Snapshot, 1963: 500 miles with Steve McQueen and Bud Ekins

500 miles can be a long haul, especially on two wheels through the barren Californian desert. It is therefore advisable to take some entertaining companions along for the ride. How about Bud Ekins and Steve McQueen?

John Dominis snapped this shot of the two Hollywood heroes in 1963, during a motorcycle endurance race across the Mojave Desert in California. That’s Steve McQueen on the right, and Bud Ekins on the left tilting into the corner. The rider in the centre remains unknown. Ekins was one of the most famous stuntmen of his generation. He was often McQueen’s stunt double – in ‘The Great Escape’, he jumped the Triumph TR6 over the barbed-wire fence, and in ‘Bullitt’ he drifted the Ford Mustang through the streets of San Francisco. He also successfully competed in motorcycle racing, and occasionally at the helm of even bigger machines – trucks, for example, in the notorious Mint 400 and Stardust 7-11 desert races. Ekins and McQueen were great friends, until the latter’s death in 1980. 

Photo: John Dominis/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Numerous classic motorcycles can be found for sale in Classic Driver Market.

balai !

Driving with the gods: East African Safari Classic Rally

Imagine competing alongside former World Rally Champions on the beautiful but challenging roads of Kenya and Tanzania. The East African Safari Classic Rally (21-29 November 2013) provides exactly that experience: with huge smiles at the end, but plenty of dust and clenched teeth on the way…

"It's frustrating... but it's part of the game."

Former World Rally Champion, Björn Waldegård, was bearing the double responsibility of preserving both his record of two wins on the East African Safari Classic, and his son Mathias, who was once again sitting beside him in a Porsche 911. This was combined with competitive pressure from former World Rally Champion Stig Blomqvist in another Porsche 911 and six-times Kenyan Rally Champion Ian Duncan, in an unusual but very powerful Ford Capri Perana V8. Indeed, as the route moved into Tanzania, Waldegård might have pushed a little too hard, launching his Porsche 911 into a spectacular roll over a dry river crossing. The crew was unhurt but Waldegård’s hopes of winning for a third time were scrapped along with the 911’s bodyshell. “It’s frustrating,” he said in a typically Swedish philosophical style. “But it’s part of the game.”

For the rest of the field, the Tanzanian roads brought both beauty and variety with twisty, technical sections coming down the Rift Valley Escarpment and long, fast, dusty sections with very few landmarks by which to navigate. Even veteran Safari navigator Lofty Drews was lost for words, although this was not helped by an intercom failure. “I had to use some very complicated hand signals to my driver and sometimes I got some very basic gestures in return…” 

Three flats; only two spares

As the rally headed back into Kenya, Duncan was in front but a series of punctures handed the lead back to Blomqvist. “To have one flat is unlucky but to have three in one section, when you only have two spares… well, I don’t have a polite word for that.” Indeed, it was not just the Capri’s tyres that suffered on the rough Kenyan roads, with several crews comparing their experience to “being inside a washing machine with dust instead of water”. But when the route went north to Naivasha there were plenty of river crossings to solve that problem, allowing some crews to demonstrate their ability in deep-water driving, while others had to rely on camaraderie to climb the soft river banks. 

Victory deflated by a puncture

Heading back to sultry Mombasa on the final day, the Safari still had plenty of drama up its sleeve. Unusually for this endurance event, mere seconds separated the leader Duncan from Blomqvist. The Kenyan started in front but, with just one competitive section left, Blomqvist wrested back the lead – only to have a tyre and his hopes of victory deflated by a puncture. The Safari Classic 2013 crown went to Ian Duncan in his Ford Capri, while Blomqvist had to settle for second place.

A chance of immortality

Out of the record 60 crews that started this epic event, 54 crossed the finishers’ ramp. Despite the clear diversity in competitive experience, what was striking by the end was the similarity in their level of determination. Although the likes of Blomqvist, Waldegård and Duncan might drive like gods, it seems every Safari competitor has a chance of immortality: if only for eight days.

Text: Franca Davenport

Photos: McKlein

Further information about the East African Safari Classic Rally can be found at:www.eastafricansafarirally.com

Classic rally cars can be found for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

Pipeburn's 2013 Bike of the Year Award

2013 has been a massive year for Pipeburn. We've got six times the eyeballs looking at the site now than we did this time last year. And on top of that, we've had an amazing run of great bikes. They were easily our best ever. So to celebrate, we thought we'd end 2013 on a high and introduce something that we're calling the Pipeburn Bike of the Year Award. See that 2kg trophy of perfectly machined and polished stainless steel in the picture above? That's our way of giving a little back to the scene and recognising the bike and builder that has defined 2013. So we've gone back over every bike to count comments, tally Facebook likes and measure absolute coolness to come up with our top 10 for 2013. The bike in the No. 1 spot takes the trophy. And what a bike it is...

10. ‘77 Honda PA50III - Matt Turner

In the number 10 spot is a moped that is easily the most detailed, well-though-out and polished ‘ped build we've everseen. Owner Matt poured his heart and soul into it and took on some serious engineering challenges, including modding the engine and electrics to run backwards for the bike's transmission. And then he gave it away in a raffle. Crazy? Possibly. Genius? Definitely.

9. ‘08 BMW R1200R - Galaxy Customs

This one came way out of left field. Or should that be East Field? Ivaylo, the man behind Bulgaria's Galaxy Customs, had one thought when he commenced the build; he wanted to create something that was retro on the outside and modern on the inside. Not only did he manage that in spades, but he's also beaten BMW's top designers to the punch by pre-empting their brand new R nine T model by a good 12 months. Impressive stuff.

8. '47 BSA B33 - Briton Bees

The Bees bikes are a perennial favourites of ours, and this year Emmanuel has really managed to blow us away. Effortlessly making the transition from motocyclettes to bigger, bolder builds he dropped this one on us in March. Only the best of builders could take a classic like this and make it better than when they started; which is just what he did with a little help from Jake Hall at HCV Motorsports. Have they done a deal with the devil at midnight? We like to think so.

7. Michael Alton's ‘69 BSA Firebird

From one classic BSA to another; this one is almost a quarter century younger than the bike in our No. 8 position, yet somehow it manages to look like it's Grandpappy. It'll come as no surprise, then, that owner Mike's main inspiration for the build was his Grandmother's bike ridin', roller-derbyin' exploits in the 1930s. Using your granny as a creative muse? Now there's a Pipeburn first.

6. ‘82 Yamaha XV750 - Hageman Motorcycles

There's not much to say about Doc's Chops a.k.a. Greg Hageman that hasn't already been said. He was the builder at the pointy end of the Yahama Virago trend that turned the model from a customiser's bad joke to a bike lover's wet dream. And this one is in all black. With a number board. And gold lettering. There's a reason why there's a Yamaha Virago in the Pipeburn garage, and we call that reason ‘Greg’.

5. ‘83 BMW R80 - ER Motorcycles

It seems that nothing gets our reader's blood pumping more than a well-executed BMW build. And this bike takes ‘well exectued’ and shoots it to the moon. There's not one part of this bike that hasn't been worked to within an inch of it's life; the seat looks like it was made by Louis Vuitton. It even has it's own bespoke labeling. It's another bolt from the blue of Eastern Europe's burgeoning scene - this time it's ER Motorcycles and their main man Blaž Šuštaršič with a bike they call ‘The Mobster’.

4. Moto Guzzi Nuovo Falcone - Medaza Cycles

This is the bike that took the 2013 AMD Custom Bike Building World Champion's title. What more can we say? Don Cronin, Medaza's head honcho, now gets to call himself the best custom bike builder in the world without an ounce of irony, boastfulness or dishonesty. How cool is that?

3. Yamaha Scorpio - Thrive Motorcycles

If movies shaped your childhood as much as they did ours, then there's no doubt that you'll have a special place in your hear for the original Star Wars trilogy. As die-hard bike lovers, the closest you'll come to motorcycles in that galaxy far, far away were the Empire's Speeder bikes. And the closest you'll ever come to riding one is this amazing build by Jakarta's Indra and his Thrive Motorcycles. The force is strong with this one.

2. ‘77 BMW R60/7 - ER Motorcycles

And again! You know you're doing something right when you can turn out two killer bikes in the same year. Which is just what Blaž and the boys at ER Motorcycles have done. But just how killer is it? You're now looking at the bike that holds the all-time Facebook likes record on Pipeburn. 4,300 likes to be exact. That's so many that we almost gave it top honors by default. But there was always one bike that was up to the challenge...

1. Royal Enfield Bullet 500 - Hazan Motorworks

It's rare to say that a bike has changed the way you think about custom builds. As amazing as all the other bikes on this list are, it would be difficult for them lay claim to construction techniques that break new ground. This bike can. It isn't so much about thinking outside the square; it's more about taking everything you know about squares and setting them on fire. Twice. You may know him as Max Hazan from Hazan Motorworks, but we'd like to refer to him as the inaugural winner of the Pipeburn Bike of the Year Award. Congratulations Max! We will be in touch and hope to get the trophy over to you as soon as possible.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank everone who helped us make this award happen. Massive thanks to Paul McKinnon from Evolution Motorsports in Sydney who made the amazing trophy for us. His workmanship and attitude is second to none. We'd also like to thank Junior Burrell at Retro Moto who not only let us use his photo for the first image in the article but who also missed out on a top 10 spot by this much - as did Russell Mechanica's BMW, Sur les Chapeaux de Roues' CB750 and Rajputana Custom's Royal Enfield. Oh, and Craig Johnston's Kermit.

We'd also like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the builders, readers and fans who supported us in 2013. We couldn't have done it without you. See you in all in 2014.

via PIPEBURN