Lorenzo tient tête à Márquez à Indianapolis / Lorenzo duels with Marquez on opening day

                        

Déjà premier le matin, Lorenzo a terminé la première journée du Grand Prix Red Bull d’Indianapolis juste devant Márquez.

Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) a conservé la première position sur le classement des essais libres vendredi après-midi à Indianapolis, où il a devancé Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) de quelques millièmes de seconde à chacune des deux séances de la journée. 

Le Majorquin, qui avait fini deuxième derrière Márquez à Indianapolis l’an dernier, a signé le meilleur chrono de la journée l’après-midi, en 1’32.860, et a été trois millièmes de seconde plus rapide que Márquez, qui demeure invaincu aux Etats-Unis depuis son arrivée en MotoGP™ et pourrait enfin avoir trouvé un adversaire à sa hauteur en territoire américain. 
                         

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) et son coéquipier Andrea Iannone ont respectivement pris les troisième et quatrième positions, à trois dixièmes des deux leaders et juste devant Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda).

Confirmé chez Monster Yamaha Tech3 pour 2016 en début de journée, Pol Espargaró a lourdement chuté en highside dans le virage 13 et est resté à terre quelques instants avant de finalement se relever. L’Espagnol concluait la journée en sixième position, à une demi-seconde du temps de référence, devant Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) et son coéquipier Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), avec qui il avait remporté les 8 Heures de Suzuka durant la trêve estivale. 

Dixième à 0.672s de Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) commence son week-end bien loin de ses objectifs mais continuera à travailler samedi afin de se montrer plus compétitif et de s’assurer les moyens de défendre sa position de leader du classement général ainsi que ses treize points d’avance sur Lorenzo.

Premier pilote Open, Héctor Barberá (Avintia Blusens) a terminé en quatorzième position, devant Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Nicky Hayden (Aspar MotoGP Team) et Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Blusens), qui avait signé le neuvième temps le matin. 

Stefan Bradl a conclu sa toute première journée avec l’Aprilia Racing Team Gresini en vingtième position, en ayant été 0.4s plus rapide que son nouveau coéquipier Álvaro Bautista. 
                            

Toni Elías, exceptionnellement de retour en tant que remplaçant de Karel Abraham chez AB Motoracing), s’est classé dernier et poursuivra son travail de réadaptation au MotoGP™ samedi à 9h55, heure locale (soit 15h55 en France métropolitaine), lors de la troisième séance d’essais. 

Cliquez ici pour accéder aux résultats.

                          

Jorge Lorenzo came out on top on the first day of practice at the Indianapolis GP after a frenetic battle with Marc Marquez.

The MotoGP™ World Championship returned from its summer break to provide copious amounts of entertainment on the first day of practice at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. It was Jorge Lorenzo who took advantage of the blue skies and almost ideal conditions (47ºC Track Temp) to top both Free Practice sessions ahead of Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez. FP2 saw grip levels improved from the morning session as riders bedded in the track, and Lorenzo left it until his very last lap to set a 1’32.860.

Marquez was just three thousandths of a second further back in second overall and was the only other rider to break the 1’33 barrier, as he looks to make it 3 MotoGP™ wins in a row at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (+0.295s) completed the provisional front row ahead of his teammate Andrea Iannone (0.306s) in fourth, as they both seemed to benefit from a private test at Misano during the summer break.
                       

CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow (+0.326s) improved by over a second throughout the day to finish as the leading Satellite rider in fifth, ahead of Pol Espargaro (+502s) on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 who suffered a nasty looking highside at the end of FP2 at turn 13.

Dani Pedrosa (+0.517s) on the second Repsol Honda ended the day in seventh, while Scott Redding (+0.583s) continued to show signs of improvement on the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda to finish in eighth. Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) set a time good enough for ninth overall, while the current Championship leader Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) found himself down in tenth on the combined timesheets, 0.672s behind his teammate Lorenzo.
                    

Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera was the leading Open class rider in 14th, ahead of the Factory Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR of Aleix Espargaro in 15th, and local hero Nicky Hayden on the Aspar MotoGP Team Honda.
                       

Hayden’s teammate Eugene Laverty managed to end the day in 19th, with Stefan Bradl making his debut on the Factory Aprilia Racing Team Gresini RS-GP in 20th, 0.131s ahead of his teammate Alvaro Bautista.  Tony Elias, who is filling in for the injured Karel Abraham in the AB Motoracing team, finished the day in 23rd.

Check out the combined MotoGP™ Free Practice results, FP3 is due to start at 9:55am local time in Indianapolis on Saturday.
                      

Expedition Overlands Central America Expedition Ep5

MALLE London ; The Mile 2015

WHAT’S A SHELBY COBRA WITH A COLORFUL HISTORY REALLY WORTH?

by Petrolicious Productions Photos Courtesy of RM Sotheby's We need to examine the age-old question: Is it possible to crash—and sometimes burn—the history out of a winning race car? Sports Car Market’s American Profile from August 2010 questions why a burned-down — then built-up — 289 Cobra goes for 40% above market average. Average values for authentic Cobras continued to rise—up an additional 27% on average in the last five years. In April 1963, Shelby prepared two cars for Le Mans that summer. Features included Dunlop magnesium wheels with larger fender flares, FIA hood scoops and a 37-gallon fuel tank. The engines, stated to be “moderate tune,” had four Weber downdraught carburetors. One team car entered by AC Cars, managed by Stirling Moss and driven by Bolton/Sanderson, finished seventh overall, third in the GT category and won the 4-5 liter class. This success resulted in the construction of six more Cobras—designated as Le Mans versions by Shelby and built with rack-and-pinion steering. The first of these six, CSX 2136, was delivered to Shelby American in June 1963, where it was prepared to compete in the 1963 SCCA/US Road Racing Championship. In addition to its Le Mans features, it received a Derrington “Nassau” exhaust, Halibrand wheels, front wheel-well spats and wider rear flares, Koni shocks, brake cooling scoops, front and rear sway bars, engine oil and differential coolers, driveshaft hoop, and an electric fuel pump. CSX 2136 joined the Shelby American Team for the September 8 SCCA/USRRC race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Driven by Dave MacDonald and Bob Bondurant, it finished fourth overall and first in the GT class. At Riverside on October 13, Lew Spencer drove it to third in the L.A. Times GT race. MacDonald drove it at the Hawaiian GP later in October to second overall. CSX 2136’s last appearance as a Shelby team car was at the Nassau Speed Weeks on December 8, 1963 where Frank Gardner drove it to seventh overall and first in GT in the Nassau Trophy Race. Ed Leslie acquired CSX 2136 from the Shelby Team on 30th January 1964 and proceeded to win his class in seven of the 11 SCCA races entered in 1964, including the ARRC finale at Riverside. He also drove 2136 to an overall and GT class win at the Laguna Seca USRRC race on May 3 and a pair of USRRC second places at Riverside on April 26 and Kent on May 10, both times finishing behind Ken Miles in a Team Cobra. In 1965, CSX 2136 was sold to Foster Alexander who raced it at the ARRC National Championship at Daytona on 28th November, finishing 3rd overall. Subsequently, CSX 2136 raced in B/Production with Stan Bennett and John Bachnover in the Northwest and David Greenblatt in Montreal. This car’s period history ended when the latter was involved in an accident at Circuit Mount Tremblant. It later sustained damage in a garage fire. In 1980, CSX 2136 was discovered by Ken Eber, who purchased it in damaged “roller” form. Restored for its next owner Steve Baker by specialist Bill Murray, CSX 2136 was returned to its original 1963-64 configuration. Following completion, it won an AACA Junior Competition Car First Place in 1992. Eber swapped a 427 street Cobra to Baker for CSX 2136 to re-acquire it in 1994. 2136 was purchased by Chris Cox in 1997, and sold to the current owner in 2006.  Outstandingly successful with both the Shelby team and Ed Leslie, this is one of the Cobras that established the marque’s unmatched reputation for speed and durability. The sale of CSX 2136 presents the opportunity for a discerning collector to acquire a Cobra of remarkable provenance. This car sold for $1,010,694 against an estimate of $950k-$1.2m at RM Auctions in Monaco on May 1, 2010. Ah yes, the wacky and wonderful world of vintage race cars and their complicated life stories. Let’s start at the beginning. First, in the nomenclature of the Cobra world, CSX2136 is not a Le Mans Cobra. It is what both Shelby and AC Cars called a “Le Mans Replica”—one of the 6 such cars Shelby built following their success with the two actual Le Mans cars. As the catalog chronicles, 2136 was indeed an incredibly successful Shelby — and later privateer — team car. Like almost any winning race car, it had its fair share of bumps and bruises from 1964-1966. In 1967, Stan Bennett purchased it with a blown motor, fixed it up, and raced it. Somewhere along the way, it was crashed to the extent it needed a new nose. Bennett sold the repaired car to John Bachnover during September 1967. Bachnover later sold it to David Greenblatt. Greenblatt continued to race the car until significantly damaging 2136 in the early 1970’s during a race. To add insult to injury, the heavily damaged 2136 later caught on fire on Greenblatt’s trailer and burned to the ground. Greenblatt was paid for the loss by his insurance carrier, who then took the remains of 2136 and placed them into storage. By 1975, the insurance company lost track of the remains, the owner of the storage facility passed away, and what remained of 2136 was scrapped. Wait! There’s more! Grab some popcorn because now the tale gets better: In 1977, Michael Leicester met Greenblatt, and the conversation turned to 2136. Greenblatt ended up selling Leicester two spare wheels and his 1969 bill of sale from Bachnover for 2136 for the sum of $1 and a sports racing car valued at $3600. In 1978, Leicester commissioned Brian Angliss—who later bought AC Cars—of England to build him a new Cobra body and chassis, oddly enough also wearing the identifier “CSX2136.” In 1979, SAAC received a letter from Leicester explaining how he owns the lost Cobra 2136 and how it was undergoing a “ground-up restoration.” July 1980 saw the new Angliss 2136 Le Mans Replica delivered to Leicester. In December 1980, Gilles Dubuc stumbled upon—and purchased—the earthly remains of the real CSX2136 in a Canadian junkyard. He later sold them to Ken Eber. Of course, a legal battle soon erupted between Eber, the rightful owner of the only bits of CSX2136 DNA left, and Leicester, who owned the carefully crafted “new” CSX2136.

  

Call in the Mounties

Eventually, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were called in to examine Leicester’s ownership documents and his car, and they determined it to be a recreation. The original paperwork for the real 2136 in Leicester’s possession was transferred to Eber, and Leicester was somehow allowed to re-number and call his car “CSX2136R.”

After Chris Cox purchased the car in 1997, he soon sold it to Richard Scaife. Scaife later consigned it to RM Auction’s 2006 Amelia Island sale, where the late John O’Quinn purchased 2136 for $1,650,000.

So, in the case of our subject car, CSX2136, we need to examine the age-old question: Is it possible to crash (and sometimes burn) the history out of a winning race car? Was it a good buy at just over $1m—just a few years after SCM declared it a fair deal at $1.65m?

It all depends on your views on race history versus originality. There is no question that the car in question is all that remains of the original car that won the races and was piloted by some of the best Cobra drivers of all time.

Washington’s axe

A Le Mans Replica Cobra is among the most desirable of all Comp Cobras, and unless you are a blood relative, Cobra restorer/racer extraordinaire Bill Murray won’t restore your Comp Cobra- ever. So, we know 2136 is well restored and well-sorted.

If you are the type that feels George Washington’s axe is still the same axe he used in spite of three new handles and two new heads—and you have been looking for a Comp Cobra that will get you in the door at any vintage event on the planet, then CSX2136 was a great buy.

If you don’t care about racing, but you want to know that the aluminum on your Cobra was hammered out and installed at AC Cars in 1964, then CSX2136 would be considered more sizzle than steak.

The sale price reflects roughly a 100 percent premium over a decent 289 Street Cobra today, but I suspect it also represents at least a 50 percent discount from what 2136 would be worth if Ed Leslie had parked it in a garage in 1965 and it had been dragged out, dust, dents and all, and run over the same RM Monaco auction block.

I guess the answer to my above question, at least on this day in Monaco, is that you can’t crash and burn the history out of a great old race car, but you can crash and burn out a significant part of its value. And in an atypical SCM split judgment on a sale, we believe that 2136 was well bought for an end user who wants to race, and it was well sold if you base a car’s value on how many original bits it retains.

If nothing else, the new owner of 2136 has a great story to tell his buddies about his new car over a few beers.

(Introductory description courtesy of RM Sotheby’s)