Dakar

[Spokey]

Yeah about that time along with Elmer Symons from SA (massive loss of a great guy) and Fabrizio Meoni; maybe John Deacon. They are still trying to slow the bikes down (I think they are limited to 155km/h - for a 450!) and improve medical facilities.

 

Thanks for that, jeepers, that was a bad year then all those years ago.

[Thorn199]

This should be interesting...

 

Toby Price / Laia Sanz bet

[Gnarly]

This should be interesting...

 

Toby Price / Laia Sanz bet

 

Might be jumping the gun on a five second kiss, but DAMN those kids would be fast. 

[Boerklong]

Weird didn't Andy Caldecott die in 2006?

Sorry. My bad. Had it mixed up with some other story.

[Thorn199]

Final day. Weird wrapping this up on a Thursday after only 10 stages. 

 

Toby Price has been phenomenal, looking at another win (and going mullet-less) even with what is clearly a very painful wrist injury.

Brabec was unfortunate, but he clearly wrung the neck out of that Honda to get into the lead, and paid the price for it.

Sunderland should have been in charge overall, but fell foul of the organisers. Who knows, maybe KTM did stretch the rule book a bit too far. 

 

Local boys Ross Branch and Kenneth Gilbert have been great, with Branch leading the rookie category in 12th position. Hopefully kickstarts a career in desert marathon racing with this result. Bad luck to Stuart Gregory in the Malle Moto class. 

 

These have been great reports:

 

https://www.rustsports.com/articles/news/dakar-2019-report-1_8641.html

https://www.rustsports.com/articles/news/dakar-2019-report-2_8706.html

https://www.rustsports.com/articles/news/dakar-2019-report-3_8868.html

[Thorn199]

[Shebeen]

Been enjoying following it.

 

 

Did you know Mike Horn is doing it? Reading the maps for Cyril despres

[Kranswurm]

Been enjoying following it.

 

 

Did you know Mike Horn is doing it? Reading the maps for Cyril despres

Yeah,watching.

[Carmichael]

What is it with BF's this year?? so many punctures over and over.... PS: i don't like BF's

[WhuYu]

What is it with BF's this year?? so many punctures over and over.... PS: i don't like BF's

Please excuse my ignorance here.........................what is BF??

[PieterJvR]

Please excuse my ignorance here.........................what is BF??

 

My assumption is BF Goodrich...

[PieterJvR]

What is it with BF's this year?? so many punctures over and over.... PS: i don't like BF's

 

I see Century Racing (Brian Baragwanath + Taye Perry) is also racing with BF Goodrich's, they have also had quite a few punctures but not as bad as the Toyota guys who have used all their spare tyres on a few stages.  No idea if it is the same tyre, or if it is a tyre issue or pressure issue as it appears it is only the Toyota's who are using so many tyres.  I saw or heard somewhere yesterday that they have used 48 tyres between the 3 teams.  That is quite a bit

[BaGearA]

Is the Dakar governed by the FIA?

 

And if yes isnt the pressures supposed to be regulated?

[WrightJnr]

I see Century Racing (Brian Baragwanath + Taye Perry) is also racing with BF Goodrich's, they have also had quite a few punctures but not as bad as the Toyota guys who have used all their spare tyres on a few stages. No idea if it is the same tyre, or if it is a tyre issue or pressure issue as it appears it is only the Toyota's who are using so many tyres. I saw or heard somewhere yesterday that they have used 48 tyres between the 3 teams. That is quite a bit

Huge tyre difference between the 2-wheel drive and 4-wheel drive cars. The 2-wheel drive cars are almost twice the size and are allowed almost twice the suspension travel.

[WrightJnr]

Is the Dakar governed by the FIA?

 

And if yes isnt the pressures supposed to be regulated?

Desert Rally.....Pressures are changing daily depending on the terrain. The 2-Wheel drive cars are even allowed to change it on the fly. Doubt there are pressure regulations. In the desert, too hard and you going to get stuck, too soft and you’ll roll the tyre off the rim. The terrain is self regulating :-)

[ADJ]

Watched a snippet on Redbull TV before the race started and it seems as if you can use any tyre pressure. The 4x4 category vehicles like the Hilux would need to change the pressure manually during a stage if they wanted to, the 'buggy' types like the Mini can have an automated system. I can only assume that because of this the Hilux teams have struggled to find the right tyre pressure balance for the stages unlike the Minis. Nasser, however, seems to know exactly how to drive in these conditions with 4 stage wins.