Is Carlo de Gavardo going to drive a Hummer for RGM?

http://www.dakar.com/2010/DAK/presentation/us/r3_1-news.html#art28202

“I’m impressed by the Hummer”

Carlo de Gavardo continues his conversion. The Chilean rider, famous for his fine performances on a bike on The Dakar (3rd in 2000) has started a new career by switching to four wheels last year. Managing a fine start to the Dakar, he however was forced to quit during stage 9. For this 32nd edition that will be hosted, for a great part, on Chilean soil, Carlo is about to take off behind the steering wheel of a Hummer: “Robby Gordon contacted me and asked me to be part of the team. I went to Arizona for a week of tests and I’m really impressed by the power and the reliability of the car. The project of competing in a vehicle with such potential is a great thing: the Dakar is a great event and having a Hummer baring the colours of my country that I will drive will allow to celebrate in fine style the bicentenary of Chile”. Carlo de Gavardo, a glorious sportsman in his country is now working on the final details to be able to compete in a Hummer. His ambassador’s job is at stake.

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There's got to be more to this deal.. 2nd or 3rd Hummer maybe?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by TOG on December 9, 2009 at 5:17pm

good stuff! Thanks Ryan.

Permalink Reply by NIKAL on December 11, 2009 at 4:17pm

Well as far as I know there were only 3 Alpha 1 cars ever built. Letners have one, one supposedly went to Australia, and James Golden had one built and he finished it, but never raced it. It was for sale a while back and last I heard he was still sitting on it. So my guess is RGM made James an offer?

Permalink Reply by Ryan Plowman on December 15, 2009 at 3:21am

Yes, RG did. Billy Gasper was chosen to take the task of completed the conversion. RGM will be a force to be reckoned with, in Dakar, and SCORE next year. The offroad program is in full force.

Permalink Reply by NIKAL on December 15, 2009 at 6:31pm

I figured Billy was involved. I called him about the New Years Dash race and he said he was way to busy to consider coming down. Then later is was mentioned that the 3rd Hummer was going to be worked on 7/24 until the 21st of this month. I'm guessing this is the cut off for shipping.

How are they going to keep this Alpha car a competitive class 1 buggy with all the added crap to make it a Dakar Hummer? Would suck to then have to cut it all off. Also the Score Championship will be out of the question as they will not have it back in time to race it at Laughlin. I wonder who will drive the 1 car? Billy?

Permalink Reply by Ryan Plowman on December 16, 2009 at 1:42pm

They cut the roof off and changed a few things, not a whole lot will be changed so it should be an easy swap back. I'm sure they'll figure something out for Laughlin, maybe use a borrowed car to get throw LDC. The Class 1 deal is still up in the air, its 50/50 right now.

I hope Billy drives it, he's a bad ass.

Permalink Reply by NIKAL on December 16, 2009 at 3:48pm

Yes seeing Billy drive it would be great. I wonder what is RGM's motive for wanting to run a class 1 car next year? You can assume Robby will race the TT at the 500 and 1000 next year. But why bring a class 1 car in the fold? Unless Robby has a rich guy who wants to hire RGM to build or prep a class 1 car and then race it under the RGM Banner. Sort of like the McMillin deal with running Robbys TT. Maybe this is Robby's way of keeping the off-road shop doors open and keeping payroll going on someone else's dime? Because he has a good set of guys there and if he is not running Score full time on top of building the Dakar team up, then he would probably cut back his staff. And if the off-road side is solid, then Robby can focus on the NASCAR side and try to bring dollars in those doors.

I know Jimco does this with several customers. They build the car, prep it, and even bring the car and some crew members to the races to support them. Over the years Jimco has used me and my crew to help service some of there customers. This service does not come cheap, but if you have the money and dont want the headaches of running a team. Then this is a great deal.

Permalink Reply by kurt kern on December 19, 2009 at 3:08pm

Nikal and/or Ryan Plowman,
Help me out here. Can you explain a little more about this "Alpha" chasis? Is Robby's #302 different from the other two team Hummers? Is that going to hurt him if he needs to rob parts from them during a stage?