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Join Date: 28-05-2005
Location: Central Coast
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Dakar 2006
someone nailed me here for not providing report from last year's Dakar.
here is at least something from this year - from what I can recall :
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January 8, 2006
I'm in Nouakchott and tomorrow i'm flying back to Europe with
some new memories and new experience. same as last year, I won't
see the Pink Lake in Dakar.
it all happened so quickly that i don't even recall where all
of our problems started, in either case - it was like a snow ball,
every little problem became bigger and bigger every hour and day,
eventually it all comes to an end.
Day 1 & 2 : apart from the intercom issues there were no real problems
for us in portugal and we were finishing in the mid-field
just driving the car, making sure we make it to Africa.
Day 3 : first stage in Morocco, where we had a puncture in first few
kilometres. with 30-second starting intervals this means
you loose 10 places on the road by the time you change the wheel.
there was dust everywhere, you culdn't see for more than
5-10 metres when you ended up behind somebody slower. in this
dust your biggest enemy is your own impatience, so we drove
into a big whole while trying to overtake and broke left
control arm. we still made it slowly to the finish.
Day 4 : problems from the Day 3 meant that we have to start another
40 cars back and if that was not enough, our starting order
was now mixed with the trucks as well. start of this stage was
very rough and we had a puncture again however we have also
damaged the automated tyre pressure system for inflating and
deflating our tyres. from here on we could only manually
deflate the tyres but no longer inflate them. this was a problem
for this mixed stage with rough stony sections followed by
sandy section then back to rough terrain and then again sand
and dunes,... we had to run mid-tyre pressure - not an ideal
scenario. there was no other option because we have already
punctured one rear tyre and had no more rear spares (on buggy
the rear and front wheels are of different size so we can only
carry one spare of each). we got bogged in the very first soft
sand. after hour of digging we got moving again only to find
large dune field immediatelly after CP1. with incorrect tyre
pressure we didn't make it through and spent another hour
digging. just as we thought we had the worst behind us, we found
another suprize just after CP2 - very soft dusty sandy called
"fesh-fesh" and it was half a meter deep. here we spent another
coule of hours trying to get the car out and by this time it was
already dark. only now we have decided to manually deflate the
tyres to minimum (hoping there'll be no more rough terrain) and
continued very slowly towards the finish (getting lost few times
in complete darkness). towards the end there was another complicated
pass through soft sand in a village where number of cars were trapped.
likewise we didn't manage to get through and started to dig and move
the car forward meter by meter on our sand boards. the biggest
problem in these situations is that you are at the end of field and
track is in places completely undrivable due to the mess that the
big trucks and other cars made in front of us. we have aksed few
other bogged cars to continue together and help each other when
we get into more problems but they have already given up and decided
to leave the rally. we have continued towards the end but obviously
did not make the finish line within time allowed, thus received
huge time penalty. nonetheless we finished the stage and arrived
to bivoauc at 5:30 in the morning. our next transport section for
next stage started only 30 minutes later.
Day 5: next few days will become more and more difficult with more soft sand
and large number of dune fields, chance to finish each day is very small
when you start at the end of the field - one problem is late start
hence late finish at night, second problem are the broken dunes with
deep tracks in all directions left behind by all those cars and trucks.
we decided to drive more agressively trying to overtake as many
cars and trucks as possible in order to gain better starting position
for the next day. everything is going according to our plan, we must
have passed around 40-50 cars or trucks however shortly before CP2
there is a narrow crossing over very sandy creek then uphill with
3 cars stuck already and no way through. other cars and trucks start
arriving but everyone has to stop and wait. after while we lost our
patience and tried to find a different path towards the top of the
sandy hill, just before the peak we got bogged as well. others cars
are eventually freeing themselves and we are still stuck on the other
side. finally it's just us left here alone and we still have to
watch with bitter feeling how all those cars we passed throughout the
day are now getting in front again. probably another 2 hours later
we managed to reverse back to where we originally started but the
main creek crossing is by now so badly broken that we wouldn't have
a chance in 2-wheel drive car. so we try it again through the other
path, this time we get 2 metres further than in the previous try
except that this time we get bogged in such a way that the car is
sitting on its belly with only 1 front whell on the ground. since
we have no front wheel traction, we can't get moving and the only
remaining alternative to free the car is to dig underneath until
all 4 wheels are sitting on the ground. this takes us another while
and we are able to continue towards the CP2 and to the finish of the
stage. we have again lost position on the road and have to accept that
next day we must start right at the end of the field. we arrive late at
night to bivouac, only to start 2 hours later the long and difficult
transport to the Mauritanian border for start of stage 6.
Day 6 : in last 48 hours we slept only about 2 hours and 792km long day
awaits us. uncomfortable 336km transport plus 444km special stage
with 80km long section with dunes. first we are thinking of making the
transport, starting the special stage and getting some sleep after
start of SS and continuing later, however it actually made more sense
to just drive as far as we could without rest because we still had
some chance to pass some cars and trucks in first 280km before the
long dune field started. this would give us better chance to get over
those dunes. so again we pass all those slower cars and trucks and
get to the dunes in very promissing position. we manage to get through
the dune fields without any issues whatsoever, i'm just suprized what
a difference it makes when you're attacking reasonably clean dunes
with chances to pick up new tracks where no car was before. this seemed
really easy. now we still have some camel grass to get through - just perfect
for our car due to buggy's superior suspension and we can go almost in
a straight line while other 4x4's have to slalom through it so we manage
to overtake even more cars before CP2. by now we forgot about sleeping
and with CP2 coming up it's then only last 80km to the finish through
normal gravel roads and we just think what a perfect day we had.
unfortunatelly with our bad luck in this event we get into a trouble
at CP2, it's just on the last bits of soft sand and after stopping for
the control official to get a stamp, we can't get going again !
we pull out our sand boards, try reversing, going forward but the
car won't move, eventually i stole the engine and we can't get it
restarted. this really sucks and i'm starting to hate this car.
it's an hour later and we are still stuck at CP2. everyone is overtaking
us again and we are still trying to start the engine. finally our
fast assistance truck arrives and tow us to the finish. we get double
penalty, one for being unable to leave the 50m zone after CP and
another for finishing the stage on tow rope. our promissing day just
finished with no different result to the previous ones. being towed
behind truck in Dakar rally is not fun, you have no idea where you're going
and you cannot see through the dust, soon you can't breath, all the dust
gets inside the car. truck just tows you - hole or no hole, tree or
no tree, you just have no idea. all the flying stones made a lot of
damage to our car - windscreen gets 2 huge cracks on navigator's side
and one big stone made a hole in the windscreen on my side, 2 lights
broken,...
Day 7 : it's now 4:00am and we are still waiting for our main assistance truck
with all the spare parts and our mechanics. they had a problem crossing
the border to Mauritania and their truck broke down. we have no
sleeping bags and tents but more importantly we have no idea if our
car gets fixed before the start of Day 7. we go and lay down in the
bivouac, cold or no cold I don't care, i'm so tired that i fall
asleep immediatelly. we wake up in the morning and are greeted by
our assistance, they just arrived. there is not enough time to do
much about our car. they found problem with wiring and fixed that,
taped the windscreen but had no time to do anything else. we are only
informed that our gearbox picked up some damage probably due to the
rough towing in when we must have picked up some really big rock,
even our exhaust is broken. gearbox is loosing oil so we pack some
spare oil with us and off we go for the start of this day which is
expected to be the most difficult one so far. there is only 10km of
transport and we notice most of my gauges aren't working. anyway, we
start the special stage and during first 10km we loose our terratrip
and navigation controls, as well as lights. we stop trying to look
into the problem - surely it's something simple, probably as result
of the quick wiring job our mechanics had to do last minute before
we started. half an hour later and now we have another problem - we
can't start the engine again ! then the fast assistance truck arrives
and only manage to get the car started, then they continue. it's now
13:00 and we have "only" last 490km of this very difficult SS still to do.
it's very clear we won't make it to the finish during daylight even if
it was on motorway, plus we have damaged and leaking gearbox, broken
exhaust, problem with electricals, no navigation and can't afford to
stole the engine, our fast assistance truck is already in front of us.
there is no way we gonna get to the finish like this, if we try then
there is 99.99% chance that we'll burry the car in middle of Mauritanian
desert with no option of retrieval. the only decision that makes sense
is to shortcut this special stage. my navigator was clever enough to
bring some very detailed military maps of all countries we drive through
and we found an easy way to finish in Atar but in the process we missed
2 control points. when we arrived to Atar in the evening, there were only
25 cars in the finish and we knew we would get disqualified for missing
those 2 CPs.
Day 8 : it's morning and for us the Dakar is over - at least that's what we think.
i'm starting to pack and getting ready for my trip to Nouakchott by road
then planing to fly to Europe. my navigator agreed to take our car by
road to port in Dakar then ship it back to Holland.
next minute the manager of our team comes and tells us to get ready to
start for Day 8. officials made a revised starting list and we are on it !
decision was made when it became clear that yesterday not many cars
arrived in time limit and missed a CP or two. everyone who started the
stage and arrive to the finish line, is still in the rally.
as a matter of fact, this same thing happened in the last 2 Dakar rallies
as well, just after very difficult day.
this is just a great news. so we have to get changed again, put on
our racing suits, pull out our helmets and off we go again. our car is
still half crippled but when you are given second chance you just have to
take it. our manager promises that if we bring the car to the finish of
this stage, they will completely rebuild it, including the new gearbox.
it's a rest day after this stage so everything is possible and after rest
day only one last difficult stage, after that we'll surely make it to
the Dakar.
this special stage is 508km and we are starting again at the end of the
field so it's quite possible we'll be dealing whole day with the same
issue - how to make it through the dunes behind all those cars and those
bloody heavy trucks.
first 160km are very very dificult, very rough and stony then sand and dunes,
then rough and stone, then sand and dunes,...
unfortunatelly we break our automated tyre pressure system and can only
deflate and we have to run mid-tire pressure. even so we still manage to
get a puncture descending rocky hill, suddenly we get into a sand, we try
to find suitable place to stop but everywhere is only sand sand sand, it's
not getting any better and here is a huge dune, can't make it with flat tyre
and get bogged towards the peak. we try to reverse down but car's not moving
and we have to dig again. hour later we are down and able to change the wheel
and maybe another hour later we get over this dune. before CP1 we got bogged
2 more times, on one occassion it took us 4 hours to reverse 10 metres and
that wasn't even uphill. we take big rest at CP1 and then drive last 350km
with not too many problems (except the very last dune towards the end).
we've completed this stage in 24 hours and there are still some cars behind
us. who cares anyway, we are now in the bivouac and have a rest day with
24 hours before the start of our next stage. we are happy and looking forward
to receiving fully repaired car next day.
5 minutes later we were told we are officialy disqualified due to those 2 CPs
wenmissed o Day 7. what can you do, nothing. the rules are made here as needed
and we aren't the only ones affected.
this moment our Dakar is definitelly over just as we started to believe
we would make it.
January 9, 2006
Day 9 : This morning it was a sad feeling, other competitors are just getting ready
to start the last difficult stage. i'm staying in Nouakchott and tonight will
get on plane to Paris. our car was fully fixed in last 24 hours. my navigator
jumped in it and left for a 600km trip down to Dakar, unfortunatelly only
by road. asking him whether he would navigate for me in some future Dakar,
his answer was as i expected : "yes, but only if you get yourself a 4x4, noone
will ever get me back into a 2-wheel drive buggy". he was right, these
wonderfull 2WD monsters are for proffessionals, not for amateurs. in full speed
it's just floating-hoovering and is very stable over uneven terrain. as long
as you keep the speed up they are just great but once you slow down or stop
then you can forget about getting going again if you stopped in sand, not even
downhill, they just won't move. car like this is for the Schlessers or Magnaldis
who have years of Dakar experience, knowing exactly from what angle to attack
each dune and know what to expect behind the dune, they can keep the car rolling
at higher speed at all times. for the rest of us it's better to stay with 4x4
which gives you a chance to drive in no hurry, have a time to think, time to
look or even stop and make a plan how to tackle each dune field. and even when
you get stuck then you still have a chance in 4x4 to get moving.
this was a great event and i'm not sorry for taking part in it, i managed
to get 2 stages further than in last year's Dakar. i have new memorries and new
experience to take with me next time.
January 10, 2006
Rally already left and I stayed behind in Nouakchott yesterday, waiting
for my flight to Europe last night. found an internet connection to check
on latest results.
I learnt the shocking news about Andy. This is so so sad, he was such a
great ambassador for Australian Rally Raid, Safari and Motorsport in general.
Andy waited very long time to get a factory ride in the Dakar and did so
well in previous two years with limited resources. His opportunity came only
few weeks before the Dakar started while he was waiting for the phone call
for the most part of the year. Although aware he may not get fully fit with
such a short notice, he accepted the challenge - it was his first and last
chance to get into a factory team. and wasn't he doing remarkably well again !
He was loved around the Dakar bivouac and was always open to everyone.
Real gentleman in every sense.
Condolences to Andy's family & friends
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