Indian FTR1200 on Ice

Go to sideburnmagazine.com to see more of Brad Baker having fun on this studded muffin.

Snow Quake is back

WHAT: Snow Quake TWO! It's Dirt Quake on ice with Sideburn and Deus Ex Machina.
Same fantastic track as last year. Similar format.
Then drive down to Milan for an exclusive party at Deus Café.

HOW TO RACE: If you would like to race email us a photo of your bike and some details and we'll send rules and regs. sideburnmag @ gmail.com
No DTX bikes, sorry.

WHERE: Ice Rosa Ring, Riva Valdobbia, Italy

WHEN: Thursday 19 January. The day before the start of the Motor Bike Expo show in Verona.

ENTRY FEE: €50 plus Italian day licence/insurance (price of licence etc to be confirmed)

Check out last year's fun below...

Snow Quake from Deus Italy on Vimeo.

For Sale: Triumph T100C

Kev H has found another beauty on UK eBay. Again, this sale is nothing to do with Sideburn, we're just passing on the details...

Triumph Flat track / Ice racing bike, believed to be a Trackmaster frame? Frame No is 197, engine is a 1968 T100C competition engine, turns over with plenty of compression, Imported by myself from the USA which accounts for its well preserved condition. Fitted with ice studs in the tyres. nice leather seat. It came out of a full collection of similar bikes I bought and all have so far run well.

It's not what you ride...

It's how you ride it. G

Pirelli Moto at Snow Quake

The godfather of European Flat Track, Marco Belli, raced the Deus XJRX Yamaha XJR1300 at Snow Quake. And he flew on it. I got the holeshot in one heat race and he came past me like a 100bhp blizzard making me think, almost simultaneously, 'How is he riding that so quickly?' 'Why aren't I riding this more quickly?' and 'Jesus, those tyres look dangerous. Second place is fine this time.'

The special Pirelli tyres helped. A lot. The clip-ons didn't help. One bit. Marco Belli blew people's minds.

Marco also runs the Di Traverso flat track school in Italy. Fly in, ride the Yamaha SR400s on a beautifully prepared track, hang out at Deus Milan and neighbouring bike shop Officine Mermaid, then fly home. Perfect.

Thanks to Pirelli for helping make Snow Quake happen. A big report on the event is coming up in the next issue, due out in March. G

The Track Was Leaking A Little

Jari from Finland sent us these evocative photos from what he described as the 'national ice road racing race. He says...

The race was held in Mäntsälä, 30 miles north of Helsinki. The track was leaking a little but that's normal. 
Cheers 
Jari Heikkilä 
Finland

All photos copyright: Jari Heikkilä 

Unusually, the massive percentage of riders wear full-face helmets. Except this fella, below.

Dirt track style.

The leaking track. I can only imagine how miserable the rider behind number 94 felt two seconds after this photos was taken.

I don't know the layout of the track, but it must have had a decent length straight to encourage a tuck like that.

Snow Quake - Deus Report, Video and Photos

Snow Quake

Words: Gary Inman
Photos: Marco Renieri / Deus Ex Machina

It’s a mild May Sunday, in the middle of Milan. The Deus Portal of Possibilities is packed with the owners, builders and fans for the 2015 Deus Bike Build-Off. As the editor of Sideburn magazine, I’ve been asked to be one of the 2015 judges.

In a brief lull in the proceedings, Deus’s Alessandro Rossi, leans over to me, and asks ‘Could we make a Dirt Quake in Italy?’ I pull a face. Then reply, Why don’t we organise something different? Why not… I think for a minute, Snow Quake?

Over the next few months Alessandro shakes trees. The godfather of European flat track and founder of the Di Traverso flat track school, Marco Belli works with Luca and Giulio of Deus Milano and the Deus Café to find a suitable track and Pirelli come on board as a sponsor.

Eight months later, I’m struggling to pull an old lady’s fake fur coat over my armoured leather jacket, my hands still cut and nicked from replacing dirt track tyres with sharply studded rubber. It is -8 Celsius in the makeshift paddock of the Ice Rosa Ring race track, situated in a deep Italian valley, surrounded by jagged peaks, including the famous Monte Rosa, the second highest mountain in the Alps.

Thirty racers from all over Europe are trying to convince their motorcycles to start. A few of the infernal internal combustion engines comply, most find a reason they’d rather not, at least not right now. Two hours later a rare Borile, brought from England, is still being kicked. There is a 65-year-old Harley WL raced by fashion designer Nick Ashley, a fuel-injected MV Agusta 800 and just about every two-wheeler on the spectrum from Piaggio Ciao to Honda chopper. All that links the machinery is the studs and screws in their tyres and the adventurous stripe running through their owners.

It’s clear that few people know what they’re doing, including the race organisers – me in their number. Motorcycle ice racing experience is thin on the ground in Europe. Snow Quake is an experiment with invited riders, we’ll make it up as we go along.

There were loose plans for classes, which bikes and specifications should be grouped together, then even those were junked – just race who you want. No one really cares who wins or loses. We only demand that no one dies. Please.

Like every race, each rider is having their own private battle, some with their choice of tyres and the curving Ice Rosa Track, others with a competitor in front, or just behind.

Incredibly, two riders Mauro from Classic Co in Madrid, Spain and Marco Belli chose to race Yamaha XJR1300s. Mauro is on El Solitario’s BBW that he tuned, Marco is riding a Deus four-cylinder with clip-ons on vicious Pirelli spikes. Julian from Deus Venice flew in from California, via Berlin, desperate not to miss the event. He rode a rare Kenny Roberts Rotax, prepared, and delivered, for the ice track by Geoff of Co-Built in England. With other racers coming from France, Switzerland, Corsica, the UK and Germany it was an international event.

Practice stretches for longer than normal to allow people to acclimatise, before three rounds of heats and a final. The slapdash attitude towards the organisation stretches to lap scoring. It is decided that the first three riders in each heat will score points and they can mark their position on a white board. It’s the honesty principle. No one’s going to say they won if they didn’t. It works, here at least, with this group.

After six hours on the ice, it’s time for the 12-rider final. Young English flat tracker George Pickering is on pole, with Marco Belli, Filolocio on Triumph Bonneville and former WSB, World Supermoto and current World Endurance rider, Giovanni Bussei also on the front row. El Solitario’s David Borras also makes the final on his Triumph ‘Sal del Diablo’.

The four-lapper ends with Pickering ahead of Bussei and a heroic Belli. The podium is carved out of snow, the trophies look like ice. Then the real race starts – to pack up vans and head the two hours back to Milan for the party at the aptly named Deus Portal of Possibilities, where we daydream about following this unforgettable day.

DTRA racer Tom Clemens on the self-built Yamaha that featured in Sideburn. He made his own ice tyres.

Giovanni Bussei brought some WSB/World Supermoto/World Endurance bling to proceedings. 

Charge!

Deus's Filippo Bassoli has the best guards.

Julian from Deus in Venice, CA came all the way from the US via Germany, and borrowed Wilky's Rotax to race.

Marco Belli was something else on this beast, Deus Milan's own XJR1300 custom. He had the most aggressive tyres, made by event sponsor Pirelli, but he also had clip-ons! He wasn't even the only XJR1300 there. El Solitario brought their awesome BBW.

Tom Clemens leading Geoff Co-Built.

Coats.

 Jason on the Sideburn 23 Borile cover bike. 

 Tom C again. 

 Roman from Belmondo Garage, Switzerland

 Top Italian journalist and Sideburn contributor, Paolo Sormani and Italian flat track hero Jacopo Monti. His Ciao was something else.

 Nick Ashley on the Private White VC Harley WL. 70-plus years old and still going strong. The bike's good too.

Dirt Quake legend Serge Nuques arrived on this Honda (?). And, as usual, rode it like he stole it. Perhaps he did. Watch the video below for parking tips. 

David Death Spray pulled Adam Brink for a few laps of stylish skijoring. 

Watering the track, Snow Quake-style.

The podium: 1. George 'Greenfield' Pickering. 2. Giovanni Bussei. 3. Marco Belli

British winner on a borrowed bike, with borrowed tyres. Does that constitute team work?

Thanks to all the racers, Deus Ex Machina, Marco Belli's Di Traverso School and Pirelli Moto Tyres.

See more photos at the Deus Ex Machina blog

VIBA Scrambler LARA800 Vs Snow Quake

VIBA Motor of France brought one of their limited edition LARA800 Scramblers to Snow Quake. It's based on a modern MV Agusta 800 liquid-cooled triple and they allowed Dirt Quake veteran Pierre-Alexandre Treust race it on their own handmade ice tyres (Treust was Toy Story's Woody on a full fat BMW airhead Boxer at DQIV. You can see him in this post).

The day didn't start well for the €32,300 (plus tax) exclus-crambler. The top of the lightweight battery cracked, perhaps due to the frigid temperatures, and shorted. But VIBA boss, Yann, had packed a spare (very professional). Once they got going, and Pierre got his eye in, the bike ran well and the pilot was brave, on a bike with not much steering lock. For those who don't know, you really want a lot of steering lock on a bike you're trying to powerslide. If a bike doesn't have much lock, the forks hit the lock stops before the back end has stopped over-steering and then it wants to highside and there's not much a rider can do about that. Especially on ice.

The way people rode heavy street bikes on the Ice Rosa Ring was an real eye-opener. Legends, the lot of them.

More Snow Quake reports from other racers coming over the next few days. G

Snow Quake Success!

El Solitario heavyweights!

Just a quick post to say a massive thanks to all the racers who drove and flew from far and wide to race at Snow Quake. I put my hands together for Dave Skooter Farm and Anthony Co-Built for race-flagging and organisational support on the day.

Thanks to the hardcore fans who came from as far away as Athens, Greece and Vigo, Spain.

Mille grazie to Pirelli Moto, Deus Ex Machina and Marco Belli of Di Traverso for helping make it happen.

More reports to follow. G

 Marco Belli was incredible on the Deus Yamaha XJR1300 on Pirelli spikes.

Pierre-Alexandre Truest raced the Lara MV 800

My ice tyres were crap. Anthony's electrics were playing up. I took the electrics off mine and we shared Anthony's bike. Team work!

Nick Ashley makes the party and Paolo Sormani is always a pleasure.

Dirt Quake hero Serge Nuques raced a Honda chopper. Park it like you stole it. G

W and W Cycles Ice Drag Racing

I'm getting pretty excited about Snow Quake and searching around the internet for other ice racing shenanigans. I remembered this adventure that Dirt Quake sponsors, W and W Cycles of Germany went on a few years ago.

The race is in Sweden in February, on a frozen lake. Thomas Wiegl, who is the only person, other than Ben, to race at Dirt Quake UK and USA in the same year.

Thomas raced the Big Boar, a modified Sportster.

From a distance, a frozen lake looks like the ideal track – no bumps, no holes. But, the reality is different. When we watched others go down the track we were kinda puzzled by the engines periodically over-revving. Out there, we quickly find out what’s happening. The surface is undulating to the point that vehicles just lose traction as they partially lift off. Plus, the spikes are following every crack, track or step in the ice. Trust your bike in moments like this, keep open that throttle, keep your eye on the part of the track where you want to be and hope for the best.

Read more at wwag.com. G