Comments on: Dakar Rally 2006

By: Scott Haskins

Scott Haskins — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:28:09 +0000

God bless you me ‘ol Kiwi mate! Im hoping to take part in ’09. I started training 4 months ago, no booze, no chocolate, no sweets……………no feckin money from sponsors yet!!! Keep plugging away mate, best of luck, stay upright, see you at the start line. Scott

By: shane

shane — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:18:50 +0000

i made the decision to enter the dakar 2008/09 a couple of months ago, i’m not rich, or a kid and this will take my entire savings and 15 months of bloody hard work finding sponsors, building the bike, ride training, fitness training and logistics to get there.

as an individual competitor with no support crew it is a daunting task indeed just to get there…from here (New Zealand), but …that is all part of the challenge.

this race is the biggest, the hardest, it isn’t 2-3 weeks long, it’s 18 months of blood, sweat and tears.

By: Sky

Sky — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 16:08:49 +0000

I have to agree with # 17, the OLN coverage sucks. It is way to comercialized just like the majority of “news” programs we have here in the US. It is a crying shame that more people here dont get off the “go fast and turn left” racing that dominates in this country, but I think that the reason for that is for a country we cant drive very well and the thought of only turning left durring a race makes people feel better. Please dont take that for a general statement of everyone in the US because that would not be true. Cannot say that i would ever have the opportunity to race in the Dakar, but if i could I would. There needs to be better coverage here.

By: Eideard

Eideard — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 00:53:03 +0000

George, liaison sections are at moderated speeds — usually on pave — and serve as links before and after the special sections — the sections for competition.

The current format has always been the only format available in the US — SpeedTV and Speedvision before OLN. It’s actually produced for UK TV. OLN sends over 1 or 2 people for the standups.

French, Spanish and Italian TV get up to 3 hours/day of each stage.

I may not watch tomorrow’s 24 hour delay of today’s stage. Sadly, one of my favorite bike competitors, Andy Caldecott, was killed, today.

By: George Selby

George Selby — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 00:45:35 +0000

The OLN coverage sucks. No other way to put it. Of the 30 minute show, the first 8 minutes are spent on ads and rehashing the route, and a few crashes (the same ones over and over, not the best of each day.) Then you get about 3-4 minutes of each class (cycle, car, big rig) mostly boring footage of one vehicle going through sand. How about showing us how they get unstuck? It’s no wonder that we Americans don’t know much about this exciting rally.

Another problem is there is no explanation of the terms. What is the difference between the liaison and special sections?

By: shamison busuttil

shamison busuttil — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 18:44:58 +0000

hi, i come from malta, europe and would like to contact an someone that competed in the dakar rally as an amatuer biker.

By: Lance

Lance — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 13:50:37 +0000

The Dakar is an Endurance event,as well as speed,and it’s sooo tough I doubt there are too many wealthy poseurs taking part.A Friend of mine is a mechanic on the Event,(for Patsy Quick and Clive Town,KTM numbers 100 and 101).He did it last year.It costs a fortune to enter,even to buy a seat in a support vehicle for your mechanic is approx.$15000,so a lot of Riders try to do it on their own,carry their own spares on the bike,no back-up,or anything.You can follow the race live in real time @www.dakar.com.Here in the UK,I’m lucky,I get a half hour of Eurosport on the Dakar every evening.Robby Gordon in the Hummer/Chris Blaise etc will be glad there is some support from their countrymen in the USA.I apologise if I’m repeating what you already know,I’ve only just picked up this thread

By: john packer

john packer — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 03:55:07 +0000

Just goes to show how many people are ignorant about dakar. It’s one of the most exciting and most dangerous races to be in, the only one of its kind, and losing life and limb is a distinct responsibility. i certainly admire those who choose to race in it. Just finishing is already a great accomplishment. The baja races pale in comparison to what these guys go thru. I think it’s one of the greatest adventures that you can experience, too bad most of the u.s. isn’t even aware of it.

By: Eideard

Eideard — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 02:33:18 +0000

Theo — I’m not certain you have a clue what you’re talking about. I’ll just leave it at that. I can’t figure out what your complaint is!

To Ed Farrell and others, I’m about to send an email to OLN that certainly needn’t be necessary; but, won’t surprise anyone. For the first few stages, they had Sebastian Piquet commentating. I’ve never heard him before; but, he did at least an adequate job.

Now, they have some stock dude who must be from OLN — who probably is on salary; so, they save money by not hiring someone who knows anything about Dakar or Rally Raid.

Nor does he know how to pronounce the names of the “foreign” competitors.

By: Theo

Theo — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 23:12:13 +0000

Dakar for Americans is a non-starter. By design, Americans are unwelcome, virtually ineligible, and 2 million viewers are dismissed. Why is that?

By: Ed Farrell

Ed Farrell — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 21:48:01 +0000

What a shame, in the news/entertainment media you can’t hardly find mention of the Dakar

By: SignOfZeta

SignOfZeta — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 05:07:29 +0000

The Dakar is so totally hardcore. Watching it makes me forget which century I’m in. It’s so much more massive that anything else in sports today. Its amazing that people worship NBA, and NFL stars, and (bletch!) golfers. The Dakar…so massive. So amazingly demanding on the drivers, and much more so on the bikers. Even with things being much more lux that they were in the 70s, still nothing else compares.

Last year though, the death of Meoni kind of shook me up. More so than when Senna died. Probably because I’m older.

BTW, “Dvorak reader”‘s outlook on rally raid, “rich European kids”, etc, is totally out of wack, but I think most of us know that. Shit, I *wish* the privateers actually mattered nowdays, but factory teams have dominated for a long time now.

This year I’m hoping that the VW factory team takes overall, and that everyone makes it home alive.

By: BL

BL — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 03:07:40 +0000

I wish OLN would use the British Eurosport commentator, his dry humor adds to the tension and danger. I wish I could get Eurosport.

By: Eideard

Eideard — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 18:16:56 +0000

agile — actually, I don’t know if John’s a motorhead or not? I posted this one and [being an old fart] I go back before Lime Rock was built. We’re everywhere, though. One of my best “small world” stories has to do with getting into talking racing, rallying and other gearhead topics with a dude — and realizing we competed against each other back on the East Coast in 1956.

By: Luís Camacho

Luís Camacho — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 17:40:59 +0000

YAY! Dakar starts in Portugal this year! About time!
I’m seriuosly thinking in participating on Dakar some time in the future! So HURRAY for it and good luck to the drivers, since last year I think some of the veichels ‘misterously disapeared’ in the desert during the night. ^_^