From our friends at Fuel Motorcycles, Barcelona.

Based on a BMW R100 RS from 1979 the Fuel R100 Tracker HP ( High Performance) was commissioned by Dave from England. Dave participated last year in the Scram AfrIca (a trip to dessert for old bikes) and the bike unfortunately broke during a desert stage.. so when the trip ended he left us to fix and transform the bike. 

We worked on several designs and finally the chosen one was a dirt track design. The bike must have an small tank, solo seat, high exhaust pipe and keep it as simple and light as possible. 

On the other hand we wanted to improve the performances of the bike. We started changing the front fork for a BMW K75 one, the whole brake system ( a bigger disc and four caliper brakes), a MIkuni carbs , K&N air filters, a rear Ohlins suspension, fast throttle grip, etc.. 

One of the details of the bike refers to the ignition system. The bike has the ignition key on the left side of the bike but it starts with a car start button located beside of the speedometer.

The bike has a lot of new parts designed by us and machined by a specialist..speedometer holder, bracket indicators, front and rear fender brass fixing screws, etc..and other handmade parts as the battery box, the rear frame, the tubular structure under the seat, high exhaust pipes, aluminium number side panels, number plate holder , etc..so we really use a few aftermarket parts. 

This bike represents a step forward in our learning, it was a challenge that we achieved thanks to 5 months of hard work and the talent of many people as our engineer Alfons. Now just remains to share the result with all of you. Hope you like! 

Main mods and parts:
Bates front light
Motogadget speedometer
LSL handlebar
Triumph front and rear fenders
Leather seat
K&N Air filter
Oury grips
Ohlins rear shocks
Dunlop K70 tires
Dirt track tank
Offroad footpegs
Kawasaki Z1 brake master cylinder
Fuel front disc
Progressive springs
Mikuni 36 carbs
Fondseca quick throttle
Handmade exhaust pipes
Handmade side number panels, battery box, subframe, number plate holder
Machined front indicators brackets, speedometer holder, ignition key holder

Great little feature on a jolly with the Jerkyls at the Penrith oval over on the Deus blog:
....As the fog started to lift the tools started to fly then like a gunshot the staccato of two stroke combustion tore the silence and the smell of burning oil drifted through the pits like incense in a Bali imports boutique. It was go time. For several hours two and four stroke machines were being fettled and warmed up while everyone was getting ready for some mud mask action....

From the clever people at Deus Ex Machina. I have no ikea where they got the inspiration. G

Lots going on in Zaeta world. This is an open invitation to an event organised for the Italian company out in Perris, California. Any fans of these jewel-like street trackers are welcome to attend. Our good friend and co-owner of Zaeta, Marco Belli will be there.

AMA Pro Racing are serving up some great video content this year: full races and smaller features like track walks with the top  races.
This is an interesting short. I'd like to see Bryan Smith win the #1 plate this year.

An in-depth tech feature on SMith and his 2013 Crosley Kawasaki 650 twin is featured in SB15. G

From Kev in Derbyshire

To the tune of 'Milkshake' by Kelis

Dave's turntable brings all the girls to the yard,
His tunes are better than yours
Damn right, they're better than yours
He could teach you
But he'd have to charge

You'll really want to watch this - 1.25-mile, engine-killing oval - the Mega Mile at Colonial Downs.
There's a load of fannying around at the beginning, that's worth watching - engines overheating, Joe Kopp's dead engine (yes, Joe Kopp out of retirement again and made the main on a Triumph), racers playing mind games - then there's a red flag. It just reminds me how highly strung these riders are when it comes to the main. I love it.

The race itself is wild. Loads of different lines on this deep cushion track. Loads of different makes in the main too - H-D, KTM, Triumph, Kawasaki, Suzuki. G

The Moto God in Torquay on the surf coast of Victoria, Australia now stocks Sideburn.

They offer to rent a bunch of different bikes for rides up the Great Ocean Road (regularly voted one of the top Do before you die drives/rides), including Triumph Thruxtons, Harleys and the brand new Indian Chief.

They also sell clobber, including Roland Sands Designs, Deus, Troy Lee...

If you would like to become a stockist, email us for more details at dirt @ sideburnmagazine.com

Pitch drop, a shop selling good clobber in Piove di Sacco, south of Padua and Venice, is hosting a night with Zaeta showing the  Zaeta DT painted by Ornamental Conifer on August 28.
We'll bring photos of it soon.
They promise...

A small town night with motorcycles, pasta e fagioli (traditional soup with pasta and beans), sopressa (Venetian cold cut) and red wine. And, of course, zaeti (little biscuits) from Paolo.

Pitch drop are our latest stockist too.

If you want to stock Sideburn email us at dirt at sideburnmagazine.com

PS Yes, drop has a lower case d...

Not even Barry Sheene can look cool smearing Brut onto his boobs while a gone to seed boxer looks on. G

Wonderful Zaeta illustration by Maxwell Paternoster.
Check out the Zaeta he customised in Sideburn 17 (below - with Zaeta founder, Paolo Chiaia). G
Photo: Raffaele Paolucci

After six years of making Sideburn, and travelling to many countries in Europe (and beyond) to promote it, we're finally making it out to Germany for the very first time.
Ben and Gary will be manning the Sideburn booth at the huge Glemseck 101 event, near Stuttgart, selling mags and stuff and generally being amiable Englanders.
Come and say 'Hallo, Sie sind viel schöner als ich dachte. Ich muss etwas kaufen.'

Artwork by http://surfazzblog.blogspot.co.uk

This was the sight at Sideburn HQ yesterday, when the staff went on holiday. Any orders placed after 12 noon (UK time) on Tuesday 18th won't be sent till September 2. The notice below was on the shop when you ordered.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

As a consolation, one person ordering between now and September 1 will be entered into a prize draw to win a bunch of Sideburn goodies.

Once the warehouse and despatch departments are back at work we will have a few great new products in the Sideburn shop.

We have commissioned renowned cartoon artist Warwick Johnson Cadwell to produce an illustration for the next Sideburn.
Above is his (unrelated) drawing of Joan Jett as Boba Fett.
WJC worked with Tank Girl's writer, Alan Martin, replacing original artist Jamie Hewlett (a tough gig), to produce new a new Tank Girl book (Solid State Tank Girl) and, most recently, Young Tank Girl.

The Joan Jett reference gives us a chance to post some footage of The Runaways. Anyone complaining?

Oh, and Sideburn 18 will be out in mid-September. We're just putting some finishing touches to it. G

The first start is red-flagged, so if you're pushed for time the re-start is around 18:30. G

Following on from the Lonigo Golden Pairs post earlier this week...

Italy has a 20-year history of flat track. It was introduced by famed bike industry mover and shaker, the late Carlo Talamo. Talamo was the first serious importer of Harleys (and later Triumph) to Italy and commissioned 20 Wood Rotax racers for a one make series in Italy. (Note: Wood Rotax was the Harley factory's chosen single cylinder racer for short tracks and TT racers, where XR750s were inappropriate. H-D rebadged the Wood as Harley 500R's). Talamo also ran a Sportster-based series.

Racers like Marco Belli and Jacapo Monti  competed in the series, then went into flat track hibernation when the marketing potential of the series diminished and no one stepped up to keep the sport going.

That was until Peter Boast launched the UK series in 2005 and the Italians started regularly undertaking the huge drive out to England for our amateur races.

Now there is a growing scene,  regular races and a very competitive, but quite small championship in Italy.

Off the back of this renewed interest is a desire from less serious racers and road riders to have a taste of  flat track. Yamaha and Riders magazine got together (with additional support from BMW and Alpinestars) to host practice for over 100 rookies, some of them riding mildly modified SR400 road bikes.

Raffaele from the Streetracker blog was there and writes this...

International flat track rider Lele Marzotto and Riders magazine organized Golden Pairs in June, 21th and 22th, in Lonigo speedway track. Golden Pairs is a weekend of flat track and speedway races in a pair but, overall, in the last edition, it was a big opportunity (and totally free) for 110 novice riders to practice flat track for the first time. 

Riders mag involved Yamaha who supplied four SR400 for the mini courses managed by Lele Marzotto and Marco Belli (Marco modified the the SR with flat track seat and tyres). Other bikes were available thanks to Marzotto crew. 

Two little ovals were drawn in the large corners of the track where we learned the right position on the seat, and built confidence with the bike by doing donuts. Then we were given ten minutes of short laps of this mini oval of twenty meters. 

At the end of every day, the big experience of four laps on the speedway track on a stint of five or six riders at the time. Everybody ride brightly and nobody fall down with serious effects but overall everybody asked to organizer to repeat the experience as soon as possible. 
Now there is a facebook account to keep in touch Italian riders: https://www.facebook.com/groups/259385230906196/?fref=ts

All photos: Raffaele Paolucci/ Streetracker except where stated.
Riders writer and Sideburn's friend Paolo Sormani seems to be enjoying himself
The photographer Raffaele Paolucci takes to the track. He shot the cover of Sideburn 11. (Photo: Ottonero)

Kenny Roberts only one it once (he was busy for the next few years reinventing GP racing in Yoorope).
Chris Carr won the GNC main a record 13 times.
Henry Wiles has won ten straight and only an idiot (or Brad Baker) would bet against. Baker is desperate to break the cycle. And lost out by 3/100ths last year.

All the action can be seen live, in high definition and free of charge, at FansChoice.tv.

The Expert main event is scheduled to start at 4:30pm. Central time (google it). The Pro Singles main is scheduled for a 4pm CT green flag. On-track action will begin at 10:30am CT and opening ceremonies are slated for 1:30pm CT.

We'll post the recorded main here as soon as it's available. G

Photo sent to us by the excellent Raffaelle from streetracker. This day of flat track went off at the Lonigo track in Italy in late July. This is part one of the report - the Golden Pairs.

On Saturday night, a lot of heats for the Golden Pairs race won by Fabrizio Vesprini and Francesco Cecchini with the Honda CRF450 Martin Technology of Fabrizio Vesprini Racing. The Dash for Cash was won by Francesco Cecchini and Gala race won by Gianluca Compri with a good number of spectactors.
Above and below, Lorenzo Buratti on the converted KTM 450 he brought all the way to England to race with the DTRA on the Friday before Dirt Quake.
#5 is SB fave Jacapo Monti.