DAKAR RALLY IS ON!!!

[gotdesert]

FIRST DAY:

595 ON THE START LINE AND AN ITALIAN SURPRISE


Four hundred competing vehicules including 195 bikes, 142 cars, 63 trucks were on the start line of the 2004 Telefonica Dakar rally. Added to 195 assistance vehicules, close to 600 vehicules took off from the Auvergne area to head to Narbonne. But just before hitting the road, thousands of fans were able to admire the competitors in a 1.5km prologue on two parallel tracks just a few meters away from the Grande Halle d’Auvergne. In the bike race privateer Matteo Graziani (KTM – n°45) of Italy surprised the field by clocking the fastest time while Kenjiro Shinozuka (Nissan – n°215) for the second consecutive year won the prologue in the car category. In his Kamaz Truck, Vladimir Tchaguine started his quest for a fourth Dakar triumph with a prologue win.

After the technical scrutineering, eight vehicules were not allowed to start this year’s edition, 3 bikes, a quad, 3 cars and a truck. The total number therefore goes down to 595 with the assistance vehicules (400 in the official race).
The prologue took off in extremely snowy conditions in front of 35 000 spectators (according to the police) on a 1.5km track where only positions will be taken into account for tomorrow’s stage in Narbonne (not times).

In the bike race, Matteo Graziani (KTM – n°45) surprised everyone by taking advantage of the tricky parallel track and clocking the fastest time in 1min 23.90s, over seven seconds ahead of last year’s runner up and winner of the 2003 prologue in Marseille, Cyril Despres (KTM – n°2). Two time Dakar winner Richard Sainct (KTM – n°1) finished third, ahead of Isidre Esteve Pujol (KTM – n°19) and Yamaha’s only official rider David Fretigne (n°12). On his 950cc twin KTM, Italy’s Fabrizio Meoni (n°3) took 22nd place just behind his Gauloise team mate Alfie Cox (KTM – n°10). “When I left home (in South Africa) it was 35C°, so it was tough for me. This weather is not for me, I’m a man for sun”, admitted the South African.

In the car race, Kenjiro Shinozuka proved that he was a specialist for short distance prologues. A year after conquering the Marseille event, the Japanese finished under a second ahead of De Villiers (Nissan – 208) and Miki Biasion (Mitsubishi – n°206). Winner of the 2003 rally, Hiroshi Masuoka (Mitsubishi – n°201) took fourth spot with Luc Alphand (BMW – n°207) fifth. Thirty fourth on the day Finn Ari Vatanen said :”I was as cautious as possible. I actually hate these conditions, I can’t wait for Africa”.
Meanwhile, Stephane Peterhansel (Mitsubishi – n°203) finished 8th after slightly damaging the front of his car. Newcomer Colin McRae (Nissan – n°202) started his Dakar experience with a 28th place on this prologue.

In the truck race, the winner of the past two editions Vladimir Tchaguine (Kamaz – n°414), started this 26th edition of the Dakar in a triumphant way. The Russian beat rally veteran Johannes De Rooy (DAF – n°411) while Dutch fellow countryman Hans Bekx (DAF – n°416) finished third.

Friday’s stage takes the competitors from Narbonne to Castellon in Spain with a 25k special around Narbonne.

http://www.dakar.fr/2004/us/index.html

[BA_DirtDriver]

Mark Miller is 24 after stage 2. Only about 6500 more miles to go.

[01_el_tiburon]

Where can you find times, info forthe rally ?

el tiburon

[gotdesert]

Omar here's all the info you need.... http://www.dakar.fr/2004/us/index.html

Numbers to follow
No. 16 Red Bull KTM/Larry Roeseler
No. 17 Red Bull KTM/Paul Krause
No. 25 Red Bull KTM/Scott Harden
No. 233 Pro Truck/Mark Miller

A DAY FOR THE TWO-WHEEL DRIVES


Stage 2 of the Telefonica Dakar 2004 and its special around Narbonne on a 25km course proved to be one for two-wheel drive vehicles. In the bike race, David Fretigne on his official Yamaha two-wheel drive machine clocked the fastest time ahead of Despres while in the car category, Jose-Maria Servia took his Schlesser-Ford buggy to victory. Meanwhile, all trucks and over half of the cars were not able to compete on the special due to Claude Arnoux’s car stuck in the mud, in the middle of the course. The unlucky team of the day had to be Nissan with De Villiers and Shinozuka crashing, luckily without serious consequences and especially Yves Loubet who was forced to withdraw after electronic problems during yesterday’s liaison.

Snow in Clermont-Ferrand, mud in Narbonne. And mud indeed was one of the main actors of the day. On a tricky 25km course, things became extremely difficult after just a few bikes took off. The slippery conditions however went in the favour of Frenchman David Fretigne (n°12) who with his two-wheeled drive official Yamaha clocked the best time of 22min47. “I didn’t feel I was riding fast. Having a two-wheel drive bike helps a lot going out of bends”.
Second on the day and fifteen seconds slower than his compatriot was Cyril Despres (KTM n°2) who appears to be loving these European stages in front of thousands of fans. “Once again, I was impressed by the huge crowd. This time, I felt like Gronholm or Makinen.
Third was Joan Roma (KTM n°4) who finished a second ahead of Richard Sainct (KTM n°1). The Dakar 2003 winner admitted that the important thing was not to take too many risks. ”You can lose the race here but not win it.” Fabrizio Meoni (KTM n°3) admitted he wasn’t happy with his performance, finishing 11th, over 2 minutes adrift. “I’m 50% responsible, the other half is for the bike.
The surprise came from Latvia’s Janis Vinters (KTM n°183) who managed an excellent 8th spot.

Seeing a two-wheeled drive bike triumph on this kind of surface is not really a surprise, however in the car race, one might have thought a 4X4 would be more adapted for victory. Jose-Maria Servia (Schlesser Ford n°209) proved his buggy could however do the business. The Spaniard managed a time of 25min, three seconds ahead of Stephane Peterhansel (Mitsubishi n°203) who certainly thought for a moment that his time would be good enough. Gregoire De Mevius (BMW n°212) was third ahead of team mate Luc Alphand (n°207) and Miki Biasion (Mitsubishi n°206). Title holder Hiroshi Masuoka finished sixth, 59sec adrift.
We really went well all along the course and overtook 4 or 5 cars that were nice enough to let me go by. It’s an advantage compared to those who were stuck behind other competitors”, explained Servia.
One that can be frustrated by this kind of overtaking problem is Nasser Al Attiyan (Mitsubishi n°259). The Qatari clocked a very good 7th spot but admitted that he could have done better if it wasn’t for Nicolas Misslin (Mitsubishi n°226) who wouldn’t let him go past during the final 5kms.
Like his compatriot Sainct, Peterhansel knows that for a possible success in Dakar one has to be very careful in Europe. “It’s the kind of stage where there is nothing to gain but a lot to lose.
And losing is what could have happened to Giniel De Villiers (Nissan n°208). ”On a sharp bend, I didn’t want to use the hand break, I hit a rock and the car flipped. The car is damaged but it should be OK”. The muddy South African who drove most of the special without his windscreen luckily only lost 2min 16. A slight incident compared to the sad case of his team mate Yves Loubet (n°210) who yesterday, during the liaison taking the drivers to Narbonne, suffered a short-circuit in the dashboard that forced him to withdraw from the race. Also a Nissan driver but in the Dessoude team, Kenjiro Shinozuka (n°215) didn’t have much time to enjoy his prologue win, when he damaged the front right part of his car and appeared devastated at losing over 5min.

After 47 cars, an incident concerning Frenchman Claude Arnoux (n°242), stuck in the mud, forced the organisers to stop all the remaining cars to compete and cancel the truck special. The cars with no time on the day will therefore be given the same time of 34min21 (based on the time of Poirault ranked 46th) for the overall classification.
Tomorrow, the competitors will have a first taste of Africa although still being in Europe when they take on a 9km special on the sandy beach of Castellon.

[01_el_tiburon]

heard there was a mexican team, cant find it but heard it in the news, interesting enough, mexican fox sports channel will be airing the race, its on mexican cable, maybe on directv ...

anybody know who the mexican is?


on a side note, there was this 2x2 bike from Yamaha or kawasaki, front wheel had a chain drive powered by hidraulics.

[klaus]

In regards to the all-wheel drive bike. Its Yamaha that makes it.

Usefull link:
http://ymedc.introweb.nl/en/archive/enduro/wr450_2trac.shtml

Streetbike:
http://www.formula-xtreme.com.au/xtremema.nsf/7a4c3b4956d795ddca256ad8001f8faf/c19f1752386757d2ca256b210002f545!OpenDocument



http://ymedc.introweb.nl/en/archive/enduro/images/wr450_2trac/front_01.gif

[klaus]

SHINOZUKA:
http://www.dakar.fr/2004/photos/1/pharchive/ph16.jpg

H. MASUOKA:
http://www.dakar.fr/2004/photos/1/pharchive/ph10.jpg

E. VIGOUROUX: Protruck?? #232
http://www.dakar.fr/2004/photos/1/pharchive/ph9.jpg

Schlesser:
http://www.dakar.fr/2004/photos/2/pharchive/ph5.jpg
http://www.dakar.fr/2004/photos/1/pharchive/ph15.jpg

B. SABY:
http://www.dakar.fr/2004/photos/1/pharchive/ph11.jpg

[klaus]

Also note that its cold and wet as they are still racing in Europe. Every vehicle has a windshield and possibly heating(?).

A ride in a Protruck must be extremly harsh.

[racer951]

So miller is racing the pro truck and not the prohpy-truck right? Has anyone ever taken a trophy truck or truggy over there to compete in the open class? I would think a truck like the dondels or old bigmac truck if more reliable could take it easily. Is there an "open" class?

[Harpo]

Two of the newest Protruck Chassis are racing

[phorensic2k]

Just got done watching Dakar on Speed. That 2WD Yamaha was flying!!!! Did you see him pitch it sideways and save it?? OMG, props to the rider AND Yamaha. That thing was awesome.

[01_el_tiburon]

Im all hyped up for a month before and 2 weeks after for a 6 hrs off road race. Imagine 17 days racing, you would need like at least two weeks of prerunning, 5 days for contingencies, 5 days of travel at least..... I saw this spaniard crying like a baby cause his engine was dead on day 2..... i felt like crying on 7 of the 8 DNF's in a row i had....thats was whithout preping or prerunning !!

omar http://www.race-dezert.com/vb3/attachments/old/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[hoeker]

951, we were talking to leduc about his dakar experiences at sema and that question got brought up. what i understand to be the difference is that in the dakar they have to run 500 miles on fuel, not 150, pretty much rules out all our big HP tt's

[powerbox_builder]

I talked to Roeseler at Primm and he said the same thing. Every entry has to be able to go 500 miles without stopping. Think about it, that means those bikes have to hold as much gas as some of our daily driver pickups, 20 to 30 gals. Most dirt bikes hold about 2.5 gallons.

[racer951]

What kind of mileage do the TT's get? I think it could be done, even if they had to be de-tuned a bit for reliability and milieage. What I think the problem would be is reliability. It would be cool to see a 3 seater with a co-driver and dedicated mechanic carrying a lot of spares. It would add quite a bit of weight, though.

[klaus]

Why go TT, when the fastest Truck of the longest lasting North American race (Baja 1000) was Mark Miller in his "open" Protruck. Proofs to me we have a good combo for the Dakar allready. Good driver, reliable and fast machine.

Is the Baja 1000 Truck what he is using at the Dakar?

A TT would of course make for a nice showing though.

[Brian Mapes]

I think he is using the Protruck not the Prophy truck.

[TimHayosh]

He is using a truck prepared by "Pro-System" (http://www.pro-systemracing.com/) out of France (the link is not working right now). There is a brother truck to the one Mark is driving being driven by Frenchman Eric Vigouroux.

My guess is that Pro-System bought a couple of PRO Trucks, and modified them heavily to suit the Dakar and pass FIA inspection. I would doubt Mr. Miller is the owner of either of these trucks.

[JasonHutter]

If I remember correctly, Scott Steinberger said he gets 1.7-3.2 MPG depending on the terrain he is on, or something close to that.

Jason

[J_Lothringer]

The truck Mark Miller is racing is a rented pro-truck and it comes with support team, parts. etc. Mark took along a buddy of mine Chris Crampton and Danny Foddril to help him out (All paid out of his pocket). I drunk dialled Chris on new years to leave a message and he actually answered the phone (I was shocked he picked it up) He said it was 9:30 am (12:30 am here) and they had just had breakfast and where headed off to a drivers meeting, then the start of the race. anyways I just proceeded to tell him how jealous of him being there that I was (thats a dream of mine) anyways the whole thing is a rented deal Mark pays for.

[BA_DirtDriver]

That is Larry Foddril not Danny. Last I heard Danny was at home rounding more spares for their effort.

[racer951]

Hey everyone it's on again in 10 minutes...9:30 to 10 on speedvision.

[Dan McMillin]

those guys are crazy!

[klaus]

The Truck Mark Miller is racing is one out of 2 Protrucks assembled by RPS in 2001 for the Dakar races.

Currently the main differences in his truck to a spec Protruck is that is runs a EFI LS-1 motor, has a modified front and rear suspension. Runs Swaybars in the front and rear and has a 115gal fuel cell in order to make a non-stop 500km run.

There is some air ducting to move hot engine air into the cab for the first stages during the cold climate as they are running without a windshield and the vehicle is an open tube design vs. a modified production enclosed cab.

The first stages are short and partially in snow where a heavy 2 wheel drive truck has the disadvantage over a smaller lighter 4wd.

Mark Miller had no power steering or a failing power steering in the first stages as well. He now has his Howe system fixed with new replacement parts.

RPS is involved with Protruck-Systems in France to keep these 2 Protruck based vehicles running.

[racer951]

The Dakar rally is on each day at 6:30am, 3:30pm, and 9:30pm. Weekends are different. Also each weekend there is a "week in review" segment.

[GMS739]

does anyone know how much money it takes to race this race i know it must be a lot of money.

[racer951]

You mean entry fee or total $ with logistics and support? I have looked on their site for entry info and haven't found anything, but have been curious myself.

They were talking about this Australian rider Andy Caledecott and how his town of 2,000 people raised 80 grand so he could race, and that's just for a bike, and not factory backed!

[erikh]

That was 80,000 in Australian dollars which they said was about 40,000 Euro. So what does that make in US dollars? Less than $40,000 I think but still a lot of money.

erik

[fishd00d]

I believe the entry fee is 10K.....

[ESB4130]

running dakar with a protruck has got to be insane. id want a low, high top speed, all wheel drive vehicle WTH A WINDSHIELD. MAD props to mark miller, that guys has some balls of chromoly steel.

remember motorcycles get way way better mileage than a truck, so their tanks, yes they have to be big..but 500 miles on a fourstroke motorcycle isnt rediculous at all, especially if you gear it up. im guessing the tank is about 15-21 gallons.

i think the "trucks" they race are insane. did you see the bypass shocks on those things? that would be the gnarliest, most dangerous ride ever.

[obr184]

80grand aus works out to be 55american, We were all raising money for him during the Finke Desert Race, form what I cna gather he put in alot of money aswell and his efforts were not as big as some others. I could only imagine what the big teams are spending. When I was in South Africa we looked up on the Nissan team, in a magazine article it said that in aprts they bought in South Africa they spent $7million U.S now thats only the things they bought in S.A. (because they were talking about the kickback that S.A. africa got form it.)

[racer951]

Caldecott just broke his left ankle but still got 9th on the longest stage.

[Rory]

Looks like Mark Miller had a long day. He finished 45th after running 12th yesterday. He finished today with a time of 21 hours 38 minutes, about 5 hours behind the leaders........but at least he finished. Man, could you imagine running a race like the Baja 500 everyday for 18 days?

[jeff]

My favorite Curt LeDuc quote ever was when I asked him one day how HE would compare the Baja 1000 to Dakar... he said something along the lines of... "the Baja 1000 is like running around a go-cart in a K-Mart parking lot compared to Dakar."

Paris-Dakar has got to be the absolute most awesome event to run - PERIOD. Screw the NASCAR championship, or Formula 1... I'd want to win the Dakar. Anyone can run on asphalt - Dakar just looks sketchy through and through. People think desert racers are nuts/stupid for doing the Baja 1000 - the Dakar isn't even in the same league. Totally bitchin' a55 camaro.

Aloha

[01_el_tiburon]

Jeff:

i dont have the pleasure of knowing you personally, but when you get to race Dakar, ill chase for ya ...... http://www.race-dezert.com/vb3/attachments/old/images/graemlins/cool.gif.
Im guessing your the closest guy i know of wver smelling a Dakar race...

omar

[DirTRacer9]

Hey, anyone know of a good photo gallery I can check out the cars/action besides the handful of pics they tease you with on the Dakar website.
Thanks

[gotdesert]

Best finish so far for Team Red Bull KTM USA

No. 25 Scot harden finsh 6 in today special #8
He is in 9 overall standings great job
Teammates: No. 16 Roeseler is 24 and No. 17 Krause is 20
10 stages left we can do better!!!!! http://www.race-dezert.com/vb3/attachments/old/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

No. 233 Mark Miller no info on finish line

[01_el_tiburon]

Theres a mexican dude, Erick Gallardo #121racing. Hes in position 64 on the bikes......


omar

[gotdesert]

Do you know what part of Mexico?

[John_Bitting]

Dakar is on at 3:30pm

[John_Bitting]

Great show today interviewing Scott and Larry at the end. Larry refers to todays stage as very hard and similar to a baja 1000. Its on again at 9:30pm

[RacerX]

Here is a page with TONS of pics, from every stage. DAKAR (http://www.motorsport.com/photos/select.asp?S=CCR&E=Dakar/Preparation&Y=2004)

[gotdesert]

Great website lot's of pictures!!!! http://www.race-dezert.com/vb3/attachments/old/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[SDranger]

Thanks for the link thats an awesome website...

some samples:
http://www.motorsport.com/photos/fia-ccr/2004/dak/fiaccr-2004-dak-tm-0513.jpg
http://www.motorsport.com/photos/fia-ccr/2004/dak/fiaccr-2004-dak-tm-0105.jpg
http://www.motorsport.com/photos/fia-ccr/2004/dak/fiaccr-2004-dak-tm-0346.jpg
http://www.motorsport.com/photos/fia-ccr/2004/dak/fiaccr-2004-dak-tm-0464.jpg
/\
|
Larry Roeseler

[racer951]

Earlier posts talked about having to go 500 miles without fuel, rendering trophy trucks out of the question. I don't think it's true. 2 reasons...

First off, did anyone else see 25 gallon tanks on the motorcycles? Me neither.

Secondly, at the longest stage thus far, (and I think of the entire rally) was just over 700km with 3 refueling points.

Of all the stages, there looks to be refueling points at a very maximum distance of 250km apart, just over 150 miles, well within the reach of a TT.

[01_el_tiburon]

Harden out with a broken leg, too bad....

el tiburon

[racer951]

---STAGES 10 & 11 CANCELED---

[allwaysbaja]

bummer hearing about scott harden and the cancellation of stage 10 & 11. As for Roessler & Kraus they're doing ok. A LONG way to go.

[allwaysbaja]

http://www.motorsport.com/photos/select.asp?S=CCR&Y=2004&D=&N=&E=Dakar/Stage_10#

a good pic of our boys!

[allwaysbaja]

try this again,......
http://www.motorsport.com/photos/fia-ccr/2004/dak/fiaccr-2004-dak-tm-1827.jpg

[fishd00d]

Looks like Miller is out...never finished state 9....other Protruck is still in though.

[ChrisCrampton]

Does there look like that there is a heater in here.
This was the most brurtal race that I have ever done.
It makes Baja like driving to Del Taco and picking up lunch.
Myself and Larry Foddrill worked every night untill the sun came up the next morning. I have told my story to a few of my friends and just the highlights of the trip is a 4 hour conversation.
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/3207IMG_0161-med.jpg

[ChrisCrampton]

Mark Miller Was Kind Enough To Send Us This Special Report On This Years Paris to Dakar Rally


Tony,


Thought I'd give everyone a heads up on what happened. Maybe you could get this to everyone that's following the Rally.
I am in Paris right now on a long layover after 2 days of getting out of the desert. Dirk and I ended up in Dakar as it was the closest place to go to get home and the truck is sitting in the meridian hotel parking lot in Senegal.
The recap is this, From the start we never had a truck that was a 100%, it was a real struggle, When I got to France, 3 days before the start, the truck didn't have suspension hung, no rear end, no sway bar, no steering, it was 2 weeks away from being complete, but we had 3 days. Chris Crampton, Larry Foddrill, Dirk and I worked around the clock and basically drove from Paris to Tech inspection (6 hours) with no sleep.


Not exactly what I thought was going to happen....


In the 1st few stages we had major power steering problems and the engine wouldn't run above 4,000 rpm. (Red lines at 6100 normally I'm told) I knew it didn't matter until the stage in Castellone because the next stage was in Tanger in Africa and we would need to start ahead of the dust, We had a good stage going in Tanger (1st stop in Africa) until the last 15 miles and the engine just stopped running under any load and it was all deep sand so we limped in to the finish in the top 20. I think a top 10 was in the bag but no better because there was a long pavement section maybe 10 miles or so flat out and the Mitsu's and Nissans had 30k-40k/hr on us on top end, in the entire rally the computer or wiring never did get fixed and was a major bummer. Aside from the steering and engine Don Tebbe had done all the shock and spring setups like my Baja truck so I was pretty familiar with the handling but it didn't really matter because we were limited to around 85mph.


After Tanger we had the stage to Ourzazate, this is where I went for a test and I knew the track from when I did the Dakar in 2002 and the test I did the week before the Baja 1000, although the motor wouldn't run, Chris and Larry busted butt all night to get a new steering system installed, we still were in the hunt until the 1st dune crossing when we found out that the automatic tire inflation system didn't work, this was a MAJOR problem and I have to admit I lost my cool on this when we got stuck in the dunes. Totally frustrated that one of the most important tools on the truck didn't work, I don't know if they showed me in the states on TV but in Europe they got a camera in my face when I was stuck and it wasn't pretty. Even though I lost over 10 minutes there and then drove 100 miles on 8 pounds of tire pressure through the rocks, and then lost a front hub seal which caused the front tire to deflate and lost another 10 minutes fixing that... I still was in the hunt in the top 20.


The next day to Tan Tan was lots of cross grain and no sand, so even though we had no motor that was the only issue we had to deal with, passing was tough, and ironically the hardest guy to pass was my teammate, Eric. If it was Baja... you know what I would have done, but there is none of that allowed in Europe you have to pass without touching. I had to follow Eric for about 80k's and finally he missed a turn and we got him, by then the rest of the field had checked out. By the finish we had passed 4 more cars and still with no top end had done a top 10 so it wasn't great but we kept thinking we could fix the motor and the tire inflation so I wasn't giving up by any means.


We got up at 2:30 in the morning to go to Atar the next day, The French mechanics were in charge of the tire inflation system and engine management. they put a new box in for the ecu, we were suppose to take the start at 3:15a.m., and the guys were still running around like chickens with their heads cut off, I wasn't to happy to be going to Atar through 3 major dune crossings with no ATIS, but they told me they fixed the motor so I went on, as soon as I got on the tar road liaison I knew the engine was still screwed up and we were in for another really long day. In the dunes with no ATIS and no engine and 2wd it's impossible. We had the air down to 6 pounds and had to basically drive a Baja 500 length race like this, but we still got stuck like 5 times, every time we needed the motor to run it would snap crackle and pop us right into a sand hole. As a side note if we had the ATIS and the engine worked we would have kicked butt, Dirk navigated his butt off and we were still ahead of about half of the factory cars until the last dune crossing where we spent about 5 hours digging....


The next morning still determined to get it right we changed all the coils, grounds wires and did all kinds of prep, Chris and Larry showed up at about 3 in the morning and I was sleeping on the dirt in my driving suit waiting for them. They gave me a trash bag as a sleeping bag and we got after it at about 7a.m., we were going to Tidjika today and there was no assistance so we had to do today’s stage and tomorrows with no help, also we had an assistance truck in the race, it's called a t-4 but it broke last night so now we have no chase, no welders, no spares for 3 more days. As we are getting ready to leave for the stage start Larry jumps in front of the truck and gires me really bad news, the rear trailing arm is broke in half. So we scramble to get a welder and Larry says there is no way it will hold but I have to try so we carry on, now we have no engine, no ATIS and a broken lower rear trailing arm. No jumps and very slow just trying now to make it to a rest day where we can put the truck back together.

We make it to the finish at about 9pm with this gapping hole right in front of the shock mounts where the arm is welded. I found a little stick welder and some scrap steel and we did everything we could to try and patch it up to make the hardest stage of the rally. We talked about not starting because it was realistically a 100 to 1 chance to make it without breaking... but we tried and about 25k's after the start we lost the power steering. A fitting broke on a dash 6 to dash 8 connections. Now we were really screwed, but after about 4 hours we removed the p/s pump, disconnected the ram lines and we took a shock hose off and we rigged up a ram line to work with a shock line so we could get the heck out of there, by now it was almost 4pm and it started to rain, We were by ourselves, no chase truck no nothing, if we try it with no ram and a little ram line that is stuffed into a dash 8 shock fitting and it breaks we are in the desert for a week instead of the few days it ended up as. I asked Dirk what he thought, he said only as a German can, "I think the desert is crying that we are now out of the rally" at that we took a compass heading and started a 20 hour marathon to get to Dakar so I could get home and see my family.


Thanks for everyone who was keeping track and know for sure that if we had a 100% truck you guys would have been PROUD of us, because we could kick some butt!


Mark Miller

[DarrenSkilton]

In resonse to some of your technical questions about Dakar here are a couple of insights. The range for cars is 800km. Bikes have to go 350km. The tanks on the bikes are around 12 gallons. The cars can carry up to 400 litres or 120 gallons for the long stages. Some run diesel motors so they can benefit from the increased fuel mileage and carry less fuel. All the car motors run FIA inspected air restrictors. There are different sizes for different motors but the Mitsubishis must run 34mm. The Protruck had to run 37.5mm (not certain). There is also a sliding weight scale based on engine displacement and drive method (2x4 or 4x4).

My company, Baja Automotive, is the US rep for the Dakar Rally and we can provide complete rules and entry info to people who are interested. This year we organized a package trip for several potential American entries. We offered this in order for them to understand the entry process and how the rally works. We went through the entire registration process became part of the rally caravan as far a Ouarzazate. This was fourth Dakar that I have been involved in and was the hardest one I have seen since 1998. Hope this answers some of your questions.