Dakar

[PCP]

Somebody following the Dakar?

Some American doing it like Roby Gordon and the motorcycle Baja 1000 winner, Street. It seems that it does not say much to North Americans, but is huge i Europe, South America an Japan.

Today the images are great. Beautiful scenery.

Take a look at the movie:

Official website of the Dakar rally raid

[johnnyandjebus]

pcp

Thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten all about it.

Sadly, my "rally machine" (he writes 'ing at the comparison to the real thing) is comfortably tucked away for the winter.



John

[mikel1]

Would love to do it...in a car. Why can't the u.s. have more road rally action like europe?......NASCAR?....Come on......

[RAGNAR]

I'm so pissed the original race is no more.

Here's evo's page on the race:

Dakar 2011 | evo

So far, nothing extraordinary on the page but it should get better as the race progresses.

WRC never took off here for some reason. Outside of a few niche events it's all about NASCAR, IRL, a bit of F1 and Petit Le Mans (new F1 track being built in Texas. The US team has been going in and out of a coma for a couple of years now, even though tens of millions of dollars have been pledged and spent. (it takes $100Ms of year to run a contending team.)

20 things you didn't know about F1 | Features | evo

(Though this list refers to cars built to the previous Rule, it's a fun read.)

[Dirtboy]

Hey J&J, kill those winter blues by loading up that DR and heading for our best ride of the year: DixieDualSport: you won't be the only Canadian, several are already entered.

I'm glad to see the 450cc limit on bikes this year. Rule changes like that encourage OEM's to continue development of small cc engines. If I was 30 years younger and a lot richer I'd love to ride in an event like the Dakar.

The cars are okay ....... just a little ho-hum compaired to the bikes. I just can't see how getting knocked around inside that roll cage is fun. Not to take away from what those drivers do ....... if anything they have the roughest ride and take the most pounding. My hat's off to all of 'em!

I love the trucks! Watching those monsters bounce and plow their way through that rough stuff is cool.

DB

[PCP]

Originally Posted by johnnyandjebus

pcp

Thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten all about it.

Sadly, my "rally machine" (he writes 'ing at the comparison to the real thing) is comfortably tucked away for the winter.



John

Jonh,

That's a 350 Suzuki? Some of my friends had them. Some even race them. That's an easy and friendly bike and one that can be amazingly fast for a not really dedicated racing machine.

I don't ride motorcycles anymore (health problems) but I have raced raid machines for more than 10 years (KTM). Here we call it not rally but Raid machines (kind of Baja bikes). Raids are popular in Europe, specially on the South and particularly in Portugal, Spain and Italy (have you noticed that on the Dakar, from the first 6th, three are Portuguese?).

In Europe, in some countries there are Rallies for Bikes (same rules as in the cars and only on narrow twisting tarmac roads). Surprisingly the Motorcycles that win are derived Enduro machines or....side-cars

Regards

Paulo

[PCP]

Originally Posted by Dirtboy

...
I'm glad to see the 450cc limit on bikes this year. Rule changes like that encourage OEM's to continue development of small cc engines. If I was 30 years younger and a lot richer I'd love to ride in an event like the Dakar.
...
DB

Yes, as important as the the limit on cc is the kind of tracks that this new version of American Dakar provides. One of the reasons I have never made the Dakar was that even for a medium skilled driver it was too dangerous. Here, on 20 years of raid racing I only know of one guy that was killed (and it was his fault), on the old Dakar, every year one or two bilkers got killed, and in most cases they could have not done nothing about it.

On my time, my 620KTM was geared up to have a max speed of about 160km/h. On the lose dirt, try to break from that speed to 60Km/h and it will take a loooong time. On the old Dakar you have to gear that bike for a higher max speed and you just didn't have time to see a ditch or a sudden change in the ground and you could not have done nothing about it. Even the better fall (and die) on those traps (in the old times their 900cc machines had a max speed of about 200km/h).

I guess this new Dakar arrived 20 years later for me

Regards

Paulo

[PCP]

Originally Posted by RAGNAR

I'm so pissed the original race is no more.

Here's evo's page on the race:

Dakar 2011 | evo

So far, nothing extraordinary on the page but it should get better as the race progresses.

...

The Original race is still on and still finishes in Dakar (lake Rose), but it is a second rate race now, if compared with the American Dakar.

La course en direct !

They had too much problems with mines, it was dangerous and the local populations didn't really like it. They were also beginning to have some problems with terrorists (kidnapped riders, racers that were used for shooting practice and so on.)

On Argentina and Chile the tracks and scenery are just as good if not better and people there just love it. That's a much better option.

Guys, if you want to follow the race the best place is on EuroSports. For the best coverage you have to pay, but that's not much for a month.

Motorsports | Motorsport News & Results - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

http://www.eurosportplayer.com/allsp...ent_prd1.shtml

Regards

Paulo

[RAGNAR]

Originally Posted by PCP

They had too much problems with mines, it was dangerous and the local populations didn't really like it. They were also beginning to have some problems with terrorists (kidnapped riders, racers that were used for shooting practice and so on.)

Which is why the major players pulled out or threatened to pull out. At any rate, I'd like to see the Dakar back as it was. If the powers that be want to start a tour, where there's the Dakar Dakar, the Americas Dakar, the Siberian Dakar, etc., all the better. I just at seeing something as simple as an off road race impacted by terrorists and the like.

[PCP]

Originally Posted by RAGNAR

Which is why the major players pulled out or threatened to pull out. At any rate, I'd like to see the Dakar back as it was. If the powers that be want to start a tour, where there's the Dakar Dakar, the Americas Dakar, the Siberian Dakar, etc., all the better. I just at seeing something as simple as an off road race impacted by terrorists and the like.

I agree with you on one thing: It makes no sense calling it the DAKAR.

But this is the world's bigger Rally-Raid event, a bit like a world's cup (like the Enduro six days) and I would not have any problem that it would be run every year on a different continent, In those countries that have magnificent desert wilderness, like China, Russia, African countries and of course, Brasil, Chile, Argentina, US or Canada. Off course they would have to find it another name, but that should not be difficult and find populations that love the event and that want it raced on their country and that is a bit more difficult. That's why Chile and Argentina is a good choice. They love it

Regards

Paulo