Most liked posts in thread: Dakar 2016

The French have been known to bend the rules to suit themselves. I remember what happened at the 1966 Monte. First place Mini was disqualified. Giving the win to Pauli Toivonen driving a wait for it........ Citroen.

 

Thanks for keeping us informed Steve.

 

I like listening to Peterhansel force himself to say nice things about Loeb when he was beating him, which I don't think he expected.

Of all the people I would not want to meet down a dark alley in the wrong part of town, Peterhansel must be top of the list.

That the Peugeot big buggies with 2WD should beat the 4WD cars on stages that favoured 4WD must be bad news for everyone else - when they hit the sand dunes, no-one is gonna see their dust.

 

Thanks for the Peugeot article repost.

'Man of the match' for me at present is Jurgen van der Goorbergh, 47-year-old former Grand Prix motorcycle racer, who has done the Dakar many times, on a bike, in a single-seater buggy and in a truck. This year he's back on a bike in the Malle Moto ('Trunk Bike') category.

I don't know if the American TV coverage has featured this class which is a return to the spiritual home of the original Dakar races - for each rider the organisers transport two 60 litre (2 cu ft) trunks and two spare wheels between the bivouacs, feed the riders (quite well, I'm told - it is a French organisation....) and put up a pup tent for them at the bivouac. Apart from that, they are on their own, no mechanics, no motorhome, no backup.

For a guy who must have once had people to do everything but wipe his nose, doing his own mechanic'ing as well as racing is quite some feat. But then he regularly shone at wet GPs and I've always been in awe of good wet weather riders.

 

Help me here, I always thought that 4wd would have it all over a 2wd car

especially in deep sand. I no comprendo!

 

Oh no the rally lawyers have arrived. If you can't beat them protest them. rrr:

 

12 "MINIs" That is quite the contingent this year.