Robby Gordon Statement On The 2011 Dakar Rally

“We are very disappointed that both of our cars failed to finish the 2011 Dakar Rally. Our team was better prepared than ever, so two DNF's makes this hurt a lot. We will start preparing for the 2012 Dakar as soon as we return from the rally and try our best to compete with VW next year. I definitely felt that I could have matched their speed in Chile, but we do have our work cut out for us improving the race cars for the Argentina stages,” commented Robby Gordon.

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Permalink Reply by alan4s on January 13, 2011 at 12:21pm

Car-to-car communication is against the rules in the Dakar.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on January 13, 2011 at 12:47pm

it was a mistake on taking the liason for granted...simple as that..live & learn..

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Permalink Reply by pdxracefan on January 13, 2011 at 3:23pm

TOG, what do you mean 'taking the liason for granted'?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on January 13, 2011 at 3:51pm

In think'n it's easy to get to the starting line. See yesterdays footage and compare Peterhansal's liason to Robby's

http://www.planetrobby.com/video/stage-10-cars-1

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Permalink Reply by MerlotMax on January 13, 2011 at 5:21pm

Yep - same thing, same distance away (approx.) but look at all the support trucks the BMW $ bought. Unfortunatly that was the big difference there.

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Permalink Reply by Short Bus on January 13, 2011 at 5:31pm

I believe the other problem when RG had the bearing failure was that the support trucks were all held at the border crossing. The competition cars passed through customs first and were sent on the way to the starting line. The support vehicles ended up a few hours behind. If Robby had a competition big truck, it would have been through customs with him. Both hummers should have been travelling together to support each other better.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on January 13, 2011 at 5:36pm

The last place you think there is going to be a problem is on the connector. Now they know. I seriously doubt they will go through this issue again on a liason.

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Permalink Reply by mj on January 13, 2011 at 1:24pm

Robby

You dont owe us an appology we all know you gave it your all . Whether 2wd , 4wd , trophy truck , hummer or even fiat we know you always go out there to win .

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Permalink Reply by DIGGERS Michael on January 13, 2011 at 2:36pm

I hope that robby rock the house next year again...i need the american way in the dakar.

my favorite is: Robby with Jeep. use a warngler unlimited with the hemi, in 2wd option you can use the old hummer frame...the best ist: bulid a new one with wrangler body and 4wd with srt8 power....the price is to loose wheeltravel...but to win i think, you need first 4wd and second wheeltravel...sorry my english

good luck we need you in 2012

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Permalink Reply by Jim on January 13, 2011 at 3:01pm

I don't understand why people are sold on Robby running 4wd for Dakar. He cannot throw 4wd under his hummer and go racing. The 4wd car category limits the suspension travel, tire size, engine displacement and cannot use his tire inflation system. Vw and the other factory teams spends millions of dollars into their programs each year to find any way to gain an advantage over the other teams. Robby already has years of experience of R&D in his TT. Basically the same technology is used in the Hummers, but following the ASO rules. If it wasn't for the rains on the 1st stage and the first couple of cars getting through the course before the ground got wet, Robby would only have been 6 minutes behind the leader.