Dakar 2013 - Official Event Coverage - thank you ALL TeamF5, lurkers and posters!

I first noticed this around 2010, when Carlos Sanz (in the VW) finished ahead of Cyril Despres by a couple of hours in the overall...

I think there are a number of factors, but this year (2013) particularly there was a significant difference between the final stage mileage for the car and bikes - as a couple of days were cut/short for the cars (due to weather/flooding), but the bikes still raced the original distance...

Those two [shortened] stages were also typically in more technical terrain, so had the cars completed the distance (especially in poor weather conditions) I imagine the overall times would have been far closer - although that is still not to say a bike would have won the overall...

Jx

Top speed of cars would be faster too, image that would make a difference.

Yeah...you've got to remember that the bikes are all tiny now being limited to 450cc.......those buggies are still running big V8s

Its also about the terrain. Take this video for example...no way a bike is going to blast threw slippery, wet ground at full speed but cars can...


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4O0VhxRaI20" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Bike pilots also have to deal with the fatigue from the workout compared to car drivers but the big one is they are navigating while driving as opposed to having a co pilot.

Certain stages just arent condusive to bikes being faster than cars.

My 2 cents

Doesn't hurt as much when you hit a big hole in a car as on a bike.

Questions for HogWild: Riders have to navigate themselves, cars have a navigator, who did the navigating on the sidecar, pilot or monkey? Did they do away with the sidecar class altogether? Thanks.

Don't know if anyone might want one, but I happened to run across what Manuel might have been using:

http://www.ufoplast.com/en/product-details/mx-enduro/protectors/PC02097

Looks like he's trying to be an Alien :eek1

Video from Manu! on his way to the podium.

Yes, ASO eliminated the sidecar class. That's probably because none were entering the event since 2006. My guess is if a group of sidecars asked to enter, ASO might put the class back in.

I love the nav part, so I do it (as driver), in Dakar, and in my roadbook rides, though the sidecar has been parked for almost 3 years now.

Depending on my passenger, they would sometimes navigate as well. Duane, my Dakar passenger, didn't navigate much. When Joe Hauler rode with me, he's also a navigation nut, so he was always telling me what to do (yell in my ear). He always liked to look way ahead in the roadbook, so he was constantly telling me to roll the roadbook forward (I had the switch control).



I suppose having me drive and navigate probably slowed us down a bit, but it's a big part of the enjoyment for me, so it's worth the tradeoff.

When you have two people, I think the most important part is to do whatever works best as a team. In a car, it's clearly best to have the navigator do the navigating (unless he's really bad). The car navigator has no control of the car, so there's little for him to do but navigate. On the other hand, controlling an off-road sidecar requires a lot of action (leaning and other movement) by the passenger. So he's got to watch the terrain just as much as the driver. And since he doesn't know exactly what line the driver will take, he has to be extra vigilant to quickly react to what the driver is doing. As the driver, I can let off on the throttle when I need to look at the roadbook. The passenger never knows what the throttle or handlebars are going to do, so he may have less opportunity to look at the roadbook.




In the Baja 1000 the course is marked, burned in, and there is no roadbook. But there are lots of places where there are multiple "lines" through the terrain. When I raced there, I "navigated" most of the time, even though 100% of it was new terrain to me, and all 3 of my passengers had prerun (I did not prerun). Only Joe Hauler had much to say about where I should go. He knows all that stuff like the back of his hand, so he knew where the "good" lines were. When he suggested a line, I took it about 75% of the time. Other times “his” line didn’t look like a good sidecar line to me, or it was too late to get there, so I went the other way. This created a lot of friction between us, which just about boiled over. At one point I had to stop, shut off the engine, and have a bit of a talk. We came to a mutual agreement where I gave in to one of his requests, and he gave in to one of mine. This was a situation where a change in team dynamics was needed in order to get to the finish. For car navigator Andy Grider in last year’s Dakar, the outcome was different. He bailed, I think over a safety issue. Having two people together can be tough. Having both in control of the machine, as on a sidecar, requires a whole other level of cooperation!

Highlights of a tv interview with Hélder Rodrigues:

I hoped to win the Dakar, or at least to get to the podium. I wasn't happy.

I had 2 problems with gas. On the 2nd and 3rd day I ran out of fuel, and I lost 25 minutes. On the Fiambala stage I had a problem with a wire that connects the telemetry and the cdi and lost another 50 minutes. That's 1 hour and 15. To much in a race like the Dakar.

The flaws weren't too serious. They could happen next year in a more developed bike. These thinks can't happen but they did. I had bad luck.

On the sandier stages the bike did 14 L / 100 kms and we thought it would be 10 L / 100 Km. We made tests on hard terrain and not enough tests on sand.
6 month to prepare a new bike for the Dakar is too little, for me and for the bike.

We had a metting after the Dakar and the big Honda bosses came. They were very happy.
Honda is already making a new bike with a new chassis and engine. All for the next Dakar. We are going to do a lot of tests, we are going to compete in almost all races of the world championship.
This is very good. It's very important for a rider to finish the Dakar and know what the next year will be like.


http://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/1974081

Awesome info. Thanks.

New bike, new chassis, new engine - WTF

I read this as instead of utlizing the testing of this bike and fixing the weak links we are going to rebuild a new bike from the ground up again. Seems like an odd approach but maybe it makes sense from a perspective I dont see.

I just reviewed the interview and that's exactly what he said...,
but I don't know what he meant.

I bet they change the name too.... :huh
That is indeed an odd approach. Financially speaking I think they are going to put a good sum together so in 2014 they are on the podium (or they think they will be ) .
The 14lt per 100kms is amazing though ... That means that with 30lt you do a little more than 200 kms without refuelling. I wonder what is the fuel consumption on the other bikes

Very good information Hogwild, I mean being next to the rider in the sidecar would be an amazing experience !

Some quotes of Ruben Faria in the portuguese press.


"I want more, of course. Every pilot's dream is to run for himself, but I was unable to date. I have a contract with KTM until later this year, but I don't have a contract yet for the next Dakar," he said.

"There was no sensation.I'm working for Cyril and I knew that the first place would not make any sense. Was a whole year to work toward a goal that was met. The Second place was a gift," he said.

"I wanted to thank Cyril Despres, who was the person who called me between 2009 and 2010 to see if I wanted to go to Dakar as 'water carrier'. My career possibly would have ended that year, since I had no sponsors to continue. He gave me a hand, "he recalled.

Moreover, Ruben Faria revealed some grief for not get any portuguese sponsoring, something that affects many portuguese athletes.
"It's a bit frustrating for all of us athletes, many of whom are my friends, and all complain of the same. Fortunately, right now I'm in a foreign team, I can not complain much, but I would like to have portuguese sponsor," he lamented .





And a video of the champagne party at the airport when he arrived.
His wife is six month pregnant and she said she followed the Dakar on a computer.
Maybe a F5 lurker...



http://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/1974175

And who is helping him PACO MARATHON on the best brand in the Dakar.

I dragged the HRC for 2014 "announcement" over to the "HRC Specific" thread...

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=804950&page=80

An interesting development for sure...

What HRC plans is what all the Dakar bikes are doing, and have been doing... Going smaller and lighter.

KTM will replace their current platform next couple of years (possibly next) as it was one of the heavier bikes.

HRC will merely be following suit to match or fall under the BMW/u Husky and Yamaha scales.

I think the ASO may be enjoying a more technical race format and for riders where lighter becomes easier.

Remember back when Boxers and LC8's ruled the Dakar? Oh the good old days... But it looks like these times a changing.

lovely little vid.