/Michelin’s Chaleco Lopez won the first Chilean stage of the 2013 Dakar, ahead of Ruben Faria and Cyril Despres. Despite a navigational error, Olivier Pain still tops the provisional order ahead of Cyril Despres.

Leg 6: Arica-Calama (768km)

We’re in the Atacama Desert, in the middle of a lifeless plateau, but we can spot a few service vehicles in the distance. We have come 380km since Arica; driven up and down some exceptionally steep hills with frightening drop-offs; driven along the sides of inhospitable canyons; but we’ve made it to the end of the first part of Thursday’s stage, just minutes before the first bikers arrive.

From here, they have 80 minutes to cover the ensuing 96km asphalt road section to the second part, so they don’t have much time to chat. Their mechanics speedily replace the bikes’ rear wheels, fill up the riders’ camel-back bags and they’re off, back down the Pan American Highway...

“Olivier and I took the wrong track to begin with,” reported David Casteu between two gulps of water and clearly angry with himself.

“I went further along the wrong track than David before deciding to do a U-turn. I must have lost three minutes,” added the Yamaha/Michelin who still tops the leaderboard, despite finishing a lowly 10^th on today’s test…

The winner of the 229km stage should have been Paulo Gonçalves. However, around 5km from the Passage Control, he fell badly in a fast portion. Thankfully, his mechanics succeeded in repairing the Portuguese rider’s Husqvarna TE 449 RR and he was able to continue… only to retire during the second part of the stage.

The first Chilean stage was ultimately won by Chaleco Lopez who is always that little bit more motivated when the event arrives in his home country. Ruben Faria was 13^th on the road and consequently suffered from dust, so he was unable to win the stage to celebrated his wife’s birthday. He still came second (+2m34s), just ahead of Cyril Despres (+3m48s). The all-KTM/Michelin top four was rounded off by the USA’s Kurt Caselli.

Pain still leads overall, but Despres has eased past Casteu into second place. Ruben Faria is fourth, ahead of Jordi Viladoms and Alessandro Botturi.

Stage 6 classification:

1, Lopez (KTM), 3h36m21s. 2, Faria (KTM), +2m34s. 3, Despres (KTM), +3m48s. 4, Caselli (KTM), +4m48s. 5, Botturi (Husqvarna), +5m35s. Etc.

Provisional standings after Leg 6

1, Pain (Yamaha), 15h35m23s. 2, Despres (KTM) +2m22s. 3, Casteu (Yamaha), +4m48s. 4, Lopez (KTM) +6m6s. 5, Faria (KTM) +8m35s. Etc.

Carmelo Ezpeleta also tips Rossi to return to his winning ways

Giacomo Agostini, Loris Capirossi and Tony Cairoli have all offered their opinion onValentino Rossi’s chances this upcoming season, and now we have Dorna’s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta who is also betting that the former World Champion will return to his winning ways.

Actually Ezpeleta was already sure of it way back in June of last year even before Rossi was confirmed with Yamaha: “Valentino next year will be on competitive bike, but I can’t tell you which. It’s too early to talk about it, but in 2013 we’ll see Rossi fighting again for wins.”

In an interview published in today’s BBC Sport,com column, Ezpeleta reiterated the same thought: “I’m completely sure he can challenge, with all the talent he has and all the experience he has. When he took the decision to go back to Yamaha it was because he wants to come back to the front. He was winning with Yamaha before and he can be at the front again.”

Despite two winless seasons in Ducati, Rossi is still a very important ambassador for MotoGP racing and the Dorna manager needs the popular rider to be on the podium and admitted it,“Of course it is good for the sport if he can do it. Valentino is a big name, he is a hero to many and one of the greatest riders in MotoGP history. If he is coming to the podium and winning races it will be very important for the championship.

Ezpeleta also knows how important it is to have a British rider with the talent and personality of Cal Crutchlow on the grid and said, “Cal has been one of the biggest talents we have seen in the last few years. We have been surprised by his performances in many races. He has not had good luck but in principle he is one of the most important assets of the championship.”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

Chevrolet Corvette: Certified for space travel

What does a man used to 6.3g acceleration drive to the shopping mall? Well, in the case of astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, it was a Chevrolet Corvette. 

The former US Navy test pilot (not bad credentials) made the brief suborbital journey in May 1961, only weeks after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first person in space and to orbit the Earth. When not behind the controls of the latest Grumman, McDonnell or Vought fighter - let alone the Mercury-Redstone 3 rocket - Shepard's daily driver was a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette.
It was one of 10 he would own in his lifetime, helped by friends in high places, no doubt – the then GM President, Ed Cole, presented the American with a new 1962 Corvette soon after the event. Later, local Cadillac/Corvette dealer (and Indy 500 winner) Jim Rathman was to offer astronauts on the space programme Corvettes at very good leasing rates.

Six of the seven Mercury astronauts took up the offer with only John Glenn (the first American to orbit the Earth) deciding, we assume, that the sports car was a little too fast for him, preferring a more staid Chevrolet station wagon.
The space programme’s top pilots’ fascination with Corvettes continued when Apollo 12 astronauts Alan Bean, Dick Gordon and Charles Conrad ordered made-to-measure, gold/black 427ci Stingray coupés – a combination penned by Bean himself.

And in 1971, to celebrate the flight of Apollo 15, its astronauts David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin commissioned three more Stingrays, this time in patriotic red, white and blue. The June 1971 cover of LIFE magazine shows the trio alongside their space-age SUV, the LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle).
It didn’t end there, since the association was celebrated time and again in celluloid, with many appearances including the 2009 film Star Trek XI, which opens in the year 2245 with a 12-year-old James T. Kirk driving a 280-year-old 1965 Corvette Sting Ray.
The Chevrolet Corvette clearly had The Right Stuff.

Related Links A selection of down-to-earth (but no less desirable) Chevrolet Corvettes can be found in theClassic Driver Marketplace

Text: Steve Wakefield (ClassicDriver)
Photos: GM

Barbarella: Classic 1960s science fiction fantasy

The futuristic ‘comic strip’ film ‘Barbarella’ made Jane Fonda, the director Roger Vadim’s wife at the time, an international sex symbol. 

As a piece, the 1968 French-Italian film directed by Vadim and produced by Dino De Laurentiis was a both a critical and commercial failure. It does, however, sum up a genre of international artistic cooperation with some titillation thrown in, typical of the period. 


The story is based on the adult comic book series featuring Barbarella, who is given the task of saving a world set in the future from forces dark and powerful. 



So powerful, in fact, that the writer Jean-Claude Forest's heroine’s clothing is subjected to all sorts of other-worldly effects that generally result in its destruction, leaving a writhing and limp Fonda at the mercy of her tormentors. 

Good triumphs over Evil in the end, though, as in any good story. 

Related Links You can buy the Barbarella film on Amazon

Text: Classic Driver
Photos: Getty Images
Video: YouTube

The Ten Toughest Motor Races In The World

by Raphael Orlove

There are still some people out there that don't believe motor racing is a real sport.Jalopnik readers know ten tests of man and machine that should set them straight.

Welcome back to Answers of the Day — our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!

Car racing used to be one of the most dangerous things a person could do, period. Around the turn of the 20th Century, drivers would attempt to wheel two-ton beasts across hundreds of miles of unpaved roads, sitting higher than a school bus and riding on wagon wheels. The cars were so unreliable that drivers had to bring a mechanic with them, sometimes repairing the carwhile it was in motion. A lot of people died.

So that's where modern grand prix racing has its roots. That tradition continues today with off road races, which take weeks to cover hundreds of miles of completely unmaintained terrain. Thanks to modern safety equipment, medical care, and rescue vehicles deaths are way down, but not gone. We hope to see no more deaths in motor racing in the future, but as of today they stand as a reminder of how tough bike and car racing can be.

Since this list is restricted to races still running today, please remind us of particularly grueling races of the past in Kinja below. If there are any obscure current races that we forgot, please let us know in Kinja as well.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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10.) King of the Hammers

What happens when you put high speed desert running together with rock racing together in the same event? You get the King of the Hammers. It's about as difficult as offroad competition gets inside the United States.

Suggested By: Astonman1985, Photo Credit: King of the Hammers

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9.) Rainforest Challenge

Like the Camel Trophy of old, this six-day 4x4 race across Malaysia's jungles is about as arduous as 4x4 competition goes. Read Four Wheeler magazine's account of the race here.

Suggested By: the bandido, Photo Credit: Rainforest Challenge

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8.) The Nurburgring 24

The most difficult, daunting race track in the world is typically used as a testing facility these days, because no circuit is consistently harder on car and driver. Now imagine racing on that track in a triple-digit field of cars, where nobody really knows their way around the innumerable corners, for 24 hours straight.

Suggested By: Mechascroggs will eat your puppy's face, Photo Credit: Fred Mancosu

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Full size

7.) Pikes Peak

We thought Pikes Peak was the most difficult hillclimb in the world back when it was largely composed of an unpaved dirt road with straight drop-offs down the Colorado Rockies. Now the whole thing is paved and somehow it has become even more dangerous.

Suggested By: $kaycog, Photo Credit: supremebeholder

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6.) The 24 Hours of Le Mans

While the ‘Ring may have a more challenging circuit for the uninitiated, the high-speed course at Le Mans may well be more difficult to drive over 24 hours. While the days of 80+ deaths crashes and 250 miles an hour down the Mulsanne Straight may be over, wringing through this place in a high-downforce, top-spec prototype is among the most arduous tasks on a paved track.

Suggested By: Gamecat235, Photo Credit: Getty Images

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5.) The Isle Of Man Tourist Trophy

Over the years the IOM TT course has claimed the lives of 239 riders, making it perhaps the most deadly race in the world. People still run it today in faster and faster bikes, as well as sidecars. Insane.

Suggested By: CraigTV, Diamond Dustin, Photo Credit: Getty Images

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4.) East African Safari Rally

The Safari Rally was known for being the toughest race in the World Rally Championship calendar. The 1000km trial was dropped from the WRC calendar for 2003, but the race is still going, attracting completely unhinged drivers for the continent's roughest rally.

Suggested By: nugu, Photo Credit: Getty Images

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3.) Erzberg Rodeo

No race on this list has as high an attrition rate as the Erzberg Rodeo. It's run up a working mine in the Austrian Alps. Last year 1,500 riders qualified, 500 entered, and only a handful finished. In 2011, only nine riders made it to the end.

Suggested By: DemonOfTheFall, SuperFluke, Photo Credit: Christian Pichler

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2.) The Dakar Rally

The Dakar Rally used to be the Paris-Dakar, running from Paris to the capital of Senegal. That race actually got too dangerous, so they moved to South America where the rally is currently underway as we speak. There is still a good chance that not everyone who enters the race will make it out alive, with riders sometimes succumbing to heart attacks in the rough terrain.

Suggested By: ULH, Photo Credit: Getty Images

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1.) The Baja 1000

This is the only race we know where spectators booby trap the course, as if riding over a thousand miles through the Mexican desert wasn't hard enough. Even on the easiest of trips,you will shit yourself.

Suggested By: cazzyodo, Photo Credit: Getty Images

via http://jalopnik.com

Moto Guzzi Makeovers

by PAUL CROWE

Moto Guzzi Marrano 1160 by Das Mototec

Italian motorcycles are often recognized for their beautiful styling, but one brand (Ducati) tends to overshadow all of the other smaller marques. When you step outside of the Ducati world and look at the other bikes, there's much to appreciate. Recently, I've been noticing more and more really nice examples of the Moto Guzzi lineup, both current and classic, so I thought I would take a closer look at a few.

Bill Johnson, over at DucCutters, was pointing out another bike on his site, a Ducati of course, but while I was there I spotted this Moto Guzzi, the Marrano 1160 and it just struck me as a beautiful piece of work. It's the blue bike shown above and built by Das Mototec of Germany. It's a really clean makeover.

Moto Guzzi's longitudinal crank V-Twin engine has a unique look. If the styling focuses your attention on the drivetrain, like the one shown above, the bikes look great.

After seeing that I dropped over to Ghezzi Brian, the well known Guzzi aftermarket company, to check out their latest work and they have a couple of kits for modifying your bike, this one is the Sport Monza 1100 for your V11. You can add the parts and pieces in stages, body pieces first, suspension components next and finally, engine parts. It looks lighter and tighter than the stock bike and, as any Guzzi should, it shows off the engine to advantage.

Ghezzi Brian Sport Monza 1100

One custom shop in Japan that I've mentioned before, Ritmo Sereno, does a variety of bikes, but some of their Moto Guzzis are especially impressive. Browsing their custom Guzzis should give anyone a lot of good ideas for starting their own modifications.

Ritmo Sereno Moto Guzzi LeMans 1000 custom

Ritmo Sereno Moto Guzzi LeMans 3 custom

Some are quick to point out that these customs can look good because they don't need to meet the restrictions the manufacturer has to consider and it's a valid point but it takes nothing away from what these builders have done. Also, except for the Ghezzi Brian example, the others are modifications to older models no longer produced.

Moto Guzzi has had a number of interesting models over the years and some that don't get the attention they deserve. The Daytona, originally developed by Moto Guzzi working closely with Dr. John Wittner of Pennsylvania, who campaigned a Guzzi in the USA, the 4 valve sportbike looks good and performs very well, maybe not to the standard of Japanese bikes of early 1990s, but definitely a notch up from any standard Guzzi. Another model, only produced for a few years, the Centauro, which actually evolved from the Daytona, looks good to me and works well as a high performance sport touring machine or an all around ride. Buy one of these and you'll stand out from the crowd on bike night, because there just aren't many around and they have an impressive stance. Occasionally, you'll see one or the other come up for sale, and I think, if you like Guzzis at all, you would be smart to keep your eye out for a well maintained used example. They'll probably appreciate over the years and you'll get a lot of enjoyable riding in the meantime.

Of course, some enthusiasts don't care for Moto Guzzis at all, it's really a matter of personal preference, but to my eye, the engine really makes it. The V-Twin was designed with visual appearance in mind, with cooling fins on the cylinders and ribs cast into the cases, it's a nice piece of mechanical eye candy. The longitudinal mounting allows perfectly symmetrical dual exhausts without any extra curves and bends necessary to get equal length pipes and the shaft drive doesn't require an extra 90 degree turn to get to the rear wheel. Nothing extraordinary in these features but they're a nice little extra compared to conventional V-Twin positioning.

If you're really looking for entertainment, Koehler even makes superchargers for the Moto Guzzi V-Twin which look like a natural fit but they do seem to take up a lot of space so you would need quite a bit of room to install one.

With the new V7 Classic, a retro model bringing back the appeal of the earlier models, a lot of people may get the chance to see why Moto Guzzis are so popular with some owners. I haven't seen any makeovers of this new model yet and some might see no need for it, but there's always room for a little original thinking so we'll have to see what shows up.

If you think a Moto Guzzi might look good in your garage, if you don't already own one, check out the Moto Guzzi for sale page. If you've never really thought about owning one, they're worth considering, a V-Twin that looks better than some, (especially if you're a motorhead that looks at the engine first) sounds good and not on the road everywhere you look, it's a nice combination.

from thekneeslider.com