Honda preparing Dakar assault

Debatable given the extreme elevation changes....

Zanol's pics from yesterday race...












here, Zanol explaing about your trip in Japan....

Pretty sure that the bike will still be "work in progress" but equally if it wasn't ready to race then HRC would not risk it either, or that tha Japanese would miss programme.

Without a doubt it will be competitive and it will be more than interesting to see how the South American side of the team fairs up against the European side, pretty close I expect?

I feel the bike will push and beat most of the KTM's, but it will be a bit like F1 in the end, a balance between man and machine - so a tough ask!

Could this be a 2013 test Honda 450x ???

This bike is a GHR Australian built Honda to race at Dakar in 2013 to be ridden by one of the Smith brothers. If funds permit both brothers will go. Glenn Hoffman racing built some of the best Hondas around to go dessert racing.

What Im really diggin is the Yosemite Sam stickers..im partial to him being 15 min from the south entrance... but that rear tank has been around for a while, although the front tank(s) looks new!

For those interested I'm over in WA doing photography for GHR. Aussie rider Warren Strange is running Safari with his Dakar spec bike, and was out doing final testing yesterday with it. Front and rear tanks have been entirely developed here by GHR, plus all the associated nav gear mounting. His race bike has just been finished with fairings and stickers overnight. Compared to other rally bikes of recent years it looks extremely compact, barely 40mm wider than the radiators at any point down the length of the bike.

I think Warren raced the 3 day vegas to reno 5 yrs ago .. I had to bum a water bottle of gas from him to get to a pit

So now we know who is at Pharaons
N. TEAM BIKER NAT MOTO CAT
1 YRC FRETIGNE DAVID FRA YAMAHA 450
2 TEAM ULLEVALSETER ULLEVALSETER PAL NOR KTM 450
3 HUSQVARNA RALLYE TEAM BY SPEEDBRAIN GONCALVES PAULO PRT HUSQVARNA 450
4 ORLEN TEAM PRZYGONSKI JAKUB POL KTM 450
5 BORDONE-FERRARI VILADOMS JORDI ESP KTM 450
6 HUSQVARNA RALLYE TEAM BY SPEEDBRAIN BARREDA JOAN ESP HUSQVARNA 450
7 TEAM HONDA EUROPE SALVATIERRA JUAN CARLOS BOL HONDA 450
8 VENEZUELA MOTO RALLY TEAM CARDONA NICOLAS VEN YAMAHA 450
9 KLS RALLY RAID TEAM KREIDL FERDINAND AUT KTM 450
10 VENEZUELA MOTO RALLY TEAM ERASO RAFAEL VEN YAMAHA 450
11 SONIK TEAM COLLIE STEPHEN NZL HONDA 450
12 TEAM ULLEVALSETER ARREDONDO FRANCISCO GTM KTM 450
14 TEAM KAISER PREUSS STEPHAN DEU KTM 450
15 MOTO CLUB SUT DAKAR PALACIOS JOSEPH FRA KTM 450
16 VENEZUELA MOTO RALLY TEAM QUERALES GUSTAVO VEN YAMAHA 450
18 TEAM BERRI BERRINI FABRIZIO ITA KTM 450
19 DIRT RACING TEAM TOIA DIOCLEZIANO ITA BETA 450
20 TEAM RAID T.K.C. CHAPSAL ERIC FRA KTM 450
21 MOTO CLUB AZEGLIO PATTONO GERMANO ITA YAMAHA 450
22 LINCE TEAN CALDERAY LUIS ESP HONDA 450
23 FRANCO PICCO RACING TEAM ZUFFETTI CARLO ITA YAMAHA 450
24 FRANCO PICCO RACING TEAM SABBATUCCI PAOLO ITA YAMAHA 450
25 FRANCO PICCO RACING TEAM SEMINARA CARLO ITA YAMAHA 450
26 FRANCO PICCO RACING TEAM PANIGALLI FRANCO ITA YAMAHA 450
27 FRANCO PICCO RACING TEAM EVILIO ALESSANDRO ITA YAMAHA 450
28 FRANCO PICCO RACING TEAM TRACANZAN VINCENZO ITA YAMAHA 450
29 FRANCO PICCO RACING TEAM PICCO FRANCO ITA YAMAHA 450
30 TEAM AL DESERT ORLANDO SALVATORE FRA KTM 450
31 TEAM AMARCORD MONTEBELLI CASADEI SIMONE ITA KTM 450
32 TEAM AMARCORD MONTEBELLI BUGLI ORESTE ITA BETA 450
33 TEAM AMARCORD MONTEBELLI MASSARI PAOLO ITA KTM 450
34 JVO RACING VALCARCEL-RESALT CESAR ESP YAMAHA 450
35 DIRT RACING TEAM TALINI FILIPPO ITA KTM 450
36 RE/MAX EGYPT ABDELMAWGOUD KHALED EGY YAMAHA 450
37 FAST TEAM-MOTO CLUB OGGIONO VALSECCHI ANDREA ITA HONDA 450
38 ZAMZAM RACING TEAM SHAFAI AMIN EGY YAMAHA 450
39 BOANO RACING TEAM SAITO AKIHIRO JPN HONDA 450
40 BOANO RACING TEAM IKEMATSU KOJI JPN BETA 450
41 BOANO RACING TEAM ICHINOMOTO JUNICHI JPN BETA 450
42 BOANO RACING TEAM SUKENOBU TETSUNORI JPN KTM 450

101 ORLEN TEAM DABROWSKI MAREK POL KTM OVER
102 ORLEN TEAM CZACHOR JACEK POL KTM OVER
103 CICUTO DANILO ITA KTM OVER
104 ENERGIA E SORRISI ONLUS DAL BEN GIAMPIETRO ITA BETA OVER
105 TEAM AFRICA - LM ADVENTURE MEFFRE LAURENT FRA KTM OVER
106 PIKOLO GUTIERREZ RAMON JOSE SPA KTM OVER
107 TEAM AMARCORD MONTEBELLI CELI MARCO ITA APRILIA OVER
108 BELLINI PAOLO ITA ALFER OVER
109 MOTOCLUB VAL DI ROGGIO DIANDA ANDREA ITA KTM OVER
110 FAST TEAM MAURI ALBERTO ITA KTM OVER
111 MATSUMOTO NORIHISA JPN KTM OVER
112 ZIP ZONE AMENOMORI HIDEHIKO JPN KTM OVER
114 OZAKI HIROFUMI JPN KTM OVER
115 TEAM KAISER ZAHN INGO DEU KTM OVER
116 DESERTICA MILLET FREDERIC FRA KTM OVER
118 BOANO RACING TEAM PEGORARO MARIO ITA BETA OVER
119 CUMMINS FRANCE CUGGE IVO ITA KTM OVER

201 LASKAWIEC RALLY TEAM LASKAWIEC LUKASZ POL YAMAHA QUAD
202 SONIK TEAM SONIK RAFAL RAFAL POL YAMAHA QUAD
203 CAMELIA ADVENTURE TEAM LIPAROTI CAMELIA ITA YAMAHA QUAD
204 AL DESERT SOUDAY SEBASTIEN FRA YAMAHA QUAD
205 TEAM AL DESERT LECOMTE ANTOINE FRA PAOLETTI YAMAHA QUAD

Hmmm, Villadoms listed on a KTM...

Mi1 still needs glitches ironed out?

No Brits at all?! Thats gonna change next season! Never thought i would say it but the French really do have the right idea when it comes to motorsports!

go fretigne!!!!!

MacMan,
Thanks for posting....wondering to see pics from the finished bike.

More pictures of the GHR Dakar bike as being ridden in Safari.




South African rider Glen Grundy, head mechanic Simon Wade and South African Brett Cummings next to Warren's Safari bike. Both SA riders are competing in Dakar next year mounted on one of these and they were excited to lay eyes on the machine for the first time.

Sorry for veering a little off topic of the HRC Dakar effort, but seeing the GHR bike made me think of Jonah Street's YZ from this last January. Obviously there will be similarities in form given that it looks as if Safari is making the tanks, but I also noted what appears to be a lower navigation tower. The GHR set-up looks more refined. Is this a trend as new bikes are developed around the 450 chassis or am I just reading into things?

Interesting to see no Coma entered for the Pharaons Rally. I guess when you are 23 points clear of second place with only 20 points up for grabs for a win then why go and risk it in Egypt for nothing. Shows how good the guy is that you can become world champion by competing in only 3 of the 4 rounds.

I am No. 11 in Pharoans this year so it will be good to see how the other top riders battle it out amongst themselves.

Interesting to see the bike entry numbers down a bit this year with 59 bikes entered where as last year there were around 70 from memory. I also observed this recently at the Transanatolia Rally in Turkey where the entries numbers were about a 1/3 of what they wer elast year. Obviously the European crisis is having an effect on our sport and the sponsorship dollars just aren't around as much as they once were.

A little off track for this thread but what does everyone think?

He's competing in Morocco though on the 16 oct along with Despres, Bordoni and the HRC team, so yes he has the WRC wrapped up and for whatever the reason a few of the teams want a pre Dakar run in Morocco, probabley as it is a road and ferry trip from Europe?

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fledgling greybeard



Joined: Nov 2005
Location: f5ederation of scandwegia
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</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #575757 1px solid" id=td_post_18952968 class=alt1><!-- icon and title --> Italian flair for the dramatic...
<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #575757; COLOR: #575757" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->jeebus...:huh If the engineers are even half as good at building a bike as the writers in the PR division are at using superlatives... the thing should be a rocket ship out of the crate...


... or tripping over the red carpet and knocking your front teeth out on the champagne bottle can also happen...?


With these media hype deals... it can go either way sometimes...
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