HOBIE’S GN400

28 year old ‘Hobie’ from Orange County, California, has a pretty ironic way of paying the bills. He makes prosthetic limbs, so predictably once a month he’ll be knocking up a leg or an arm for one of us lot. But this hasn’t deterred him from pursuing his life long love of riding and now building motorcycles. In fact, it doesn’t put the patients off either, most of them are keen to get back on two wheels as soon as possible – if it’s in the blood…

This Suzuki GN400 is his first custom build, and after getting some great feedback from friends in the industry and people on our forum, he decided to come out of the shadows and show the world his creation. We’re glad he did.

Being from Southern California, everything Hobie had built in the past revolved around off road desert racing, motocross and Baja style race cars, so he wanted to build something designed to stay clean for once. The bike started out as a non running, stock 1981 Suzuki GN400 found on craigslist, but after a simple carb clean and valve adjustment she was up and running. Hobie rode it stock for two weeks to get a feel for what he wanted (always a good idea) before then tearing into it.

He stripped the bike and cut the back half of the frame off. When rebuilding the subframe, he took some of the rake out of the rear shocks and detabbed the entire frame for a clean look. The rear was raised a few inches and the front forks were lowered 4 inches to get the right stance. Everything was then sent away for coating and paint.

After aesthetics came the engine. It was treated to a new top end and a valve job before being painted, polished and dropped back in. The stock rims were powdercoated and wrapped in Bridgestone Trail Wing TW40′s  (120/90r16)(130/80r17). A custom seat pan and seat were also done to finish off the bike, and all the electronics are tucked away between the seat pan and a vanity plate. The rear end has two small integrated brake lights and a small taillight. The battery was removed so it’s kickstart only – as if a bike like this should be started any other way!

Hobie tried to keep the bike as light and simple as possible, as a result there really isn’t much to it, but what there is looks just right. He says this bike is also a right laugh to ride. In the two weeks since he finished it it, Hobie has been on several rides up and down the Pacific Coast Highway, he’s slid up some dirt roads in the Ortegas, and has even hit a few of his local bicycle jumps (see above). Hang on, thought you said this one was built to stay clean mate?

via The Bike Shed

SCORE Baja 500: New TT-truck from Brenthel Industries victorious at Baja 500

Development of the new Spec TT/6100 class truck design from "Brenthel Industries" continues to proceed with excellent results. In one of the toughest Tecate "SCORE Baja 500" in years, Jonathan Brenthel and co-driver Jordan Brenthel overcame brutal terrain and a tough field of competitors to take the win. Brothers Jonathan and Jordan drove the entire distance without relief from teammate Jamie Galles.

The truck performed perfectly during the race despite having over 1000 miles on the clock. The team’s prerunner was sidelined with a mechanical issue during the ever important course reconnaissance leaving them without a ride. They were forced to run the entire course in the race truck the week of the race.

"It was not the best thing to do but it was our only option," says Jonathan Brenthel, "The crew changed the 3rd member and replaced the air filter after the prerun, that’s all it needed after running 500 miles. During the race it was flawless."

Their Falken Tires made the win possible. Jonathan was forced to run one of the toughest sections of the course with no spare tire. While stopped on the course at one of the numerous bottlenecks that developed in the silt, vandals stole their spare tire off the back of the truck. "Not only did they steal the spare but they cut the strap costing us time to repair it when we reached the pits," said Jonathan.

Falken Tires are just one of the great sponsors chosen by Brenthel Industries for their great products but more importantly their strong customer support. "We are doing intense R&D on this truck," says Jonathan. "We rely on our sponsors to respond to our needs during development and Falken Tires, King Shocks, Rigid Industries, Method Race Wheels, CBM Motorsports, Rancho Performance Transmissions and Jamar Performance Products have all worked closely with us to improve the truck. Don at Jamar made two trips back to the shop for parts to increase our brake pressure before the 500 and has even more mods in mind build more pressure."

In only a few short months, this same Spec TT truck from Brenthel Industries has run over 3,000 race miles and was rolled a couple times with no significant damage, earning Jonathan the nickname of "Crash". Despite the accelerated pace of development it continues to get faster every race. They reached the podium at the Silver State 300 and have now taken a huge victory at the Baja 500. 
via marathonrally.com

1964 FERRARI 250 LM BY SCAGLIETTI

As far as I’m concerned, the Ferrari 250 LM by Scaglietti is the single most beautiful Ferrari of all time. Some will disagree with this, preferring Enzo’s front engined models but the mid-engined 250 LM was a precursor of Ferraris to come, as well as the last Ferrari to win at Le Mans.

Based on the Ferrari P (for “prototype”), the 250 LM was intended to be homologated as a GT car by the FIA, then raced in the GT class at Le Mans. A minimum of 100 units had to be built for homologation and Enzo was about 70% short of this target, as a result the FIA refused to homologate the model – forcing it to race in the much quicker “prototype” category.

The North American Racing Team (NART) bought, prepared and entered a Ferrari 250 LM in the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was driven by the dream team of  Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory and despite being entered into the far more competitive Prototype Class, the men landed the mid-engined V12 on the top spot of the podium.

Ferrari clients could order a hand-built 250 LM and a small number did, the cars weren’t designed to be all that comfortable and Ferrari’s “official” GT cars were far more suitable for prolonged use on the road. As a result of this, only 32 250 LMs were built - making them rare and highly sought after by collectors, a recent auction saw one sell for $14.5 million USD.

The beautifully presented Ferrari 250 LM you see here is due to be offered at the Monterey Auction on the 15th of August 2014, it’s in immaculate condition throughout, so you can be your bottom dollar that it’ll sell for a price high enough to raise the eyebrow of even the most most wealthy of collectors.

Click here to read more via RM Auctions.

Photo Credits: Pawel Litwinski ©2014 Courtesy of RM Auctions via SILODROME

TT Assen - Pourquoi le samedi ? / TT Assen’s unique status as only round to host Saturday racing

L’Iveco Daily TT Assen est un évènement particulier dans le calendrier MotoGP™ puisqu’il s’agit du seul Grand Prix dont les courses ont lieu le samedi plutôt que le dimanche. Les raisons de cette particularité remontent à la première moitié du 20e siècle.

Assen est aussi le seul rendez-vous qui ait figuré sur le calendrier des Grands Prix chaque année depuis la première édition du Championnat du Monde en 1949. Bien avant ça, le premier Grand Prix des Pays-bas eut lieu un samedi, en 1925.

« Le premier Dutch TT eut lieu en 1925, mais pas à Assen, » explique Egbert Braakman, Secrétaire de Course à Assen de 1970 à 2006. « C’était dans un village nommé Rolde, à sept kilomètres à l’est d’Assen. »

« La raison pour laquelle les courses avaient lieu le samedi était qu’il y avait une église à proximité de la ligne de départ/arrivée. Le conseil municipal ne voulait pas d’une situation où les gens qui souhaiteraient aller à la messe le dimanche ne puissent pas le faire en raison de routes fermées pour la course. C’est pour ça que la course a lieu le samedi. Ça a marché et nous avons donc maintenu le samedi. C’est maintenant une véritable tradition d’avoir le Grand Prix le samedi mais toutes les autres courses au circuit ont lieu le dimanche. »

La tradition allait cependant se poursuivre durant des décennies, à la plus grande joie des spectateurs venant de l'étranger.

« Dans les années 1970 et 1980, nous avions beaucoup de spectateurs venant de Scandinavie et du Nord de l’Allemagne, » continue Braakman. « A cette époque, nous avions aussi la ‘Speed Week’, qui commençait avec le Championnat d’Europe les lundi et mardi et continuait avec le Grand Prix le reste de la semaine. Beaucoup de spectateurs restaient donc toute la semaine, au camping ou non. La plupart arrivaient le dimanche et restaient toute la semaine. Ils rentraient ensuite chez eux le dimanche et avaient donc toute une journée pour leur voyage avant de reprendre le travail le lundi matin ! »

En 2013, le TT Assen fut remporté par Valentino Rossi. Il s’agissait de la 80e victoire de l’Italien en catégorie reine.

The Iveco Daily TT Assen is unique on the MotoGP™ calendar in that it is the only Grand Prix at which races take place on a Saturday, as opposed to the usual Sunday. The reason for this stems back to midway through the first half of the 20th century.

Also, Assen is the only venue on the calendar to have hosted a Grand Prix every single season since the World Championship was inaugurated in 1949. Furthermore, the Dutch Grand Prix event itself was first hosted on a Saturday, in 1925.

"In 1925 was the first Dutch TT, but not at Assen," explains Egbert Braakman, who was the Race Secretary at Assen between 1970 and 2006. "It was in a village called Rolde, seven kilometres east of Assen."

"The reason why it was on the Saturday is that the church was near to the start/finish area. The town council didn’t want to have a situation in which people who wanted to go to church on a Sunday could not, as all of the roads were closed for the race. That is the reason the race was staged on the Saturday. That proved a success, so we continued to do it on the Saturday. It is now a real tradition to have the Grand Prix on the Saturday, but all other races at the circuit on a Sunday."

However, this tradition would continue to benefit fans for decades to come.

"In the 1970s and 80s, we had a lot of spectators from Scandinavia and the northern part of Germany," Braakman continues. "At that time we also had the so-called ‘Speed Week’, starting with the European Championship on Monday and Tuesday followed by the Grand Prix for the rest of the week. Many spectators would therefore stay here for a week, at campsites and so on. Most arrived on Sunday and would stay for the whole week. They would then go back home on the following Sunday, allowing them a full day to travel in order to go back to work on Monday morning!"

Assen has hosted a Grand Prix every year since 1925, with the exception of the six from 1940 to 1945 because of the Second World War.

In 2013, the legendary TT Assen was won by Valentino Rossi: an 80th premier class victory for ‘The Doctor’.

Message sur le mur by MotoGP.