Le Mans :IMSA PERFORMANCE MATMUT EN POLE À LA PARADE DES PILOTES.

IMSA Performance Matmiut est à l'honneur de l'affiche de la Grande Parade des Pilotes qui se tiendra vendredi 21 juin à partir de 17 heures sur la Place de la République du Mans. Chaque année, des milliers de fans font le déplacement dans le centre-ville du Mans pour approcher les pilotes. Les Rouennais du team IMSA Performance Matmut alignent deux Porsche 911 GT3-RSR cette année dans la Sarthe. Présent en European Le Mans Series, Patrice Milesi et Wolf Henzler seront rejoints par Pascal Gibon sur la #67. Quant à la #76 qui évolue en Championnat du Monde d'Endurance, elle sera partagée par Raymond Narac, Jean-Karl Vernay et Christophe Bourret.

L'équipe dirigée par Franck Rava est une habituée de la classique mancelle, et ce depuis 2005. Le team a fait rouler des pointures au Mans : Romain Dumas, Richard Lietz, Patrick Long, Patrick Pilet ou encore Nicolas Armindo. IMSA Performance Matmut reste sur une deuxième place (GTE-Am) aux 24 Heures du Mans avec l'équipage Narac/Pons/Armindo.

Laurent Mercie (endurance-info)

YellowRider’s XV/TR1

Maarten Poodt, AKA Yellowrider in the Netherlands is a total Yamaha man through and through, and every winter he builds a new motorcycle. He’s built quite a range of Yamaha customs over recent years, and some have been sports bikes or streetfighters, but it was his recent cafe racer that caught our eye on the Bike Shed.

With all Maarten’s builds, his main aim is to make them look as ‘factory’ as possible.

Maarten is 39 year old, lives in Holland near the German border and for a living he makes tools for people with disabilities, which we think is pretty cool, but also makes him pretty handy when it comes to building bikes.

He used to be a track day junkie but after a few crashes and losing his little finger he changed his focus into modifying bikes with tools instead of tarmac, and it’s now become a self-sustaining enterprise, where he can sell what he builds to finance the next bike.

Maarten was inspired to build a cafe racer after seeing an XV he liked on Discovery Channel, although it was more of a tracker, but he saw the potential of doing something more pure, and with more emphasis on handling and performance.

The bike is based around a 1986 Yamaha TR1, chain driven and with naked V-twin 1000cc powerplant, which Maarten has tweaked to pump out 85bhp at the rear wheel with the aid of some dyno work, K&N filers and RVS exhaust.

He’s seen 185kmh/115mph on the clocks, so the bike easily qualifies for the ton-up club.

As with all Maarten’s builds the bike will be for sale this summer. He already has designs on a Yamaha GTS1000. We look forward to seeing it. If she ends up in your garage, please let us know, and tell us how she rides.

You can see more of the original build thread on the Dutch moto-forum. Pics by Mark Meisner.

from BIKE SHEED

ROMAIN DUMAS IN FULL PREPARATION FOR PIKES PEAK !

For his second participation in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Romain Dumas will drive a Norma M20FC PP entered in the Unlimited class. The Alès, France native was in full preparation mode for the famous American event over the course of a busy weekend. On order were two tests at the Pôle Mécanique d'Alès and aerodynamics testing on an airfield.

Finishing second in the 2012 edition with a Porsche 911 GT3 R - only 17 thousandths of a second off the leader - and rookie of the year, Romain Dumas has decided to play outside favorite for the overall win this year. The French driver has opted for a Norma prototype, lighter than his competitors' entries. Romain Dumas discovered his ride on Friday at the Pôle Mécanique d'Alès. He then performed aero testing on an airfield before returning to the French track on Sunday for another test session. In addition to setting up the car for the « Race to the Clouds », the team also tested two engine configurations : a four cylinder, 2 liter Honda engine with, and without, supercharger. A decision on which solution is best will be made after analysis of the data gathered from the tests.

« These tests were very interesting » explains Romain Dumas. « The Norma M20FC PP is like how I imagined it : light and agile, with good downforce. Most of our work will be focused on the engine, where we still have potential for improvement. Of course, there are still things we need to learn about the car, but the potential is there. We opted for a different solution, with different advantages. It's up to us to prepare the best we can in the time remaining in order to take on the strong competition. We don't have backing from a big manufacturer, but Norma knows how to make prototypes that perform well. It's going to be a big adventure. A human one. »

Since confirming his participation in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the weeks have been very busy for Romain Dumas. In their workshops, Norma assembled a new car around a new M20FC chassis. Along with a reduced weight of 540kg, several modifications were made including a front splitter, additional roll cage, rear wing, diffuser, etc. The Norma M20FC PP then headed to Alès where the final adjustments were made.

« Bravo to Norma and Norbert Santos for the work done in such a short amount of time. You can feel the passion that's behind this project. I'm looking forward to taking the next step » concludes Romain Dumas who was testing the car in its 2013 livery as well as running the number 911, a nod toward Porsche, for whom he is an official driver.

Source : Romain Dumas

via Endurance-Info

reste1 place !!