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Dakar Rally


Grasshopper

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10 hours ago, Mawsley said:

And there was me making an intellectual joke about shitting yourself while riding.

Anyway, something something Dakar something sand something fucking big truck something something. There, now I’ve re-railed the thread for you.

Ah see that’s why it went over my head! ?

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So I found a couple of photos of Pete on his ex-John Deacon bike when we went to the Pyrenees.  This actually in France on the way down, we found some gravel to play in next to the river Loire....

856691855_PyreneesUp2006010.jpg.6444e2e9a5013750aad66d3895670992.jpg

1493753066_PyreneesUp2006011.jpg.97bc3a8ddf7247f11bffd05c6a98df34.jpg

 

 

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I used to watch the Dakar in the mid 90s when I had cable tv and Eurosport. Always felt sorry for the poor sods starting on New Year's day or close to it. watching Stefaen Petehansal ride the big Yamaha through dunes was like watching a ballet, so smooth and planned compared to everybody else dug in or plummeting off sheer drops and cartwheeling. I was gutted when he switched to cars.

I don't really have any interest in any motor sport unless people fall off or crash a lot, so it ticked all my boxes.

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1 minute ago, yen_powell said:

I used to watch the Dakar in the mid 90s when I had cable tv and Eurosport.

Yeh.....so did I! Eurosport did great coverage!

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4 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Yeh.....so did I! Eurosport did great coverage!

After I saw this thread I had a look to see if it was available for free, but there was a monthly charge.

My mate Charlie's 2nd CCM was an ex Dakar bike, one of the ones they made for privateers to enter on one year. It had a spare CDI bolted on for a quick swap if one went down and lots of extra power takes offs scattered about the wiring loom???? He was too tight to buy the extra large tank that could have come with it and we were always having to wait for him to fuel up. It also used to refuse to electric start and the cure was removing the seat (2 bolts) and tapping a small relay with something heavy. By the time he put the seat back it would have cut out and he would have to do it again, they did not like ticking over. I'd have lengthened the wires and had it outside the bike for 'donking' if it was my bike.

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15 hours ago, yen_powell said:

After I saw this thread I had a look to see if it was available for free, but there was a monthly charge.

My mate Charlie's 2nd CCM was an ex Dakar bike, one of the ones they made for privateers to enter on one year. It had a spare CDI bolted on for a quick swap if one went down and lots of extra power takes offs scattered about the wiring loom???? He was too tight to buy the extra large tank that could have come with it and we were always having to wait for him to fuel up. It also used to refuse to electric start and the cure was removing the seat (2 bolts) and tapping a small relay with something heavy. By the time he put the seat back it would have cut out and he would have to do it again, they did not like ticking over. I'd have lengthened the wires and had it outside the bike for 'donking' if it was my bike.

That just about sums up CCM in a nutshell.

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20 hours ago, yen_powell said:

 Petehansal ride the big Yamaha through dunes was like watching a ballet, so smooth and planned compared to everybody else dug in or plummeting off sheer drops and cartwheeling. I was gutted when he switched to cars.

 

high quality remake GIF

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Just saw that Hero's (the motorcycle manufacturer)  rider Santosh has been brought back to life by a fellow competitor after a hard fall, here is him on his Hero:

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Last year, Paulo Gonçalves, Portugal's favourite offroad racer passed away after a crash on a Hero as well, much to the sadness of all Hero staff and Santosh himself. I'm sure there must be a case for the 450cc limit on motorcycle engines not actually working towards rider safety. 

If everyone is riding at 98% of engine hp capacity to be competitive, is it safer than actually riding faster and heavier bikes on looser grounds with tougher navigation as a deciding factor? Are current organizations making easier to navigate Dakars that make riders ride as fast as they can to just be competitive when before strategy and "dune skills" were the deciding factors?

I don't know.

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On 07/01/2021 at 12:55, BusBoy said:

More like his GPS navigation heading settings have been set to track up instead of North Up and he has intermittant signal

I found the problem, the GPS had the word "Adventure" on it, and it got stuck in the "Turn Right at the next Starbucks" mode. :littleguy:

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On 01/01/2021 at 18:57, Grasshopper's Ride said:

Anyone else here a fan of the Dakar Rally?  I always love watching it. Doesn't matter which category, they are all fun. ?  This year they have a new Classics section, that would be awesome to watch them all roll out. 

 

i have heard that there is a guy not that far from me who is a regular rider in it somewhere in the garstang area 

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One of my favourite Dakar related photos, me with Patsy Quick.......

Patsy Quick is an English off road motorcycle racer. She was the first British woman to compete in the Dakar Rally in 2003 and became the first British woman to complete it in 2006.

1974422873_Dirtbikeshow07_12.07025.jpg.f9ea9ce726c43a6c9aecafcf48eab4dc.jpg

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Honda placed first and second. Seems it took them quite a few events to iron out the kinks but they're pretty strong now. Good to see, it's always good to have brand competition.

 

Peterhansel just won his 14th Dakar now, in a car. What a legend the guy is! Al Attiyah is one of the world's best sand drivers, so mustn't have been easy. Although I dislike Saudi Arabia as a Dakar host, it's good to see Arabian sand, it's closer to the original Sahara than the American one, and having two sand masters getting first and second in the cars is no coincidence.

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