Graham Jarvis at Hells Gate 2014

The King of Hard Enduro Graham Jarvis straps on a GoPro and shows us a flying lap around the awesome Hell's Gate Hard Enduro in Italy

Marquez to miss second Sepang test after breaking leg / Márquez forfait pour Sepang suite à une fracture du péroné

World Champion Marc Marquez will be unable to ride at next week’s second 2014 MotoGP™ test session at Sepang, having broken his right fibula during a dirt track training session in Spain on Wednesday afternoon.

The accident occurred in Lleida, west of Barcelona and close to Marquez’s home town of Cervera. The rookie premier class title winner of 2013, who on Monday had celebrated his 21^st birthday, was immediately taken to the Quiron Dexeus University Hospital in Barcelona where he was treated by Dr. Xavier Mir for a spiral fracture of the distal third of his right fibula (bone between knee and ankle).

After carrying out a CT scan and x-ray, Dr. Mir explained:
"The results showed no ligament damage or dislocation and no need to proceed with surgery. I expect he will need three to four weeks to fully recover."

Marquez has already started rehabilitation with magnetic therapy. He will remain non-weight bearing for two weeks, meaning he will certainly miss next week’s Sepang test and possibly the following week in Phillip Island, Australia. Full recovery is expected for the season-opening Qatar MotoGP™ race on 23 March.

"It was a really unfortunate accident that could happen to anyone at anytime," Marquez commented on Thursday. "I was rushed to hospital and Dr. Mir treated me; thankfully there was no ligament damage and it seems like a clean break."

More information on Marquez’s recovery will be released in due course.

Le Champion du Monde MotoGP™ Marc Márquez ne pourra pas participer au second Test Officiel de la pré-saison MotoGP™ la semaine prochaine en Australie après s’être fracturé le péroné mercredi au cours d’un entraînement en dirt track.

L’accident a eu lieu à Lleida, non loin de Cervera, d’où vient et réside Marc Márquez. Le Champion du Monde MotoGP™ 2013, qui avait fêté ses 21 ans lundi dernier, a immédiatement été conduit à l’Institut Universitari Quirón Dexeux de Barcelone, où il a été pris en charge par le Dr Xavier Mir pour une fracture en spirale du péroné de la jambe droite.

Suite aux premiers examens, le Dr Mir a expliqué : « Les résultats ne montrent pas de dommage au niveau des ligaments et pas de luxation non plus. Il n’est donc pas nécessaire d’opérer. Je pense qu’il aura besoin de trois ou quatre semaines pour complètement récupérer. »

Márquez a déjà entamé son programme de rééducation avec une séance de thérapie magnétique et rester deux semaines sans mettre le moindre poids sur sa jambe droite. Le pilote du team Repsol Honda manquera donc le deuxième Test Officiel à Sepang, où il avait largement dominé les premiers essais de l’année, et possiblement celui qui aura lieu la semaine suivante en Australie. Il devrait néanmoins être remis sur pied pour la première course de la saison MotoGP™ 2014, qui aura lieu au Qatar le 23 mars.

« C’était un accident malheureux qui pouvait arriver à n’importe qui, n’importe quand, » commentait Márquez le jour suivant. « On m’a vite emmené à l’hôpital et le Dr Mir s’est occupé de moi. Il n’y heureusement pas de dommage pour les ligaments et la fracture semble nette. »

The ‘I Heart Honda’ Charade

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away was a Daihatsu Charade.” That’s how Alex Parisi started off his mail to me when I asked him to tell me about his little time attack project. With a opening line like that, I knew I was in for an interesting story and despite this being only a little spotlight, I’ll do my best to let you know how it all came to be. The idea was always to create something that would surprise people, a little Daihatsu that would be capable of going really fast and getting itself noticed in the process. Back when it was still a street car it was running a turbocharged HD series motor, good for 350hp at the wheels. Decent enough power, except for the fact that it would constantly make the upgraded gear sets in the gearbox destroy themselves.

Looking at the car now, you can imagine the amount of work that went into making it look so functional – what was required to change a little compact Japanese hatch into a dedicated time attacker. Before the car even looked like this, Alex attempted to enter it in the 2012 WTAC, but missed out as all entry spots were literally taken up in 15 minutes. Not to worry, 2013 came around and that’s when he decided to go for it. “What the hell” as he put it. Never having even been to Sydney Motorsports Park, he wasn’t going to take any chances – he knew the high speeds that could be reached on the main straight and the importance of aero. Turning the little brick that was the Charade into something that would actually generate downforce proved to be a fun challenge that Alex tackled head-on. He created a one piece pre-preg carbon, nomex-cored flat floor and rear diffuser.

Here’s a better look at that massive rear diffuser which is there to balance out the downforce that the front end treatment with a big protruding splitter and carbon canards generates. Fender flaring followed; Alex needed to bump the front and rear tracks of the Charade so it would wear the widest wheels possible, settling on 10Js, allowing him to run 275 section A050s at each corner. Looking at the picture above, you may have noticed the big cut outs on the hatch lid.

Well those are there because what used to be the Charade’s trunk is now occupied by the radiator, mounted at an angle and armed with a pair of big extractor fans and fed by two massive tubes that fish air from the side windows. The reason the cooling has been moved to the rear of the car is because following the continuous gearbox failures, Alex decided to do things a bit differently up front…

He knew that an all-new engine and gearbox combo was the only way to move forward, and despite considering Honda’s K-series, the power that guys in the US were getting out of boosted B18s made his decision an easy one. Honda’s unmistakable, red-topped four-cylinder now resides in the Charade’s modified engine bay – you can see the stiffening bars welded onto the suspension turrets.

500hp at the wheels was not too difficult to obtain thanks to a fully built B18 courtesy of AMP Racing, mated with 25psi of boost supplied by the Garrett 3076 turbo which sits on a pretty awesome-looking manifold. And hence the need to move the radiator to the back, because with the blower sitting where it is, there’s just enough space to fit and clear the big front-mounted intercooler.

The cabin is built around functionality: fully stripped out, including the stock dash which has been replaced with a simple carbon panel.

Much work went into fitting the Charade with Motec M800 engine management, guaranteeing the custom-built motor gives its best under the hardest of use. Alex and his team weren’t particularly lucky at last year’s WTAC with small problems hindering their chances at setting a decent lap time in the Pro Am Class the car was entered in. 2014 will be spent sorting out the little issues, as well as perfecting the suspension geometry and shedding even more weight. It might not have been the fastest car out there, but it’s builds like these that continue to grab our attention. Thinking outside the box goes a long way!

Dino Dalle Carbonare

Volkswagen Amarok Sets New Off Road Record

by AGUSTIN JIMENEZ Four Wheeler Magazine

Over 60 Days and Almost 10,000 miles through the Russian Outback

Volkswagen has just broken a huge off-road record for the longest off-road trek in a single country using three custom Volkswagen Amaroks to cross almost 10,000 miles from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky o help promote the 2014 Winter Olypics. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is one of the worlds largest cities and it sits on the Bering Sea but getting there is no walk in the park and since there are no roads leading to it, Volkswagen's record breaking run was not for the weak.

The almost 10,000 mile trek began in the Russian capitol Moscow where three Volkswagen Amoroks pickups equipped with huge lifts and giant tires departed on an over 60 day journey to reach the Bering Sea. Of course having giant tires is practically a requirement if you don't want to get stuck in the freezing deep Russian snow. The team traveled across Lake Baikal which was frozen over abput three feet thick. Luckily the Amoroks made it through without incident but the same could not be said when they reached Lultin Pass, where the crew managed to get stuck in the deep Russian snow. Although getting stuck did set them back, the team was able to work together to recover the stuck vehicles and push in toward the ultimate goal.

You would think that spinning tires that large would be a huge undertaking especially when it's well below 40 degrees below-zero for most of the day but it turned out to be nothing the 2.0-liter Turbo diesel Volkswagen Amorok engines couldn't handle.

We're not sure we'd be as willing to brave the elements while crossing nearly two thirds of the frozen Russian backcountry in the dead of winter but if we had to, we wouldn't hesitate to do it in one of these beefed up Volkswagen Amorok trucks. After all, Amarok is Inuit for 'Arctic Wolf' and this was one wolf pack that couldn't be stopped by thick snow and icy conditions.