Ogier mène à la mi-temps

A mi-championnat 2014, Sébastien Ogier mène le classement Pilotes avec 50 points d’avance sur Jari-Matti Latvala. Volkswagen Motorsport est leader du championnat Constructeurs avec 147 points d’avance sur Citroën-Total Abu Dhabi WRT.

Il y a un an, après la 7^e manche du championnat 2013, Sébastien Ogier comptait quatre victoires bonifiées (28 points) et 64 points d’avance au championnat sur Jari-Matti Latvala. Au lendemain du Rally Poland 2014, le Français a remporté cinq victoires dont trois maxi bonifiées et compte 50 points d’avance sur le Finlandais.

Avec l’équivalent de deux victoires d’avance, on peut dire que Seb Ogier a fait le break au championnat à l’issue du Rally Poland où il fut accroché par un autre de ses équipiers, Andreas Mikkelsen. Le Norvégien avait bien préparé son affaire et entendait profiter de la découverte du parcours de l’ensemble des pilotes pour faire un coup.

Mais l’expérience du Français a payé. Samedi matin au départ de l’étape, Seb Ogier avait l’œil du tigre. « On va bien voir s’il m’en met aujourd’hui » avait-il murmuré en s’installant dans sa Polo R WRC. Les deux hommes sont partis sur un rythme sans doute trop élevé dans l’ES12, très piégeuse, et le champion du monde s’en est le mieux sorti. Ensuite, Andreas a lâché prise peu à peu pour assurer sa 2^e place, son meilleur résultat depuis la Suède. Seb Ogier en avait encore sous le pied et a arraché trois points supplémentaires dans la Power Stage.

Sur un parcours ultra rapide, il fut étonnant de voir les Finlandais Jari-Matti Latvala et Mikko Hirvonen en difficulté en début de course. Jari-Matti a réagi le lendemain, alors que le pilote Ford n’a pas su hausser le rythme. Jari-Matti avait le podium en ligne de mire avant de rechuter au classement (amortisseur), puis de revenir dans la bagarre pour la 3^e place. Bref, une course en dents-de-scie pour le Finlandais qui échoue finalement à 7/10^e de son compatriote Hirvonen auteur d’une prestation plus régulière.

Sans cette fameuse pierre cachée dans les hautes herbes (ES14), Mads Ostberg (Citroën) aurait pu prétendre à un nouveau podium. Il était même revenu à 9s6 de Mikkelsen. Partis très vite, Kris Meeke et Juho Hanninen ont été désavantagés sur les spéciales creusées de Lituanie et ont progressivement rétrogradé au classement. Thierry Neuville a quant à lui connu une progression constante au fil des spéciales pour finir sur le podium après avoir défendu farouchement sa position dimanche matin.

Côté Constructeurs, Volkswagen Motorsport compte 147 points d’avance sur Citroën-Total Abu Dhabi WRT, contre 46 en 2013 à pareille époque. Le constructeur allemand pourrait être titré dès cet été, au Rallye d’Allemagne par exemple… Les tests asphalte de la Polo R WRC/Michelin débutent le week-end prochain.

‘79 Honda CX500 – JMR Customs

via PIPEBURN

‘Plastic Maggots’ they called them. And all for an unassuming little fairing that some ‘genius’ decided didn’t suit their tastes. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water. Thirty five years later and the Honda CX series’ full potential is only just being realised. With a bullet-proof v-twin, shaft drive, liquid cooling and failsafe electrical system, this is a bike that oozes potential. Just ask they boys who used the bike to take the 500cc pushrod record at Bonneville. Them, and the very talented Josh Mott of JMR Customs.

“This is my latest creation, a 1979 Honda CX 500 custom,” says Josh. “I’ve always wanted the chance to put my own twist on a CX, so I put the word out around the Boise area and a couple of months later Boise Vintage Cycle unearthed one that they kindly donated to us. The bike was in very rough condition, but like always I do my normal checks. If it has spark and compression then nine times out of ten I can clean the carbs up and get it running. The bike had both and it fired right up.”

As soon as Josh knew he had something to work with, he began coming up with ideas. But not before stripping everything off the bike that he wouldn’t be using. Then he and his dad started brainstorming. “I had been noticing that most everyone building up the CX model had done a low-mount exhaust. The idea was to do 2-into-1 pipes and have it exit out the center of the rear fender right above the wheel. I was able to have them come straight back and connect right in the center of the rear wheel. The rear fender I made around the exhaust in 3 sections of 16 gauge steel.” He also made the seat out of fibreglass - remarkably, it was his first time working with the material and he managed to impress himself with the end product.

By building the exhaust up through the centre of the bike, Josh had the added task of relocating the wiring, battery, CDI, and the regulator/rectifier. Unsurprisingly, the only place he had room to place them was underneath the motor. Accordingly, he built a battery box that he could mount all of it components inside cleanly; the wiring now runs down the frame in between the carbs and neatly into the battery box.

The headlight assembly was all hand-made with the headlight itself coming off of a XS650 Yamaha. Josh wanted to make a cool-looking dash and headlight bucket all in one piece, so the speedo, tacho, temperature gauge, choke, and ignition switch are all mounted onto the dash itself. And the hat tip to the original ‘plastic maggot’ fairing has not gone un-noticed… at least here in the Pipeburn offices.

“After most of the chassis was mocked up, I noticed the stock suspension and triple clamps made the bike look slightly like a chopper with its uphill stance. The stock triple clamps raised the stance 1 inch. So I found a set of CL360 clamps that (surprisingly) fit the frame with no modifications and it dropped the bike by 1 inch. It helped, but it still was not where I wanted it. I then shortened the forks 1 inch from the inside and installed 1 inch longer eye to eye shocks on the rear. By doing this, it gave the bike a great ‘bulldog’ look and made it look nice and level.”

The wheels were something that Josh took a chance on. He pre-drill holes 2 inches apart all the way around the wheel, powder coated them black, and then drilled them again for a highlighted look. With the white wall Shinko 777s, we think they came out pretty damn nice.

“Everything on the bike was done in-house, except the powder coat and upholstery. The paint credit goes to my dad, Randy Mott, and the photo credit goes to my girlfriend, Kate Robbins. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch.”

Don't blink! What not to miss at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014

One of our biggest challenges of the year is choosing what to include in our Goodwood Festival of Speed preview, such is the sheer wealth of entertainment on offer throughout the weekend. Here is this year’s attempt to narrow down our highlights into a ‘what not to miss’ at Goodwood guide...

Star cars

Where do we start? Well, before paying tribute to your favourite machines of yore, you might want to catch your first glimpse of their latest descendants. This year’s Festival debutants includeJaguar’s limited-production Project 7, the race-inspired Bentley Continental GT3-R, Morgan’s retro-tastic Plus 8 Speedster and the Aston Martin DP-100 concept, the latest in a series of ‘Visions’ made for the Gran Turismo video game. There’s also a new McLaren 650S by McLaren Special Operations, and a UK debut for the Maserati Alfieri and Centennial Editions. Visitors will also witness the first public coming-together of the LaFerrari, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder andKoenigsegg One:1 – a long-awaited battle made more exciting by the fact that the Supercar Run will be timed this year.

As well as watching the countless classic and historic racing cars giving their legs a rare stretch by bombing up the hill, you’ll also be able to acquire your own – should your bidding nouse outwit that of the others at the Bonhams auction, that is. Sale highlights include the ex-Graham Hill Lotus 49B, an ex-Works Ferrari 375-Plus and one of the rare Aston Martin ‘Ulsters’.

Anniversaries in abundance

Almost every event in this year’s calendar honours Maserati’s centenary in one way or another, and Goodwood will be doing this in the grandest manner possible: no fewer than 20 important cars from the storied manufacturer will climb the hill, with a class all to themselves. Other milestones to be celebrated include 60 years of the Jaguar D-type, 50 years of nail-biting racing at Goodwood from Derek Bell, and 120 years of Mercedes Racing – the latter marked not only by way of the centrepiece sculpture, but also the 18 cars being flown from the museum.

Historic heroes

With all these potent (and often priceless) machines storming up the hill, there will be plenty of professionals trying to ensure they remain on the narrow, ribbon-like asphalt. Derek Bell will celebrate his Goodwood golden jubilee by piloting a Bentley Continental GT V8 S. Meanwhile, John Surtees OBE will complete a tandem display with Kimi Räikkönen, both in their respective Championship-winning Ferraris. Other racing legends in action include Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Stirling Moss, Emerson Fittipaldi, Damon Hill and Brian Redman, the latter of whom will be reunited with his Porsche 917 (albeit with period-altered bodywork). They’ll be joined by many of their modern-day F1 successors.

Oddities and rarities

If your motoring preferences are a little more... ‘style conscious’, the Cartier Style et Luxe display will be a priority destination. Now in its 20th year, the unmissable pageant again promises a “definitive celebration of fine automotive design” which, in previous years, has meant a fair few curiosities finding their way onto the lawn. This year will see dedicated classes for both 1950s Maserati GTs (with entrants bodied by Pininfarina, Zagato, Frua and Allemano) and a Mad Men-inspired group of ‘aspirational’ American two-seaters. There’ll no doubt be plenty of head-turning machines elsewhere, including the Maserati Tipo 151/3 – better-known as ‘the other Breadvan’ that was last seen (unpainted) at the 2012 Revival.

Beyond four wheels

As if there weren’t already enough cars to have you buzzing around all weekend, there will also be bikes, planes, helicopters – and goodness knows what else Lord March has in store. On the two-wheeled front, Giacomo Agostini will be showing off the talents that have made him the most successful GP racer ever. In the air, the Red Arrows will commemorate their 50th anniversary with a new sequence for the ever-engaging acrobatic display, as well as a new tailfin design.

The last remaining Avro Vulcan jet will also be in action, having undergone a revision to its wings that will keep it from being decommissioned for at least two more years – a £400,000 operation funded entirely by supporters. Thankful chief pilot Martin Withers has promised them and the other Festival attendees a spectacle in return: “I’ll turn her on her side and fly up Lord March’s drive, then ease the throttles up to 90 per cent to make her Olympus engines howl as we climb out.” To us, that alone sounds like reason enough for the trip to Chichester.

Photos: Classic Driver/Goodwood

Fancy a free ticket next year? There are plenty of Goodwood invitation-worthy cars for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

‘64 Bultaco Mercurio – The Gas Department

Sure, Café racers are great. But you can’t deny that they are also very, well, they are very British. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; some of our best friends are English. But what if you wanted to build a bike that was true to your own roots, and not those of some leather-clad Pommies who lived a world away and an age ago? What if you wanted to take the essence of the scene and then put your own spin on things? If you were from sunny España, you’d start with a Bultaco, add a cup of café solo and maybe go for a little raza around the autopista. Which coincidentally is exactly what Bacelona’s Gas Department has just done. And they’ve also created a bike which we think is probably the best-looking Bultaco we’ve ever seen. Here’s their ‘Summer Night’ café racer.

“Most people look and don’t see,” says The Gas Department’s Dani Ebo. “They restrict their view to the fashionable image, the trending topic, the easy initial impression and the first glance. Here at Gas Department, we want to feel our work, respect the origins, improve the past, open up a new path and bring back to life the heritage from our projects.”

These fine Spanish lads say that they had always wanted to design something like this - some streamlined beauty to portray their history and the passion for motorcycles they experienced from their youth and their parents. “We hunted for a motorcycle capable to represent us. Since we live in Barcelona, Spain, an original Bultaco would do the trick. Bultaco was founded in Barcelona in 1958, and they produced several models until 1983. Mostly known by their off-road machines, there were a few sport models and even several racing world championships.”

Low and behold, they found this 1964 Bultaco Mercurio 155 at a friend’s garage. Some searching, pictures, Photoshop and a few beers later, the final design was done. Once they had it on the lift at the workshop, they realised that there wasn’t too many parts that would need to be made or found to get what they wanted out of the bike.

“The main lines of our design resembled a lot those from the most famous Bultaco, the Tralla, and one of its racing versions, the Tralla Super Sport, or TSS. In order to embody the spirit of this bike, we decided to replace the gas tank with one from the old TSS racing bike and surround the tail section within a bespoke rear cowl made a little more rounded than the TSS original.”

“As we didn’t want to spoil the round shape of the tail, nor the flowing looks of the whole tank-tail combination, the rear light was deeply sunk into the rear cowl. The extra long tank is held in place thanks to a gorgeous leather belt. Made out from the same leather used for the seat, it is directly bolted to the frame just in front and behind the tank. Xtrim Seats manufactured both the seat and the leather belt for the tank.”

It goes without saying that the new single-seater needed a nice, new pair of racing footrests. Surprisingly, these were made from Yamaha R1 stock parts, but with new bearings and fancy stainless levers added. This achieved that light racing look without losing the old-time appeal the boys were after. The exhaust had to be shorter too, but all the internals were saved and fitted to the shortened can so as not to alter the bike’s rather sweet two-stroke performance.

Being an old smoker, the engine took a lot of reconditioning work; inside it was fitted with new bearings, gaskets and rings. Outside it was blasted, polished, and also painted. The brakes remain unaltered though thoroughly refreshed. A similar treatment was given to the front forks, which now have their lovely springs on display. The rear shocks come from a Virago cruiser; they had the exact height needed, plus they provided a great improvement in the bike’s roadholding.

Then the only task left was the paint. Once cut and polished, the chosen colour gently recalls the 60′s, but the subtle pin-striping also manages to add some unexpected pep and sprite to the bike’s tobacco brown retro-ness. Lovely.

via PIPEBURN