The Official Dakar Rally thread!

[Mad Cow]

From what I can gather the offending quads run TDM900 motors, they have taken the machines they used last year and sleeved them down to 750 so the argument is they are not production machines but prototypes.

So it's not a question of having misread the rules but misinterpreting them.

It seems this whole issue stems from protests lodged by Argentinian Teams and the whole issue is still being argued over. I suspect the seven will race in the hope they can be reinstated into the general classification at some point.

Racing by the rulebook... it happens in all sports

[Mad Cow]

Things are a bit frustrating at the moment as all evening a number of sites have been streaming live TV coverage of the podium presentations but because of my download issues, I can't watch any of it

Here's a screen dump pinched from another website of the top three...

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Most of the US riders rode onto the podium in shorts! It has been suggested they were showing solidarity with Toby and Jago after they had their trousers stolen

[Mad Cow]

Latest news from the Saffers... Bikes arrived in Mar Del Plata at 21.00 local time giving them eight and a half hours to prep them for 5:30 scrutineering. They might even get an hour or two of sleep at this rate.

The first riders are off at 05:15 (local time = 8.15 GMT) and as they go in reverse order it looks like they will be starting late as they have quite high rider numbers #176, #144, #136 & #108 i.e. they should start early (Local rider Gonzalo Penalva (ARG) No 189 goes first and No 1 Marc Coma is last off) it remains to be seen if they will receive any penalties.

[Mad Cow]

It seems the Saffers managed to pull it off, from Facebook....

Darryl Curtis just wrote:
Happy new year everyone !! We got the bikes at 9 last night, it's just before 1 in the morning, were almost done, we are scrutineering the bikes at 5 .... It couldn't have been closer !"

There has been some confusion over Kiwi Chris Birch (#110) who recently moved to South Africa. It was presumed his bike was in the container too but then a rumour circulated that he had obtained another bike. It turns out he had his bike all along, he is riding Cyril Despres 2011 bike so it was shipped separately (I assume direct from KTM in Europe).

First riders went off at 08.25 (GMT) so hope to have some further news soon

[SimplyExploring]

Puru looks like it will be a amazing stage... Cant wait :silly:

[Mad Cow]

OK Folks, some details on today's stage...

DAK_2012_0100_STAGEMAPS.gif (65.48 KiB) Viewed 1226 times

The first moto's leave the parc fermé at the Mar del Plata naval base at 05:45 (local time = 08.45 GMT), and ride (what appears from the map and time schedule) to be a 150km liaison stage to the start of todays special stage(DSS on the map = Depart Stage Speciale);

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Leg 1 special stage is 57 km's in length and you can see from the profile is relative flat and fast; starting out with 14 km's of firm soil, then a section of 16 km (along the beachfront) with soft sand and some small dunes (highest point @ 42 metres), before finishing with a 27 km stretch of firm terrain (gravel roads?)

In the schedule there is a target time of 30 minutes (an average of 114 km/h !!! ). Given that there is the 16 km section of sand in the middle, we can expect the speeds on the beginning and concluding sections to be VERY FAST it would seem!

If the fastest set times around the 30 minute mark... one would expect the tail enders to take perhaps 45 to 50 minutes or more (still average of 75 to 80 km/h... which is fast).

After completing the special stage, they travel from the ASS (Arrive Stage Special = Special Stage Finish) to the bivouac at Santa Rosa via the second liaison stage of approx 600 km with the first bikes expected to arrive around 15:45 pm local time (18.45 GMT).

So a nice gentle 807kms for the first day, that's like riding from London to Inverness in a day..... including some off road :woohoo:

[Mad Cow]

Toby and Jago are on their way (hope they got some new trousers)

From Twitter

DakarTeamGBDakar Team GB

And so the #Dakar begins. Stage 1 Start: Mar Del Plata Finish: Santa Rosa de la Pampa http://bit.ly/tIxZHr a relatively short 57km SS

6 minutes ago FavoriteRetweetReply

[Mad Cow]

Live feed available now (in Spanish)

http://www.c5nenvivo.com.ar/

[Mad Cow]

Just to show you can't believe anything you read on the official Dakar site, the riders went off in number order with Coma (#1) first.

So it looks like everyone, the Saffers included went off on their correct time!

Argentine TV shows riders and drivers just taking it easy as they thread their way through the crowds in Mar Del Plata

[moto al]

many thanks mc a lot of work.great coverage far better than the media in gb.10,out of 10.cheers moto al