Scott’s Divine Cafe Racer

The day Scott finished this two-stroke Yamaha cafe racer he managed to back over a nun. Yes you did read that right. A proper nun. Having thankfully resurrected the Lord’s angel of mercy he decided to name the bike after his holy victim, so the RD was christened, Christine.

Scott’s been a chef by trade for over twenty years, an engineer in the military and – as he describes – a ‘tinkerer’ for many more. He currently lives in New Orleans running a resort hotel, but in his free time he builds bikes and rides fast.

The RD was Scott’s first build and belonged to a friend who’d kept it stored away in bits in boxes in the corner of his garage. He gave it to Scott for next to nothing – and the rest of the story you can see from these photos, as Scott didn’t trouble us with technical spec, and with a raw two stroke like this, it’s all right there in full colour. What matters more is how he feels about the fruits of his labour.

“Having been obsessed with cafes ever since seeing a vintage Ducati in a restaurant parking lot near home I always said I would have something like that one day, and I damn sure did. It is going to be hard with future builds because I will compare all of them to this one. I love riding this bike.”

Just looking at those expansion chambers brings up virtual sounds and smells that a certain generation just can’t resist, and the cafe styling and clipons work surprisingly well on an RD. Love it. Cheers for sharing Scott.

from THE BIKE SHED

Bulleta Motors RF22

Bulleta Motors has released the first images and indo of its RF22, a ultra-light sportscar based on the Lotus Evora - as you might have guessed at first glance - and sporting an even more aggressive and modern design with a different layout for the bi-xoenon head lights, front lip spoiler, large diffuser with integrated dual exhaust system, roof scoop, carbon ceramic brakes and 19-inch carbon fiber wheels fitted with Michelin Super Sport tires.

Named after Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor, the RF22 comes with a unique composite body - although a carbon fiber variant is also available as an optional - that was created by Samir Sadikhov, a highly rated young designer from Azerbaijan who has previously worked on the Aston Martin DBC and Cadillac C-Ville concepts as well as many other projects.

The Bulleta Motors RF22 comes with a 3.5-liter V6 engine with an in-house developed supercharger delivering 505 horsepower and 555 Nm of maximum torque coupled to a six-speed manual transmission. Weighing in at just 1,363 kg, this new sports car accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in just 3.6 seconds - which is the sort of performance you would expect from a Ferrari - and should be able to reach a top speed of 190 mph (305 km/h). As for now, no word on price and actual production plans.

via EUROCARBLOG

TELLING PORKIES

2013 seems to be the fashionable year to have a big birthday. It’s been 50 years since Bruce McLaren founded his racing team, Aston Martin is celebrating its 100th anniversary, Lamborghini is honouring the 50th year of the raging bull, the all-American icon of the Corvette is definitely not showing its age at 60, and the Porsche 911 has hit its half-century mark. It’s time to crack out the champers. Just don’t step foot in any of the aforementioned cars afterwards.

So to help celebrate the 911 launching back in 1963, we thought what better way to mark the occasion than to have a Porsche mini-theme. So whether it be a Gatebil track car…

… a tour around the workshop of the hugely successful Porsche race team, Manthey Racing…

… or perhaps something a little less conventional, we’re aiming to celebrate the anniversary of the 911 in true Speedhunters style.

We won’t be restricting ourselves to just the cars bearing the 911 badge though. No, we want to share the love around. From Dino’s Dream Drive with the Cayenne S…

… to some content which, at times, less loosely reflects Stuttgart’s original vision – we welcome all-comers. The celebration will be starting on the 11th, so make sure you tune in to satiate all of your Porsche desires.

Elsewhere on the site, Ben and Jonathan will be bringing you coverage from the ever-popular VW show, Edition 38…

… while Jonathan and myself head to Silverstone this weekend for a dose of track action at TRAX.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Larry and Mike will be heading to Sonoma Raceway this weekend to bring you full coverage from the WTCC…

… for some full-on door-to-door racing…

… as well as conducting a full #FeatureThis photoshoot at the on-site Slammed Society Showcase.

Our viking friend Egil Håskjold bravely heads back to Rudskogen for another weekend of tyre slaying at the Gatebil fall festival.

Back in the UK, we’ll have a team of Speedhunters heading to the Players Show on 15th September at North Weald.

Showcasing everything from tuned Japanese machinery to slammed VWs, we’ll be there in force to bring you coverage from the day as well as shoot the finest selection of cars as part of our second #FeatureThis program this month.

Not to mention put on a second showing of the #JoyOfMachine exhibition that we first ran at DMPD. So if you missed it then, head over to the Players show to get a glimpse.

Larry’s Formula Drift coverage will be spanning the globe, from the FD Asia event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia…

… to the penultimate FD event at Fort Worth in Texas.

In Australia, Brad will be getting up close and personal with some of wildest sport compact machines on the planet at the annual Brisbane Jamboree…

… while over in Japan, Dino will be bringing us coverage from the R’s Meeting at Fuji Speedway.

Of course, we wouldn’t reserve all of our love for the more recent models of GT-R.

Meanwhile, out in the woods of Japan, something lurks…

Mike’s come over a bit rotary this month with a visit to the Mazda museum…

… and a tour of legendary rotary tuner RE Amemiya’s premises.

As usual, we’ll be bringing you the hottest car features around, from some of the finest machinery on offer in Europe at DMPD…

… to a world exclusive feature on one of the hottest time attack machines around.

Back at Speedhunters HQ, we have something new brewing. Something secret. Something soon to be revealed. Want to know more? Then make sure you stay tuned…

Suzy Wallace

Air-cooled excellence: 2.2-litre Porsche 911S Targa

With a first overall win at Le Mans under its belt that June, 1970 was a good year for Porsche. And introduced only a few months earlier, in August 1969, was a bigger capacity version of its classic production flat-six. So, this 911 Targa is now carrying a 2195cc motor.

In 1970, just 729 2.2-litre 911S Targas were built...

As it’s a 911S, it’s probably producing around 180bhp from the mechanical fuel injected unit. Okay, the power might well be coming in way up the rev band, but isn’t that the allure of an early 911? But compared with earlier, two-litre cars it’s more flexible – and carries a different type number, too. Yes, the ‘901’ designation was finally dropped. From now onwards all engines would be prefixed with ‘911’.

‘Weltmeister 1969/70’

That might just be of interest to the cognoscenti, and visible only with the aid of a torch, but displayed proudly on many a car’s windscreen was the ‘Weltmeister 1969/70’ sticker - a reference to Porsche’s by now total domination in long-distance racing.

Like all Porsches, it’s built to perform

As a Targa, this Blood Orange example might be considered slightly softer than the Slate Grey coupé made famous by Steve McQueen in the opening sequences of ‘Le Mans’. But that’s doing it a disservice. Like all Porsches, it’s built to perform: 138mph and seven seconds from zero to 60mph are impressive figures.

This one is rare, too. In 1970, although now a popular alternative to the coupé (representing some 31 per cent of overall 911 sales), just 729 2.2-litre 911S Targas were built.

Photos: Mathieu Bonnevie

This lovely 1970 Porsche 911 2.2 S Targa is currently offered for sale by Automobilia Franco Lembo in the Classic Driver Market.