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Post by MTwomn on Jan 6, 2019 15:34:55 GMT -5
Let the racing begin. It is that time again, for the next two weeks Team Speed will be competing in South America. As of this morning all three vehicles have passed Dakar Scrutineering (inspection).
Team Speed: 316 - Robby Gordon / Kellon Walch 346 - Cole Potts / Max Eddy 367 - Blade Hildebrand/ Bill Conger
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Post by MTwomn on Jan 6, 2019 17:22:13 GMT -5
For the 2019 event, the Dakar’s traditional set-up has once again been overhauled. Continuing its Peruvian adventure, the Dakar rally is offering a dense set of obstacles and promises to be a new kind of epic! The brave individuals who have already experienced the Peruvian sands have made no mistake, and will once again form the biggest bivouac camp in the world of cross country, near Pisco and Arequipa in particular. The intense challenge they face will push them to their limits in getting over dunes, navigation and physical strength: in the dunes, one kilometre is equivalent to two or even three kilometres elsewhere.
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Post by Fire21 on Jan 6, 2019 19:09:12 GMT -5
I wanna drive the truck!!
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Post by 88cars38 on Jan 6, 2019 20:14:24 GMT -5
Those are fun looking vehicles. Go Robby!
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Post by Fire21 on Jan 6, 2019 21:34:22 GMT -5
Those are fun looking vehicles. Go Robby!
LOL, so many people are so proud of their dune buggies and off-road-vehicles. Imagine how their hearts would sink if you showed up with one of Robby's "cars".!!! Hahahaha.
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Post by MTwomn on Jan 6, 2019 22:10:15 GMT -5
Fire asked how long this year's race was. Haven't found the entire race yet but the first day, 7 January: Lima > Pisco
Liaison: 331 km / 206 miles Stage: 84 km / 52 miles
The Liaison is like a parade getting to that day's starting point. Then there is 52 miles of the actual race. Then they enter the bivouack where they make repairs, get ready for the next day and "relax."
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Post by MTwomn on Jan 6, 2019 22:38:53 GMT -5
OK, I found the route and distances. Converted it to miles since that is what most of you understand. This does not include the laiasons. They try to keep the tracks the same for all vehicles but because of the terrain there is some differences. i.e. the big maintenance trucks cannot go some places that a motorcycle can. 70% of the race this year will be in sand.
Stage |
| Date | Bike/Quad | Car/SxS | Truck
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| 1
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| 7
| 52
| 52
| 52
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| 2
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| 8
| 213
| 213
| 123
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| 3
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| 9
| 206
| 206
| 206
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| 4
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| 10
| 251
| 251
| 251
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| 5
|
| 11
| 214
| 321
| 321
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| Rest
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| 12
| 0
| 0
| 0
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| 6
|
| 13
| 209
| 192
| 192
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| 7
|
| 14
| 201
| 201
| 201
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| 8
|
| 15
| 224
| 224
| 224
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| 9
|
| 16
| 194
| 194
| 192
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| 10
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| 17
| 70
| 70
| 69
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| Total
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| 1834
| 1923
| 1831
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Starting Monday there will be these starting:
Bikes 137 Quads 26 Cars 97 SxSs 33 Trucks 41
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Post by Fire21 on Jan 7, 2019 10:39:39 GMT -5
Wow, that's just mind boggling. I can't imagine going through that punishing territory at hell-bent-for-election speeds for 10 days. Yes, circle drivers take hard hits when they smash the wall, but these rally drivers take hit after hit while slamming turns and smashing into the ground after jumping dune after dune. I can't fathom their physical conditioning!
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Post by MTwomn on Jan 7, 2019 16:54:32 GMT -5
Stage 1. Lima to Pisco
Robby was the second SxS to finish. About one minute behind. This was 21th in the car class. The other two Team Speed vehicles placed 32 and 42. Overall a good race day. Someone said the top speed for the SxS is around 80mph. Not as fast as the cars but the SxS should be much better in the sand and this year 70% of the race is in sand. They can lose a lot of time digging a car out when stuck in the sand.
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Post by MTwomn on Jan 7, 2019 16:58:17 GMT -5
Wow, that's just mind boggling. I can't imagine going through that punishing territory at hell-bent-for-election speeds for 10 days. Yes, circle drivers take hard hits when they smash the wall, but these rally drivers take hit after hit while slamming turns and smashing into the ground after jumping dune after dune. I can't fathom their physical conditioning!"Circle" drivers get to go home and sleep in a bed after the race. Many of the Dakar teams are sleeping in tents and sleeping bags. Plus they have to do most of the emergency maintenance on their vehicles during the race.
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Post by MTwomn on Jan 7, 2019 18:32:01 GMT -5
Some might be asking "what is a SxS"
What is a SxS vehicle? The side-by-side (often written as SxS) is a small 2- to 6-person four-wheel drive off-road vehicle, also called UTV (utility vehicle or utility task vehicle), a ROV (recreational off-highway vehicle), or a MOHUV (multipurpose off-highway utility vehicle).
Sort of a ATV that is street legal.
Polaris, Honda and Yamaha are some of the big manufactures in this field. and of course Textron (formally Arctic Cat)
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Post by MTwomn on Jan 9, 2019 15:59:08 GMT -5
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Post by Fire21 on Jan 10, 2019 10:32:09 GMT -5
Apparently I have non-selective hearing. With the background noises and changes in volume, I couldn't understand what they were saying. I take it things aren't going well...
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Post by MTwomn on Jan 11, 2019 18:51:28 GMT -5
Sometimes Robby is his own worse enemy. During the end of the marathon stage, late at night, Robby said ### the rules and ignored the 80 mph limit on the SxS class. He receive a 4 hour penalty. Like everything else in life you must fallow the rules or suffer the costs.
One of the Team Speed cars got buried in the fesh fesh.
A very fine and light powdery substance, fesh fesh in large enough quantities can spell instant disaster for an adventure rider or rally racer, as it plumes can quickly obscure the vision, and its quicksand-like properties can instantly envelope tires that tread too deeply or too slowly.
The byproduct of countless years of the erosion process, fesh fesh is sand that has been worn down from its typical granular size, into a dust-like particle that closely resembles talcum powder. When layered thinly on hard rock, fesh fesh can be as slippery as ice, and when accumulated in deep pits, fesh fesh is essentially quicksand, minus the water.
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Post by Fire21 on Jan 12, 2019 10:51:07 GMT -5
OK, I looked at the pictures and watched the videos. I saw nothing but misery! There is NOTHING about that type of racing that draws me! For those who like it, so be it, but I'm just not a fan.
As for speed limits in racing...what's the point?
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