Spa 6h .

par Fabrice Bergenhuizen

Si l’édition 2014 des Spa Six Hours, bien que disputée dans des conditions pour le moins variables, a généré un spectacle d’anthologie, les 11 courses annexes à l’affiche ne furent pas en reste.

Parmi celles-ci, l’épreuve réservée aux Masters Touring Cars a valu son pesant d’or. Programmée le dimanche en début d’après-midi et ce sur une piste rendue piégeuse par la pluie, elle fut marquée par l’envol plutôt viril de la Ford Escort MK1 RS2000 de Daniel et Sean Brown, laquelle faisait l’intérieur au pied du raidillon à la détentrice de la pole position, en l’occurrence la bestiale Vauxhall Firenza de Ward-Bronson.

En dépit d’une attaque de tous les instants Daniel et Sean Brown ne parvenaient toutefois pas à conserver le leadership et devaient, au bout d’une heure de course riche en figure de style, abdiquer face à une autre Ford, à savoir la Capri 3.0 de l’excellent Stephen Dance.

Le podium était complété par la Porsche 911 RSR de Mark Bates, laquelle devançait la sublissime Jaguar XJ12 de Paul Pochciol et Jeremy Welch et la monstrueuse Vauxhall Firenza de Ward-Bronson.

Datant de 1959, la superbe Aston Martin DB4 Lightweight de Nicholas King et Tony Worthington décrochait une splendide 6^e position, précédant de peu l’…Aston Martin DB4 de Matt Le Breton et Jamie Campbell-Walter, pourtant pénalisée de 20 secondes pour avoir effectué son Pit Stop en dehors de la fenêtre de ravitaillement.

De son côté, Roger Wills jouait les équilibristes afin de hisser son imposante Mercury Comet Cyclone au 11^e rang, devançant de peu l’Austin Healey 3000 du Français Emmanuel Toulisse, victorieuse en classe GT devant la voiture sœur d’Eric Perou et Bernard Bucher.

Quant à Laurent Majou, il imposait son Austin Mini Cooper S en classe THD tout en se classant excellent 19^e du général.

Précisons que Stephen Dance et sa Ford Capri s’étaient déjà illustrés au préalable en se classant 2^e de la course du British Sports – GT & Saloon Challenge et ce avec 5 petits dixièmes de seconde de retard sur la RAM Cobra de Lim-James. La 3^e marche du podium revenant à l’…Aston Martin de Le Breton-Campbell Walter devant la Ford Escort MK1 de Brown-Brown, lesquelles, à l’instar de la Capri de Dance, étaient inscrites dans les deux séries.

Pour conclure avec les courses réservées aux voitures de tourisme, saluons l’insolente domination de l’Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint d’Alex Furiani en U2TC.

Le classement est ici

URBAN RIDER’S R80

Urban Rider on the New Kings Road in London is a den of motorcycle treasures; gloves, lids and leathers adorn the showroom in a manner befitting of its lofty address. They also cater for the commuter scooter crowd, but if you spend a few minutes chatting with proprietors Will or Andrew you soon realise that it is the geared machines that get their hearts pumping. Not content with merely supplying you with the best gear, the guys branched out and now design and build the bikes to ferry their fine wares about town.

One of their early CL400 Street Scramblers (based on the rare Japanese import) stole hearts at the very first BSMC event back in May 2013. The Urban Rider team have continued to build and refine their signature little Hondas whilst adding a Bonneville model to their repertoire. Now they present this lovely Boxer scrambler, a bike they assure us is but a one off, built by resident mechanic Len to sate his “soft spot” for the marque.

Len came across the R80 on ebay, it was the common story of a half finished project in need of a new owner with the drive and skill to fulfil the machines ambitions. He had owned many of the Bavarian twins over the years and runs a modern GS among his current fleet. This build was about getting the desire to customise a Beemer out of his system as oppose to launching Urban Rider into the highly competitive pro built BMW market.

“Everyone at the store pitched in with ideas but Len’s vision for the bike was clean, smooth lines and understated style.” To this end Len set about the bike with his angle grinder, the frame was de-tabbed and sent for powder coated along with the wheels, forks and swing arm. The engine was rebuilt with new valves guides and piston rings, the bores were then honed before it was all put back together using new stainless fasteners throughout. A full rewire keeps things simple and efficient.

The hand formed alloy seat unit was one of the few plus points of the previous owners efforts and along with the tank it received a lustrous,  classic colour combination before being dispatched to Viking Vinyl for a recover. “The paint scheme harks back to the old school BMW era and is meant to look as if were done by BMW themselves”.

The striking race style pipes are a stand out feature, bringing the classic styling bang up to date, “The silencers are GP race bike replicas which where chosen primarily because they look and sound great and we hadn’t seen it done before, the rear sets are generic aftermarket units that we modified to work with our set up.”

Other features include new piggy back shocks, Renthal bars, a Koso digital speedometer, and Biltwell grips

The bike rides on Continental TKC 80s and reportedly handles splendidly, “We have used them on other builds such as the modern Bonneville. They grip very well for an off-road biased tyre. Many BMW GS riders use them on all roads.” As their shop name suggests the team specialise in equipping riders for the no nonsense city environment and that ethos carries through to this highly functional bike that clearly also has the legs to carry you out of town for a sunny photo shoot.

The bike was a fun side project for Len and the team between turning around their CL400 Scramblers at the rate of at least one every six weeks, the last off the line was even fitted with a custom removable ski rack for an Alps dwelling customer. The BMW is now for sale and ready to go from their London Headquarters. We look forward to seeing more of these fun Urban Rider side project bikes as well as more of their staple machines on their Bike Shed page.

HUSQVARNA 510 BY VELOMACCHI

Kevin Murray is a petrolhead with a very interesting day job: he runs a company designing high performance gear for clients like The North Face, Nike, Mammut and Navy SEAL teams.

He’s now set up shop with his own brand, Velomacchi, producing “Everyday Carry for the serious motorcyclist.” In the works are backpacks, tool rolls, iPad and iPhone storage and messenger bags. The vibe is ‘privateer racer’—functional and good value.

It’s a very technical process, so Kevin gets his respite via the more analog pursuit of crafting vintage dirt bikes. Like this stunning flat tracker, based on a 1986 Husqvarna 510 pulled from a hedge in eastern Oregon.

“The air-cooled 510 was one of the last models built by Swedish hands,” says Kevin. “It was a legendary 4-stroke thumper with a 2-stroke style bottom end. It pulled like a semi and cut like a chainsaw, and was a great fit for our circuits in the Northwest.”

The Husky had two serious weaknesses though: a Motoplat electrical system and a temperamental Dell’Orto 40mm carburetor. So Kevin and his crew replaced the electrical system with a German-designed MZB ignition, and installed a new Mikuni 38mm flatslide carb for a snappier throttle response.

The exhaust system is a traditional low-slung flat track design, with stainless 2-into-2 cone silencers. It’s low slung on the right to avoid exhaust burns on the thigh when turning left, and also to save it from damage in a lowside crash.

The suspension was upgraded too, with a Kawasaki ZRX1200R front end boosted with Race Tech Gold Valve internals. Bringing up the rear is a Fox twin-clicker shock from a ZX9, hooked up to an adjustable spacer system so that the suspension can be fine-tuned. (“We machined three different-length spacers so the shock height could be quickly adjusted to fit the track.”)

The wheels went off to Buchanans, who supplied a new 19” wheel set with heavy-duty stainless steel spokes suitable for flat track racing. Meanwhile, the #2 stainless steel handlebars were hand bent by Ray Carroll, to get the perfect length and height to control the bike. “Ray is a legend in the Northwest,” says Kevin. “He maintains the Castle Rock clay track, builds custom frames and is still racing at 81 years old!”

An added dose of style comes from the new bodywork. “We really loved the lightweight simplicity of Husky’s 1970s desert racers. So we kept the frame, engine and swing arm from the 510 and tossed the heavy plastic fairing, tank and seat. We replaced it with a brand new tank from a 1979 Husqvarna 390 OR, and a custom seat from New Church upholstery.” The seat is not fashionably slim, but it sure looks comfy.

Now that the bike is fully sorted, Velomacchi’s focus is back onto the gear. And very interesting it looks too, providing a challenge to the likes of Kreiga and Ogio. Funding for the project has just launched on Kickstarter, and investors are piling in already.

Check it out here.

Images by Gregor Halenda.

Mad Max