UN NOUVEAU PROGRAMME EN VUE POUR PEUGEOT ?

Info ou intox ? On ne sait pas encore quel crédit apporter à la mise en place d'un nouveau programme Peugeot mais la rumeur enfle de plus en plus dans les paddocks, et même sur le continent américain. On va casser de suite l'ambiance car cela n'a rien à voir avec une arrivée en compétition de la 908 HYbrid4. Depuis janvier 2012, les activités de Peugeot Sport sont concentrées sur le service compétition-clients aussi bien rallye qu'en circuit avec la Peugeot RCZ Cup. On pourrait penser à un retour en WRC avec une 208, mais débuter un tel projet en pleine crise économique serait certainement politiquement incorrect. On a ensuite pensé à une arrivée en GT3, mais la marque sochalienne n'a pas réellement de modèle adéquat. Le rallye-raid ? Peugeot a été longtemps sur le devant de la scène avec ses 205 Turbo 16 et autres 405, mais il faudrait un défi technologique pour cela. Une auto Hybride au look de 208 au Dakar, c'est une hypothèse...

Il y a aussi la piste Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Le Lion a connu de belles heures de gloire au Colorado. Tout le monde a encore en mémoire le magnifique film de la montée d'Ari Vatanen en 1988 au volant de sa monstrueuse 405 Turbo. Un an plus tard, c'est Robby Unser qui raflait la mise, une nouvelle fois sur une 405 Turbo. Plusieurs constructeurs, dont Toyota, s'y essaient avec des nouvelles technologies, alors pourquoi pas Peugeot. Ce n'est pas un secret que Peugeot surfe actuellement sur la vague nostalgique avec la sortie d'une bombinette badgée GTI, donc un retour dans le temps n'est pas à exclure...

by Laurent Mercier(Endurance-Info)

BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK team launches 2013 title bid

At BMW’s headquarters in Munich, the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK team officially launched their 2013 Superbike and Superstock 1000 FIM Cup title bids, after BMW announced last season that they would handing over their SBK racing efforts to BMW Italia.

The team will be fielding Maro Melandri - who won six races last year and finished third overall and Chaz Davies in World Superbikes on the lighter BMW HP4 which is based on the S1000RR, while Sylvain Barrier will try to defend his Superstock title and he’ll be joined by South African rider Greg Gildenhuys.

Stephan Schaller, President of BMW Motorrad said, “Motorsport will once again play a major role for BMW Motorrad this year. 2012 was by far our most successful season to date in the FIM Superbike World Championship. With six wins, 18 podiums, six fastest laps, the second place overall in the Manufacturers’ Championship and the title win in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, BMW Motorrad established itself as one of the top teams in the series. With this strong position as a basis, we have realigned our works commitment for the coming season. I am more than confident that we can achieve our goals with the new structure, experienced team management, and works riders Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies.These goals are to firmly establish ourselves among the top teams at the pinnacle of production-based motorsport in the long term, and to claim as many wins and podiums as possible.”

BMW Motorrad Goldbet Superbike Team 2013

“Our close cooperation is the key to have a competitive package. We are one team and we have a continuous information flow. The bike is a complex package, any change to the engine or the electronics has an impact on the chassis and vice versa. My role is to steer the information flow. We plan the development process according to the riders’ feedback and requests as well as to the current competitive situation,” said technical director Andrea Dosoli.

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

Nashville to LA! Winter Road Trip in a Topless Deuce Roadster

On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, Staff Editor Thom Taylor drives a channeled, topless Deuce roadster in the dead of winter from Nashville to LA, encountering what you would expect in the middle of winter: ice, rain, cold, frost, and did we mention cold. Thom drove the roadster back to LA to promote HOT ROD's 65th anniversary event, HOT ROD Homecoming, taking place in March 2013 (HotRodHomecoming.com). Watch the roadster slip, slide and spin 2,000 miles as Thom takes Interstate 40 through eight states and 70-degrees of temperature change, taking breaks for burnouts, breakdowns, bad weather and junkyards.

HOT ROD Unlimited appears every other Friday on the Motor Trend channel. http://www.youtube.com/motortrend

Singer Porsche 911: 'Restored, Reimagined, Reborn'... and in London

An exhibition space in East London was the venue for a rare showing of one of the world’s most desirable cars: a 911 totally re-engineered by Singer Vehicle Design, one which promises to be the ultimate air-cooled 911.

The flat grey (an early Porsche colour, ‘Stone Grey, in fact) 964-based 911, with exquisite detailing in machined alloy and tan leather, is destined for a customer in New York. Rob Dickinson, the Los Angeles-based Brit who is Singer’s Creative Director, was on hand to show the car to a select group of experts, enthusiasts, potential buyers and members of the press, prior to further (surprise) media outings in Europe in the near future.
Even inside at night, in a gallery more used to the latest ‘installations’ from the British modern art movement, the car looked stunning.
Such is Dickinson’s and the Singer team’s confidence in the concept that one of the most desirable-ever air-cooled 911s was placed just feet away from their 'Restored, Reimagined, Reborn' car.


It was a Gulf Blue 1973 2.8 Carrera RSR that, in normal events, would have had Porschephiles in a state of some excitement. A fabulous car, 'tis true, but one that complemented the modified 911 rather than outshining it.
Singer takes a regular 964-series 911 and then reduces it to its component parts, replacing much bodywork with carefully redesigned carbonfibre panels that mix elements of current Porsches with that of the standard-setting ’73 Carrera and the even rarer, earlier S/T.


The engine is replaced with a hand-built (by Cosworth in the USA), now 3.9-litre flat-six which – depending on tuning and budget – can produce from 300bhp to 425bhp. This car has 380bhp at its disposal in the leather-lined engine bay.
No, you are not mistaken, we did say ‘leather-lined’. The owner of the car has dipped heavily into Singer’s customisation programme by specifying the most beautiful tan lather interior, with basket-weave trim, a leather-covered roll-cage and simple beige ‘Berber’ carpeting of the type fitted to 356 Speedsters.


By doing this, the lucky man or woman has also increased the car’s price from the minimum you can get away with (say $200,000) to around $350,000. But, look at the polished and fabricated bonnet hinge, the drilled Perspex ‘under-cover’ for the engine’s grille, the matt-finish Fuchs wheels and the billeted aluminium oil and petrol filler caps.


It is an incredible machine. And one few have driven - although with performance similar to a modern GT3 RS (380bhp in a 1,200kg package, modern race-tuned suspension and brakes), it promises to match dynamically on the road or track what it offers visually as a static, ‘work of art’.

Related Links The Singer Vehicle Design website: www.singervehicledesign.com

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Classic Driver