Dirty Sunday

 by Scott in Flat Tracker

One of the biggest revivals happening at the moment in the motorcycle scene is vintage flat track racing. Events like Dirt Quake, Hell on Wheels, Dirty Sunday and Australia’s up and coming Sunday Slide are bringing this sport back to a wider audience. Sure, most of these races aren’t very serious, but they are introducing riders to a sport that hasn’t been very accessible to those without a healthy budget. But the main reason these events are being held is that it’s hard to have more fun on two wheels. Let’s be honest, there’s nothing like getting sideways around a corner on a dirt track for the first time.

Last month, Dirty Slide was held by Activa Classic Bike Garage on a grass track in Gers, France. Ironically, this place is famous for its foie gras, but we’re pretty sure the riders were only eating dirt and grass. Looks like there was a great mix of motorcycles racing from dirt bikes, customs, choppers, sliders and even a few sidecars getting sideways.

The event went all day and ended up going well into the night with the ‘ring of fire’ being set up and the adventurous (or the most drunk) took their bikes to the air like flying French Evel Kneivels. Joie de vivre.

There’s still time to register for Sunday Slide this Sunday in Newcastle, Australia. Send us an email if you are interested in registering. All classic-styled bikes welcome. Animal suits optional.

[Photographs by the talented David Marvier]

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SCRAMBLER AYRTON SENNA TRIBUTE BY MARCUS WALZ

It’s a common sight to see Formula One drivers zooming up and down the pit lane on scooters. But many of these hardcore racers have more serious motorcycles secreted away in their personal garages. Guys like Lewis Hamilton, Jensen Button, Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher are all two-wheeled aficionados—and many enjoy customizing their bikes too.

Ayrton Senna da Silva, perhaps the most talented Formula One driver of all time, was also a keen motorcyclist. This year is the twentieth anniversary of Senna’s passing at Imola, so the German builder (and motorcycle racer) Marcus Walz has just created a stunning limited edition Moto Guzzi Le Mans in his honor.

Marcus Walz is a familiar face in the Formula 1 pit lane: his customers include Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, David Coulthard and Gerhard Berger. As you can imagine, his work is very much in the premier league—and this Le Mans is no different.

Three Senna tribute bikes have been created, based on 1970s Moto Guzzis from the Le Mans Mark I series. They’re completely rebuilt from the ground up, with custom bodywork finished in colors inspired by Senna’s famous helmet designs, taken from the Brazilian flag and painted by Sid Mosca.

Walz has punched the 850cc engine out to 1040cc, and it now delivers an easy 90hp; weight has dropped to around 175kg (385 lbs). The custom sheet metal is 1.5-millimeter aluminum, including the custom gas tank, seat section and front fender.

Moto Guzzi’s famously sweet-handling frame has been sandblasted, detabbed and powder-coated for an even better than factory finish. Walz has upgraded the suspension too, with new fork tubes, internals, and progressive springs. Out back are YSS Z-Series shocks, with adjustable preload, rebound and length.

The 18” original Le Mans cast wheels are now black powdercoated and fitted with ContiRoadAttack 2 Classic Race rubber: 110/80 at the front, and 130/80 at the back.

Brembo two-piston calipers are on braking duty at both ends, now clamping on drilled stainless steel rotors. The rearsets are hand-fabricated and fully adjustable, and the clip-on bars are from high-end German specialist LSL.

The styling is classic, the power-to-weight ratio is ample, and the engineering is immaculate. We think Ayrton would have approved.

Walzwerk Racing | Facebook | Instagram

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Merzouga Rally Stage 6

Here is the hour long, Le Mans start blast for the finish line at the Merzouga Rally 2013. This is a navigational rally do a road book is used to navigate in conjunction with compass headings and trip computers. In this stage, Lyndon's trip computer failed at one point and so he had to re-calibrate his spare (on the go) and continue.

‘71 Triumph Daytona – Tin Shack Restorations

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Flat caps. Wellington boots. Picnic lunches. The world of Land Rovers seems light years away from the dusty, rough-and-tumble world of desert racing. One’s all cucumber sandwiches and pheasants, the other’s realising that once you’ve hit the cactus and you can see your bike off in the distance doing somersaults, it’s probably far too late to land the jump gracefully. Yet from this ying and yang-ness of contrasts comes today’s rather splendid build, the Triumph ‘Greenhorn Express.’ Colby, the bike’s owner and builder, makes a living restoring Early model Land Rovers and spends his spare time on pursuits of a decidedly more one-wheel drive variety. Or, as he puts it, “It’s a Land Rover and motorcycle hobby run amuck…”

As Colby informed us from the Vermont aircraft hangar he calls Tin Shack Restorations, he didn’t set out to build a desert sled. “This bike pretty much came together out of timing and opportunity. Over the last couple of years I had seen many modern Triumph Scramblers customized to resemble vintage sleds, and I liked what I saw. One afternoon in 2012 I stopped by the local Triumph shop and sitting there was a ’12 Scrambler – you probably know the rest of the story. Soon I had my own Hammarhead Jack Pine, and wherever I went around town people were falling all over themselves to check out the bike. So the wheels in my head started turning…”

With an obvious abundance of spare time, Colby hatched a plan. He would match the two Series Rovers he had entered into the British Invasion Auto show in Stowe, Vermont with a colour-matched pair of Triumphs to sit alongside them. And the hunt began…

“After many dead ends, I found this ‘71 Daytona at a local used bike shop,” Colby notes. “The bike was a real strong runner. By this time I had done a fair amount of research and I had come up with a solid recipe for the bike. Pipes up high, build a skid plate, find an old Bates seat, an alloy rear fender, a trials tire up front, a knobby in the rear, a wide MX style bar and lighten up where possible.”

Colby wanted a set of “Ekins bend” pipes which are still around if you have a 650 Trumpet, but it seems none were ever made for the 500s. He turned to The Factory Metal Works in Concord, North Carolina, and had them make up the perfect set of twin shotguns. “Then after watching several rusty, torn leather examples sell on eBay for $500 plus, I decided that the original Bates seat was a non-starter. I made a seat pan to mimic the Bates unit and had it built and upholstered by Richmond Upholstery,Vermont.”

The handlebars are a stainless piece made by Front Street Cycles; they are not quite what you see on most vintage sleds as most of the older bikes have no crossbar, but Colby liked the look and respected the fact that one lone guy is bending these up in Dayton, Ohio and getting them out there. Hagon provided the longer rear shocks.

“The overlay sprocket was made by Rebel Gears in Crossville, Tennessee. I had my doubts that anyone would know what I was talking about when I was asking for an overlay sprocket for an old Triumph, but when I talked to the owner at Rebel his reply was ‘oh yah, my Dad used to make those all the time for guys back in the 50’s & 60’s, no problem.‘ The sprocket arrived with all the right mounting hardware and it fit perfectly. The twin ring chain guard I drew up and then went to my friends at Tri-Angle Metal Fab. They mapped the overlay and stock sprocket mounting points, entered everything into one of their magic CNC machines and hey presto, a chain guard.”

Then there’s the other touches Colby added to complete the bike and to try and stay true to what the guys were doing ‘in the day.’ A Webco-style aluminum oil tank saves weight over the old steel bag. And there’s a Webco spare spark plug holder, some spare chain links and masters wrapped around the bars. He had the rear spokes safety wired, and all the gauges, blinkers and the choke cable were eliminated along with the battery. In the day that meant a magneto, but today it means Pazon ignition and a Boyer Power Box. “I guess I lose points for authenticity there,” says Colby. “Once again, my good friend Charlie Decker of Bandit Striping did the hand lettering for me and the boys at Autobahn Body Works sprayed the Land Rover pastel green in a single stage.”

Gladly, the two Rovers and the two Triumphs made it to the show and despite being sandwiched by two as-new ‘60s Land Rovers and a pretty cool ‘12 Triumph Scrambler, the little ‘71 sled stole the show. “I heard countless stories from people who had owned one or another British bike detailing just how fast, how cool and how bad-ass they were. ‘My cool uncle’ this, ‘my college roommate’ that. Everyone zeroed in on the Daytona and had a great story to tell.”

“At one point, a friend and I were standing a ways off and watching the crowd mill around the Daytona. ‘You should quit building Land Rovers and just do bikes,’ he said. ‘Nobody gives a shit about those two trucks.’” We think he may have a point.

[Photography by Zack Griswold of Rovers North]

via PIPEBURN

Morgan Three Wheeler and Caterham Seven: Brilliant British Flyweights

They're small, light, fast and deliver the most singular driving experiences. We take them to some beautiful UK roads and discover why they offer something even the latest hypercars simply cannot match.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Super 1973

Alfa Romeo Giulia Super 1973 from Cool & Vintage on Vimeo.

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Volkswagen, 30 ans après Audi / Volkswagen – 30 years after Audi…

Volkswagen a remporté son second titre mondial des rallyes 30 ans après un autre constructeur allemand, Audi, sacré pour la seconde fois en 1984 avec Michelin. Encore deux victoires mondiales et VW rejoindra Audi au palmarès du WRC.

Audi et Volkswagen, aujourd’hui réunis au sein du même Groupe automobile, ont marqué l’histoire du Championnat du monde des Rallyes FIA.

Le week-end dernier, en Espagne, Volkswagen a remporté sa 22^e victoire mondiale avec Sébastien Ogier. VW n’est désormais plus qu’à deux succès d’Audi qui totalise 24 victoires WRC entre 1981 et 1987 obtenues avec les différentes versions de l’Audi Quattro.

1987, c’est aussi l’année où Volkswagen a remporté sa première victoire WRC avec Kenneth Eriksson, Rallye de Côte d’Ivoire (VW Golf GTi). En deux saisons, Volkswagen a pratiquement rejoint Audi au palmarès mondial avec deux titres Constructeurs et 22 victoires. En revanche, VW doit encore scorer 24 podiums pour égaler Audi (71).

Pour Audi, la campagne 1984 avait débuté par deux triplés au Rallye Monte-Carlo (Rohrl, Blomqvist, Mikkola) et Rallye de Suède (Blomqvist, Mouton, Eklund), et une victoire au Portugal (Mikkola). Battues par la Toyota Celica Twincam au Safari et la Lancia 037 en Corse, les Audi et leurs 4-roues motrices avaient remporté trois autres victoires (Grèce, Nouvelle-Zélande, Argentine), avant une fin de saison plus disputée face aux nouvelles Peugeot 205 T16. Audi avait décroché le titre Constructeurs avec 12 points d’avance sur Lancia.

Pour fêter le 30^e anniversaire de son dernier titre mondial en rallye, l’Audi Sport Club Italia avait exposé l’Audi Quattro victorieuse en 1984 à l’occasion d’un show de véhicules historiques à Padoue (Auto Moto Epoca Padua). Le Suédois Stig Blomqvist, Champion du monde 1984 et Christian Geistdorfer (copilote de Walter Rohrl) étaient présents.

Volkswagen a remporté son second titre Constructeurs à l’issue du Rallye d’Australie, mi-septembre (un record de précocité). Cette année, la marque allemande a signé un triplé et huit doublés. Avant le Wales Rally GB, Volkswagen compte 198 points d’avance sur Citroën.

Volkswagen’s second Manufacturers’ world rally title came three decades after the crown of another German carmaker, Audi, which earned its second championship success with Michelin in 1984. VW is only two wins short of Audi’s WRC score (24).

Audi and Volkswagen, today part of the same automotive group, have both marked world rallying history.

Last weekend, Volkswagen notched up its 22^nd WRC victory in Spain with Sébastien Ogier and is now only two wins short of the 24 totalled by different versions of the Audi Quattro from 1981 until 1987.

Coincidentally, Volkswagen took its first world class success in 1987 with Kenneth Eriksson in Ivory Coast (VW Golf GTi).

In just two seasons, it has now practically equalled Audi’s record, although it must still claim a further 24 podium finishes to match Audi’s score of 71.

Audi’s 1984 campaign kicked off with one-two-three finishes in Monte-Carlo (Röhrl, Blomqvist, Mikkola) and Sweden (Blomqvist, Mouton, Eklund), followed by victory in Portugal (Mikkola). The make’s four-wheel drive Quattro was beaten by the Toyota Celica TC on the Safari, and then again by the Lancia 037 in Corsica, but it bounced back to achieve victories in Greece, New Zealand and Argentina. The end of the season saw it face tough opposition from the new Peugeot 205 T16 but the Germans still claimed the Manufacturers’ title, 12 points clear of Lancia.

To celebrate the 30^th anniversary of that title, Audi Sport Club Italia displayed the winning Audi Quattro at the Auto Moto Epoca Padua historic car show where the 1984 Drivers’ winner Stig Blomqvist and Walter Röhrl's co-driver Christian Geistdorfer were also present.

Volkswagen made sure of its second Manufacturers’ title in Australia in September (the earliest ever) and the make has collected one one-two-three and eight one-two finishes so far. With Wales RallyGB remaining, it has 198 more points than Citroën.

GANNET CUSTOM MOTORCYCLES; FROM DESIGN FANTASY TO CARBON-CLAD REALITY?

AUTHOR: ANDREW CRAIG

When former Renault, Nissan and Infiniti designer Ulfert Janssen introduced some of his motorcycle designs earlier this year, the two-wheeled world took a collective sharp intake of breath.

The drawings of various Motor Guzzis, Ducatis, MV Agustas, BMWs and Triumphs were a blend of classic and contemporary design. In the case of the Guzzis the old V8 racer was the inspiration, whereas with the Ducatis the streetfighter and cafe racer looks combined to make a muscular ‘Cafe Fighter.’ Beautiful work, but at the time there were no plans to drag any of them in to reality, until now …

‘I`m working on it,’ Ulfert tells us. ‘Some of the projects could become reality soon, especially the Guzzi. That would be very cool to build and right now I`m looking for some sponsors to put it on the street.’

Promising stuff, and it turns out that ‘Cafe Fighter’ Ducati may be at a more advanced stage than the Guzzi. ‘I`m in talks with couple of part builders to make a kit…but it’s too early to say anything definite about when it will be available. Negotiations to realise a project always go much slower than designing something!’

So, you heard it here first. One would imagine that if/when the Ducati design becomes a reality that some of the others would soon follow suit.

As stunning as they all look, our choice would be either of the Guzzi racers. Way cool…

See more at www.gannetdesign.com