Latvala tops Drivers’ championship for the first time / Latvala, leader pour la 1ère fois

In addition to collecting his third Rally Sweden victory, Jari-Matti Latvala’s notched up his 300th stage win and now sits at the top of the Drivers’ championship, a career first. Unsurprisingly, he is eyeing the 2014 title.

Being on top of the points table could have a negative side, however, for it means he will be first on the road in Mexico, which isn’t necessarily a good idea. “I don’t care,” said the Finn before savouring Saturday’s podium ceremony. “I’m looking at the overall championship picture and not just on a rally by rally basis. After winning here in 2012, I had a series of poor runs. But that’s not going to happen again. My aim is to be as consistent as possible. Everyone has lows during a season. It’s a case of dealing with them and trying to score points, as I did in Monte Carlo.”

His team-mate Sébastien Ogier appears not to be envious of the Finn’s lead going into the first gravel rally of the year. “Being first on the road is a handicap in Mexico, so I’m glad to be second in the championship [+5 points] at the moment,” says the Frenchman. “We made a mistake but we also showed our speed in Sweden, so I’m not unduly concerned.”

Volkswagen’s third man Andreas Mikkelsen was delighted after securing his first ever podium finish at the age of 24, after 41 WRC starts. “There’s just one more step to climb,” he smiled, “but for that we will need to be more consistent.”

Andreas posted three fastest times and led for four stages, while fellow Norwegian Mads Ostberg won two stages, including the Power Stage, and completed the rally just 5.9s short of second spot after being slowed by Kubica and team-mate Meeke on stages. “We built up speed gradually,” explained the Citroën youngster who is now third in the championship, 10 points behind Latvala. “I’d never driven the DS3 WRC before in these conditions and I wasn’t at ease to begin with. I had been hoping for the win but I feel confident ahead of Mexico where I was competitive last year.”

Mikko Hirvonen and Ott Tanak rounded off the all-Nordic top five. “I had a few scares on Saturday morning, so I lifted and Mads pulled out a gap,” said the experienced Finn (152 starts). “It’s nice to have won my first points of the season. The Volkswagens are very fast. To be honest; it’s not going to be easy…” Volkswagen Motorsport tops the Manufacturers’ table, six points clear of Citroën-Total-Abu Dhabi WRT.

Although many thought his WRC career had ended after the 2012 Rally de Espana, Ott Tanak bounced back – smiling – in Sweden where he posted a fastest time (SS5, helped by his road order) and finished fifth. “Mads and Mikko got away after my spin on SS17 and I suffered from under-steer on Day 2. I missed the WRC but I’ve been quite busy with my team which runs five or six cars in Estonia. I didn’t think I’d be competitive this quickly.” Ott will be back in a Fiesta WRC in Portugal.

Troisième succès en Suède, le cap des 300 victoires de spéciales franchi et leader du championnat du monde pour la première fois de la carrière : Jari-Matti Latvala repart de Karlstad avec des envies de titre…

Aussi flatteuse qu’elle soit, cette position de leader du championnat Pilotes n’est pas très avantageuse car ouvrir la piste au Rallye du Mexique est un lourd handicap. « Je m’en fous », assurait le Finlandais au dernier parc d’assistance d’Hagfors avant d’aller savourer sa victoire sur le podium de Karlstad. « Je veux désormais prendre le championnat dans sa globalité et non plus rallye par rallye. En 2012, après ma victoire ici, j’avais enchaîné les contre-performances. C’est fini : je veux être le plus régulier possible. On a tous des coups de moins bien dans la saison, il faut savoir gérer ces moments-là et essayer de marquer quelques points, comme je l’ai fait au Monte-Carlo. »

Pour la 1^ère fois de sa carrière, le Finlandais se retrouve en tête du championnat du monde Pilotes (40 points), une position que ne lui envie pas son équipier Sébastien Ogier avant les 1^ersrallyes sur terre. « Ouvrir au Mexique est un désavantage, alors je suis heureux d’être 2^e (à 5 points) ce soir », expliquait le Français. « On a commis une erreur, mais on a aussi montré notre pointe de vitesse ce week-end, donc pas d’inquiétude. »

Le 3^e pilote Volkswagen, Andreas Mikkelsen, était aux anges après son 1^er podium mondial décroché à 24 ans (41 départs en WRC). « Il reste encore une marche à gravir », confiait le Norvégien, « et pour cela, il faut être encore plus régulier. » Andreas a remporté trois ES et fut leader pendant quatre spéciales. Son compatriote Mads Ostberg a quant à lui remporté deux spéciales, dont la Power Stage, et échoué à 5s9 de la 2^e place après avoir été gêné par Kubica et son équipier Meeke en spéciale : « On est allé crescendo », résumait le pilote Citroën : « Je n’avais jamais roulé avec la DS3 WRC dans ces conditions-là, je n’étais pas très à l’aise au début. Bon, ce n’est pas la victoire que j’espérais ici, mais je suis confiant avant le Mexique où j’avais été performant l’an passé. » Mads est 3^e du championnat à 10 points de Latvala.

Mikko Hirvonen et Ott Tanak complètent un top-five très nordique cette année en Suède. « Je me suis fait quelques frayeurs samedi matin, j’ai levé un peu le pied et Mads s’est échappé », déclarait le Finlandais, le plus capé des pilotes en activité avec 152 départs. « Je suis heureux de marquer mes 1^ers points de la saison. Les Volkswagen sont très rapides, il faut être lucide, ça s’annonce difficile… » Volkswagen Motorsport est leader du championnat Constructeurs avec 6 points d’avance sur Citroën-Total-Abu Dhabi WRT.

On avait cru sa carrière mondiale stoppée par une barrière au Rallye d’Espagne 2012. Pour son retour (souriant !) en WRC, Ott Tanak a signé un meilleur temps (ES5, grâce à une bonne position sur la route) et une 5^e place. « J’ai perdu contact avec Mads et Mikko après un tête-à-queue dans l’ES17 et puis j’ai eu beaucoup de sous-virage le 2^e jour. Le WRC m’a manqué, c’est vrai, mais j’étais tout de même bien occupé avec mon team qui fait rouler 5 ou 6 voitures en Estonie. Je ne pensais pas être dans le coup aussi vite » Ott sera de nouveau au volant d’une Fiesta WRC au Portugal.

Harley-Davidson 883 Iron by TJ Moto

Written by Tim Holdup.

In the world of custom motorcycles fresh new shops and builders are forever surfacing globally. Standing out is somewhat paramount to success and first impressions are crucial to get the ball rolling in your desired direction. Without further adieu, meet ‘NADIA’, she is an intriguing, hand-crafted rigid tail Harley Davidson 883 Iron. NADIA is the debut build from TJ Moto, a small custom bike studio located in New Delhi, India – and from the looks of things, it won’t be their last.

It’s more than easy to purchase mass produced ‘bolt-on’ modifications and be one of the pack, but hand-made pieces designed specifically for that one bike adds such a personal touch – and this is where NADIA finds home. The most notable piece and also the most against the grain being her tubular ‘over the tank’ backbone, advertently she has a floating petrol tank look which really fights the normal appearance of an underslung tank.

Being a rigid conversion, key aspects of rider comfort needed attending to – this is where things get a little interesting with the springer seat. The seat upholstered in distressed brown leather features a mono shock absorbed linkage set up which is pulled off with the use of multiple pieces of custom handmade bracketry.

Her flight deck is very subtle and has a neat uncluttered appearance to it. The speedometer mounted to a literally left of centre location provides a balance with air intake being mounted on the opposing side, coupled with the analog read out speedo sees some of the old school that TJ Moto set out capture in this build.

Breathing through a K & N conical pod filter, NADIA’s untampered with motor soon exits through the 2 – 1 free flow exhaust system, being heat wrapped for that eclectic appeal as well as functionality.

On a build as such, it’s the finer details that really finish it off. TJ Moto took such care in this department. The British racing green with cream inner on the petrol and oil tank are finished off with a tasteful gold pin striping. This pin striping is further complimented by hand-crafted brass fitments in the way of engraved tank caps and tank support clips on that strangely appealing back bone. All these details make TJ Moto’s first build a truly unique custom that really does make it stand out from the crowd.

via PIPEBURN

Behind the lens with Thomas Van Rooij

1989-Amsterdam: AutoRAI security guards allow a kid to stand beside a Ferrari F40, with his hands behind his back. A petrolhead is born. We ask long-time crankandpiston.com devotee Thomas Van Rooij about his work and what it’s like behind the lens.

 

Why don’t you start off by talking us through your camera…

Well I still use my Nikon D90 for all my photography. More and more publications are swapping to digital, so a lot of my work involves high quality images for use on websites and through social media channels. Actually, with a lot of my clients, I really don’t need a lot of megapixels as all my images will be resized for internet usage anyway.

Is that the only reason then that you’ve decided against upgrading your equipment? How the industry works now…?

No, not really. A lot of people ask me what camera I use, as if the secret of taking good photos lays there(!),but in the end it’s always the photographer that captures the images and not his camera: it’s like telling an author he has to use a particular typewriter. Me? I use a Nikon D90 and a 18-105mm lens, and that’s fine because I tend to know what I want to create before picking the camera. I see a lot of people upgrading their gear thinking that it will make them better photographers, but I think the opposite might be true sometimes.

That being said I would like to upgrade my D90 in the near future: I bought my trusted Nikon back in 2009. I’m still a student at the moment though, so although full frame cameras are getting cheaper, they’re still a little out of my price range.

Has it dinted the reaction to your work?

The best feeling, for me, is when people tell me I inspire them to follow a similar path. It’s really humbling to do what you love doing only to hear that others like your work and see you as an inspiration.

Was there a particular photographer that inspired you to get started?

I started taking pictures of cars in 2009: there or thereabouts. There was a set of images I loved of a Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SV by a chap called Webb Bland of NotBland Photography. After a while my work started to improve and it began to attract some attention. One image in particular attracted Webb’s attention, and we spoke several times on Facebook about my work. He was really enthusiastic, and that felt so great. There’s no better feeling than creating something all by yourself and seeing positive reaction from clients and fans.

One thing crankandpiston finds particularly interesting is your methods: you don’t hide how you shape a photograph unlike a lot of other photographers. Aren’t you nervous someone could copy your ideas?

I’m a strong believer in treating people the way you want them to treat you. I’m a self-taught photographer, in that I’ve never had any education in photography or graphic software: I haven’t even opened the manual of my Nikon! I’ve had help from some great names in the trade after they noticed my work, which helped me to improve even further, and I think others deserve the same attention.

You mentioned though that the photographer creates the image, not the camera…

True. It’s hard to give people insight into how I see the world myself. If you’re out to copy my work – which would be waste of time for any self-respecting artist in the first place – you can figure out my knowledge and skills, but the artist is hidden between your ears and not in the gear.

Speaking of  ‘gear’, do you believe Photoshop is essential to a good photograph?

I’ve seen the same discussions online: no, Photoshop isn’t essential. But in commercial photography, post-production plays a very important roll. In my opinion, photography is art and the photographer is free to use whatever tool he can think of to create his images. But I also think people are unaware how much photography has evolved. Back in the day, editing photos happened in the darkroom. Not many people who participate in the discussion seem to know though that even then backgrounds where replaced and scenes where altered. It was a precarious job of cutting and pasting negatives so the scene blended as a whole, so the idea is pretty similar to Photoshop.

With that in mind, do you do what you do for the sake of professionalism or is it just down to personal enthusiasm?

I think the beauty of doing what you love is that the line between person and professional is very thin. I handle my photography and business the same way I handle my personal life. When a client asks me to do a job, and I think he should do something a little different to achieve a better goal, I don’t hesitate to tell him that: we spend hours on location with clients who don’t realise that taking one picture can take up to half an hour sometimes. Plus I often talk to people from all over the world who might be able to create that little extra exposure of our work. So being a successful photographer is like being a good friend sometimes: you have to be honest, open and a good listener.

Let’s look to the future. What haven’t you achieved with your work and what would you like to?

Wow, this is a difficult one! I really don’t have a bucket list besides just doing what I love for as long as I love it. At the moment I’m occupied with achieving personal goals like finishing school and planning my career. Where I live it’s very hard to make your living from photography alone: almost every kid has a camera and offers to shoot for free. Many companies don’t see the value in quality work and go with the cheap option, sadly. In the long run – like every automotive photographer I guess – I’d like to work with major brands. Being part of a team and putting together the press release for a new model would be a real thrill. I don’t think I’m any closer right now, but as a photographer you never stop learning and you’ll always find ways to get even better.

- Shots courtesy of Thomas Van Rooij

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