Dakar 2016 - Rest Day - Sunday

[John Bitting]

Enjoy your day off guys, catch up on honey-do's. We will be posting a recap story and some other cool stories on the front page tomorrow for those that check it.

 

[SteveRacer]

I was looking at the next coming stages and this Dakar is going to get tough. Several Dune sections and Fesh fesh are on the agenda.

 

[cradle2grave racing]

I was looking at the next coming stages and this Dakar is going to get tough. Several Dune sections and Fesh fesh are on the agenda.

Yes but you've gotta love the lower altitude, watch those V8's come alive!!

 

[Suhaib Kiani]

Seems to be a good time for some reflection on past few days, here are my 2 cent thoughts:

- Loeb not only provided proof that he is perhaps the best driver of his times, he kinda enabled the competition to be on their best behavior in a "I've never pushed like this..." kinda way. He is perhaps is best thing that happened to rallyraid/offroad/desert racing in recent times and I feel its very good for the sport....

- Yes, Peugeot proved themselves by doing what they have done best over the years, winning! But! Was the bar set all that high for them to begin with? One would have to look at how well the Toyotas are doing against the Mini (and perhaps even against the Pugs) despite their inherent weight (4wd) and power/torque (V8 petrol) dis-advantage as per the regulations. IMO even now, a bigger retrictor for 4wd V8 may well be the key difference between the 'multi million' Pug and the relatively 'industrial' Hilux at least at reasonable altitudes. Nevertheless, not taking away anything from the quality and precision of the overall program that Peugeot has put together. Hats off to them in all respect!

- Robby Gordon. You can love him or you can hate him. But you cant deny that you probably wont be here if it wasn't for him and probably won't be here next year if he is not coming! Interestingly, in the tradition of RDC speculations, I suspect that today a larger body of people (both in numbers and geographic spread) know RG for his Dakar participation than the ones that know him for his desert racing / Nascar / SST combined. Yes, Dakar is bigger across the globe than it may appear....

- The Gordini. Everyone can have a view on it today, but only those who followed its evolution and development and at least understood RG's options and resources (though not necessarily agreeing with his choices) would agree that you essentially get what you pay for. You are where you are, given what you've spent and guess what, if the competition has individually or collectively spent more, hey..... the only pleasant surprise for me here is that it hasn't broken down this year, as yet (oops) ....

Looking forward to the rest of the rally, I am sure there are more surprises to come. Hats off to Klaus & Co for their coverage and to the wonderful 'bad' company for keeping this show rocking

 

[spalind]

Was reading Ian Blythe's posts today and he is indicating that the second week is far more technical, rough and requires substantial navigation. As more of an enduro rider from what I gather, Blythe thinks he can improve his position substantially from where he is...fesh fesh and other rough terrain MAY help RG improve and give the Pugs and Loeb a test of a different sort as well...


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[SteveRacer]

- Yes, Peugeot proved themselves by doing what they have done best over the years, winning! But! Was the bar set all that high for them to begin with? One would have to look at how well the Toyotas are doing against the Mini (and perhaps even against the Pugs) despite their inherent weight (4wd) and power/torque (V8 petrol) dis-advantage as per the regulations. IMO even now, a bigger retrictor for 4wd V8 may well be the key difference between the 'multi million' Pug and the relatively 'industrial' Hilux at least at reasonable altitudes. Nevertheless, not taking away anything from the quality and precision of the overall program that Peugeot has put together. Hats off to them in all respect!

Funny you brought this up. Lately I have been pondering the difference between the last few dominant teams. You have the Mitsu Pajeros from 2001-2007, then the VWs from 2009-2011 and lately the Mini All4 from 2012-present. Those Mitsus were consistent and probably not as fast as the VWs. But by the end of week 2 they were aways the ones left standing. VW knocked them off the top in 2009 but only because the Mitsus switched from their tried and true gasoline engines to diesels. Which all failed early in the rally. Not saying VW couldn't have beaten them, we just never saw the shootout. VW did carry the torch well and were untouchable in their years at the top. X-Raid has been on top the last few years but I never go the feeling they were as strong as the teams before them. I feel all the big competition was no longer around, probably due to the economy. Now it seems we may be witnessing another change at the top but the rally is far from over.

 

[Klaus]

So what is everyone doing during their rest day?

For us it's laundry, car disinfect, minor car repairs, plan tomorrow and produce 2 stories.

 

[ctadarts]

Football today!!!

 

[randy s]

well first i'm going to church and then to the library................ja ja...j/k....might go see the movie ''revenant'' with decaprio....saw hateful eight the other day and was a bit disappointed and i froze my ass off just watching it..

 

[ISRengine]

Just came back from a little 5km of snowshoes trek in the woods with my two girls 2 and 4 years old,
it's hot here -2c !! for january :S

 

[trophygoat]

Preparing for 16 hours of work and classes tomorrow which will not allow me to watch the college football championship or any Dakar news... oh well atleast brabec is approaching the top 10 OA

 

[Short Bus]

It looks like Adam Malysz may be out of the race. He is the other Red Bull Mini - the Polish ski jumper. He posted that they had a clutch problem yesterday and ended up getting towed back to the bivy. I don't think he completed the stage.

 

[Short Bus]

On the road to Salta yesterday

 

[kaw500]

So what is everyone doing during their rest day?

For us it's laundry, car disinfect, minor car repairs, plan tomorrow and produce 2 stories.

Minor Withdrawal symptoms today, next week at this time head for DAKAR detox.

 

[El-Todd]

So what is everyone doing during their rest day?

For us it's laundry, car disinfect, minor car repairs, plan tomorrow and produce 2 stories.

Kids b-day party then billing and invoicing. Maybe the garage later to work on my boys trophykarts. I still would rather be down south if I had the chance.


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[John Bitting]

Hard impact for that big of a truck..

 

[SteveRacer]

They all smoke like that at 3:28?

 

[Offspring]

Stone doesn't translate well, lol

 

[Hog Wild]

The first half of Stage 8 (tomorrow) looks to be similar to Dakar 2011 Stage 3 in reverse. Other than the Bolivia stages, ASO seems to be reusing a lot of the same roads they have used in the past.

 

[Hayward Racing]

So what is everyone doing during their rest day?

For us it's laundry, car disinfect, minor car repairs, plan tomorrow and produce 2 stories.

Working on this bad boy today, doing inventory on spares, then grilling some steaks.. 2016 Baja 500 prep starts now

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