belle carrosserie

ERC : La rentrée à Zlin / action to resume in Zlin

Après une pause estivale d’un mois, le Championnat d’Europe des Rallyes FIA reprend en République Tchèque ce week-end où Craig Breen, Kevin Abbring, Ott Tanak, Esapekka Lappi, Kajetan Kajetanowicz défieront les meilleurs pilotes tchèques sur les routes rapides du Barum Rally Zlin.

Voilà dix ans que le Championnat d’Europe des Rallyes FIA séjourne à Zlin, en République Tchèque, à la fin du mois d’août. Le Barum Czech Rally Zlin est sans doute l’une des épreuves les plus rythmées de la saison avec des spéciales vallonnées entre prairies et forêts, techniques et rapides tracées sur des routes au revêtement parfois dégradé.

Quinze spéciales (237,33 km) sont au programme de cette 44^e édition qui s’élancera demain vendredi avec les essais et la Qualifying Stage (4,44 km) le matin, puis la traditionnelle Superspéciale nocturne dans les rues de Zlin (9,51 km). Ensuite, les pilotes disputeront les grandes classiques de cette épreuve : Trojak (22,82 km), Pindula (18,43 km) ou encore Kudlovice (21,41 km). L’arrivée sera jugée dimanche après-midi à Zlin.

Cette 44^e édition s’annonce très ouverte. Encore une fois, le Barum Czech Rally Zlin a attiré un plateau exceptionnel. A domicile, les pilotes tchèques sont de redoutables concurrents, comme Vaclav Pech (Mini S2000), Roman Kresta (Skoda Fabia S2000), Tomas Kostka (Ford Fiesta R5), Jaromir Tarabus (Skoda Fabia S2000) ou encore Pavel Valousek (Skoda Fabia S2000).

Ils donneront du fil à retordre aux habitués du championnat, eux aussi tous présents à Zlin : les pilotes officiels Skoda Motorsport Esapekka Lappi et Sepp Wiegand, les pilotes Peugeot Rally Academy Craig Breen et Kevin Abbring (Peugeot 208 T16), l’Estonien Ott Tanak (Ford Fiesta R5), le Polonais Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Ford Fiesta R5), le Portugais Bruno Magalhaes (Peugeot 208 T16) ou encore l’Irlandais Robert Barrable (Ford Fiesta R5) et le Britannique Mark Higgins qui fera débuter la nouvelle Subaru Impreza JRM.

On s’attend aussi à une belle bagarre en catégorie Junior avec 13 concurrents engagés. A domicile, le Tchèque Jan Cerny arrive en leader devant Stéphane Lefebvre, en tête du championnat Junior en WRC. Changement de monture pour le prometteur Chris Ingram qui débutera au volant d’une Peugeot 208 R2/Michelin.

Les cinq dernières éditions ont été remportées par le constructeur tchèque Skoda. Jan Kopecky, champion d’Europe en titre, s’est imposé à quatre reprises sur ce rallye. Il sera d’ailleurs à Zlin ce week-end, au volant d’une voiture ouvreuse équipée du moteur de la future Fabia R5. Michelin est invaincu au Barum Czech Rally Zlin depuis 2007. Ce week-end, le manufacturier de pneumatiques français propose à ses partenaires sa gamme de produits asphalte « Compétition-Client » Pilot Sport (R31, R21, R11 et R01).

Following a one-month summer break, the 2014 FIA European Rally Championship resumes this weekend in the Czech Republic where Craig Breen, Kevin Abbring, Ott Tanak, Esapekka Lappi and Kajetan Kajetanowicz will join battle with the local experts on the fast stages of the Barum Czech Rally Zlin.

The Czech round has been a late-August fixture for 10 years now and stands out through the rhythm of its fast, demanding stages which visit the region’s undulating prairieland and forests on occasionally poor quality asphalt.

This year’s menu features 15 stages totalling 237.33km, and action kicks off with Friday morning’s Qualifying Stage (4.44km), followed by the traditional super-special the same evening in the streets of Zlin (9.51km). Over the weekend, competitors will face the rally’s classic tests, namely Trojak (22.82km), Pindula (18.43km) and Kudlovice (21.41km), before Sunday afternoon’s finish in Zlin.

The 2014 Barum Czech Rally Zlin has attracted an outstanding entry, including an impressive list of local specialists, such as Vaclav Pech (Mini S2000), Roman Kresta (Skoda Fabia S2000), Tomas Kostka (Ford Fiesta R5), Jaromir Tarabus (Skoda Fabia S2000) and Pavel Valousek (Skoda Fabia S2000).

These drivers are likely to push the full contingent of ERC regulars extremely hard. The ranks of the latter feature Skoda Motorsport stars Esapekka Lappi and Sepp Wiegand, the Peugeot Rally Academy’s Craig Breen and Kevin Abbring (Peugeot 208 T16), Estonian Ott Tanak (Ford Fiesta R5), Pole Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Ford Fiesta R5), Portugal’s Bruno Magalhaes (Peugeot 208 T16), Irishman Robert Barrable (Ford Fiesta R5) and Briton Mark Higgins who will be giving JRM’s new Subaru Impreza its first competitive run.

An equally exciting scrap can be expected in the Junior class where the 13-strong field will be led by home-grown Jan Cerny who provisionally tops the standings, along with the Junior WRC’s pace-setter Stéphane Lefebvre. Meanwhile, the promising Chris Ingram has switched to a Peugeot 208 R2/Michelin.

Skoda has won the last five visits to Zlin and the European champion Jan Kopecky – who will be driving a ‘zero’ car powered by the engine of the upcoming Fabia R5 – has won the rally four times. Michelin is unbeaten on the Czech event since 2007 and users of the French firm’s products will be able to choose from the R31, R21, R11 and R01 versions of the Pilot Sport asphalt tyre.

MARC’S HUSCATI

A modern Café Racer will always divide opinion, much like many of the bikes that we feature, but what we hear more often is ‘well that’s not very practical’ and ‘you’ve gone for form over function’… and yes, that is often what custom bikes are all about, but this build is about function, purpose, ability and it just so happens that it does all that with style too.

This bike started off as Husqvarna Nuda 900R and was a press launch bike, and that’s the important bit here, due to being a press launch bike it is the R version, giving the standard bike fully adjustable Sachs forks and a swanky Ohlins rear shock. During the launch the bike was ridden by the wrong person and thrown down the road, so all of a sudden there was a brand new R version Nuda up for grabs and Marc seized the opportunity to get his perfect donor, the road tester had done a great job of damaging the bits that were not required and making the donor affordable; I wonder if Marc knew that road tester!

Marc is no stranger to us and his last build was a lovely little SR500 with all the right bits on it, his ethos back then was to create a bike that weighed as little as possible and handled as well as possible, and he still has that ethos with this build, but in addition he wanted 100% reliability, which is often one of the first things we sacrifice in this scene, of course we want our machines to be reliable, but deep down we don’t expect it and when they do break down, we’re seldom surprised!

Marc has done a bit of racing, firstly on MZ’s; the perfect school for learning how to fix a bike; as the paddock probably had more rebuilds taking place than any other series, then he went onto the more reliable SV’s, so it’s the racer in him that desires the stripped weight and better handling… and the reliability comes from having a greater desire to ride than repair, and amen to that!

So onto what makes this bike different and how come she’s called the Huscati! Well, for those paying attention, you may recall I mentioned the R version comes with fully adjustable Sachs forks and Ohlins rear shock, this Husky; in café setup wears the front end from a shiny Ducati 1198s, complete with light weight Marchesini front wheel and Brembo M4 calipers, this isn’t because the Sachs were ruined by the aforementioned tester, but because Marc wanted to match the rear shock and improve the front end, I say if you have a front end from an 1198s kicking around; use it, they look the business and work brilliantly. Yet the original front end is still used, Marc has gone for building a bike to fulfil all his needs, it is only in the above photo that we show you her in her café setup, the other setup is what Marc calls the Roadster, and he can swap between this and the café setup in about 30 minutes,

Further proof of Marc’s desire to use top notch parts is echoed with the LSL tank, seat and rear sets, none of which were available to the public when he got his hands on them, his SR500 build had been observed by LSL MD and he was so impressed that Marc jumped the production queue. The tank strap was made by local Brighton firm Born+Bred. When in Café form she has carbon fibre clip-ons, and is always dressed with red Venhill brake lines paired to Rizoma reservoirs. Billet alloy indicators nestle nicely into the trellis frame and a full Arrow exhaust system allows her to flow smoother and sound define. Paintwork has been done by one of our favourite custom painters, D, from D-Lucks; also down in Brighton. It had a metal flake, imported from America mixed to the chrome paint, and then she has real gold leaf, black and red for the Pin Stripes, within the tanks knee wedges she wears Marcs old race number, 77 in a matt shadow effect.

Next up from Marc will be a GS550 Brat style bike which he’s calling the “Trackbrat” which has got some serious trick parts and he hopes will feature on thebikeshed.cc pretty soon, as do we. His next project will be to turn a brand new Yamaha MT-07 into a cafe racer – this another parallel twin which has the potential to make a very good little street racer.

We look forward to seeing more from Marc, undoubtedly one of our most talented shed builders.

via The Bike Shed

Demons Don't Sleep - Troy Elmore

Huntington Beach, California, another day in paradise, another night to let the demons speak.
The horizon is just one black mass, and the breeze that hits us in the face is like a draught coming through the gates of hell that the devil himself has just opened. Leaning against the front of the local liquor store, Troy Elmore is but a shadow. The neon lights toy with his silhouette. At only 23, he is one of the anti-heroes, born and bred in the USA as most of them are, bringing a heavy dose of spunk and demons to a surf industry, which continues to make money by selling dreams.
French photographer & Desillusion Magazine editor in chief, Sebastien Zanella spent an all night session walking around the city to hear the confessions of one of the most stylish longboarders of our time.

Demons Don't Sleep - Troy Elmore from Desillusion Magazine on Vimeo.

Troy Elmore is supported by Vans

This short film is based on the article “Up all night, got demons to fight” published in Desillusion Magazine 45 , Tome 1 available ontiny.cc/sj8ofx