Jan 8th, 2014 Dakar Rally Stage 4 Race Info & Discussion

Join in and discuss all the action from Stage 4 of the 2014 Dakar Rally. Robby Gordon recorded a 6th place finish in stage 3, and is now 3h46m behind. The first part of the special section of stage 4 is 217km, followed by a 185km 'neutral zone', then the last section is 284km (657km total). This is the longest special since 2005.

2014 Stage 3 Photos

STAGE 4 TRACKING

STAGE 4: SAN JUAN > CHILECITO

Connection 211km | Special Stage 657km | Total 868km

COURSE OVERVIEW

The strategy of the motorcyclists will come into play: initially their navigational skills will be seriously tested at the beginning of the morning, and then they will be faced with the problem of worn tyres, as they have already been over-used the day before. As for the drivers of cars, they will have an even more demanding route to tackle in the countryside. The Dakar’s competitors haven’t faced a special stage this long since the historical one from Zouerat to Tichit in 2005! They will have to cross rivers, descend the canyons in a Wild West setting and beware of the other participants: as these terrains are often wide open, it will be entirely possible to overtake fellow competitors.

The GREEN section of the route is the connection , the RED is the Special Section of the stage.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by BUTLER BUILT on January 7, 2014 at 11:22pm

Seems like BJ's dream is going south, even with RG's troubles. Little harder than it looks from CA. Tomorrow should be a good stage for Robby. If things stay together, he should make up some lost time.

And big props to TOG, very nice work on this site.

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Permalink Reply by WJM on January 7, 2014 at 11:27pm

This is BJ's third Dakar. I don't think he underestimated how tough it is.

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Permalink Reply by J.R. Sands on January 7, 2014 at 11:33pm

Everybody is learning this year. Except maybe the Mini camp. The Gordini showed some of its strength today. This race car will only get better ...

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Permalink Reply by BUTLER BUILT on January 7, 2014 at 11:38pm

That was a joke based on his crowing about beating Robby.....

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Smith on January 7, 2014 at 11:34pm

"7:20 am local start to special. 2:20 am Pacific time" So I will get up at my normal 5:30 AM and watch the finishing times slowly roll in. That is about all there is to do without a working tracker.

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Permalink Reply by ROBERT SAVAGE on January 7, 2014 at 11:49pm

If thats the case with the tracker then your right Bruce . I'm to old for after hours parties.

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Permalink Reply by BUTLER BUILT on January 7, 2014 at 11:46pm

Several years ago in Africa they had a great system on the Dakar site. You could follow up to 10 contestants and it tracked them from bivouac to bivouac. You could actually see the icons moving or stalled on course. Sometimes it malfunctioned, but for the most part it worked. It was great.... I imagine too many folks are following now and they don't want to be bothered trying to keep that system up...or spend the money on it or both. Their checkpoint tracker has not worked for me yet this year. Usually just get updates at one or two so far.