Ultracar Sports Club : La nouvelle idée de génie de Stéphane Ratel

par Laurent Mercier (Endurance-Info.com)

En lançant l’évènement Ultracar, Stéphane Ratel s’est lancé dans une niche qui fait la part belle aux autos exotiques. Lorsque le patron de SRO Motorsports Group a annoncé cette nouvelle série, il nous avait confié que tout mettrait se mettre en place petit à petit et qu’il ne fallait spécialement s’attendre à avoir beaucoup de voitures lors du premier rendez-vous. Sauf que le coup d’essai s’est déjà transformé en coup de maître. Imaginez un peu : un plateau de 16 hypercars toutes aussi exclusives les unes que les autres. Entre Lamborghini Veneno Coupé et Roadster, LaFerrarii, Ferrari 599XX, McLaren P1, McLaren P1 GTR, Aston Martin One-77, Pagani Zonda et Huayra, Gumpert Apollo et autres Bugatti Veyron, les spectateurs du Paul Ricard s’en sont mis plein les yeux.

A l’heure où le commun des mortels n’est plus capable de faire la différence entre une Ferrari 458 GTE et une 458 Italia GT3, une McLaren P1 GTR aux couleurs Harrods n’a rien d’une Bugatti Veyron. Il est là le coup de génie ou comment mettre sur la piste des autos qui font rêver. En France, il est interdit de réussir, interdit d’entreprendre, interdit d’avoir de l’argent et interdit d’avoir une belle voiture. Les propriétaires de ces hypercars n’ont pas réfléchi une seconde à faire le déplacement sous le soleil du Paul Ricard.

Le meeting Blancpain Endurance Series a permis de réunir 60 GT3 sans oublier la vingtaine de GT du GT Sports Club et le plateau garni du Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo, le tout pour plus de 50 millions d’euros.

Avec le Ultracar Sports Club, pas de vraies courses, juste un roulage sur piste en toute sécurité. Les autos que vous avez l’habitude de voir en statique sur le stand d’un salon de l’auto, vous pouvez les voir en action. Bien sûr, on aurait aimé voir ces monstrueuses autos sur un vrai championnat. Imaginez un Championnat du Monde GT1 regroupant ces GT bodybuildées. Ne rêvons pas mais ne boudons pas notre plaisir de contempler par exemple une McLaren P1. Tous les propriétaires se sont gentiment prêtés au jeu des photos avec un public venu en masse. Pas de jalousie dans le regard des photographes mais de la passion et des yeux qui pétillaient.

On ne peut plus rouler sur les routes, alors messieurs sortez vos GT et rejoignez le Ultracar Sports Club. En plus de vous faire plaisir, vous ferez plaisir…

“On supporte du mieux que l’on peut SRO dans l’Ultracar Sports Club” nous a confié Giorgio Sanna, en charge de Squadra Corse, le service compétition de Lamborghini. “Ces autos sont faites pour rouler et c’est pour nous un plaisir de montrer la Veneno au public. Ce type d’évènement manquait dans le paysage automobile.”

Il est aussi là l’avenir du sport automobile en ouvrant de nouveaux marchés. Toutes les Veneno sont vendues mais combien pourra-t-on en voir de près ? A 3,3 millions d’euros, pas sûr que les propriétaires se risquent à aller sur les départementales. Oui il y a encore un avenir pour des GT qui valent des sommes folles.

Lamborghini a bien voulu nous prêter une Huracan d’un vert pour le moins flashy durant tout l’après-midi du dimanche afin d’aller limer le bitume des petites routes varoises, de Bandol à La Ciotat en passant par Cassis. Il ne s’est pas passé 1km sans un signe de la main, une photo, un sourire ou je ne sais quoi encore. A l’arrêt, les questions fusent : “on peut regarder l’intérieur ? c’est quoi la puissance ? Vous avez une belle voiture.” Malheureusement, cette Huracan n’était pas la notre. Avec plus de 250 000 personnes aux 24 Heures du Mans et des regards qui se détournent au passage d’une GT, non l’automobile de rêve n’est pas morte.

Pour en revenir à l’Ultracar Sports Club, on espère que le rassemblement va se développer au fil du temps. Stéphane Ratel en avait rêvé, il l’a fait…

TOTALLY RADICAL: ED TURNER’S SUZUKI GSX1100

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Some bikes are built to go far—others to look flash. We’ll let you decide which category Ed Turner’s latest creation falls into.

It’s no coincidence that Ed Turner sounds like “head turner”: proprietor Karl Renoult’s design ethos is deliberately edgy. His client—a designer—shares the same philospohy.

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“The man has taste, and is a thrill seeker,” explains the French builder, “so naturally we would get along!”

After just two phone calls, the brief was defined and the project booked in. The idea was simple: a big engine, crammed into a radical package. With four cylinders, sixteen valves and a hundred horses on tap, a 1980-model Suzuki GSX1100 was picked as the donor.

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Karl knew that the best way to highlight the the Zook’s monstrous power plant, was to minimize everything around it—so the build kicked off with an intensive tear down. In the end, all that remained was the engine block and a couple of steel tubes.

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The original plan was to modify just the rear loop, but Karl now found himself building a whole new frame. In it, he wedged a small, fiberglass fuel tank. It only holds six liters—but Karl reckons that’s more than enough for a few quarter mile runs.

The tank’s lines were carried through to an equally petite, custom-made tail unit. The seat’s leather work was handled by a friend: Fabrice at ASD.

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Up front, Karl installed a set of upside-down forks taken from a Buell. They’re mounted via custom triple clamps—complete with a US flag cut-out. Karl wanted a monoshock setup at the rear, so he made up a new swingarm and fitted a Hyperpro unit.

The Buell also donated its 17″ wheels, now wrapped in Maxxis Goldspeed rubber. Thanks to some one-off parts, the rear wheel’s been converted from belt to chain drive.

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Matching the GSX’s new, drag-inspired attitude are a row of velocity stacks, and a low-and-loud four-into-two exhaust system. Karl also fitted rear set controls to the bike, and cut up a set of Renthal bars to make new clip-ons.

The headlight’s from a Ford Mustang, mounted on hand-made, leather brackets. As for the tail light: “It was provided by prison administration,” says Karl. “These lights are located above each cell door, for inmates to call ‘room service’.”

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For paint, Karl had his heart set on “Mooneyes yellow” for the engine block—but wasn’t sure how he’d match it elsewhere.

Since he and his client share a love for old-school American skate culture, Karl threw the paint swatches out the window. Instead, he covered the tank with a collage of skate stickers—sealed in with multiple layers of clear coat. He then took it further: certain parts throughout the bike have been modified with additional logos.

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It’s the ideal livery for this off-the-wall custom. All that’s missing is a skateboard rack.

Ed Turner | Facebook | Instagram | Images by by Pierre Le Targat

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When art meets cars – artists take the wheel

Artists have been fascinated by the automobile since its invention. As subjects of love, hate and even fetish, cars have found themselves in studios and galleries across the world. And more often than not, this is simply because artists themselves are self-confessed enthusiasts…

It’s not known how the curator of the Louvre reacted when Italian Filippo Tommaso Marinetti exhibited the ‘Futurist Manifesto’ in 1909, featuring a ‘roaring’ racing car, said to be ‘more beautiful than the victory at Samothrace’. Regardless, six decades later, the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely presented a Lotus Climax V8 at his museum in Basel, as a poignant reminder of the legendary Scottish driver, Jim Clark. Cars and art share an enduring relationship. For the Futurist artists, the thrill of speed was tangible.

No sooner had the car been invented than artists discovered its enormous potential. In 1898, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec produced a lithograph in his characteristic linear style named ‘The Motorist’, depicting a man at the wheel of an early automobile. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Futurist Giacomo Balla put cars (which were still very much luxury objects) at the centre of many of his pieces. The versatile colour artist Sonja Delauney not only designed hats and capes for motorists, but also painted several early Citroëns; a precursor to the later Citroën ‘Art Cars’. Tamara de Lempicka’s renowned 1929 self-portrait depicts her at the wheel of a green Bugatti and, on the subject of Bugattis, Rembrandt – founder Ettore’s younger brother – created remarkable bronze animals, some of which were used as bonnet ornaments on Ettore’s famous cars. 

Following World War II, there was a triumphal surge in car culture, leaving its mark on society and the environment. The artwork of old might have languished, but the new, groundbreaking art movement quickly took up the subject of mobility – Andy Warhol’s series of photos of a car accident, for example. Roy Lichtenstein was at it, too; his ‘In the Car’ pop art piece quickly became prominent in popular culture. 

The car as sculpture grew increasingly popular, too. Artists such as César saw poetry in their proportions, interpreting cars in deformed ways. The early 1970s saw US artist Chip Lord create ‘Cadillac Ranch’, a series of tailfin saloons seemingly half buried in the ground, built as a symbol of the brand’s evolution. Frenchman Arman presented ‘Traction Avant, après traction’, essentially a rusted carcass of the car presented as though it had just been unearthed. Wolf Vostell’s Cadillac in concrete in Berlin symbolised modern worship of the automobile, Erwin Wurm’s ‘Fat Car’ was a Porsche on some serious steroids and Dutch artist Madeleine Berkhemer’s Maserati and Lamborghini installations document her penchant for nylon stockings. 

Now iconic, BMW’s Art Cars only came to be thanks to former racing driver Hervé Poulain, and his realisation that the forms and surfaces of racing cars were the ideal platform for artists to document their work. 

Marinetti recognised that racers and artists have much in common – they both understand the beauty in speed, and the idea of sudden death, for example. Take the positive relationship between Tinguely and Swiss driver Jo Siffert, the latter who tragically died doing what he loved. For his deceased friend, Tinguely dedicated a striking fountain in his and Siffert’s hometown of Fribourg. It still stands today, and is well worth a visit if you’re ever in the area…

Photos: Getty Images / Rex Features / Museum Tinguely / BMW / Bugatti

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