WTCC ; CITROEN TRIOMPHE AU CASTELLET AVEC LOEB ET LOPEZ

 Course 1 : Loeb devance les champions WTCC et s’impose à domicile

Sébastien Loeb a converti sa pole position en une troisième victoire dans cette saison du Championnat du Monde FIA des Voitures de Tourisme au terme d’une nette domination sur le circuit Paul Ricard.

Le nonuple champion du monde des Rallyes s’est joué de la chaleur intense et de ses équipiers chez Citroën, Yvan Muller et José María López. Grâce à sa deuxième place, Muller refait encore une partie de son retard sur le champion en titre qui ne mène désormais qu’avec 26 points d’avance avant d’affronter la deuxième manche du meeting varois.

« Yvan m’a mis la pression au départ et il m’a fallu fermer la porte une ou deux fois, confie Loeb, qui gagne avec 6 secondes d’avance. J’ai ensuite pu creuser l’écart et piloter à ma mesure sans avoir cette fois à surveiller mes rétros. Il devait également gérer les assauts de Pechito et ça l’a sans doute ralenti. Il fallait néanmoins rester concentré et j’ai préféré tenir un bon rythme tout en préservant mes pneumatiques. »

Ma Qing Hua complète la domination Citroën en quatrième position, tandis que Tom Chilton, dans sa roue, impose sa Chevrolet au sommet de la hiérarchie du Trophée Yokohama.

Norbert Michelisz et sa Honda devancent pour leur part les pilotes officiels Tiago Monteiro et Gabriele Tarquini, tandis que Mehdi Bennani prit le meilleur sur la LADA de Jaap van Lagen pour le gain de la 9e place. Le Marocain s’élancera en pole position de la course 2

Flash Course 2 : López remporte le choc des titans

José María López remporte de haute lutte la deuxième manche de la JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of France.

Placé en huitième position sur la grille, López dérobe la deuxième place à Tiago Monteiro lorsque le Portugais sort dans le premier virage du 7e tour. Il parvient ensuite à se défaire de Norbert Michelisz et remporte son cinquième succès de la saison, qui lui permettre de reprendre de l’avance au championnat.

Michelisz, qui partait au troisième rang avec sa Honda, prit les commandes lorsque le poleman Mehdi Bennani fut pénalisé d’un drive-through pour départ anticipé. Le Hongrois ne fut néanmoins pas en mesure de résister à la Citroën de  López dans le 14e tour, préférant assurer la deuxième marche du podium et la victoire dans le Trophée Yokohama.

Ma Qing Hua complète le tiercé de tête devant Yvan Muller et Gabriele Tarquini, 5e pour Honda.

Race 1: Loeb upstages WTCC champions for home win

Frenchman Sébastien Loeb converted pole position to win number three of the FIA World Touring Car Championship season following a dominant drive at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The nine-time world rally champion beat the intense heat and Citroën team-mates Yvan Muller and José María López with Muller’s capture of second enough to narrow defending champion López’s title lead to 26 points ahead of this afternoon’s second race.

“In the start Yvan put me under pressure and I had to close the door one or two times,” said Loeb, who won by six seconds. “I was able to take a little lead and drive like I want without closing the doors. He was under pressure from Pechito and couldn’t go flat out so I was able to pull away and it was okay.

“But you have to stay concentrated and I prefer to keep in my rhythm, try to save a little bit the tyre too and drive like I can.”

Ma Qing Hua completed a Citroën top-four as Tom Chilton grabbed the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy prize in fifth in his privateer Chevrolet.

Norbert Michelisz beat fellow Honda driver Tiago Monteiro for sixth with Gabriele Tarquini eighth and Mehdi Bennani passing LADA pilot Jaap van Lagen for ninth. Bennani will start the 16-lap reverse race from pole

Race 2 : López wins action-packed WTCC counter

José María López has claimed a dramatic victory in the second JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of France.

Starting from eighth on the grid, López snatched second place from Tiago Monteiro following a clash with the Portuguese Honda driver exiting the first corner on lap seven. He then caught and passed Norbert Michelisz for top spot and his fifth win of the season to rebuild his shrinking title advantage.

Honda driver Michelisz, who started third, moved into the lead when pole-sitter Mehdi Bennani was forced to take a drive-through penalty for a jumped start. But the Hungarian was unable to fend off Citroën driver López on lap 14, settling instead for second and top Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy points.

Ma Qing Hua finished third with Yvan Muller fourth and Gabriele Tarquini fifth for Honda.

1998 H-D Sportster by Young Guns Speed Shop

Written by Martin Hodgson.

Incredible watches, chocolate and cheese so goes the cliché about Switzerland the landlocked mountainous country in the middle of Europe. But a group of young Swiss lads are making their name with a different kind of craftsmanship, one off custom bikes that tip their hat to the days of old and with a blend of bobber and board tracker they’ve turned a Harley Sportster into a beautiful piece of standing art that also rips the street.

Led by Nik Heer the small team at Young Guns Speed Shop includes Fabian, who like Nik has been spinning spanners from an early age and artist/chef Aramis whose flair for industrial design is evident in the finishing touches of the builds. Hot on the heels of their incredible 1947 AJS build, the boys have taken this 1990’s 883 Harley Sportster and given it the vintage treatment they do so well. With the stock bike stripped down to a bare frame the sketch pads came out and the designing began. With the board tracker/bobber combo in mind it was drawn up before being turned into a roller so further designing could be done in all three dimensions.

The blacked out frame was cleaned up and the fender struts completely removed and detabbed for that old school, zero clutter look. Next up in making it a rolling chassis was to give the wheels a tougher look, the hubs have been left in raw metal while the rims and then the spokes were painstakingly painted in black. The paint on the outer rims was not just any black but one that would match the predetermined tires and give them a fatter look, they are of course classic Firestones. The suspension was then dumped to the deck, the front forks have been taken down as much as possible before they would bottom out and the stubby rear shocks flatten out the bike bringing the rear tire up close and personal with the seat.

With the full roller on the bench the boys began to visualise the bodywork with a minimalist look the order of the day. The peanut style tank is the perfect look for any bobber and custom mounts were fabricated to ensure it runs true to the lines of the backbone. The standard seat is gone, so too are all the mountings and catches that would normally keep it bolted down. In its place is a custom leather bobber seat that not only looks the business but is shaped to flow effortlessly with the lines of the new tank. Finishing out the less is more approach is a new one off rear fender that has been cleverly mounted on the swingarm where the chain guard once was. This gives the look of a tire/fender gap that is incredibly close without running the risk of the two ever meeting with disastrous consequences for the rider.

A minimalist look is not too much of a challenge until you get to the vitals of any motorcycle that actually make it run. Solving some of that problem is the mounting of the battery and other electronic components in a small box under the gearbox. The result is beautiful negative space that allows you to look through the frame and see the classic Harley V-Twin without anything obscuring the view. Sadly the standard oil tank is a bulky item for such a small frame and would have completely killed the mood. So the Young Guns set about hand crafting one that was not only smaller but was more in line with the theme of the build. Worried the reduced capacity might negatively affect the oil temperature cooling pipes were cleverly integrated into the tank and back to back testing with the original now shows an even lower oil temp.

With so much effort having gone into keeping the bike looking old school and deliberately minimal in approach an over the top heavy flake paint job would have spelt death for the final design. So a local graffiti artist who is a friend of the crew laid down the paint over bare metal that gives a modern twist with vintage inspiration in true bobber style. The headlight is also a classic piece, a 5 3/4in bates lamp with a heavily blacked out grill. While rear lighting is taken care of by another bobber touch, mounted almost out of sight below the seat. Board track styling comes in the way of under and over heat wrapped pipes and individual mufflers with the ultimate touch being the inverted and flipped bars that wear only the essential items.

There was of course one final problem, the notoriously strict Swiss road rules meant this beautiful bike could have ended up a static piece of art when really the boys had plans to ride it and ride it hard. Miraculously it passed its roadworthy test and so a side mounted numberplate was built to match the rest of the bike. The collection of builds at Young Guns Speedshop is growing by the day, from true old school classics like models from AJS and Triumph, to vintage motorcrossers and now a one off Harley bobber their portfolio is only going to grow. So with the future looking bright the young men of this thriving Swiss Speedshop are moving on to a bigger workshop and you better believe even more amazing builds are on the way.

[Photography by Lorenz Richard]

via PIPEBURN

ERC, Ypres Rally : Et de 10 pour « Fast » Freddy !

Le Belge Freddy Loix a remporté le Rallye d’Ypres pour la 10e fois et offert un premier succès international à la nouvelle Skoda Fabia R5 chaussée de pneumatiques Michelin. Bryan Bouffier et Vincent Verschueren complètent le podium sur Citroën DS3 R5.

La 51^e édition du Rallye d’Ypres, qui s’est disputée sous le soleil des Flandres, a basculé en milieu de deuxième étape, alors que la bataille était au plus fort entre Bryan Bouffier, Craig Breen, Stéphane Lefebvre et Freddy Loix, tous groupés en moins de 10 secondes.

Pour espérer gagner quelques dixièmes dans les nombreuses intersections du parcours, les pilotes n’hésitent pas à couper les virages, ramenant des pierres sur l’asphalte. Ces routes salies et ces passages répétés dans les « cordes » furent sans doute à l’origine des crevaisons successives de Craig Breen (ES11), de Stéphane Lefebvre (ES12) et de Bryan Bouffier (ES15)

En début d’épreuve, Freddy Loix avait lui aussi perdu une trentaine de secondes dans une crevaison. Mais le Belge, qui découvrait la nouvelle Skoda Fabia R5 en course, est peu à peu remonté vers le haut du classement, signant son premier meilleur temps samedi matin (ES9). Après les déboires de ses rivaux, Freddy Loix est allé cueillir une 10^e victoire à Ypres (nouveau record) à 45 ans !

L’Irlandais Craig Breen, qui a ensuite effectué une petite sortie de route et endommagé son radiateur, fut contraint à l’abandon. Mais en l’absence de Kajetanowicz, Breen reste leader du Championnat d’Europe des Rallyes FIA.

Le Français Bryan Bouffier et le Belge Vincent Verschueren sont montés sur le podium final de Grote Markt à Ypres samedi soir. Le Portugais Bruno Magalhaes (Peugeot 208 T16), qui ouvrait la route samedi, n’a pas commis la moindre erreur pour terminer à la 4^e place devant Lefebvre et Orsak.

La catégorie Junior a quant à elle basculé dans la toute dernière spéciale du rallye, quand les deux leaders, Marijan Griebel (Opel Adam, crevaison) et Diogo Gago (Peugeot 208, sortie) ont été retardés. Le Polonais Alex Zawada (Opel Adam/Michelin), qui était remonté de la 6^e à la 3^eplace après une touchette, a remporté sa première victoire Junior.

Kevin Abbring (Citroën DS3 R5), Kris Princen (Peugeot 208 T16) et Bernd Casier (Ford Fiesta R5) ont joué les premiers rôles en début de rallye avant d’abandonner. Au volant de sa Porsche 997 GT3/Michelin, surdimensionnée par rapport aux petites routes des Flandres, Romain Dumas était 4^e avant de se retirer dans l’avant-dernière spéciale. Lui aussi au volant d’une Porsche, François Delecour a retrouvé avec joie les routes de son enfance pour terminer 20^e devant Marc Duez (Porsche).

Prochaine étape du Championnat d’Europe des Rallyes FIA en Estonie les 17-19 juillet.

ZEEMA PROJECT 3 SPEED TRIPLE

osted by garethmax

In a world of increasing conformity, making a bold and individual statement is a difficult task. Even in the seemingly free-thinking custom motorcycle culture there are dominant trends and prevailing aesthetics, and most expressions of individuality are confined to a small variation of detail or nuance. Not so with the first public offering from Zeema Innovations unveiled at Bike Shed London 2015 at Tobacco Dock last month. The Project 3 Triumph Speed Triple is a standout bike that is as brave in its ambition as it is confident in its execution. It certainly left more than a few bearded cynics lost for words and nodding in hard won appreciation.

The donor itself is an unusual choice. The Triumph Speed Triple is a machine notoriously difficult to modify, and not too pretty in its naked form. But despite its reputation as an ugly duckling, Chris Tweed from Zeema saw it as a perfect donor with a great engine, the roar of a throaty triple, and a reputation for solid handling. He loved the single sided swing arm, the twin spar frame and the “whole stubby bullishness”.

Chris started with the concept of the Riva Aquarama runabout boat and the elegant sinuous lines that led it to being known as the “Ferrari of the boat world”. Not an immediate match with the Speed Triple then. Undeterred, Chris decided this was to be “a wooden boat triumph motorcycle thingy”. OK.  Chris found the unloved donor on eBay, and began in earnest to strip the sorry thing apart. The first task was the seat unit. Wood and varnish were the chosen materials and after several incarnations and four sheets of 8′ x 4′ birch ply the seat began to take shape. This was the longest solo part of the build, but is it’s defining feature.

With the seating position fixed next came the bars and pegs. The riser bars were ditched for clip-ons, the foot pegs swapped for fully adjustable rear-sets and the forks dropped through the yokes by 20mm to set the riding position. Chris felt the wheels should be spoked, so the chunky mags were ditched in favour of modified and machined Borranis, originally designed for the Ducati Monster S4R. The exhaust needed to be discrete and minimal as not to distract from the sleek tail lines, so a low slung 3-into-1 was fabricated. Then the radiator was built and hung, but Chris didn’t want the standard radiator oil cooler combo and as there was a vacant space where the lights used to reside it seemed like logical place to put the oil cooler.

The frame, swinging arm, engine covers and brakes were stripped, blasted and powder coated in a bold gloss white, with the tank painted to match. In light of the lack of a fuel gauge, Chris exposed a bare strip at the rear of the tank to allow the rider to see through the opaque plastic illuminated by an internal tank-light, to check the fuel level. The loom was drastically trimmed, rerouted and tucked out of sight. The mini speedo and idiot lights sunk into the top yoke gives the minimum info, and the discreet LED brake light under the seat unit facilitates an MOT pass. The hard lines for the oil cooler were fabricated and the brakes replumbed.

Project 3 came together just right with more than a hint of the Riva. A radical departure from the cookie cutter customs, this is a statement debut from Zeema and a joy to admire.

After many years in the racing car industry, Project 3 is a venture along untravelled roads for Zeema. Chris is confident he can bring high levels of design, finish and creativity to the scene, and this is hopefully just the first of many creations. Let’s hope each and every one is as bold and genre-busting as this elegant and capable Triple.

To get in touch with Chris to discuss future projects, or indeed race car and bike preparation head over to the Zeemawebsite.

via The Bike Shed