Most liked posts in thread: Miscellaneous MINI Countryman Dakar Coverage

I have not followed this race before, but I am guessing it is a lot like a "Three Day Event" in the horse world. The person in who is 29th on day one is often 1st on day three. I would think many things can happen in fourteen days.

Jim

 

Looks like a great drive for the Mini on Stage 2. Hopefully that type of driving with only little problems will continue.

 

Interesting show, but too short. Some good shots of the MINI. BMW has three entries, car, MINI and bike. It said something about more coverage at 1:00 AM.

Jim

 

Got home early, which means I was able to catch the show. A little disappointed that there was only a little information on the MINI. Also agreed about shots of the MINI, car looks good though. Hopefully the few issues they ran into can withstand the rest of the rally without more issues. Resetting the DVR for one AM.

 

Darn, looks like I'm going to have to get one of those new fangled programmable ones now. All the WRC and Dakar stuff come on at strange hours.

Jim

 

The Dakar is certainly a different event from most others - who noticed that yesterday's winner of the motorbikes went down from first to third after receiving a one minute penalty - for speeding! For public safety where the race passes though villages and other populated areas, there are speed limits and Faria's GPS readout showed he broke a speed limit.

Mind you, there is a conspiracy theory about it as well - Faria is the 'water carrier' for Despres, but he was faster than his team leader, for which he probably got his hand slapped. The term 'water carrier' comes from the African years of the rally when he would carry spare water and other backup/spares to give to his team leader if needed - last year one 'water carrier' had to give his team leader his good rear wheel and try to finish the stage on the team leader's bent and buckled rim.

 

Hell the whole water carrier's bike is nothing more than a mobile spare parts source for the team leader. I think it is against the rules to do it, but it does happen.

They do need to hold those guys back when off the stages. Locals have been killed by competitors. I believe one was last year.

 

Nice to see them moving up in the positions! Good job!

 

What are the horseshoe thingies along the rocker panel?

 

But before he abandoned the Rally, he tried to free his stuck Hummer with a Fiat 147!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nOQda5hnA0&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - dakar 2011 - un fiat 147 remolca un hummer[/ame]

 

Check out the video in the link. Looks like it has to with reducing weight from the body cover around the lower frame.

http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/motoringfile-feeds/5560-more-countryman-dakar-photos-plus-press-release.html#post57023

 

WOW, that's some pretty spectacular landscape they have there.

Can't imagine how the guys riding the bikes can manage to stand up in the saddle for so long. Their legs have got to be shaking when they are done for the day.

 

Too bad the Mini had such a bad Day 1 otherwise it would be much higher in the standings because it has been holding its own for Days 2-5. Hope it keeps going so well.

 

I saw the Chicherit incident on European Dakar coverage - the poor guy had driven into 2-3 feet deep gully and the car was stuck at an angle of about 45 degrees - they said at least one car had stopped to help pull him out and found they couldn't do it. I think it was a truck that finally got him out.

It must have been infuriating - the back end of the car was still over the racing surface but the car was beached on the 2-3 foot 'cliff' at the edge of the gully.