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    vendredi 17 avril 2015

    2013 FORD F-150 RAPTOR THAT IS DROOLWORTHY


    2013 Ford F-150 Raptor That is DroolworthyJohn CappaFormer Editor, Four Wheeler

    It’s no secret that the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor is one of our all-time favorite pickup trucks. From the 411hp 6.2L V-8, 35-inch tires, and off-road-tuned suspension to the comfy leather seats and commanding controls, the Ford Raptor has little competition from the 1⁄2-ton OE truck market, especially if desert two-track is your favorite trail of choice. Nonetheless, a common misconception about the capable Raptor is that it has long-travel suspension. It’s true that the 11 inches of front and 12 inches of factory rear wheel travel are more than what you’ll find on a typical 1⁄2-ton truck. However, in the off-road world, it’s still only considered a mid-travel prerunner. The stock Raptor isn’t designed to hit deep whoops at 60-plus mph. When put in this situation, any sane driver will quickly realize the truck is out of its element. So what do you do when mid-travel suspension won’t work for your off-road needs? You drop your zero-mile ’13 Ford Raptor off at JD Fabrication in Escondido, California, for a complete six-month suspension, chassis, and interior makeover.
    In place of the factory pickup bed, JD Fabrication installed a hidden air compressor, two huge CBR transmission coolers with electric fans, a 50-gallon Fuel Safe fuel cell, two spare tires, a Stewart’s Raceworks jack mount loaded with a modified Harbor Freight floor jack, and Fiberwerx fiberglass bedsides. Custom aluminum rear cover panels hide the inner workings and were powdercoated with a black wrinkle finish by Electro Tech Powder Coating in San Marcos, California.
    The crew at JD Fabrication quickly went to work and stripped the suspension from the brand new truck and gutted the interior. To start, a full bumper-to-bumper rollcage made from 1.75-inch, 0.120-wall DOM tubing was added to provide increased chassis stiffness and safety for the occupants in the event of a rollover. The factory Ford Raptor front suspension was scrapped in favor of true long-travel A-arms, while the rear leaf spring suspension was lopped off and replaced with a custom JD Fabrication four-link. The wider stance and 37-inch BFG tires required more coverage, so JD Fabrication installed a fiberglass front fender and hood kit. In the rear, the crew at JD Fabrication dumpstered the stock Raptor pickup bed and hung fiberglass fenders over custom aluminum bed panels. With the rollcage tucked and hidden in the body of the Raptor, V&J Custom Upholstery in Vista, California, was free to slather the headliner and other interior bits in luxuriously padded suede leather, maintaining the top-tier sentiment of the F-150 inside and out.
    The H&M Racing Designs long-travel front suspension adds 41⁄2 inches of width per side to the Raptor. The kit provides a total of 16 inches of usable wheel travel. A custom JD Fabrication skidplate protects the H&M Racing Designs steering and other vitals.
    At a Glance
    General
    Vehicle: 2013 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
    Owner: Prefers to remain anonymous
    Stomping grounds: Dubai sand dunes
    Build time: 6 months

    Drivetrain
    Engine: 450hp Ford 6.2L V-8
    Transmission: 6R80 SelectShift 6-speed automatic
    Transfer case(s): B-W 4419 2-spd
    Low range ratio: 2.64:1
    Crawl ratio: 53.72:1
    Front axle/differential: Ford 8.80 in/4.88 gears, open
    Rear axle/differential: Currie F9 full-floater/4.88 gears, Eaton Detroit Locker
    Suspension
    Front: H&M Racing Designs long-travel A-arms, King 2.5in coilovers, King 3.5in 3-tube bypass shocks, and King 2.5in hydraulic bumpstops
    Rear: Custom JD Fabrication four-link with notched frame, King 2.5in coilovers, King 3.5in 3-tube bypass shocks, and King 2.5in hydraulic bumpstops
    Steering: H&M Racing Designs upgrade kit

    Tires/Wheels
    Tires: 37x12.50R17 BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR
    Wheels: 17x8.5 Walker Evans Racing beadlock


    Miscellaneous
    Armor: Custom JD Fabrication front and rear bumpers and skidplates
    Cool stuff: JD Fabrication bumper-to-bumper rollcage and center console, Crow harnesses, single Beard rear seat, custom suede interior, 450hp 5 Star Tuning program, UMP aluminum canister air filter, Stainless Works stainless steel headers, Richard’s Performance Muffler exhaust, Oceanside Driveline rear driveshaft, two CBR transmission coolers with electric fans, Fiberwerx fiberglass fenders, Speedway Engineering sway bar with JD Fabrication arms, two spare tires, onboard air compressor, two curved 40-inch Baja Designs LED lightbars, Stewart’s Raceworks jack mount, Harbor Freight floor jack, 50-gallon Fuel Safe fuel cell

    The new suspension and fiberglass fenders make room for 37-inch BFG Baja T/A KR tires mounted on 17x8.5 Walker Evans Racing beadlock wheels. The stock front bumper was replaced by a custom rolled-tube bumper that supports two curved 40-inch Baja Designs LED lightbars and a plastic air dam.


    From: http://www.fourwheeler.com/

    EWC ; 24 Heures du Mans Motos : la pole pour Kawasaki SRC / Kawasaki SRC takes Le Mans pole


    Kawasaki SRC (Leblanc/Lagrive/Foret) s’élancera de la pole position de la 38ème édition des 24 Heures Motos, première épreuve du Championnat du monde FIM d’Endurance (EWC). La Kawasaki n°11 devance le YART, Honda Racing, le SERT, BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com et le GMT 94, tous prétendants à la victoire.
    La pluie a finalement épargné les 59 équipages qui ont pris part ce matin à la seconde séance qualificative des 24 Heures Moto.
    En améliorant son chrono d’hier, Grégory Leblanc (1.37.541) a permis à Kawasaki SRC de conserver la pole pour seulement 0.14 seconde sur le YART. Les améliorations de Max Neukirchner (1.36.969) et d’Ivan Silva (1.38.061) ainsi que le record du tour en endurance de Sheridan Morais (1.36.578) n’ont pas suffi pour déloger la Kawasaki n°11 de la première position. La Yamaha n°7 est créditée du deuxième temps moyen en 1.37.203.
    Honda Racing (Da Costa/Gimbert/F.Foray) conserve également sa troisième place en 1.37.856. Seul Sébastien Gimbert a été plus rapide aujourd’hui en 1.38.141. Julien Da Costa n’a pas pris part à la séance.
    Les trois pilotes du SERT, Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle et Etienne Masson ont également amélioré leurs chronos d’hier et permettent ainsi à la Suzuki n°30 de s’élancer de la quatrième place (1.37.948).
    BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com (Reiterberger/Jones/Pesek) occupe la cinquième place sur la grille de départ en 1.38.057.
    Le GMT 94 gagne trois places et se classe sixième à l’issue des deux séances qualificatives en 1.38.467.  Une chute de David Checa hier avait lourdement endommagé la moto. Le superbe travail des mécaniciens a permis à Kenny Foray et Mathieu Gines de signer de meilleurs chronos.
    Trois équipes engagées en Superstock s’intercalent dans le Top 10. Tati Team Beaujolais Racing devance le vainqueur de l’édition 2014, le Qatar Endurance Racing Team et les vainqueurs de la coupe du monde Superstock 2014.
    Bolliger Racing Team complète le Top 10. Trois équipes vont être éliminées, les moins rapides, à l’issue des deux séances qualificatives où 59 équipages participaient pour seulement 56 places sur la grille de départ.
    La journée va se poursuivre avec la traditionnelle visite de stands à partir de 18h00. On vous donne rendez-vous demain à 15h00 pour le départ de la 38ème édition des 24 Heures Motos.
    The N°11 Kawasaki of Leblanc/Lagrive/Foret will start the 38th 24 Heures Motos from pole position. Kawasaki SRC qualified for Round 1 of the 2015 FIM Endurance World Championship ahead of YART, Honda Racing, SERT, BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com and GMT 94, all potential winners.
    The 59 bikes finally had an all-dry run for the 24 Heures Motos’ second qualifying session this morning.
    An improvement from Grégory Leblanc (1m37.541s) enabled Kawasaki SRC to defend pole by a mere 0.14s from YART. The latter’s Max Neukirchner (1m36.969s) and Ivan Silva (1m38.061s) both improved, too, and Sheridan Morais (1m36.578s) established a new endurance racing track record, but the Austrian squad failed to topple the N°11 Kawasaki. Its average of 1m37.203s ensured second place, however.
    Honda Racing (Da Costa/Gimbert/F.Foray) held on to third (1m37.856s), even though Sébastien Gimbert was its only rider to improve today (1m38.141s). Julien Da Costa didn’t even take part in the session.
    SERT’s Vincent Philippe, Anthony Delhalle and Etienne Masson (1m37.948s) were faster today, as well, and the N°30 will start the weekend’s race from fourth on the grid, with BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com (Reiterberger/Jones/Pesek) alongside thanks to an average of 1m38.057s.
    GMT 94 (1m38.467s) moved up three places to sixth. David Checa’s fall on Thursday caused big damage to the team’s Yamaha but the mechanics’ work allowed Kenny Foray and Mathieu Gines to go out and improve their respective best lap times.
    Three superstock teams were next in the order, Tati Team Beaujolais Racing, the 2014 Superstock World Cup winner Junior Suzuki Team and the class’s 2014 winner Qatar Endurance Racing Team
    Bolliger Racing Team rounds out the top 10, while three of the 59 entries have been eliminated since there are only 56 slots on the grid.
    Today’s programme continues with the ever-popular pit walk at 6pm local time, and the 24-hour classic itself kicks off at 3pm tomorrow (Saturday).

    WTCC : Marrakech


    Pour la sixième fois de son histoire, l’Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco prend ses quartiers sur le Circuit Moulay El Hassan. Voici ce que pensent de cette piste de 4,545 kilomètres les pilotes du Championnat du Monde FIA des Voitures de Tourisme.
    Special and unusual: WTCC aces give their Marrakech track verdicts
    « Marrakech est un lieu très particulier« , confie Tiago Monteiro, membre du Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team. « Le circuit est incroyablement difficile car il est constitué de deux lignes droites et simplement deux « vrais virages » avec des bordures très agressives. Il est également très exigeant pour les freins. Il est donc nécessaire de débuter le week-end prudemment pour gagner en confiance et se familiariser avec la piste durant chaque séance. »
    James Thompson, pilote LADA Sport Rosneft, ajoute : « La clé de la réussite, c’est le freinage et la motricité. »
    Pour Sébastien Loeb, enfin, qui s’y imposa pour ses débuts en WTCC en 2014, « Marrakech est un circuit particulier où la Citroën C-Elysée est compétitive. La voiture doit profiter d’une bonne vitesse de pointe et être efficace au freinage. Et c’est ce qui la caractérise ! »
    Happy (WTCC) birthday LADA!
    Le team LADA Sport Rosneft participe ce week-end, à l’occasion de l’Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco à Marrakech, à son 50e meeting de Championnat du Monde FIA des Voitures de Tourisme.
    Le constructeur russe fit sa première apparition dans le championnat en 2008 avec le modèle 110. Depuis lors, il a progressé et s’est affirmé comme un prétendant à la victoire. En témoignent les deux succès signés Rob Huff la saison dernière. C’est cette année sur la nouvelle Vesta TC1 que reposent ses espoirs de LADA.
    Au Maroc, Mikhail Kozlovskiy sera de retour aux côtés de Huff et de James Thompsonaprès avoir dû faire l’impasse sur l’Argentine en raison du retard d’assemblage de sa voiture.
    « L’an passé j’avais terminé en 5e position de la course 2 et, pour l’heure, cela demeure mon meilleur résultat en WTCC« , confie le Russe. « J’espère aller encore plus haut avec la Vesta. Après mes deux premiers roulage à son volant sur notre base de Magny-Cours, puis au Portugal, j’avoue en être extrêmement content. Son comportement est sain mais je dois encore m’y acclimater car la Vesta est très différente de la Granta. »
    Huff, qui remporta la première manche marocaine en 2009, ajoute : « Nous avons beaucoup appris sur la voiture en Argentine et avons déniché quelques petites choses qui peuvent nous aider dans son développement. Avoir réalisé le meilleur temps de la Q1 démontre par ailleurs que la Vesta est déjà performante. Nous devons cependant rester prudents ce week-end, car une petite erreur pour avoir de grosses conséquences. Nous devons donc bien évaluer quand attaquer et quant être plus prudents pour recueillir le maximum de données avec les trois voitures. »
    Non content de fêter le 50e départ de LADA en WTCC, ce week-end marque également le 45e anniversaire de la sortie des chaînes de production de la première voiture de série assemblée à l’usine de Togliatti.
    The big WTCC numbers: Marrakech
    It’s Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco time this week as the Circuit Moulay El Hassan hosts the high-speed action for a sixth time. This is what some of the leading FIA World Touring Car Championship drivers think of the 4.545-kilometre track.
    “Marrakech is a very special place,” said Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team driver Tiago Monteiro in the build-up to the event. “The circuit is incredibly challenging with very long straights and really only two proper corners, with plenty of high-speed kerbs. It’s very hard on brakes so strategy wise, the best way to approach the weekend is to go slightly conservative, building confidence on familiarisation with the track over the sessions.”
    LADA Sport Rosneft’s James Thompson said: “The circuit is all about braking and traction.”
    Sébastien Loeb, who won in Morocco on his 2014 WTCC debut added: “Marrakech is an unusual track where the Citroën C-Elysée performs well. The car needs to have a good maximum speed and a good behaviour in terms of braking. That’s exactly the case.”
    Top award goes to LADA WTCC team chief

    LADA Sport Rosneft will celebrate its 50th FIA World Touring Car Championship outing when Marrakech hosts Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco this weekend.
    The Russian make first appeared in the championship with its 110 model in 2008. Since then it has become established as a WTCC frontrunner with Rob Huff claiming a brace of wins last year and its all-new Vesta TC1 proving competitive in 2015 despite limited pre-season testing.
    Rising Russian star Mikhail Kozlovskiy, who partners Huff and James Thompson in the three-car LADA line-up, missed the season-opener in Argentina last month while his car was in build, but will be back in action in Morocco.
    “Last year I finished fifth in the second race [in Marrakech] and, for the moment, this is my best result in the WTCC. Hopefully, with the Vesta I will improve my achievements. I got my first taste of the Vesta at our technical base in Magny-Cours before our Portugal tests, and I can say that I am very satisfied with the car. It feels great, though there are some things I need to get used to, because the Vesta is different in terms of driving compared to the Granta.”
    Huff, who won the first WTCC Race of Morocco in 2009, said: “We learned a lot about the car in Argentina and found a few things that we can put right and develop further, and the fact that we were P1 in Q1, shows the car has great pace. The car certainly feels fast, but we need to be careful this weekend, as a small error could see you in trouble, so we need to know when to attack and when to ease off in order to collect as much data as possible from all three cars.”
    As well as marking LADA’s 50th WTCC start, this weekend is 45 years since the first road-going LADA rolled off the production line at the company’s Togliatti plant in Russia.

    Alex Wakefield’s analogue art sets an eerie scene of speed


    From a young age, Chicago-based artist Alex Wakefield was intrigued by the drama of ‘Golden Era’ motor racing. Over the years, he developed this interest into a career, by using traditional methods and materials to depict memorable motorsport scenes from unorthodox perspectives…

    A unique viewpoint

    “My work differentiates from other artists in the fact that I seek to tell my own visual story. If there is a famous race or racing moment, I try to imagine a unique way to depict it,” Alex told Classic Driver. As such, whereas other motorsport artists might create their own take on a single iconic photograph, Alex strives to capture the action from his own viewpoint – often with dramatic (and sometimes sinister) results. Brian Redman’s Ferrari 312 PB storming round a corner on the old Spa-Francorchamps circuit, for example, or the birds-eye view of Jacky Ickx re-setting the Le Mans lap record in 1977, the headlights of his Martini-Porsche 936 the only light source in the eerie scene. “Historic racing scenes seem more visceral to me. Maybe a bit more pure and wild,” he tells us.

    A rollercoaster ride of emotions

    Many historic racing scenes are depicted in his work, but more recent MotoGP races have received the Wakefield treatment, too. “The reason I've created more recent imagery of MotoGP racers is for the same reason as the historic cars. Growing up watching riders like Gardner, Doohan, Schwantz, Rainey and Lawson on 500cc two-strokes really set a high bar in my mind. Their personalities; the wicked machines that one minute could be so beautiful to watch, then suddenly turn evil and send the rider off the bike.” Particularly poignant is the monochrome sketch of late MotoGP star Marco Simoncelli leaning low through a right-hand bend, reminiscent of his final corner. Emotion-stirring stuff, indeed.
    Photos: Alex Wakefield
    Alex Wakefield’s artwork can be purchased via his online store.
    You can find numerous historic competition cars for sale in the Classic Driver Market.