California dreams at the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance 2015

Nowhere else can you experience so many million-dollar classics on the public roads as in the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance. This year, the dream cars were even able to enjoy beautiful weather. Photographer Rémi Dargegen was there for Classic Driver...

Before the world’s most elegant classics are awarded their prizes at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on Sunday, the Thursday of Monterey Car Week sees the automotive jewels take to the roads for the annual 80-mile Tour d’Elegance. 

The convoy heads from Pebble Beach along sections of the legendary 17-Mile Drive, through enchanting forests of pine and cypress and along the wildly romantic Pacific coast, via Big Sur and Highway Number 1 to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Drivers often find themselves navigating their classics through dense banks of fog – but this year, the Tour d'Elegance took place beneath deep blue skies. 

During the Tour, participants (among them racing legends Sir Stirling Moss and Jochen Mass, fraternally sharing a Gullwing) enjoy lunch in Carmel, while the public can admire the parked-up treasures. And this year’s display was as stunning as ever: Ferrari alone was represented by such icons as the 250 LM (piloted by DK Engineering), ‘Tour de France’ and California Spider. The Ferrari 340 Mexico Vignale berlinetta of Copley Motorcars also participated.

And of course, in a land where pre-War classics are traditionally revered, there were Vintage cars to delight any enthusiast, including Dupont, Duesenberg, Packard, Delahaye, Bugatti, Bentley and Rolls-Royce. 

Finally, after the lunch break, it’s back to Pebble Beach to await the Sunday Concours and the hugely competitive battle for the title of ‘Best of Show’ (or, at least, ‘Best in Class’). 

Many of the Tour cars’ owners, meanwhile, were spotted on Thursday evening at the RM Sotheby's sale, where the multi-million-dollar ‘Pinnacle Portfolio’ went under the hammer. We look forward to meeting some of the cars from the auction catalogue on 17-Mile Drive in the coming year.

Photos: Rémi Dargegen for Classic Driver © 2015

All the news from this year's Monterey and Pebble Beach events can be found in our regularly updated overview.

THE MACH CHICKEN: A SMOKIN’ KAWASAKI S1 TRACKER

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Flat-trackers and two-strokes are some of our favorite things. Combine the two, and we’re hooked.

All the more if the two-stroke in question is the mythical Kawasaki S1—an air-cooled triple celebrated in its heyday for being a spirited ride. This 1975-model S1 belongs to Aaron Pierson, who’s done a stellar job of transforming it into what he calls “The Mach Chicken.”

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Aaron hails from Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, where he builds and tests turboprop engines for an aircraft engine manufacturer. His family used to run a Kawasaki shop, which is where he first came across his S1.

“When I was fourteen, I dug the motor out of a trailer we had at our shop,” he says. “It had originally come from a hill climb bike that we built for a local guy. It was heavily ported, and had S3 carbs on it.”

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Aaron stored the engine for many years—until he eventually decided to revive the old ‘Mach 1.’ “I purchased an old, ugly chassis and started building.”

The engine was still in excellent shape, but that didn’t stop Aaron from pulling it apart and giving it a thorough inspection. In the process, he shaved the heads a tad to bump up the compression, and overhauled and rejetted the carbs. He gave the frame a solid once-over too—removing tabs that weren’t needed, and adding new ones in the right places.

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He then set about making a new set of expansion chambers for the exhausts, from scratch. “I acquired a set of rolled cones,” he explains, “then bought a TIG welder and taught myself to weld while making the pipes.”

A dig around his father-in-law’s barn yielded a vintage Carlisle rear tire, and a brand newYamaha TY250 seat. “He bought it new for his hill climbing YZ years ago,” says Aaron, “but he didn’t use it often—so it was in pristine condition.”

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Not wanting to wreck a rare find, Aaron only bent the seat brackets slightly to mount it. In front is the stock S1 tank; both have been finished in a crisp, classic Kawasaki paint scheme.

The parts bin additions don’t stop there: Aaron installed 70s Marzocchi shocks from a Hercules GS250, solid aluminum bars from his “parts pile,” and a spare choke lever from a Kawasaki H1R project he’s working on. The clutch lever is from Works Connection, and the foot pegs are from his Husqvarna dirt bike.

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The original wheels were stripped, painted and re-laced, with a new Duro tire fitted up front. The stock drum brakes were refurbished and drilled, and the original forks rebuilt and retro-fitted with custom-made preload spacers.

Aaron also tore into the electrics—building a new, simpler wiring harness from scratch. The ignition’s now controlled by a Yamaha WR450 push button, and there’s a modern rectifier and regulator. Under the seat is a small gel battery and there’s a switch on the bars to flip between low, high and strobe for the LED headlight.

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The running gear’s been kept simple. There are no mirrors, turn signals or fenders, keeping it “as true to a race bike as possible.” There is a speedo though: the original S1 unit, minus the factory bezel. And Aaron has added an inner fender out back, in the form of an aluminum block-off plate that doubles up as under-seat storage.

“It houses the battery, regulator, battery charge connector, three spare spark plugs, spark plug wrench, Phillips driver and flat head screwdriver. Best of all, it’s accessible with only two spring pins.”

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There’s a host of other details that would take us hours to list, but the real question is whether all the effort was worth it.

Apparently, it was: “This bike is a riot to ride! It always turns heads, and I’ve had it sideways as many times as any flat tracker should!”

Photos by Aaron Pierson | Peace And Wheelies

via BIKEexif

Golden Era-inspired clothing, by a legendary racing driver’s son

There are plenty of companies that produce clothing inspired by the ‘Golden Era’ of racing, but few have as much credibility as 8Js – a family-run company owned by Sacha Prost, son of F1 legend Alain…

A clue to the company ethos can be found in the name: the ‘Js’ represent the first names of Golden Era luminaries, such as Jo, Jack, Jim, James and Jochen. Meanwhile, the ‘8’ represents “the infinity in remembrance of those astonishing years” – something we at Classic Driver are definitely keen to promote…

Daredevils in the details

Created by Sacha Prost and his sister-in-law Delphine Prost, 8Js brings back the Golden Era racing style with a modern, luxurious twist; all offerings are designed and manufactured in Italy. However, it’s the attention to detail that’s impressed us most: the jeans are without ‘rivets’ to prevent torn seat leather, the fabrics are stretchable to ensure comfortable driving, and the inner labels even have a section for you to mark your blood type – a reminder of just how heroic the drivers of the era were. Themed collections include jackets (with rhombus quilting, ribbed inserts, and harness protection pads for the shoulders), and a series of T-shirts celebrating ‘grid girls’, a phenomenon that’s increasingly being phased out of modern motorsport. There are points of sale in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Lebanon and the U.S.A., and a new boutique store has just opened in Harrods, London.

Photos: 8Js

For further information, visit the 8Js website.

Japonaise...