WRC, Mexique : Avec les vainqueurs du Dakar / with the Dakar winners

Nasser Al-Attiyah et Matthieu Baumel ont remporté le Rallye Dakar 2015 et ils disputent ce week-end un rallye WRC ensemble. Ce n’était plus arrivé depuis 24 ans et la victoire du duo Vatanen/Berglund à Dakar en 1991.

Il y a 50 jours, le Qatarien Nasser Al-Attiyah et le Français Matthieu Baumel remportaient leur premier Dakar ensemble sur une Mini ALL4 Racing/Michelin après avoir dominé l’épreuve sud-américaine de bout en bout. Ce week-end, ils sont réunis au Rallye du Mexique sur une Ford Fiesta RRC/Michelin et visent la victoire en catégorie WRC-2.

Un équipage complet lauréat du Dakar au départ d’un rallye WRC la même année : nous avons dû remonter à 1991 pour trouver une situation similaire. Cette année-là, le 17 janvier, le Finlandais Ari Vatanen et le Suédois Bruno Berglund avaient remporté leur troisième et dernier Rallye Dakar sur une Citroën ZX/Michelin. Quelques mois plus tard, ils étaient au départ du Rallye des 1000 Lacs sur une Ford Sierra Cosworth (7^e).

En 1988, Juha Kankkunen et Juha Piironen avaient remporté la 10^e édition du Dakar sur une Peugeot 205 T16 et ils étaient au départ du Tour de Corse le 3 mai sur une Toyota Celica GT-4 (abandon, moteur). Seuls ces trois équipages ont enchaîné Dakar et rallye WRC.

Depuis 1991, aucun équipage complet lauréat au Dakar ne s’est engagé sur un rallye mondial. Bruno Saby a bien gagné le Dakar 1993 et une épreuve WRC (Tour de Corse 1986), mais il n’a jamais couru en WRC avec Dominique Serieys. Pierre Lartigue, vainqueur 1994, 1995 et 1996, avait disputé 5 épreuves du Championnat du monde des Rallyes FIA dans les années 1970, mais jamais avec Michel Périn. Idem pour Kenjiro Shinozuka qui a disputé 20 rallyes WRC entre 1976 et 1991, mais jamais avec Henri Magne, ou encore pour Carlos Sainz, recordman du nombre de rallyes WRC disputés (196), mais aucun avec Lucas Cruz. Pas de traces de Luc Alphand, Stéphane Peterhansel, Hiroshi Masuoka ou encore Giniel de Villiers sur les tablettes du WRC.

En 2011, Nasser Al-Attiyah avait gagné son premier Dakar avec le copilote allemand Timo Gottschalk (qui travaille chez Volkswagen Motorsport en WRC). Ensemble, ils avaient certes roulé à l’ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2010, mais en voiture 0. En WRC, le Qatarien était accompagné depuis 2009 par l’Italien Giovanni Bernachhini avec lequel il a d’ailleurs décroché le titre mondial WRC-2 2014. Mais cette année, Giovanni est le copilote de Lorenzo Bertelli.

Matthieu Baumel n’est pas un débutant en rallye « classique ». Il a même disputé une vingtaine de rallyes WRC, son dernier étant le Rallye de France avec Romain Dumas (Mini, 16^e). Matthieu a participé à son premier rallye en 1999 et copiloté Bryan Bouffier, Brice Tirabassi ou encore Yazeed Al-Rajhi à ses débuts internationaux en 2008. Il s’est orienté vers le Rallye Tout-Terrain avec Guerlain Chicherit en 2005. Depuis, Matthieu a disputé des dizaines d’épreuves de la Coupe du monde des Rallyes Tout-Terrain et plusieurs Dakar avec différents pilotes.

Son nouveau partenariat avec Nasser Al-Attiyah est fructueux. En janvier dernier, ils ont disputé leur premier Dakar ensemble et dominé l’épreuve. Il a quelques semaines, ils ont aussi gagné le Qatar International Rally (MERC) sur une Ford Fiesta RRC/Michelin.

2015 Dakar winners Al-Attiyah and Baumel are back together for a WRC rally. It’s the first time this has happened since Vatanen and Berglund joined forces after their Dakar success in 1991.

Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah and Frenchman Matthieu Baumel won January’s Dakar together in a Mini ALL4 Racing/Michelin after dominating the South American marathon from start to finish. This weekend, they are targeting WRC2 honours in Mexico in a Ford Fiesta RRC/Michelin.

The last time a Dakar-winning crew competed together on a WRC event the same year was in 1991 when Finn Ari Vatanen and Swede Bruno Berglund followed up their third and last Dakar triumph in a Citroën ZX/Michelin with seventh place on that season’s 1000 Lakes Rally (Ford Sierra Cosworth).

Before that, in 1988, Juha Kankkunen and Juha Piironen won the 10^th anniversary Dakar in a Peugeot 205 T16 and also contested the Tour de Corse the following May in a Toyota Celica GT-4 (retired, engine).

These are the only three occurrences.

Since 1991, no Dakar-winning crew has appeared on a world class conventional rally. Bruno Saby won the Dakar in 1993 and also a WRC round (Corsica) in 1986, but he never had Dominique Serieys as a co-driver in the WRC. Pierre Lartigue, winner of the Dakar in 1994, 1995 and 1996, started five world championship events in the 1970s, but never with Michel Périn alongside.

Similarly, Kenjiro Shinozuka made 20 WRC appearances between 1976 and 1991, but never with Henri Magne, while Carlos Sainz (196 WRC starts, a record) never contested a conventional rally with Lucas Cruz.

Fellow Dakar winners Luc Alphand, Stéphane Peterhansel, Hiroshi Masuoka and Giniel de Villiers have never taken part in a WRC round.

In 2011, Al-Attiyah scored his first Dakar success with German co-driver Timo Gottschalk who is now part of Volkswagen Motorsport’s WRC operation. They had been together for Rallye Deutschland in 2010, but in the ‘zero’ car.

Matthieu Baumel is an experienced co-driver with around 20 WRC participations under his belt, including the Rallye de France with former Le Mans winner Romain Dumas (Mini, 16^th). Since his debut in 1999, he has navigated for Bryan Bouffier, Brice Tirabassi and even Yazeed Al-Rajhi when the latter arrived in the sport in 2008. In 2005, the Frenchman turned to cross-country rallies…

In addition to their Dakar honours in January, Mathieu and Nasser won the recent Qatar International Rally (MERC) in a Ford Fiesta RRC/Michelin.

Shakedown - 2015 WRC Rally Mexico

Analog Motorcycles at Barber Vintage Festival 2014

Analog drove down from North Chicago to Birmingham Alabama for the 2014 Barber Vintage Festival - a bucket-list event for any motorcycle enthusiast. We set up shop in the paddock area with Vanson Leathers and a few of our other friends in the industry including Revival Cycles. This is the story of our trip and a glimpse of what Barber Vintage Festival is all about.

Analog Motorcycles at Barber Vintage Festival 2014 from Grant Schwingle on Vimeo.

Yamaha XVS650 Dragster

Written by Marlon Slack.

Made Men is a small Danish workshop that specializes in slammed and chopped bastard motorcycles. Their talents are not limited to bikes either – their website features a few early production Volkswagen Beatles dropped on the deck, a brace of BMX cruisers and a matte GMC van marked ‘Kidnapper’ with ‘free candy and stuff inside’ emblazoned on the rear. But their motorcycles are of the most interest to me – they’ve produced a few tidy CB750’s and CX500s but their best work is with their mid-life-crisis-on-a-budget specials like the Honda VLX and Suzuki Intruder. All are distinctive, blacked out and mean looking – and none as striking as this 1997 Yamaha XVS650 Dragster.

The XVS is interesting choice for a build as it’s a capable bike but nothing particularly special. It’s reliable, forgiving for new riders to bang through the gearbox on and looks enough like a Softail to appease people who are into that kind of thing. Years ago I borrowed one from a friend and I quickly found out the Dragster weighed about the same as a fully laden ox cart and, thanks to its eight ton of chrome-plated steel, hurtled down the road about as quickly. But that’s what makes this particular build interesting – it’s an unusual starting point for a custom bike. But there’s a reason why they put all this effort into a Yamaharley and not something like an old knucklehead – budget.

“Which bike we build depends very much on what we can afford, but never compromise the quality of the finished result,” the guys from Made Men say. “We are of the opinion that anyone can build a super cool custom bike if the budget is big enough, but not everybody can turn scrap to sought after custom bikes with small means.” And their humble origins are a point of pride with the crew – “We love to be able to prove that it does not require a professional shop with a shitload of expensive tools, but you can build a custom bike just as well if not better with a welding machine, grinder, good ideas and diligent hands.”

And there’s certainly been a few diligent hands around this XVS650. Around 80% of the frame has been modified – changing it from dual to single backbone and converting the Softail-esque rear suspension to a hard tail. The seat was made in-house and the oil tank isn’t an oil tank at all – it’s where the electrics are stored. The front end has been swapped for a Springer assembly from Three Two Choppers, the standard carburettor switched out for a 40mm Mikuni and it now sports a ‘pancake’ air filter. One of my favourite features on the bike – the fuel tank – is from a one of the disastrous 125cc AMF Harley Davidson ‘Rapidos’ which has found a new lease of life as a feature on this stretched out Yamaharley, still sporting its original livery but with its moniker struck through.

Set up as a drag bike I have to wonder what times it would run on the quarter mile. Despite this that fat 15” Goodyear Eagle rear looks gorgeous and my ears are bleeding at the mere sight of the brass-tipped short exhausts that sit just proud of the fairing. As far as road use? It’s got no indicators or headlight, and having the world’s smallest drum brake in the middle of that 21” front I can’t imagine it stopping well. But I love it.

My favourite thing about this bike – aside from the use of a British-style racing fairing and its repurposed fuel tank –is that it’s been built around a largely ignored Yamaha learner bike. I’ve got thousands of photos of modified motorcycles on my computer and this is the first and only one of the Yamaha Dragster. Made Men state “We put all our passion in every bike we’re doing.” And while I can imagine grabbing that front brake with all my passion as I hurtle towards a fast-approaching corner I can’t think a cooler looking bike to be doing it on.

via PIPEBURN