Honda preparing Dakar assault

[Flood]

Wonderful news.

Here's to a quick recovery!

[Sylvia]

Such good news.

[Gian]

Just great

[mulgathumper]

Soooo,
Any more whispers about Jake getting the Honda gig?

Hope to see Felipe outa that hospital soon!

[640 Armageddon]

sUpeR Zanol !!

Back to full fit soon !

[doyle]

Great to read that yesterday. Stunning to know that he has been in a coma since the crash. Here's to wishing Felipe and fast and full recovery.

[Safariaddict]

Originally Posted by mulgathumper

Soooo,
Any more whispers about Jake getting the Honda gig?


Hope to see Felipe outa that hospital soon!

Might be a bit wrong on the jake ride with HRC spoke to Todd tonight and he wasn't given anything away

[Beez]

Originally Posted by doyle

Great to read that yesterday. Stunning to know that he has been in a coma since the crash. Here's to wishing Felipe and fast and full recovery.

Couldn't have said it any better. Get well soon Felipe.

[catas]

A day with Helder
http://www.redbull.pt/cs/Satellite/p...21243294322333

(only in portuguese, sorry...) but you can see his dakar bikes collection for a few seconds!

[Dread Pendragon]

Interview with the leader of the Dakar Rally TEAM HRC

story here

an excerpt:

"Q.How did you proceed with development?

"First, we built clay models. We used design clay to create models that would approximate the exterior parts of the actual machine. We more-or-less finished this work in June. That is when we had two racers-Helder Rodrigues and Sam Sunderland-come to Japan, so we could perform the fitting work at HRC in Asaka.

"In mid-July we went to Morocco in Africa for a second set of tests. . . . I chose to test the bike where I knew we could subject it to extreme harsh conditions. We had the riders ride the bike, and, to make a long story short, the bike got beat up. Almost all of the parts broke."

[JMo (& piglet)]

I saw a tweet today suggesting that HRC felt 'the [Dakar Team] structure was too young' to absorb new riders at this late stage...

Makes sense really, riding an unfamiliar and unproven bike at anything like race pace is going to be tricky for anyone - it would be a hell of a gamble on both the side of the rider and the team? - Noone wants to see a failure or an accident.

Jx

[Deadly99]

Great article, gives some good insight into the amount of resources that have gone into the HRC project. How long until the podium see's red on the top...2 or 3 years from now is my hunch...

[too old]

Originally Posted by JMo (& piglet)

I saw a tweet today suggesting that HRC felt 'the [Dakar Team] structure was too young' to absorb new riders at this late stage...

Makes sense really, riding an unfamiliar and unproven bike at anything like race pace is going to be tricky for anyone - it would be a hell of a gamble on both the side of the rider and the team? - Noone wants to see a failure or an accident.

Jx

It does make a lot of sense when you consider what the team have been through over the last 6 months, plus they have effectively lost (when you look at past performance times, so totally objectively) their 2nd and 3rd riders, so who would they draft in?

It would have to be a top line rider, as there would be no point having another rider of support speed only, someone who could navigate at the top level in this format, someone who knows the team and the custom developed bike.

So, all in all and consider the between Europe, South and North America and that HRC are not in this for a single season, it makes total sense to run with Helder, Javier and Johnny - it may be a bit of a needle in a Haystack though finding a rider within the Honda Bivouac

[too old]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

Great article, gives some good insight into the amount of resources that have gone into the HRC project. How long until the podium see's red on the top...2 or 3 years from now is my hunch...

HRC will have the technical side fully there by next year and especially if they run the 6 race 2013 FIM WRC Calendar
Plus they have time on their side, Helder and Sam as a 23 year old speedster who is gaining rally experience all the time; so yes, good call -

Some interesting times ahead from another perspective also.
The Aliens may be on the wane over the next few years, so who will KTM develop - they need to be showing their hand soon?

With Barreda being a potential future Alien, but with Helder also getting on in years, we will certainly need to see some Enduro (or other?) riders making the jump across soon - but who, as it does take time?

[neduro]

Originally Posted by too old

so who will KTM develop - they need to be showing their hand soon?

Caselli has expressed interest in Dakar, and from chats with other front-runners at Dakar, the lead pace at a National Hare and Hound is faster than the lead pace at Dakar. Clearly, there's much more strategy involved in Dakar, not to mention navigation, but just as clearly, Caselli has Alien potential.