As ugly as the buggies are, I can see the merit of designing the body of your vehicle to be more "self-righting" if flipped. With the large, flat surface area on the top of the Hummers, I could see how they'd be a bugger to get flipped back over. That being said, the Hummers do look cooler than anything else. Here's Gallagher's attempt at it :) http://youtu.be/ulHO_dbyBSg?t=1m14s
Repeat of yesterday, <TABLE sizset="88" sizcache06766871248563004="14"><TBODY sizset="88" sizcache06766871248563004="14"><TR class=alternate_color sizset="88" sizcache06766871248563004="14"><TD><CUFON class="cufon cufon-vml" style="WIDTH: 20px; HEIGHT: 32px" alt="1"><CUFONCANVAS style="LEFT: -2px; TOP: -4px; HEIGHT: 36px"><?xml:namespace prefix = cvml ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><cvml:shape style="WIDTH: 37px; HEIGHT: 36px" fillcolor="#99250e" path=" m51,0 l51,-58,81,-58,81,-172,41,-152,33,-219,117,-270,170,-270,170,-58,201,-58,201,0,51,0 x e m-17,-338 l403,67 ns e" coordorigin="-17,-338" coordsize="420,405" stroked="f"></cvml:shape></CUFONCANVAS><CUFONTEXT>1</CUFONTEXT><cvml:shape coordsize="1000,1000"></cvml:shape></CUFON> </TD><TD sizset="88" sizcache06766871248563004="14">300</TD><TD sizset="89" sizcache06766871248563004="14"> <LI sizset="89" sizcache06766871248563004="14">AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) CRUZ (ESP) </TD><TD>BUGGY <!-- --> </TD><TD>03:32:08</TD><TD>- </TD><TD>-</TD></TR><TR sizset="91" sizcache06766871248563004="14"><TD><CUFON class="cufon cufon-vml" style="WIDTH: 20px; HEIGHT: 32px" alt="2"><CUFONCANVAS style="LEFT: -2px; TOP: -4px; HEIGHT: 36px"><cvml:shape style="WIDTH: 37px; HEIGHT: 36px" fillcolor="#99250e" path=" m212,-189 c213,-146,177,-115,130,-72 l209,-72,208,0,22,0,22,-54 c81,-116,121,-151,121,-181,121,-193,113,-200,96,-200,75,-200,57,-191,37,-179 l17,-246 c42,-263,74,-273,114,-273,181,-273,212,-238,212,-189 x e m-17,-338 l403,67 ns e" coordorigin="-17,-338" coordsize="420,405" stroked="f"></cvml:shape></CUFONCANVAS><CUFONTEXT>2</CUFONTEXT><cvml:shape coordsize="1000,1000"></cvml:shape></CUFON> </TD><TD sizset="91" sizcache06766871248563004="14">302</TD><TD sizset="92" sizcache06766871248563004="14"> <LI sizset="92" sizcache06766871248563004="14">PETERHANSEL (FRA) COTTRET (FRA) </TD><TD>MINI <!-- --> </TD><TD>03:40:44</TD><TD>00:08:36</TD><TD>-</TD></TR><TR class=alternate_color sizset="94" sizcache06766871248563004="14"><TD><CUFON class="cufon cufon-vml" style="WIDTH: 20px; HEIGHT: 32px" alt="3"><CUFONCANVAS style="LEFT: -2px; TOP: -4px; HEIGHT: 36px"><cvml:shape style="WIDTH: 37px; HEIGHT: 36px" fillcolor="#99250e" path=" m214,-81 c214,-28,178,4,101,4,70,4,40,-4,19,-16 l35,-80 c56,-71,77,-64,99,-64,118,-64,128,-70,128,-84,128,-96,123,-108,74,-108 l74,-166 c122,-166,127,-174,127,-187,127,-196,122,-203,100,-203,76,-203,54,-195,35,-182 l16,-247 c73,-292,209,-278,209,-193,209,-170,199,-151,178,-138,201,-127,214,-108,214,-81 x e m-17,-338 l403,67 ns e" coordorigin="-17,-338" coordsize="420,405" stroked="f"></cvml:shape></CUFONCANVAS><CUFONTEXT>3</CUFONTEXT><cvml:shape coordsize="1000,1000"></cvml:shape></CUFON> </TD><TD sizset="94" sizcache06766871248563004="14">315</TD><TD sizset="95" sizcache06766871248563004="14"> <LI sizset="95" sizcache06766871248563004="14">GORDON (USA) WALCH (USA) </TD><TD>Hummer <!-- --> </TD><TD>03:46:00</TD><TD>00:13:52</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> And, yes I am watching Advrider at work Its great being overpaid and underworked
he's definitely back.... now he's just gotta start smokin' pekkerhansel on some stages, and the planets will regain proper alignment, and everything will be right in the world...
Maybe those tire changing rams just in front of the rear tires could be exchanged for some double acting cylinders? Then it would be a matter of digging a hole in the sand big enough switch the head from one side to the other. It would make sense to leave the foot on the roof side because a flat won't leave the bottom of the buggy against the the ground. As far as the suspension..... Does anyone what material they use on the underside of the trailing arm, A-arms or between the A-arms? The stuff between the A-arms seems to stretch as the suspension moves.
Erik Carlson "Carlsson på taket" ("Carlsson on the roof") always maintained that the best thing about the Saab 96 was how easy it was to put back on it's wheels again after it had rolled.
Did anyone figure out what the tantrum was about when he was yelling at co driver Kellon and tossed his helmet at him? Seemed Robbie was yelling something about their Dakar being over with and intimating it was Kellon's fault.
I didn't see it that way at all. He was clearly upset, but mostly with himself. Some of that frustration went Kellon's way, but I didn't see it as being disrespectful to Kellon. Just blowing off some steam. And I didn't see him toss the helmet AT Kellon, but rather TO Kellon.
Did you see the video today where there was actually some audio to go with it? I just watched it earlier this evening and can't figure out where it was I watched it. (Sorry, watched too many clips today). He was clearly yelling towards/at and berating him.
Found it. Here is the video with audio I found on facecrook. Thanks to Adventure Riders of Northern Utah and Breauxman LIVE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bYXtSVF3kE&feature=youtu.be
I've seen that clip a few times and agree entirely with Scott. It doesn't seem that Robby was out of line, rather just super frustrated about being stuck and broken down on a short opening stage, which is totally understandable. I didn't see any issue with the helmet thing either. It fell into his lap when he was ranting about their rally being over (what I heard was something like "can you believe it? Now we are fucked for the entire rally!"), and in frustration he tossed it aside into Kellon's lap. I must say, the more I watch of Robby, the more I like him. He's honest, heart on his sleeve, competitive, appears to admit his mistakes, and so forth. Here's hoping 2014 is better for him. dc
My take was that he was reacting to the 3x stage time thing on the first stage and his 31 minute deficit after only 13km of racing. This clip was after the first stage and the only one who made a mistake was Robby. Te fact that the french and british announcers so obviously dislike him really adds to the us vs them aspect of the whole thing. Im a fan.
I had heard that Robbie was yelling at Kellon and threw his helmet at him before I saw the video. When I finally saw it I thought I had the wrong one. The helmet falls off the dash and into the steering wheel and he practically hands it to him! Yeah he was yelling and pissed but not at Kellon, just the fact that they screwed themselves in the first 5 miles of a 14 day, 3500 mile race that he had prepared for a year for. I find it interesting how much the European commentator dislike and mock him. The truth is, tens of thousands of people know who Peterhansel is only because of Robby Gordon. His brash, outspoken showmanship brings eyeballs to the race that otherwise wouldn't even know it existed without him.
Just my thoughts. For what it's worth, my take on it was that just before the helmet coming off the dash and such, he blew his reverse. Getting stuck is one thing, that happens quite a lot, and they usually can get out, but losing reverse is totally frustrating. I didn't see it as being upset with Kellon. Before seeing the in car video of the helmet thing, there was an interview where Robby says something like " ... Kellon told me to take it easy on this dune ... and we got stuck .. " At first, with the announcers saying Robby was yelling at his co-driver, it sounded pretty bad. After watching the video and hearing Robby talk about about his race, most of what he says sounds more matter of fact to me, than laying blame. Listen to this interview below and you'll note that Robby says they missed the start of the specials by getting lost on the transits, twice, losing 5 minutes or more. That translates into a late start, which means penalty times, usually. I heard that as, this is the reason why we are down on time. Maybe I'm mishearing it and they got lost on the specials, but even so, that's as much navigator error as anything, and I don't hear Robby saying "... yeah Kellon got us lost AGAIN! " Even when Robby is chiding the Bugglies or taking aim at Peterhansal, I think he's very calculating and careful what he says and how he says it. For what it's worth, there were times when my co-driver was a chocolate mess and got us lost in rallies. There's a point where you just can't be upset with them and just drive your best and deal with the situation. [With all due respect to co-drivers/navigators, it's not easy to keep all the mileages and instructions straight.] I'm smiling because a memory just came back when my codriver had made a 4/10ths of a mile error in a triple caution. That means they were thinking the triple caution was 4/10ths further up the road. At about 90mph on a tight off camber right turn, over a crest, with a steep drop off on the outside, I clawed full throttle on while sliding on the outside edge of that turn trying to keep the car on the road. All was good until we hit a rock the size of a Lazy-boy, and then we just started flipping sideways through the tree tops. Finally we hit one tree that wasn't moving, with the roof, hence we promptly slid down and then rolled back on four wheels. We were okay, except we were way below the road level and still caught between the trees and the banking. When the codriver got out, the last thing I saw was the helmet disappearing. The first step was a big one. My point of this story is I knew what happened with the missed instruction. A half hour after the crash, while I was quietly sitting on a giant rock reading a book and watching the rest of the field go by at speed, ten feet away, my co-driver came over, apologized and said it was their fault. To this day, never have I discussed with anyone I know, what the real story was behind that crash. Bottom line, it's my rally car, it's me driving it, if I can't save it that's my fault. I think Robby, after all these years of driving, may have a bit of that attitude and humility too. Liz Here's Robby's interview at the end of Stage 6. There's a bit of a summary before it. http://www.planetrobby.com/video/video/show?id=2181693:Video:634223
Pretty good hint in the stage 6 interview that he is probably not pushing hard to win stages this year and that he will be back next year.
Closet Doctor, hi! Is this the interview you meant? Liz <a href="<iframe src=" http:="" player.vimeo.com="" video="" 57188718"="" width="630" height="354" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="">"><a href="<iframe src=" http:="" player.vimeo.com="" video="" 57188718"="" width="630" height="354" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/57188718" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="354" width="630"></iframe>
+1 . It usually pretty thick PolyE . They change it when it gets damaged, and it is strong enough for this kind of terrain. Metal shileds help wherever they need to withstand stronger blows from rocks.
Lots of interesting things said there. His crew seems to be kicking ass keeping the car together for the next day of racing...yet, Robby keeps saying what a disappointment it is to be in 35th place even though he is on the podium for the specials. Those are victories that are being denied to his crew because he can only think of winning overall. However, even he says if he just started the race the way he is racing now, they would be in the running for winning the thing. Which I believe is true. The car is the bomb and can win this, if it is raced like a 15 day endurance/navigation rally and not a 1 day Baja 1000. Kudos to team SPEED for putting that car back together after Robby rolled it and keeping it going through all of this. They are the real heros What an amazing crew! I only hope Robby keeps it going and wins as many stages as possible and not just throw in the towel because he might not win overall.
Kellon and Robby have been together for quite a while. <a href="<iframe width=" 420"="" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gw4VYH1_Itc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="">"> <a href="<iframe width=" 420"="" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gw4VYH1_Itc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gw4VYH1_Itc" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe> Some interesting information from the PlanetRobby.com forum.
