Honda preparing Dakar assault

[Twiniver]

Originally Posted by rmhrc628

Both Leo's aren't they? What's the issue?

As i wrote at first, are they any good og rubish?

Things is that some gues from my motorcycle club says that they are rubbish.

[wilkinsonk]

Originally Posted by Twiniver

As i wrote at first, are they any good og rubish?

Things is that some gues from my motorcycle club says that they are rubbish.

Regarding the Leo Vince exhaust. While I do not own one I have to assume that a major motorcycle corporation that could choose to put any exhaust on the bike that they liked wuold be very unlikely to put anything but what worked best for their application.

- Ken

[Mad Cow]

I was chatting to a guy from HRC at the Motorcycle Live show (here in the UK) yesterday, he works on the Endurance Race team and claimed not to know "much about the Dakar" but actually turned out to be rather well informed!

They had a 450 Dakar, fully prepped with Helder's name on it and although it was clearly a promotional bike, the guy conirmed it was exactly the same as the genuine article as HRC don't build "PR Copies" as he put it.

My mate asked about the Leo Vince exhaust as the HRC road race bikes on the stand all wore Akro's.

Our guy explained that they wanted to run with Akropovics on the 450 but Honda wouldn't allow a factory bike to go the Akro factory "as they knew that even it didn't get sneaked out to Mattighoffen (not too far from Slovenia) for a few days, the KTM technicians would be down there in a flash to have a good look".

He also said that he didn't think they will be running Leo Vince's at the Dakar and said they were almost certainly replacing them with Termingonis for the race

Dunno if it's true or not (maybe they weren't happy with the Vince's at the Maroc?) but will be interesting to see.

He let us inside the barrier to have a good look and I took some pictures (sorry about the quality, autofocus wasn't playing ball)...

[Dread Pendragon]

Nice, thanks Mad Cow!

[too old]

They are running their final test in Ca next week with the Dakar engine and final set up - rumour has it that it is a brisk 4,000 Km's !!

So maybe all will be revealed soon; well it will be by the 6th of Jan

[Twiniver]

Hi guys. Thanks alot for the many replys on my post regarding the exhaust issue. I will be looking very closely when the CFR 450 rolls over the starting line to see what exhaust they choose, and to see how the bike handles once its in its favorit environment. Some may say that im a bit of a nerd, since i pay so much attention to what they fit the race bike with, but in here i fell free to be nerdish

I have a Leo Vince fitted to my African Twin, and is very happy with it, and find that the quality is very satisfying, and dont really care for what others think about it, but then again.....

It seems like they are running Renthal handlebars (so am i ), and i have read that allthough the old NXR that they race with in the "African Twin days " had Renthal on in PR relations, it really raced with stock iron bars. If its true or not i dont know.

Sorry if you dont understand all that i write, but my english could be better.

[Gian]

Originally Posted by Mad Cow

He also said that he didn't think they will be running Leo Vince's at the Dakar and said they were almost certainly replacing them with Termingonis for the race

Well Termignoni is not actually so famous for their Enduro exhausts, but I see they had a long story with Honda, starting with Freddy Merkel's RC30...

[troy safari carpente]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dread Pendragon

What a bl¤¤dy shame that GHR/Honda could not get BOTH of these guys to the "BIG SHOW" in january... with his (33rd?) placing on debut in 2011 (and a few top 15 leg results) despite some problems along the way, Jake would have been an ideal two man assault team paired with brother Todd.

Aside from Ben Grabham (riding with KTM australia support in Dakar this coming event), Jake and Todd are the TWO most dominant and repeatedly successful riders from Oz in the safari/cross country scene.

A shame HRC can't find a spot for one of them?

[troy safari carpente]

HRC Team "final testing" in California... to be continued...

[slogger]

Yea! More pic's!

[chavo_dakar_bolivia]

Read on twitter today that Team HRC Rally rider Felipe Zanol crashed while testing and has been hospitalized..
anybody know anything on this?

[ThomasVolomitz]

Also tweeted by Doyle with no details yet.

[DruncleWill]

News
Felipe Zanol crashes during training for Dakar 2013
By Fanni Duarte | 05/12/2012 - Updated at 15:12


Felipe Zanol is hospitalized in California.
Taken: Jorge Cunha / Honda
1 second
The pilot Felipe Zanol champions of Country Rally 2012 in Motorcycle category, had an accident on Tuesday (4) while training for the Dakar 2013 with Team HRC team in the city of Barstow, California, United States. The Brazilian was hospitalized and, according to his press office, the medical bulletin has not been disclosed. The region where the drop is 185 kilometers from Los Angeles and is part of the Mojave Desert, which houses a ground gravel roads with high speed, sand and rocks. Zanol finalized the calendar of competitions on Saturday (1), in the city of Itu, São Paulo, Red Bull Cross Choice, competition pilots who united several modalities in a dispute unprecedented format, since at certain points of the circuit the contestant had to choose between four ways, requiring different skills . The pilot left the fight in the semifinal after a fall without gravity.

[too old]

Originally Posted by ThomasVolomitz

Also tweeted by Doyle with no details yet.

The Spanish report is about right, the accident happened on Tuesday on a fast bumpy section near Bairstow. Philipe was airlifted to hospital unconscious and up to 24 hours or so ago had not come round, so fingers crossed and prayers for him guys.

Sam also crashed at about 100 kmph after 15kms of riding (not his fault!) and is recovering in LA after an op on a broken wrist, so not looking good for Jan 2013 but he is fortunately ok, just the mental side of this happening at this stage and especially after last year also.

Nothing more to add for now.

[DruncleWill]

Originally Posted by too old

The Spanish report is about right, the accident happened on Tuesday on a fast bumpy section near Bairstow. Philipe was airlifted to hospital unconscious and up to 24 hours or so ago had not come round, so fingers crossed and prayers for him guys.

Sam also crashed after 15kms of riding (not his fault!) and is recovering in LA after an op on a broken wrist, so not looking good, but he is fortunately ok, just the mental side of this happening at this stage and especially after last year also.

Nothing more to add for now.

Airlifts in this area go to Loma Linda University Medical Center, so Felipe has the best trauma staff in the world attending to his injuries.