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

[Evil Invader]

[Flood]

OMG! WP3 is live and Despres is out!!!

[Flood]

Just kidding while we wait.

[Drif10]

Originally Posted by troy safari carpente

It's here... anytime you want to kiss it Driffy...

I know the truth hurts.

But someone had to say it.

Your absence was...noted. And notable.

After the standard you set in previous years...

[kwh]

Originally Posted by Trang

Whilst these 'statistics' seem ok from a distance, there are probably a few more variables that should be taken into consideration.
Such as:
- bike investment cost
- number of engine changes
- number of DNF's due to injury
- number of DNF's due to mechanical
Etc

But engine changes factor into time penalties, so in theory if somebody won despite taking four engine changes because his bike was twice as fast as everybody elses' then that would still be the better bike to be on.

My point about needing to drill down into the stats was hinting at what you mention above. Larger sample sizes tend to smooth out differences in rider talent across the brands - Despres may be better than Fred Bloggs on a Yamaha, but the average KTM rider is unlikely to be better than the average Yamaha rider, right?

Perhaps when you look at it, it is as simple as Huskies going pop twice as often as KTMs, or some simple mechanical achilles heel that ends several Husky rider's dreams... but they've been doing it a while now, as have Yamaha, so you'd hope they'd have the bugs ironed out by now. In fact it's a pretty big indictment of Yamaha that they are no more reliable than the Hondas in their first year back at Dakar en-masse.

Perhaps KTMs simply crash better?

But perhaps it's not about mechanical reliability or robustness at all? Perhaps the things that make the KTM faster also makes it easier to ride, less fatiguing, less likely to chuck the rider off, tire him out, etc - so KTM riders crash less, make better decisions and arrive in the Bivouac in better condition than they would if they had been riding another brand?

Or maybe it's some combination of all of the above...

[Frougby]

Originally Posted by Flood

OMG! WP3 is live and Despres is out!!!

Luis is also in the lead.

[BabyBeemer]

Originally Posted by Frougby

Luis is also in the lead.

he asked for that!

[Drif10]

Originally Posted by Flood

Just kidding while we wait.

If you posted that a tweet came in, said that CD was frantically turning wrenches after the liaison, you could have sold it.

[8340SU]

Farres blog entry, on an unexpected visit: Mr Yamazaki, himself.

19 jan.
The most positive aspect of today happened yesterday afternoon. We were in our tent, looking up and down the bike when the Honda engineer came, Katsumi Yamazaki, the Japanese who developed the project of HRC team. He began to look at the bike. Aluminum tank?, Asked, in a very funny english very difficult for us to understand. We said yes, we wore an aluminum deposit. And explain the problems we have been having with our Honda since the rally began, problems he already knew. The guy started to look the bike again and again and started to say no. Shook his head and said: "No, no, no. No ". And he began to tell us that the fuel lines were too thin, we should have made them wider.
It was funny. We laughed a lot with the visit of the Japanese. He spent half an hour saying no and shaking his head. Of course, gave us a few tips and, when leaving, Paco, the mechanic told me that all he had said, the ideas that we had, had a lot of sense. So we tested the changes he advised. I do not know if it was pure coincidence, but the bike now has worked perfectly.




He had some issues before at the Dakar:

10 jan
I started well, going with Viladoms and the two got along good start. And in the end, the two have had problems with the bike. It happens that only three kilometers from the finish of the first tranche of the special, I've run out of gas. I had to push the bike over a mile.

13 jan
On the other hand, it was clear the race I expected today: could not move faster than 90 km / h to have broken fuel pump: only could spend half tank and had assumed that I would have to go asking people for gasoline. But I was lucky: approximately kilometer 100've reached a point where there were so many people watching the race and the first person that I asked, one of the spectators had his car just 500 meters and that has been there and has given me five liters of fuel which assured me special finish.

16 jan
Because we had changed the fuel pump, I was very attentive to the behavior of the bike. Then it started to backfire and make an abnormal noise and I thought it was, again, the fuel pump. Right in the special stage, I disassembled the bike to finish concluding that the fuel pump, we changed recently, worked well.
Anyway, I still do not know why, I was low on gas, so we come to the next checkpoint, having reassembled the bike, with just gas and not knowing exactly what was wrong with the bike, I followed to complete the stage. I went out in 40th and I have stayed there. Now, we are looking at what happened to the bike, because if you lose fuel, fuel would be somewhere, at least that's what I think Paco, my mechanic. So, for one reason or another, is still unknown. This bike comes a time that lacks liters and is already the third day I ran out of fuel.


hummmm........

[rallyman1978]

Morning Dakaristas - just caught up, shame for Chaleco

Heres to a safe final stage

[JMo (& piglet)]

Not sure if this is a 205, but while we wait for a start - how about a sing-along?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ANG3yxpBCQ

Enjoy!

Jx

[troy safari carpente]

Originally Posted by Drif10

I just saw something that said the ceremony isn't until tomorrow?

Talk about anti-climactic.

Anyone confirm?

205'd... but yeah... today (saturday) stage 14 is the last competition stage...

But I believe they have a little road section tomorrow from the Parc ferme to the ceremonial fish podium in Plaza de Cuidad, in central Santiago.

[Frougby]

Originally Posted by Drif10

If you posted that a tweet came in, said that CD was frantically turning wrenches after the liaison, you could have sold it.

Or that he was going to miss his start time because he turned around to go back and get his HEADBAND

The only thing this race needs more of its headband.

[Flood]

Bike start has been delayed again to 09:00 local, that's 5 minutes from now.

[Flood]

Yep, foggy.