The annual lunacy in South America starts on 2 Jan 😆

Very few Brits taking part, which is a shame. Cost I guess.

Who is going to win? Bikes no idea, Cars Peterhansel in a sorted Peugeot, trucks will be De Rooy against the Kamaz onslaught.

Interesting route going up to Bolivia and not going to Chile.

Where can we watch coverage?
Cheers

Eurosport has it, I watch the Dakar website for stuff but it is never great.

Yay

[video]https://youtu.be/DpHDyY362JU[/video]

eurosport player subs time again 😀

cant wait.

I’ve never, yet, gotten into Dakar racing.

Is it flat out all the time racing (conditions allowing)?

Am excited. One of the highlights of the year for me 🙂

I didn’t realise that the Dakar was now run in South America.

Loved in the 80’s.

Although you should step away from KTM, they make Maxxis look like Germaine Greer.

i would say its more like enduro….

special stages timed and linking stages with time limits.

letmetalktomark – Member

I’ve never, yet, gotten into Dakar racing.
I imagine that you don’t get the coverage over there in the States.

In the timed stages it is flat out, some can be in excess of 300km then they will have to do liason stages, everything races Bikes Quads Cars and Trucks.

Quite a few Americans do it now, Robby Gordon is always good value and wins a stage or two.

Great time of year, after a long ride on the bike it’s great to catch up with the previous days stage..

Is it flat out all the time racing (conditions allowing)?

Only for the front guys

Linky doesn’t work

captainsasquatch – Member
letmetalktomark – Member
I’ve never, yet, gotten into Dakar racing.

I imagine that you don’t get the coverage over there in the States.

Eh?

Robby”digital throttle” Gordon is always good value and wins a stage or two.

its not the dakar unless his hummer is upside down.

Eh?

You’re American, aren’t you?

Worked on my thingy

Copy paste/make work for me?

https://youtu.be/OKW88O9JiEE

Nice that the following car stopped to see that everyone was OK. 😕

Frist rule of racing: if you see a bunch of spectators with cameras out on an apparently innocuous flat straight section, slow the **** down.

We were once discussing a possible project in Dakar, a latecomer to the conversation asked……wheres Dakar ??

……in Da car park ! came the reply from the Boss

Oh how we laughed 😀

He was the boss and bonus time was around the corner 😉

This looks really good, I’m well up for this. What’s the deal with Eurosport? Is it paywall? If so, how much?

This looks really good, I’m well up for this. What’s the deal with Eurosport? Is it paywall? If so, how much?

I think you can get monthly subscriptions for a fiver, well worth it. Have a look at their web.

Nice that the following car stopped to see that everyone was OK.

You do understand the concept of a race don’t you? 😉
Not much the following car could do so no point in stopping.
That’s what the medics are for.

Also very excited here, my favourite sporting event of the year.

I have no idea how anyone gets a bike around the course, the days are truly epic especially for the privateers. But oh for that amount of space to play in…

If you fancy losing hours and hours there is very comprehensive coverage of the bikes (in pictures and text only) on ADVRider. A lot of the privateers post threads showing the preparation and a blow by blow account of the stages, plus quite a few past competitors provide some insights into what’s going on. Thoroughly recommended for those with a deeper interest, but you will lose days to it…

Braaaaap.

For me, Dakar has always been about the bikes. Old video but makes me shiver seeing it again:

You do understand the concept of a race don’t you?
Not much the following car could do so no point in stopping.
That’s what the medics are for.

As it was a bit more than your average accident it might have been worth checking everyone was ok as I guess the medics were not immediately available.
I also understand sportsmanship. 😉

You do understand the concept of a race don’t you?
Not much the following car could do so no point in stopping.
That’s what the medics are for.

Unless you can see the OK/SOS board displayed on OK or you can see both competitors out and ok you must stop, or can receive a penalty. I think this rule applies in Dakar. If both the competorits are unconcious who’s going to call the medics? You can’t rely on the sepectators knowing how to activate the emergency beacon etc. Plus sportsmanship.

Or if you are Jean Louis Schlesser you just run bikers over and get smacked with a helmet in the Bivouac and start a riot 😕

My memory from that crash ^ (seen from another angle) was that the driver was already out of the car when the following truck arrived, and waved them on – they are clearly slowing to see if there is anything they can do before taking off up the track.

The sportsmanship often goes above and beyond, with competitors towing each other 100’s of km to get through the day, and is part of the magic of the race.

It would benefit from a bit more focus on the privateers. Maybe an hour long roundup at the end of each week. I’d still watch the big teams but be more interested about that programme.

Same should happen at the TT.

At the moment it’s just the odd mention and minute or two of footage but there’s something more engrossing in watching people who give up everything in life to pursue their passion even when they know it will never lead to them making a living from it

I also understand sportsmanship.

Having known/raced with several people who’ve done the Dakar* i know about “sportsmanship”too. 😉
I was under the impression that the emergency beacon went off automatical in the event of a large stack. I know it does for the bikes.
*One who sadly didn’t make it back

There was a clip of a Cagiva having a massive off on a sand dune back when the race was in Africa, photographer stood at top of dune, rider comes belting along and just launches into thin air 😯 this is when the bikes were multi’cylinder 750. He crawls from the wreckage and runs up the dune to berate the photographer who didn’t warn him. How he got away with it I don’t know.

Can’t find the clip anywhere

I was under the impression that the emergency beacon went off automatical in the event of a large stack.

Yes the Iritrack should alert base if it detects a big enough impact (think the above video should qualify for that). Also base can be alerted if there isn’t GPS detected movement for a period of time, but this obviously isn’t instant. There is also a panic button on the Iritrack to alert base of a serious accident and the ability for two way comms to give more details for medics etc assuming someone is concious and able. That’s if everything works as it should and there is good signal.

Interesting so far, Loeb doing brilliantly in the Cars and Honda dominating the bikes, still early days. The Dutch beating the Russians so far in the trucks.

Can anyone find the list of withdrawals on the official site? It has always been there but cant see it this year.

fyi good video on the broom wagon guys on redbull TV.

What a job those guys do – must be hard as ****. Taking it in shifts driving the truck to follow the route of the rally and checking on every sentinel that falls behind…..

I wish the Eurosport coverage was better. Twenty second clips of the action, possibly from three days before, then a minute of interviews and maybe a couple of promotional tourist clips to fill time.

Did they go over salt plains yesterday or was that just thrown into the normal Eurosport jumble of images?

when the following truck arrived, and waved them on – they are clearly slowing to see if there is anything they can do before taking off up the track.

I thought the whole point of the trucks was to bend the rules on assistance? that you can’t receive outside help, but another competitor can assist. So the competitors paid thousands of dollars to have a box of spares in a truck following the race.

Am I the only grumpy old bugger who preferred the old days?
BMW twins, Cagivas and whopping great Hondas.
Yes the days of the XT500 were great as well.
Double ended trucks, Porsches and Ladas.
Ah well

For me it’s about the bikes. I miss the big twins and now we haven’t had 660 singles for a while, its down to 450’s. Still amazing to watch. Riding 400-500miles on the road is tough enough. Can’t image doing that off-road whilst navigating @ 70mph plus. As for the cars, wonderful to see Loeb winning stages at his first attempt. He’s one cool pussycat…