I have been following the MINI DAKAR Countryman that MINI will be entering in the 2011 race, both because I like the Dakar race and I also follow the WRC. When I watched this video several things became immediately apparent - the WRC and Dakar cars are absolutely nothing like each other, and while they both may look like a Countryman, under the skin - the Dakar Countryman is anything but a MINI. I noticed first off that the engine note was all wrong, and in rewatching this video I could easily spot why - look carefully at about the 30 sec mark....and no, it's not just what's on the oil cap, it's where the oil cap is! YouTube - Mini Dakar 2011 X Raid Team
At least they kept the engine in the BMW family. The driver was wearing a strange looking helmet. Jim
Press Release: All members of the Monster Energy X-raid rally team has safely arrived in Buenos Aires to begin final preparations for the official start of the 33rd Personal Dakar Argentina-Chile on New Year’s Day. Six BMW X3CCs, the brand new Mini All4 Racing and the team’s fleet of race trucks, service trucks and support vehicles have been removed from the dock area in Buenos Aires and are being prepared by Sven Quandt’s army of mechanics and engineers. Guerlain Chicherit and co-driver Michel Périn managed to carry out a short pre-event test in the Mini All4 Racing about 50km from Buenos Aires at a nearby motorcross circuit on Wednesday afternoon. Chicherit’s Mini has been developed in record time and the Frenchman will be hoping to improve on the fifth position he obtained with a BMW X3CC last year. The entire X-raid team will attend pre-rally administration and scrutineering formalities at La Rural conference centre in Buenos Aires on Friday morning, before the competition cars are placed in a Parc Ferme area. Team members will then attend a New Year’s Eve dinner in the fashionable Puerto Madero area of the city to celebrate the start of the New Year. One hundred and fifty-six cars, 183 bikes, 33 quads, 68 trucks and competitors from 51 nations are expected to finalise pre-rally formalities over the next two days before the official start on New Year’s Day.
Coverage in the US is not very good. Verses schedule shows they will have a 1/2 daily update show at 3:30PM ET starting on Jan 3rd. There is also an iPhone app that will have all the breaking news. The page is in French, the app is in English on my iPhone. Personal Dakar Rally 2011 pour iPhone, iPod touch et iPad sur l?iTunes App Store I'll also be scrubbing the interwebz looking for information so stay tuned to M/A and I'll be posting what I can find.