Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Carl Abrams on January 11, 2010 at 6:51pm

I hate to say it but this is the rally that should have never been.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Meyer on January 11, 2010 at 6:57pm

They say this IS the toughest race in the world...

Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on January 11, 2010 at 7:18pm

Jeez 1/4 of the field on day three is really a little too tough.

Permalink Reply by Karen on January 11, 2010 at 7:34pm

something wrong when this many are out in one stage. Fine line between tough and close to impossible. They do want drivers to come back next year.

Permalink Reply by Wheaton56 on January 11, 2010 at 7:56pm

no kidding,

i highly doubt all those car were unprepared also. Many were good equipment. maybe something with the rules to accomidate all those so they could at least participate...

Now what?? they have to hang out for 1 1/2 weeks and watch everyone else? Im sure they cant just change all their flights. Two week vacation race or not i guess

Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on January 11, 2010 at 8:00pm

I wonder how many of these teams had bad gas (fuel that is) to boot?

Permalink Reply by Will Higman on January 11, 2010 at 11:03pm

At the 2007 Dakar the first two stages in Portugal threw everyone for a loop as well. I saw cars, bikes and trucks throw everything away on stage one by getting stuck in the sand and burning up the clutch and or motor. I couldn’t believe how so many racers could make so many mistakes with 14-15 days of racing ahead of them. The ASO actually canceled stage two for the trucks just so they could keep the rally moving to the ferries in Malaga on time.

You have to keep in mind that a lot of these Dakar racers have very few total starts in a racecar and they don’t have the experience to fall back on…

Permalink Reply by Speed Freak 7 on January 12, 2010 at 12:22am

Yea this supposed to be the toughest race in the world but there is something wrong when you loose a 1/4 of the field this early in the race. People spend thousands of dollars, time and effort to participate in this race, but its just plain stupid planing of the ASO for selecting such an insurpassible route that not only knocked the 40 listed cars above, but 30 bikes, 3 quads and 9 trucks as well. In my opinion they will be lucky to get 87 cars to start the race if they dont make some changes for next year. Maybe there is more to the reason why the Factory Mitsubishi team pulled out.

Permalink Reply by zoomsss on January 12, 2010 at 2:01am

For this guy, I think it was S7, part energizer bunny, still rollin'!

~toby moody: THE HERO of the #Dakar. Car 423. Finished stage 7 at 18.59 the day after... 36 hour stage. OMG...