WRC, Mexique : La bataille commence à l’Alhondiga…/ battling to commence at the Alhondiga

La cérémonie de départ du Rallye du Mexique se déroule à Guanajuato, ancienne cité minière classée au Patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO. Le podium est situé devant l’Alhondiga de Granaditas, un monument chargé d’histoire pour le Mexique.

L’Alhondiga de Granaditas – la Halle aux grains – est une imposante bâtisse construite au début des années 1800 au cœur de Guanajuato. C’est aujourd’hui un musée d’histoire et d’art qui symbolise le début de la Guerre d’Indépendance du Mexique.

Le 28 septembre 1810, c’est en effet à l’intérieur de l’Alhondiga de Granaditas que s’étaient réfugiés les troupes espagnoles et les gouvernants du régime face aux indépendantistes emmenés par Miguel Hidalgo et Ignacio Allende.

La prise de l’Ahlondiga fit suite à de nombreux mouvements d’insurrection initiés par le prêtre Miguel Hidalgo, à Dolores (Grito de Dolores), à Salamanque. En arrivant à Guanajuato, Hidalgo disposait de 50 000 hommes prêts à en découdre avec les Espagnols.

L’assaut débuta au petit jour. C’est un mineur de Guanajuato, surnommé El Pipila, qui incendia la porte du bâtiment dans lequel les insurgés pénétrèrent et massacrèrent les Espagnols (2200 tués). Les troupes d’Hidalgo quittèrent la ville le 1^er octobre en direction de Valladolid.

Ce n’est que 11 ans plus tard, le 28 septembre 1821, que le Mexique accéda à l’indépendance. Miguel Hidalgo, surnommé El Zorro (le renard), fut exécuté le 30 juillet 1811 à Chihuahua. Considéré comme le père de patrie mexicaine, Hidalgo figure toujours sur les billets de 1000 pesos.

L’Alhondiga de Granaditas a été transformée en musée en 1958. C’est l’un des principaux musées d’histoire et d’art du Mexique.

Le Championnat du monde des Rallyes FIA permet aux équipages, suiveurs, spectateurs et téléspectateurs de découvrir des lieux chargés d’histoire, comme l’Alhondiga de Granaditas à Guanajuato, la Porta Nigra au Rallye d’Allemagne, les Fontaines Magiques et le Palau Nacionalde Montjuic au Rallye d’Espagne…

As usual, the Rally Mexico start ceremony will take place in UNESCO world heritage-registered Guanajuato. The ramp is situated in front of the former mining community’s historically important Alhondiga de Granaditas.

The Alhondiga de Granaditas (grain market) is an impressive building erected in the middle of Guanajuato at the beginning of the 19^th Century. Above all, it is famous for its role in the Mexican War of Independence.

On September 28, 1810, it is to the Alhondiga de Granaditas that Spanish troops and the regime’s administrators fled from Independence fighters led by Miguel Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende.

The storming of the Alhondiga followed a number of uprisings initiated by Hidalgo in Dolores (Grito de Dolores), Salamanca. On his arrival in Guanajuato, the priest was accompanied by some 50,000 men prepared to fight at his side.

The assault started at dawn when local miner ‘El Pipila’ set fire to the door before fellow fighters entered the building and massacred 2,200 Spaniards. Hidalgo’s troops left Guanajuato on October 1 en route for Valladolid.

It was only 11 years later, on September 28, 1821, that Mexico finally gained independence, by which time Hidalgo – nicknamed El Zorro (fox) – had been executed on July 30, 1811, in Chihuahua. Considered to be the father of the Mexican nation, he still appears on the country’s 1,000 pesos banknotes.

The Alhondiga de Granaditas was converted into a museum in 1958 and is one of Mexico’s main art museums.

The FIA World Rally Championship provides crews, followers, spectators and television viewers with a chance to discover a number of major historical sites in the course of the season, from Guanajuato’s Alhondiga de Granaditas, to the Porta Nigra in Trier (Rallye Deutschland) and the Magic Fountain/Palau Nacional de Montjuic in Barcelona…

True Adventure - Episode 3 / The Return to Dakar

Racing is deep-rooted in Honda’s DNA. The urge to push the boundaries of engineering and human endurance has led Honda back to the Dakar, the toughest off-road race in the world. The spirit of adventure that led us to conquer the desert continues to drive us now and into the future

Attaining Nirvana In a Citroën DS

In the early 1990s, Jeff Suhy was a young executive at A&M records in Los Angeles when he first heard a band from the far-flung reaches of the Pacific Northwest. The group, which eluded categories and didn't seem particularly interested in cultivating a mass audience, was Nirvana and its new album was a collection of songs called "Nevermind." Soon, this peculiar trio from the shores of the Puget Sound was the biggest thing going and music would never be the same again.

Suhy, as it turns out, gravitates toward turning points, whether in culture or in industrial design, which explains his love affair with the Citroen DS.

"The Citroen DS is a car that defined the future of automotive design when it appeared in 1955," says Suhy. "It immediately made all other cars appear antiquated, and even cars today are influenced by technologies pioneered by the DS."

Whether it was the hydraulic suspension, the safety features (such as an engine that, on front impact, was designed to slide under the car instead of into the driver's solar plexus), or the self-leveling headlights that turn with the front wheels, the Citroen DS was remarkably ahead of its time. Indeed, the car was a a true product of the Space Age, when auto manufacturers found themselves awash in technologies that they were itching to use in the wake of World War II. Citroen was ultimately rewarded handsomely for its innovative efforts, selling more than one million DSs over the model's twenty-year-lifespan.

Whether in terms of Seattle grunge bands or French cars, then, it turns out that there may be some accounting for taste after all.

 via http://www.petrolicious.com

Drive Tastefully^®

TOP 5 YAMAHA XJR1300 CUSTOMS

The big news on the custom scene right now is the launch of the revised Yamaha XJR1300. The old bruiser has been revitalized and repackaged into two variants: a standard version with wide bars and a seat big enough for two, and a Racer with clip-ons, a small fairing and front fender, and a solo seat.

There was never anything wrong with the ‘old’ XJR1300, but there’s plenty to like about the new one (below). The styling has been tidied up, with a slimmer tank that exposes more of the engine.

Handling is good, with fully adjustable suspension and Öhlins shocks. Build quality is flawless, and new monobloc front calipers have upgraded the braking to 21st century standards.

The man behind this renaissance is Holland-based Yamaha product manager Shun Miyazawa, who is also driving the Yard Built custom project. Not surprisingly, the new XJR1300 is easy to modify—so we’ve picked out five of the best recent pro builds to provide a little inspiration.

Wrenchmonkees ‘Monkeefist’ Revealed two years ago, this was the first of Yamaha’s ‘Yard Built Specials.’ And it still looks amazing today. The bodywork is standard, but the front end is from a YZF-R1. The spoked wheels are custom-built, with a 19-inch at the front and an 18-inch at the back for an old school look. The stainless steel exhaust system returns to the twin-muffler megaphone look of older XJRs, and helps the bike hit 118 rear wheel horsepower on the dyno. Good news for fans of the Wrenchmonkees’ distinctive style: a collection of custom parts is now available.

More images | Wrenchmonkees

Keino Cycles ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ A springer front end is not what you’d expect to find on a modern Yamaha. But New York-based master builder Keinosuke ‘Keino’ Sasaki has made it work, and given the XJR1300 a dash of elegant, old school style. Keino’s decision to slim down the tank predated the ‘new’ XJR1300, and the stubby tail unit adds to the feeling of compactness. Brembo brakes, exposed air filters and a sinuous custom exhaust system increase the sporting vibe.

More images | Keino Cycles

It roCKS!bikes ‘Stealth’ Osvaldo Coutinho and Alexandre Santos are two of Portugal’s leading builders. The name they’ve chosen for their company may be odd, but the thinking behind this 2003-spec XJR1300 is common sense. The mods have been designed to save weight, and include Kawasaki ZXR forks, Brembo brake calipers and a new steering stem. The carbs breathe through CNC-machined velocity stacks and the exhaust system is titanium. Motogadget provided the digital dashboard and hand controls, and the finish is low-key rather than flashy, with a matte varnish covering the new paintwork.

More images | it roCkS!bikes Facebook

The Sports Custom XJR1300 café racer Most customs from Thailand are small-capacity, go-anywhere machines. But not all: this brutal-looking XJR lives on the streets of Bangkok and comes from a lesser-known builder called The Sports Custom. The tank, seat and tail unit are custom fabricated, lending the bike a aggressive and hunched-forward stance. Clip-ons and rearsets change the riding position to match, and we’re betting those upswept mufflers make the bike easy to hear above the cacophony of Bangkok traffic.

The Sports Custom Facebook

Deus Italy ‘Project X’ Deus has built two eye-catching XJR1300 customs: the endurance themed ‘Eau Rouge’ (bottom shot, right) and the stripped-back ‘Project X’ (above). Here, the goal was to reduce weight and shift the visual focus on to the air-cooled engine—and it works beautifully. The bodywork is all-new, hand-fabricated in aluminum, and the bars are wider than stock. There’s new Öhlins suspension front and back, a Brembo brake system, a titanium exhaust from Leo Vince and super-light Marvic magnesium wheels. If you like the look, Deus now makes a kit to fit your own XJR1300.

Yamaha Europe XJR1300 product page | Yamaha Yard Built | Facebook

via BIKEexif