2014 Dakar Rally F.A.Q.

With the 2014 Dakar Rally beginning in less than 45 days, here is a brief F.A.Q.

Is Robby Gordon racing in the 2014 Dakar Rally? YES!
What is the car number? 305
What is he driving? A new design - called the HST
Who is the navigator? Kellon Walch
Is there going to be a 2nd car? No
How come we haven't seen pictures of the car yet? It's still being built
When will we see the car? Mid December
Will the race be televised? Yes. NBC Sports Network TAPE DELAY recap show.
How can we follow the rally? You're already at the right place.
When does the rally begin? Stage 1 begins on Jan 5th.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kevin Meyer on November 23, 2013 at 3:03pm

From Dakar.com Story Link

The adventure sometimes even begins long before the race! The meeting point of Le Havre for loading of the European vehicles was difficult to reach for some competitors, but the cargo ship will be full up for its crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.

Getting to Le Havre already seems like a victory. For many Dakar competitors, the challenge is spread over several months, even several years. With the difficulty in getting a budget together, the meticulous preparatory work on the vehicle, the races and tests that are essential to get the riders or drivers used to the discipline's requirements, the preparatory stages are often long and tedious before earning a place on the starting line. For the European competitors, it is symbolically reached when they load their vehicle onto the boat sailing for South America. This year, the road to Le Havre was not an easy journey for everyone. The bad weather currently affecting the centre of France made life very difficult for Patrick Sireyjol, for example, who left Saint-Etienne in the snow on Thursday morning, heading towards Normandy. At a different end of the scale, keen strategist Robby Gordon, also very thorough when it comes to managing transport costs, has already inflicted a memorable journey on his assistance trucks. After having left his workshops in California and headed to New York, where a first cargo ship took them to Antwerp, the mechanics and their precious cargo reacquainted themselves with Robby in Paris for the presentation of the rally. It was on the road to Le Havre that the American met with his first navigation problems, because he took at least half a day to cover the 200 kilometres between the French capital and the docks!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on November 23, 2013 at 3:14pm

sounds like there might be a story forth coming.

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Permalink Reply by speedy7 on November 23, 2013 at 3:30pm

Hope its not a bad one......

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Permalink Reply by MTG on November 23, 2013 at 3:36pm

I don't understand. The vehicles are being shipped to France, then South America?

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Permalink Reply by speedy7 on November 23, 2013 at 4:26pm

The way I read it is, entry fee covers shipping from France to S.A. with no customs hassles (like RG had last year America to S.A.) don't make sense to me, but what do us arm chair fans know......

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Permalink Reply by J.R. Sands on November 23, 2013 at 4:46pm

Is it cost effective ? maybe not but, everything will enter the country together with everybody else. IMO

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Permalink Reply by MTG on November 23, 2013 at 7:49pm

I understand. Thats what Mr. Gordon was talking about during the interview. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by billy williams on November 23, 2013 at 8:13pm

HST stands for( hemi supper truck ) SUV JEEP.. there building a supper gordinni and he is travelling his truck with the rest of the Dakar so he don't get ripped off by not going with the hole group.. its all organized !!!!!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on November 23, 2013 at 9:18pm

LMFAO

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Permalink Reply by billy williams on November 24, 2013 at 1:30am

lufao he has a bran new dodge truck with his support truck!!!!!! he cant run in the class he's in with out production support,,,,, andt FIA WITH THE MINis!!! has to be factory dodge support ... has to be to run production class get a clue

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Permalink Reply by Hendricus on November 24, 2013 at 2:00am

BillyW, your posit raised one of my eyebrows. I searched the internet for a clue to a Renault-Chysler deal of any kind. Seems they did have a look at each other back in 2008, after Daimler dumped Chysler, but I cannot find anything current.

So in the meantime, I'm with MikeK, I too am LMFAO.

Robby saying that he's not in the buggy class is interesting to me. I wonder what the advantage is? Is the restrictor-plate larger in the production vehicle class? Does anybody know the rule advantage, if there is one?

Robby's announcement that they will be going into production is also interesting. Is this a real ambition, or is the real motivation simply to work the rules for the Dakar?