original ....Edwin at Wheels & Waves 2014

PIKES PEAK WITH PER EKLUND

Per Eklund is a racing driver that has enjoyed an extraordinary career racing in both WRC Rally and European Rallycross, he’s still racing today after having started his professional career in 1971 – which I’m sure must be recorded somewhere as the longest professional career for a racing driver.

This film covers Eklund’s record attempt at Pikes Peak – it’s an extraordinary hour long film that shows the bootstrap-level effort that went into the run. The film is also remarkable because it contains one of my favourite motor racing quotes of all time.

“Our goal is to build a car with as much horsepower as we can get, with as little weight as we can get. We don’t need to make it crash proof, if you drive off the cliff you will not land again.”

DTM : NÜRBURGRING – INTOUCHABLE WITTMANN !

 par Thomas Criqui

Marco Wittmann (BMW team RMG) a signé sa quatrième – et sans doute plus importante – victoire de la saison ce dimanche, au Nürburgring, et touche presque du doigt le trophée de champion qui devrait lui revenir en fin de saison. Mike Rockenfeller (Audi Sport team Phoenix), longtemps distancé, a tout tenté mais échoue de peu derrière son compatriote. Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport team Abt), en lutte avec les Mercedes durant toute la course, complète le podium. Résumé :

Facile poleman la veille, Marco Wittmann n’avait qu’à prendre un bon départ pour maîtriser la course. Si le leader du championnat parvenait à conserver sa position, Edoardo Mortara, lui, voyait Mike Rockenfeller le déposer dans la ligne droite. Un peu plus loin, une première altercation entre pilotes Audi allait mettre à mal la course à Miguel Molina, dont la suspension rompait suite à une friction avec Jamie Green et Timo Scheider.

Décriée deux semaines plus tôt suite à la disqualification de Robert Wickens pour Unsafe Release, la direction de course s’est fait discrète 1h30 durant. Les pilotes l’ont bien remarqué après la bataille un peu trop musclée qui opposait Timo Glock à Gary Paffett, ceux-ci n’étant ni sanctionnés, ni même sous investigation. La 7ème manche de DTM de la saison prenait alors un air de course de stock car, dont Mattias Ekström faisait les frais. Comme son équipier, il était victime d’une rupture de suspension et n’avait d’autre choix que de renoncer.

Quelques boucles plus tard, Robert Wickens se montrait opportuniste et tente de passer Timo Scheider à l’approche du 1er virage. Les deux hommes se touchaient et Timo Scheider partait tout droit, fonçant de plein fouet sur le pauvre Nic Müller. Audi perdait deux voitures supplémentaires et n’était pas au bout de ses peines. En difficulté, Jamie Green se faisait rapidement passer par plusieurs pilotes, dont Augusto Farfus Jr, qui n’hésitait pas à le tasser. Le Britannique répondait au virage suivant et entraînait le dauphin 2013 bien au delà du virage. Là encore, pas de sanction contre l’un ou l’autre.

La course perdait en intensité après une dizaine de tours. Pour la première fois de la saison – voir en deux ans – les pneumatiques option ne semblaient pas aussi performants sur le long terme. Augusto Farfus Jr. se voyait contraint de les enlever dès le tour 19, très rapidement imité par tous les hommes de tête. Dans les stands, Joey Hand ressortait de façon très limite devant Antonio Felix da Costa, mais profitait lui aussi de la clémence des commissaires, aux abonnés absents (et peut-être en congés d’été avant l’heure).

La fin de course voyait Adrien Tambay et Bruno Spengler débuter une folle remontée, finalement stoppée par Robert Wickens. Seule la première place, qui semblait pourtant acquise à Marco Wittmann dès les premiers tours, restait encore à définir. En effet, Mike Rockenfeller grappillait dixièmes sur dixièmes et se retrouvait finalement dans la fenêtre du DRS à deux tours du but. En vain, puisque son probable successeur franchissait finalement la ligner d’arrivée avec 1,2 seconde d’avance. Edoardo Mortara, en lutte avec Paul di Resta et Daniel Juncadella durant 40 tours, s’offrait quant à lui un nouveau podium.

Paul di Resta ralliait l’arrivée en 4ème position, devant Daniel Juncadella, Christian Vietoris, Maxime Martin, Martin Tomczyk, Robert Wickens et Pascal Wehrlein. Adrien Tambay échouait finalement à la porte des points, en 11ème position.

A day with Shinya Kimura

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We recently travelled 7,530 miles from Sydney to California to race in the Hell on Wheels MC Rally. It’s a long way to go for a day of dirt bike racing, so we arranged to meet a few of our favourite bike builders along the way. Number one on our list was Mr Shinya Kimura. For motorcycle aficionados, he probably doesn’t need an introduction but for those who haven’t heard of him, he started Zero Engineering back in Tokyo in the early 90’s. He then left Zero and moved out to California and started Chabott Engineering. Shinya has a truly unique style, building stripped back, bare metal, works of rolling art. Each bike he builds takes around 6 months, so usually only builds 2 bikes a year.

When we arrived at Chabott Engineering in the foothills of Azusa, it was like walking into a motorcycle museum. Everywhere you looked, there were jaw dropping machines and motorcycle artifacts. Everything felt like it just belonged, as though some thought had gone into its placement. Like pages torn out of a 1975 Cycle World magazine, sitting next to a vintage trophy and a well used set of old school wrenches.

We were greeted by Ayu – Shinya’s smiling wife – who walked us through to meet the man himself. She explained he was working on his Knucklehead, getting it ready to race for a land speed record at El Mirage on the weekend. We nodded and kept on drooling as we continued to look around in awe at all the amazing bikes and collectables.

The next hour flew by as we just walked around his shop taking photos – like big kids in a candy store. If this wasn’t motorcycle heaven, it was at least God’s garage.

It’s probably no surprise to tell you that Shinya is a really humble guy. You won’t hear him talking about himself, or the bikes he has built for guys like Brad Pitt. Actually, you won’t hear him talk much at all. So we sat back and just watched him in his element as he worked away. He had blown the casing on his 1946 Knucklehead he calls ‘Spike’, and was welding the broken pieces together for his big race.

We mentioned to Shinya that we were on our way to Hell on Wheels MC but the bikes we had been promised were still in a container coming back from Hell on Wheels Japan. It was a major set back to travel all this way and now faced the likelihood of not being able to ride in the rally. Looking around his garage I joked that “maybe we should borrow one of his bikes…” I thought he would laugh at the absurd remark. But after thinking about it for a bit, he turned to me and said: “I have a bike you could borrow.”

My eyes lit up, before I did another quick scan around his workshop. All I could see were hand built machines that he spends months building and probably sells for $100,000 upwards.

“Not in here” he says. Almost reading my mind, like the zen master he is. “In another garage”. So we walked a few garages down. He lifts the large doors to reveal a sea of bikes, in all different conditions, shapes and sizes. My eyes were now darting around at all these amazing bikes wondering which one he was going to lend us. Having just been offered a bike by Shinya to race, we would have been stoked with a Honda Monkey. Then Shinya points to a pretty little red Honda SL100 at the back. “This one” he says. “It goes well”. We had a bike and she was a beauty. So we went to work prepping it in Shinya’s workshop of all places. We pulled off the stock pipe and Shinya found a straight through pipe that looked and sounded more our style. We then removed the lights and everything else that might be broken on an mx track.

The day had gone fast and it was time to hit the road. So we loaded our new prized possession in our $19.95 a day U-Haul van and headed out to Milestone MX Park. Promising Shinya we would return his much loved SL in a few days – and hopefully in one piece!

We did return a few days later with a Hell on Wheels trophy in hand. Andy Baker received a 2^nd place in the 100cc and under class, channeling the spirit of Shinya in the final and pushing the SL to new limits.

Shinya didn’t do as well as he had hoped at El Mirage. He blew a gasket in his first race attempting a land speed record, and that ended his day. Luckily we caught up with him just before he left and got a couple of photographs of him and his El Camino with his Knucklehead in the back. Unfortunately, his van had broken down that morning, so it wasn’t the best day for him. But that didn’t stop him smiling.

It was an amazing experience meeting Shinya. To watch this master at work. And then to actually be able to work along side him on a bike – albeit it a Honda SL100. It was one of those days that even now seems like a dream. A day that years from now will still leave us grinning like fools when ever we think about it. This day alone was worth travelling 7000 miles for.

[Photography by Andy Baker]

Shinya test riding the SL100 he lent us.

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