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

What has happened to Doyle?

Have the ASO kidnapped him:eek1

I believe he is still in the f5anboy rehabilitation ward, after a procedure last year to have his tongue surgically removed from Surreal DesPrays crack.

Apparently he is sharing a private room with rmhrc628, Larryboy and Lgo175 who are each (respectively) being treated for JCR obsessive compulsive disorder, SPEED Gordon worship and "do you remember the Alamo... when we were real hardasses" syndrome.

To be fair and objective about it too old...

While the f5 "bashings" that went on here (or anywhere else for that matter... and I'll put my hand up for a good percentage of them) were in the first instances predominantly aimed at the niaeve and largely "f5anboy" like expectations of the (suddenly converted and rose coloured glasses wearing) HRC faithf5ull out there in cyberland... not the HRC team persé...

Then, comments made as the "project" progressed centered more and more around the team managements very short timeframe/development program and expressed goals for Dakar 2013 (in the very first press releases there were statements like; "we are coming to win, not just to compete" etc.) were seen by smart money to be pretty "ambitious" given that it has taken other manufacturers at least two or three seasons to achieve same.

Much of this was dissuaded by the HRC worshippers as being possible to achieve with the (rumoured/assumed) "millions" that the HRC badge would reputedly bring to the table...

All of these "assumptions" have proven to be somewhat lacking, given that there appears to be (several) fairly fundamentl misscalculations in the building, preparation and execution of HRC's "return to Dakar".

And as is the F5 clans nature, "big claims" are often met with scathing criticism if they fall short of the rhetoric... the name "Bordone - Ferrari" springs to mind... so you can hardly say that HRC has been singled out for esspecially hard treatment by the f5ans in that respect...

Even Cyril/mudboy, RG/Rubby, Perfecthansel/MINI skirt and Pendecho/TerrorNova (for whom all the love/hate f5 pendulum has rocked to and fro over the years) get a bit of f5lack here in the assylum from time to time on a fairly regular basis.

Mr Y just needs a tablespoon of cement and HTFU perhaps...

Ari gato.

Originally Posted by K_N_Fodder




You nailed it Fodder

f5 salute to you and yours...

can't disagree, but the specific bashing I was referring to was the team hit HRC received when they lost their # 2 & 3 riders at the beginning of December.

Mind you that could have actually saved them double the headaches they have had over the last 2 weeks

Nothing wrong with a bit of friendly or even unfriendly criticism if it's called for and I'm sure there is more to come, after all

. And you will invite

May I suggest that most American Dakar fans are a bit more "worldly" than average - OK, you may not immediately describe Jonah as "worldly" ( lovely guy that he is ), but then you have the RMS guys like Robb & Jonah who spent most of the '09 Dakar quoting "lines from "Flight of the Concords" to me - and the much missed / dearly departed Des "Desmondo" who spoke very fluent Spanish ( as does Robb ) and also passable Portugese - which he learnt for a rally in Brazil one year. Not your average American Nascar fans.............

Oops....I meant Robb & Niles........ ( quoting Flight of the Concords ).............

Oh, I see... I thought that you were referring to the pre-Dakar "f5 bashings" not the december HRC engine testing "set backs"

Which I believe fall under the general heading, of the following part of my previous post...

"... there appears to be (several) fairly fundamental misscalculations in the building, preparation and execution of HRC's "return to Dakar".

Poor Caspar A really nice guy! Met his borther (Sjors van Heerthum) during the Oz Safari, was rooting for Sjors to make Dakar too but unfortunately he wasnt awarded a spot.

Bas Neijn Twilhaar is a pretty handy rider and he has teamed up with Caspar to make sure they get to Santiago.

Go Caspar!!!!

Update from tamsin about craig bounds:

"No wifi again. I saw Craig at end of a very dusty special in amongst the cars, trucks and quads. Mostly sand dunes today, he's still trying to avoid all the bumps as his back is bad! Going over Andes very cold and tiring with altitude. Riders swerving all over the place. 2 more days, at least they have a bit of a later start tomorrow. The malle moto tents are in the middle of biv. Last night it was like a rave, very noisy all night".

Hello all.
Bikes are rolling in about 2 hours and on the special in about 3 and a half.
It'a nice, 441km special, and there's bound to be some more HRC fuel consumption bashing.

Casselli was a Rookie this year - He has impressed many. Is he impressive yes or no ?

HRC is a Rookie this year and have impressed no one really - They are to be frank also rans

How hard is it to work out Fuel consumption ? An individual would be able to do this without a Motor Corporation behind them ? A methodical motor corp gets fuel consumption wrong often - How does that work ?

Call it like you see it ! Is HRC impressive on their first outing ? yes or no ? ( And no is not necessary a bad thing - because one only learns when things go wrong )

Scans from Motor Cycle News this week - taken from the Lyndon Poskitt Racing FB page

And so... as not to breach the ASO "on stage" communication regulations, Nani sends word back to Sven at X-Raid HQ...

Boss... Mission proceeding as planned - stop -
MINI formation behind Peter - counter measure
prevent attack by DeVilliers - stop -
GORDON now secure in Custer pincer manouver - stop -
ie: "where did all those Mini's get to...?" - stop -
Standing by for further orders in formation - stop -
...regards Nani - stop -


PS: Mini's are for senioritas... No? - stop -

David Reeve from Zambia broke his leg, looks like Ullevalsetter helped him out quite a bit

Good morning all!

Helder at breakfast, looks a bit relieved the race is nearing the finish line I suppose