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Team SPEED Stage 12 Recap
Gordon down but not out! WINS Stage 12
Nasca, Peru (January 13, 2012) - Over the last couple of days during the 2012 Dakar Rally, Team SPEED and Robby Gordon have had to defend themselves after being accused of having an air inflation system that gives them an advantage. To prove a point, Gordon took it upon himself to show the media his entire system and how it worked last night in the bivouac in Arequipa, Peru. He even went so far as cutting the line that was in question and plugging it. He will run the rest of the rally without a vacuum system placed on his car.
Given the controversy and a terrible Stage 10 and 11, Gordon and Campbell had something to prove - they were down but certainly not out. The liaison section started at 4:35 a.m. for the cars because the start of the special stage was 412 km away, making it a long day for drivers and teams. Upon arrival, the cars would compete in the 245km special to the town of Nasca. The American duo would become a fierce force to be reckoned with in the dunes.
Mixed in with the truck class, Gordon started 30th, the 22nd car to take time. This would put the team behind many vehicles, which kicked up a lot of dust. Working their way through the slower cars, they would end up leading the special after the 1st waypoint, a lead that they would never give up.
Through the last 100km of dunes, top teams including Peterhansel and Roma would get stuck in the sand losing precious minutes to Gordon as he carried on his way to another stage victory. Novitskiy, one of the faster MINIs through the dunes, would be the closest to Gordon, was still over 15 minutes behind.
"Winning by 15 minutes with our system that was plugged just proves our point that it had no advantage. I'm quite confident that we'll win our appeal and put it all behind us. From here on out I'm going to try to win every stage. Peru has amazing dunes. Some of the craziest dunes I've ever driven on. Tons of "witch eyes" that can either get you stuck or lost. Fortunate from us we had no problems like the others did and laid down a huge time on the stage to win. Very proud of my team and this car. I made a mistake yestersday by fixing a CV boot where if I just packed it with grease it could have put us in a position to win the Rally but we'll take what we can get and try and beat our competitors over the last two stages," Gordon said after this 2nd stage win of the 2012 Dakar Rally.
With their domination of Stage 12, Gordon and Campbell now find themselves in a better position for a podium spot when the Rally concludes in just two days. They are still in 4th position overall but only 36 minutes from third place and 1hr and 44mins from first. The two Americans know they are not here to give up the fight and look for their third stage win tomorrow from Nasca to Pisco, featuring another long special stage full of dunes where anything can happen.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by mj on
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GREAT article TOG it really explains the whole mess . I for one have never been not only so proud to be a Robby fan but of him . If he were any less of a man he would've just said screw it and gave up but the word QUIT just isn't in Robby's vocabulary . Ii would honestly say Robby is THE hardest working racer out there .
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Permalink Reply by pdxracefan on
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Thank you TOG for this post. At this point in the rally, Robby has shown himself to be the most honest racer with the most integrity in the whole rally. This is why I am a fan fan of RG. He has integrity. He is honest. He never gives up. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever!
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Permalink Reply by David Juelz on
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"I made a mistake yesterday by fixing a CV boot where if I just packed it with grease it" Why did Robby make this mistake? Did he think they could fix it faster?
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Maybe
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Permalink Reply by zoomsss on
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Seems from what I've watched on video, they changed whole hub assembly? and his thought after the fact, probably would have been fine with just re-packing CV.
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Permalink Reply by NIKAL on
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Because of the air inflation set up on the ProAm hubs, I cant be 100% sure how the CV is in the hub. But the standard midboard hub the CV can be tough to get out of the hub. I can see how changing the whole hub could be quicker.
And as far as RG making the decision to change the CV vs. just re-packing it is probably because he knew silt was in the CV and he still had another stage to do. Changing it on the side of the road would be better the trying to do the same job on some sand dune. If that CV was to fail it will almost for sure wipe out the axle. I dont know if they carry a spare axle in the car. That alone could cause a DNF.
My guess is only after being back at his pit and looking at the CV and the amount of dirt that might have been in it, did RG realize that adding grease would have been the better choice. But you cant race in hind sight and you cant always tell how much dirt might have got in the CV, and how bad it could have damaged the CV. You really need to tear the CV down and clean it to see how bad it was. All you can do is put this in the memory bank for next time.
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In one of the videos, it showed the red boot for CV, so I would think it would be somewhat exposed.
Like you said, you can't live in hindsight but keep the info in the noggin for next year.Things have probably changed a good bit since I dealt with a CV, not sure if you'd not service them nightly in this type of race?
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Permalink Reply by Tim Nation on
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I totally agree with your post..... it is one of the after the fact I made a mistake but then the next time you do not change it and then BOOM your senerio happens.... so you cannnot win in either senario the only not having the problem to start with is the way to keep it from happening
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