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The Dakar Rally, the quite completely nuts 8000-plus-kilometer overland race, began the first of its 15 days of sweaty, sandy goodness Saturday. The traveling circus of motorcycles, cars, four-wheelers, massive support trucks, buggies, and sunburned Europeans will wend their way from Lima, Peru, to Santiago, Chile, by way of Argentina. Formerly the Paris-to-Dakar rally, this is the fifth year the event has run in South America. Political instability and the occasional death threat from local militant groups forced the event out of northern Africa, the event's playground since its inception in 1978. This being one of the granddaddies of today's extreme sports, it should probably come as no surprise that this year is almost as much a battle between sickly sweet energy drinks. Think of them as the new age's tobacco sponsors. Leading the charge is the Monster-sponsored phalanx of Mini Countryman racers. These mutant Minis are fielded by X-raid, the team that took the overall win with a field of Minis last year. The all-wheel-drive, tube-frame cars are powered by twin-turbocharged, 3.0-liter diesel inline-sixes. The driver lineup of the four factory cars includes last year's winner Stéphane Peterhansel, a stern-looking Frenchman who is the event's dominant driver, having won Dakar six times on motorcycles and four times in cars.  Dakar legend, and one-time skateboarding champion, Stéphane Peterhansel. Not to be outdone, Red Bull is sponsoring two V-8–powered buggies (invariably called "boogies" by Peruvians) built by American Demon Jefferies. The team's star driver is two-time World Rally champion and 2010 Dakar winner Carlos Sainz. Playing the role of American provocateur is the outspoken Robby Gordon. The former IndyCar and NASCAR driver is going for his first win at Dakar in his V-8–powered, rear-wheel-drive Hummer H3–bodied racer. Gordon is sponsored by his own Speed Energy drink. During Saturday's ceremonial start of the rally, on a blazing hot and dusty mid-morning in Lima, Red Bull brought out a stunt plane to perform over a crowd that packed the seaside park and lined up along the city's bluff. Gordon had no plane, of course, but he did have, well, Gordon. So when it was his time to drive up on to the platform to be introduced to the crowd and stand around with the president of Peru, he instead floored is Hummer and launched over the ramp. This, the crowd also loved. Other competitors just shook their heads slowly.
Red Bull and Sainz took the early lead in the competition, as Sainz won the first stage of the rally, a short hop south from Lima down to a temporary city set up in the desert near Pisco. Gordon got stuck in the sand and broke his transmission. By the second day, the Mini team rebounded, taking the fastest time in the Pisco loop special stage through the Peruvian desert. But there is already political unrest in this South American Dakar. Sainz filed a protest claiming he lost time due to a waypoint that was not "validated" on his malfunctioning GPS and the organizers deducted the time lost, handing Sainz the lead not just of the stage but also the rally. Counter protests were filed and, well, it's going to be a long run to Santiago.
Gordon's poor performances in the first two stages have put him well behind, but he seemed happy, at least, in his pit area where he aimed a radio-controlled scale model of his Hummer into packs of children in the bivouac, who would scatter screaming before coming back for more. Follow the race live at dakar.com, and check back here later this month for the final results. And if you want to get a look at moving pictures of the rally, half-hour updates will air nightly on NBC Sports Network (we'd recommend setting your DVR, as most of the times are late), or you can head to the race's official YouTube page for shorter clips.
from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com | |||
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Tuesday, January 8, 2013
2013 Dakar Rally Kicks Off: Report and Photos from Peru
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