paris to dakar 2007

[charleskieffner]

well kiddies the rally from hell or to hell, is here again. time to stay tuned and watch the chills thrills and spills that only a race of this magnitude has to offer.

our very own mark miller (carefree,az) is entered in a VW. robby gordon (parker,az.) is entered in a hummer.

the usual other cast of characters as well as usual cast of mfg's in the bike categories including can-ams quad assault. this ought to be interesting in and of itself. aprilla and beta have entered, even suzuki has a few bike entries. ktm /bmw/honda/yamaha/husqvarna round out the group.

as far as vehicles saw no porsches entered(sigh) and your usual over horsepowered under suspended trucks round out this years entries.

all bets are off on this assault. no telling who will survive. as always the predicted winners wad themselves up into a beer can flying over the dunes and its always some no name team that manages to clip all the stages right on the money w/little backing or support. funny how that works.

the only difference btwn baja and dakar.................there have been no deaths attributed to land mines in baja!

stay tuned to speed channal for all the thrills and spills! or just click paris to dakar 2007.com.

[Joeaksa]

Over 500 entries in the PD race this year! Should be some good racing going on over there!

Joe

[charleskieffner]

it is beyond NUTS! funny thing is how europeans are scrambling for our shock technology and we are scrambling for their tube/cage technology.

if you note shepards/raglands TT's(trophy trucks) built by geiser bros. how their cages are built, this stemmed from mark millers.robbies truck and toureg having to pass P-D tech specs. frontal cage area is now built to withstand warp speed ENDO HIT! ie. flying over dunes in afrika and doing umpteen endos. believe it or not at warp speed sand is NOT SOFT!

score has really started to mimic FIA tube thickness/wall thickness/date of build/stress cracks due to entries over the past few years becoming fatigued. some baja vehicles are getting old just like us!
raglands "arnold" is no spring chicken and has had the snot run out of it the past few years.

this race(rally) is always a crap shoot. seems big buck teams get hammered early on with accidents and low buck teams just chug along to finish. always a gas to watch!

im glad i gave up my off road motorcycle racing career when i did. falling down with a 250# bike is one thing.................falling down and having giant herky KTM/HONDA/BMW land on me and then have to get it back upright in the dunes,is not my idea of FUN! skirting land mines doesnt sound like fun either. banditoes with ak-47's..........thats just another day in baja!

[ChrisBennet]

I caught the Dakar on TV a few years ago and saw Robby's "Hummer". It seemed like they were really stretching things calling it a Hummer - wasn't it mid engined?
-Chris

[charleskieffner]

robbies hummer was tube framed w/fiberglass body panals being the ONLY thing that looked hummer! there are some real cool pics of robbie testing prior to last year at the dunes in glamis. i think racedezert.com has them.

robbies is nothing like rod or chad halls hummer due to rule classifications. robbies is basically a trophy truck, while halls is stock oem w/safety items and gussets added. it is highly unlikely that halls hummer being as heavy as it is, would complete very many stages of dakar. its basically a hi-buck heavy soccer mommie assault mobile.

vw is in the lead with 1st and 2nd place as of stage 2. who would have thunk? wicked little tour-eggs!

[legion]

Is there going to be any coverage of this? I keep checking Speed an nothing.

[jtfreels]

Its on the versus channel (formerly OLN) here is a link to the schedule.

http://www.versus.com/nw/article/mdview/?tf=TonightOnOLN_show.tpl&Limit=1&mt=3&f1=UserDef3&UserDef=true&d1=07%20DAKAR%20RALLY

[charleskieffner]

since i live in the sticks i dont get speed vision. must rely on amigoes taping it. but yes for all you sat. folks it should be on. or P-D 2007.com live to rally..........rally to live! rally is life! rally = bandaids in the middle of BFE...............serious BFE!

[chapo]

Soccer mommies drive Touregs too. And Suburbans. I am always trying to see around them with thier kids, starbucks, tvs, and dogs in the car. Those Touregs winning the race are about as stock as Nascar

[charleskieffner]

1st 2nd 3rd for vw today. already (1) bike rider killed. robbie gordon still chugging despite penalty. chevrolet TT (trophy truck) still chugging along.

vw's touregs are one offs. just like earlier year 911 based factory entries that now sit in museums. uber trick trick trick.

check out the video. watch can am quad rider get mega dusted! watch the dunes of GLOOM AND DOOM swallow up bikes people cars and trucks! ask yourself if they are using a paper air filter or a K & N ?!

ask yourself .........."does it hurt to fall off a bike or endo a car or truck in the dunes of GLOOM AND DOOM"?

[kach22i]

I caught some of the Dakar rally on TV Sunday, where can I find lots of large images of Jean-Louis Schlesser's Ford Buggy? I'm not having much luck on Google, the pictures are rather small or all show the same angles.


Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser used his experience of the Dakar rally to the full to win the first African stage of this year's race.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/low/motorsport/4575740.stm

Schlesser, a Dakar winner in 1999 and 2000, clocked the fastest time in the third stage from Nador to Er Rachidia in Morocco in his self-built buggy.

EDIT: Official site:
http://www.schlesser-aventures.org/anglais/ukdefault.htm

Last years ride:


Got it.
http://www.schlesser-aventures.com/pages/album-photos/photos2005.htm#Le_DAKAR_2005__

http://www.schlesser-aventures.com/pages/album-photos/saison2005/dakar05/PC200014.JPG