Nissan Bladeglider 2014

Lara Vanneste: a lady on a mission / Lara, héroïne de « Tombe Driver »

 -driver Lara Vanneste is competing alongside Craig Breen for the third time this weekend. She is likely to remain with the Irishman next season, despite the arrival of Kevin Abbring – one of the many drivers she has previously worked with – in the 2014 Peugeot Rally Academy squad.

La copilote belge Lara Vanneste dispute son troisième rallye avec Craig Breen et aimerait rester au côté de l’Irlandais la saison prochaine dans la Peugeot Rally Academy, malgré l’arrivée de Kevin Abbring, un de ses nombreux pilotes…

Lara Vanneste has the same determined eyes as ‘Tomb Raider’ heroine and namesake Lara Croft and is one of the best co-drivers around today, capable of calling out pace notes in German, French, Dutch and English!

“My passion for rallying dates back to when I was five years old, even though nobody in my family was interested in the sport. I was a big fan of the Belgian driver Bernard Munster. I knew everything about his career because my mother worked for the company that sponsored him. That’s how I eventually got to meet my idol…

“Later on, I became part of his team. Between the ages of 15 and 17, I followed the top Belgian drivers, especially those who contested the French championship. My role was to note down their stage times at the Stop Controls. Gradually, I got to know more and more people, including Mélissa Debackere with whom I contested my first rally, two days after my 18th birthday! The minimum age to be a co-driver in Belgium was 18.”

Not many co-drivers can claim to have kicked off their career in a WRC car – a Toyota Corolla. “We came second overall, and I finished the 2009 season alongside Dominique Bruyneel in a Subaru Impreza WRC.” Lara went on to navigate for the likes of Abbring, Tsjoen, Riedemann and Loix and gained experience of a staggering variety of rallies. Today, she stands out as one of the sport’s most proficient international co-drivers.

She began the 2013 season in the WRC with Citroën DS3 R3 driver Christian Riedemann, before assisting Kevin Abbring on a round of the French championship, then Bryan Bouffier at Ypres in a Peugeot 207 S2000.

Then, when Paul Nagle switched to Volkswagen’s Andreas Mikkelsen for September’s Rally Australia (WRC), Craig Breen needed a replacement for Rally Poland (ERC). The 2012 S-WRC champion recruited Lara who was forced to read out pace notes for the first time in English.

She rose to the challenge perfectly and Craig kept her on for the Sanremo, and then again for this weekend’s encounter in Switzerland: “We get on well, so there’s a good chance we will continue together in 2014, even though Kevin Abbring, as winner of this year’s Peugeot 208 Rally Cup, will join the Peugeot Rally Academy team next year…”

Elle a les yeux et la détermination de Lara Croft, héroïne de « Tomb Raider », dans sa quête du Scion atlante. Elle est aussi l’héroïne d’un jeu, « Tombe Driver », à Sion... Lara Vanneste est sans doute l’une des meilleures copilotes du moment, capable d’annoncer à la perfection les notes en allemand, français, néerlandais et anglais.

« Je me suis passionnée pour le rallye dès l’âge de cinq ans, alors que dans ma famille, personne ne s’intéressait à ce sport. J’étais fan d’un pilote belge, Bernard Munster, je connaissais tout de lui, une vraie encyclopédie. Ma mère travaillait dans l’entreprise qui le sponsorisait. C’est comme ça que j’ai fini par rencontrer mon idole… »

« Puis j’ai intégré son équipe. Entre 15 et 17 ans, je suivais les pilotes belges en rallye, notamment en Championnat de France. Mon rôle était de noter les temps aux point-stops. De fil en aiguille, j’ai connu de plus en plus de monde, entre autres Mélissa Debackere avec laquelle j’ai disputé mon tout premier rallye à l’âge de 18 ans et deux jours ! L’âge minimum pour être copilote en Belgique est de 18 ans. »

Ce n’est pas tout le monde qui peut se targuer d’avoir débuté sur une Toyota Corolla WRC. « On a fini 2^e de notre premier rallye, puis j’ai fini la saison 2009 aux côtés de Dominique Bruyneel sur une Subaru Impreza WRC. » Abbring, Tsjoen, Riedemann, Loix… Lara passe d’un baquet à l’autre, roule sur tous types de rallyes et engrange de l’expérience, beaucoup d’expérience. Si bien qu’en quatre ou cinq saisons, elle est devenue une des meilleures copilotes internationales.

Lara a débuté la saison 2013 en WRC au côté de Christian Riedemann sur une Citroën DS3 R3, avant d’assister Kevin Abbring sur une manche du Championnat de France, puis Bryan Bouffier au Rallye d’Ypres sur une Peugeot 207 S2000. Paul Nagle étant en Australie avec Andreas Mikkelsen, Craig Breen n’avait plus de copilote pour le Rallye de Pologne. Lara s’est retrouvée au côté du Champion du monde SWRC, à annoncer les notes en anglais pour la première fois.

Elle s’est parfaitement bien acquittée de sa tâche, si bien que Craig a de nouveau fait appelle à Lara au Rallye Sanremo, puis ici au Rallye du Valais. « Ca se passe bien entre nous, alors on devrait prolonger notre collaboration en 2014, même si Kevin Abbring, vainqueur de la Peugeot 208 Rally Cup, arrive dans la Peugeot Rally Academy l’année prochaine. »

‘77 Honda PA50III

To build a custom bike is, in many ways, and exercise in knowing where to draw the line. It starts with small decisions, like whether that replacement carb you need is going to be new or reconditioned. Then it's the off-the-shelf seat versus the bespoke leather one. Soon you add up all the ‘little extras’ you've decided on and realise that if you continue down this particular road you'll be riding the world's most expensive two-wheeled vehicle; a two-wheeled vehicle that you'd be lucky to be able to sell for half the money you spent on it. But what if you didn't stop? What if you had the time, money and patience to keep going? This is what. Meet what is quite possible the world's most loved-up moped, Matt Turner's Honda PA50.

“This bike started in early 2011,” says Matt. “It was born from a desire to build something that would still qualify as a moped, but that would address all the issues I had experienced with these funny little two-stroke monsters over the years of building, tinkering and riding. I've had full-size bikes as well, and appreciate a lot of things about them that mopeds simply can't match, but really feel like nothing quite compares to the fun of zipping around on something the size of a BMX bike that is capable of speeds nobody has any business going on thin, substandard tires and terrifying suspension.”

“That said, the things I always ran up against with the mopeds I built before were overheating, poor handling due to frame flex, uncomfortable ride due to weak forks and shocks, weak brakes, lightning, ignition, clutches and overall unreliability. I figured if I could basically put together the best components from a number of different bikes, I could make a moped that worked and rode like a small motorcycle. I’m also a fan of the top-tank bikes with full seat fairings like the Puch Magnum, so I wanted to make this bike look like the moped Honda would have built if they revived the PA50 series for 2013.”

“To address all of this, I cobbled together a bunch of the best stuff I could find including (deep breath) a Honda Camino frame with top tube welded in, Honda MB5 forks, a Sachs Prima tank, a hand-built seat and tail section, a custom designed one-off chro-moly subframe, some heavily modified Honda PA50II engine cases, Yamaha Chappy studs, a Peugeot Speedfight 70cc liquid-cooled scooter cylinder and head, a handmade aluminum deck spacer, a Peugeot radiator, a Volkswagen auxiliary water pump, a Metrakit piston, a 1977 Mopeds Honda stuffed 10-pin crank, V-Force Kawasaki dirt bike reeds, a Dio reed block, an OKO 24mm carb and a Derbi GPR flywheel and stator.

But wait, there's more! I added LED head and tail lights, ASV levers, a Trailtech Vector tach with speedo and temp, a Derbi GPR Metrakit pipe, a TJT Derbi variator, a custom front pulley with Honda clutches removed, Vespa Bravo wheels and variated transmission, a one-off hybrid Vespa/GY6 transmission input shaft, a Malossi Delta clutch, a Motoforce clutch bell, and last but not least a pit bike hydraulic front disc setup with a machined adapter.”

“The most difficult thing about putting it all together was that the Honda motor normally turns in the opposite direction than the Vespa transmission, so I had to do a ton of modifications to the ignition system to make the motor start and run backwards. Wrist pin offset was a big issue also since most pistons that fit had offset in the wrong direction. I finally found one that worked perfectly after a bunch of digging.

“Cosmetically, making everything fit together into a package that looked intentionally designed and thought out was really important to me. Fortunately, the top tube was already welded into this frame, so I just needed to build on top of it and make pieces to hide the structure. It all started with the tank, which I chose from a bunch of rusty options for scale and shape. I welded a spacer into the back end to make it sit level on the top tube and then went to work on the tail section.”

“It’s made from 2-part expanding foam hard coated with multiple layers of fiberglass mat and shaped with ultraglass and body filler. After getting the overall shape I was looking for, I cut the tail section into three pieces so that it could be installed and removed like a production part, then made a fiberglass mold of the seat section so that I could cast it from softer expanding foam. The taillight lens was designed and cut with our in-house laser cutter and then molded into the back end with more ultraglass and body filler. Just like everything else on the bike, I tried to think about pieces being able to be removed for service, so the lens is removable as well.”

Amazingly, this very same bike was given away not 24 hours ago at the 1977 Mopeds Garage Launch Show in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Matt must be crying into his two-stroke-scented handkerchief as we speak. Cheer up, bud. Cheer up, and get back in the workshop. There's a good boy...

via PIPEBURN

DOC'S CHOPS HAGEMAN MOTORCYCLES

Built with the '60s and '70s in mind, this Bolt™ achieves old school, yet modern flair—without any frame-cutting. It has it all. Custom fenders, tires, candy gold paint—and more.