Should ASO slow the Hummers next year ?

To be frank, I think everyone knows that the Hummers are simply faster than the other cars. We know it, the competition knows it and ASO knows it. Take away our mechanical breakdowns and we would have easily won the majority of the stages; not just by a little, but a lot. Robby and Nasser are great drivers it's true, but to give them their due, some of the other drivers are no slouches either. We've all seen the videos of the Hummers and Mini's going head-to-head, and the Hummers just blow right on by. Whiners they may be, but other drivers have essentially said the same thing : while various terrain differences may favor different configurations, given the overall conditions this year, the Hummers are quite simply the faster cars.

So is it fair for ASO to continue to allow us to have a speed advantage, simply because, as a smaller team that advantage is assumed to be offset by reliability issues, or is there a legitimate case to be made for slowing the Hummers next year ?

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Permalink Reply by joseph on January 14, 2012 at 6:46pm

well kiss my ass

can you see the poor son of a bitch who approved the 1+ million dollar budget next year when he gets told they just got beat by someone in a home made car

Permalink Reply by Drone637 on January 15, 2012 at 2:59am

The Dakar used to be unlimited,things changed after vehicles just became to fast, similar to the old Class B Rally cars. In 88 a Dutch navigator was killed when their dual 11.2 liter triple turbo charged truck, good for around 2400 hp and over 7000lb torque, crashed. It could do over 150 mph and you can read about it at http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?12427-A-motoring-landma...!

If you want to see the current rules they are available at http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/sporting-aspects.html

The job of the ASO is to make sure that all vehicles are competitive and nobody has a real advantage. RG didn't win, but he did have a clear advantage when it came to the car so it will be interesting to see what happens next year.

Permalink Reply by Mark Allen on January 15, 2012 at 8:34am

Rob had a clear advantage on certain types of terrain, again, if the course this year was last years course with more rally type stages mixed with some rain he wouldn't have a chance. It's not like he has a car that beats all comers on all terrains....

Permalink Reply by GLL on January 15, 2012 at 9:54am

There always have been different "sub classes" in theCars section. I do not recall the "big" class that Gordon has been in, but the Hummer has always been by itself. They still compete against the buggies, production based cars, etc. The goal is to be the number 1 "car" - what ever the sub class.

Since VW pulled out - it makes Gordon's hummer look faster. And it's design is best for dunes. Which is why I was surprised there were so many big dune sections this year. If I recalll - in previous years in S America the big dunes played a much smaller roll. Then again - big dunes playes a large part of the African Dakar.

And some day - Gordon will drop the "Hummer" since there is no more Hummer. Part may be if anyone else steps up to help the development of a new vehicle. Wonder if Chevy might? somewhat surprise they never came up with a Duramax diesel version earlier. They did some racing promotion with the Duramax early on.

Bench racing - t'aint it fun!

Permalink Reply by Mark Allen on January 15, 2012 at 10:50am

The duramax is way way too heavy for the type of car Rob wants to build. The down low torque is incredible (900 lb ft I think) but overall it's a stump puller not suitable for what he's doing.

I would love to see him stick with GM and the LS based powerplant, maybe an equinox or terrian body would be appropriate. Just thinking.

But then I'm a GM guy so I'm biased and since Rob has so much time invested in refining and adapting the LS powerplant I'd hate to see him start over with a Dodge V8 or something else.

Permalink Reply by Drone637 on January 16, 2012 at 12:08am

Some of the big dunes was due to the new country. Last year they went back to Argentina and this year they stuck to the coast.

Permalink Reply by natron008 on January 15, 2012 at 10:48am

Agreed.No one was complaining the last few years when the VWs were smoking the Hummers on a daily basis. They'll probably just reroute the course a little to be more like year's past. Ideally, a nice mix that will in itself level the playing field. no matter what - looking forward to it!

Permalink Reply by Hendricus on January 15, 2012 at 12:16pm

Thanks for sharing. Your input makes for a great comment community. Thanks!

Okay, yes absolutely, speed and safety are real problems. I have spectator knowledge of NASCAR and USAC (Indy), and how they handle their unique set of problems. I'm not sure of what instances regarding safety SCORE has had to address, but no doubt safety is a significant part of what they do too.

One way to look at what we are talking about here is a meeting of the minds of SCORE and ASO.

And what's more dangerous or deadly anyway, a 150 mph truck or a 90 mph 450cc motorcycle?

It would be interesting for someone rank motorsports as most to least deadly/dangerous. I think US drag-boats would be at the top. It could be charted as deaths per entry over a five year period. It could be charted as deaths per miles raced. For sure in this case the 1/4 mile of drag racing would be the most deadly.

I'm not advocating a type of racing where death is common, but sanctioning bodies do have to be honest about just how dangerous their race is going to be.

Permalink Reply by Hendricus on January 15, 2012 at 12:27pm

Further, I don't think the decision of making the Dakar more open class, or actually more SCORE-like, is a matter of safety. Certainly the ASO can't ignore safety, but safety is not the main issue here. There are other factors driving their decisions, in this situation. There are other objectives driving the new rules for 2013.

I think the rules are published. How else did the Toyota-Helux competitor comply to them without being informed of them?

Permalink Reply by Hendricus on January 15, 2012 at 12:49pm

The European car builders are no dummies. if the ASO continues to run rally-cars through the desert and dunes, you will see a Dakar specific rally car emerge. It will have longer travel, and it will start to look like..., wait for it..., Robby's Hummer! Or at least a variation of the Hummer. Certain things about a long travel car just end up looking like a US type off-road race car.

If the ASO wants typical rally-cars to show up to the Dakar, well then design courses suited for these cars. Don't expect typical rally cars to keep showing up year after year, to this kind of punishment.

If the ASO wants to swing wildly and unpredictably, expect one year the course to wind through the mountains on pavement, and the next year the course to be heavy in dunes.

It's a unique race in that the ASO controls much, with whatever course they select.

Robby really did school not only the Minis this year, he schooled the ASO. The question is do they want SCORE-type vehicles or not?

Permalink Reply by Hendricus on January 15, 2012 at 12:56pm

I remember reading earlier this year that 2012 would be a good year for Robby. The point being that somebody already knew roughly what the course terrain would be like. Somebody knew that it would be terrain suited to the Hummer.

Heck, VW probably knew this too, and henceforth decided it was a great year to stay home. Ya never know.

Permalink Reply by Justin Smith on January 15, 2012 at 5:44pm

The other teams should build a better vehicle if they can't keep up.

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