The F5 Bivouac (rallye raid news) and W2RC - World cross country rally championship

yes both are cancelled for 2013

Someone more cynical than I might suggest this is a 'convenient' excuse...

I think the problem NPO have is numbers - the round is no longer an FIM championship round, and yet it is still run under the same infrastructure (and associated costs - helicopter / Iritrack / International Race Licence etc)... it is also held only three weeks after Qatar and three weeks before Sardinia - both of which are FIM rounds, and Sardinia costs the same or less that the Tunisie - so if you were a pro, which event would you chose?

Similarly, for the Amateur/budget contingent, the Tuareg Rallye this year proved that if the price is right, there are plenty of Europeans (250+ of them) willing to race in Tunisia... and indeed the Tuareg Orga met with various ministers of tourism during the course of the Tuareg, who reassured the rally that everything was safe and events like this were welcomed and encouraged.

I do feel sorry for NPO - their organisation is excellent, their roadbook/route very varied and exciting (when I raced that event in 2010), it seems they have fallen out of favor with the FIM for whatever reason, and their event/s are now suffering because of it...

With so many Amateur (and by that I mean non-FIM affiliated) rallyes happening in Morocco now - which is part of the reason I suspect the Tuareg wanted to move to a new destination - I can see the NPO organised Oilybia du Maroc also having less and less attendance in the future (again, it no longer being an FIM championship round, despite being run under the same logistics) - the only thing that keeps it going is the fact it is traditionally the last event on the calendar before Dakar, so the teams like to use it as a shake down for their logistics... but again, to attract those teams, the logistics and their associated costs make it correspondingly more expensive for amateurs to attend.

Jx

Lots of cheaper amateur rallies attracting folks, might explain lower numbers in some of the "biggies"...

I have a feeling that the Qatar entry list may be a little slim as well, it really looks like the big boys are disinterested in the whole FIM WRC with the sights solely on the Dakar and a few training ralleys on the way - could be a big entry in Morocco again and that is not even on the WRC calendar

That is unless it is postponed as noted earlier, but politically I believe Morocco is still ok?:

It will also be interesting to see how many non South American entrants venture down there for the 2 winter legs?

WRC ??? ( World Rally Championship )
for Rally cars only, not Rally Raid !!!

F. I.M. ( Fereration International de Motocyclisme )

F. I. A. ( Federation International de l'Automobil )

The last two are the instituitions for the Rally World Cup

I think it is interesting to see how many 'local' riders there are in South America these days, according to ASO, over a third of the entries submitted for Moto and Quad in Dakar 2013 were from South American riders...

I'm sure the FIM realise there is a significant number of riders with money there, hence the reinstatement of the Des Sertos as a World Championship round, plus the addition of Argentina - all helping to raise the profile of those competitors prior to Dakar?

I agree it is unlikely we'll see that many Europeans at those events, other than the factory teams contesting the whole championship of course (Marc Coma is going to have a lot of air-miles this year!), but I'm not sure that matters so much to the FIM with such an enthusiastic and seemingly wealthy local field of riders?

Jx

just too many acronyms, coupled with dyslexia -

FIM CCRWC

Cross Country Rallies World Championship

On the whole I think the entry list will be thin and not too many riders completing the full set - World Champion for just turning up 6 times and getting a top 5 or so each time ?

Bingo

What used to be a sport dominated by Europeans is slowly changing....it's not a stretch to think there will be many more FIM sactioned events in SA in the coming years. Terrain and money....SA seems to have both along with a population that is enthusiastic about rally. The media circus of the Dakar certainly doesn't hurt either, nor does deserts that aren't politically "unstable"

Not even sure about the factory teams, if we listen to the rumours, KTM and HRC are developing 2014 bikes so what are their targets, do the others have the budgets?

I think both you and Ted have it right, a big shift to SA and unlike elsewhere it seems to attract money and a big fan base, which go hand in hand of course.

I agree, although to be honest it would make a lot of sense for both Honda and KTM certainly to test their 'new' bikes in South American conditions (and under 'race pressure' too) - as it was suggested that part of the problem Honda suffered this year was that they hadn't properly considered the effect of the altitude/sand/weather etc found on the 2013 South American route...

Of course neither Argentina or Brazil is likely to offer exactly the same conditions as they found in Peru or Chile - but it would certainly be a help? Fiambala looks to be back on the menu again this coming year, and hey, once the teams are down there they can skip over the Andes and spend a few weeks razzing around in the Atacama to make sure there are no other 'fueling' surprises next time!

Jx

Can't specualte how far either of them are on with the bike development, but it's unlikely that they would be ready in time for race conditions this summer (winter in SA).

Last year HRC were only race ready for Morocco, but that was debateable, as it was for the Dakar really - from memory though they started testing in August.

Having said this and from what I understand 2 of the issues were weight and power/speed, so perhaps they have had a head start in these areas and maybe larger & lighter fuel tanks ?

Generally though and whether the results were good or bad they will have had a year's testing and experience as a team, which can only be good

Knowing Honda/HRC history, my money is on the engineers getting trained over the last year. The guys riding the bikes sure as hell knew how a bike needed to be to survive and be competitive. Doesn't mean the engineers were listening. HRC has a long long history of knowing better than the riders how a bike should be.

Kinda funny to watch as, every time, they start winning when the rider gets his way, and never before. The bike aside, the psychology of a guy risking his life on something he's not comfortable with eludes them.

Are you sure you weren't there during last year?

The big problem for Honda last Dakar was about his riders . Never show enough gass as Ciryl or Barreda.

You are well informed. I was there at the BV and I saw the frustrations of JC and HR stuck in the desert with fuel line and gas tank issues, just to name a few.

+1

Agree entirely with the whole post!

Was more like what was under them, although there was only Helder who was fast enough to compete, but quite simply couldn't - let's see what they come with for 2014?

If that riders have not shown his speed in 2013, they are not going to be fasters in 2014. The race is now more explosive. Really some mechanical issues , but when a top rider is every day starting in the Order List about 6 To 10 , he must win some stage . Bike is better than his riders have shown .