The F5 Bivouac (rallye raid news) and W2RC - World cross country rally championship

we looked at that rally and bailed as soon as we discovered you have to schlep all your own gear yourself or team up with another team. more logistics than we wanted

the entry fees are very low but you have to add a lot of other expenses and in the end it won't probably cost much less then Heroes Legend ...

That's okay ... it also says three days:

It doesn't exactly scream of a quality announcement to (almost) English speaking USA, although granted it does seem to be a translation. Maybe the actual competition is three days but the event is 5 days with the documentation and scrutineering. Taking that same approach to other events though would make the Dakar 20+ days and the FIM World Cross Country Champ rounds 8 days, so still doesn't cut it as a "Dakar" billing.

There seem's to be any abundance of different rallye/raid events in that part of the world at the moment...? (reached market saturation perhaps?)

http://www.heroeslegend.com
oct 16 - 30 2010: A "traditional" desert raid/rally aimed at the amatuer competitor. Patronized of none other than Stephane Peterhansel, start in Paris, transfer to sth France, ferry to Marocco, 6 stages marocco, 4 in Mauritania and 2 in senegal, traditional finish in Dakar.

(IIRC this is the event/concept that Hubert Auriol helped first ground when he parted with the ASO/DAKAR organisation a few years back... no?)

http://www.africarace.com/
dec 27 2010 - jan 9 2011: Touted as the "African" alternative to "DAKAR" (now that it is in South America). Cater to FIA/FIM competitors and is the event that René Metge is the organiser behind.

Start in (sth) Spain? and 12 day route over Marocco, Mauritania and Senegal to finish in Dakar.

http://www.budapestbamako.org/en/
jan 2011...? This event was cancelled in 2010 (terror threats/political reasons) but reputed to return in 2011 according to website.
7600 km from Budapest (Hungary) via Italy, sth France, Spain, then ferry to Marocco, and rally continue through Marocco, West Sahara, Mauritania and finish in Bamako, Mali.

http://www.tuareg-rallye.com/
march/april 2011: Another amatuer rally over seven days competition (both auto and moto) in Marocco (start/finish in Spain).

and now this event also;

http://intercontinentalrally.com/

that Gian just posted (had not seen it before).



It seemed that ASO took DAKAR to Argentina/Chilé because of the political unrest/terror threats... vowing to return when things are suiitable again... but maybe they will choose to stay away a bit longer and continue finding new places, challenges and terrain for Thierry Sabine's original "dream" to discover? The news about the ASO approach to Peru to host Dakar 2012 onwards seems to support this idea...?

One thing seems certain; and that is that the accessible regions of the north western Sahara of Africa (both logistically, economically and politically) are becoming fewer as time passes...

Just look (objectively) at the intinerary of all five of the events listed above and you will see that they (relatively speaking) are all pretty similar; hugging the fringe of Africa's atlantic coast...

...nothing like the interior of the Sahara that the "real DAKAR" of years past (it's not my phrase... but so many people like to trot it out, I thought I would indulge the Thierry Sabine faithfull)... which traversed countries like Algeria, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkino Faso... or even the real old days across as far as Tunisia and Libya, even Egypt.


The only organisation playing on that side of the Sahara any longer seems to be NPO http://www.npo.fr/

(aside from yet another event I had almost forgotten; called the Libya Desert Challenge, ran by a Dutch/German consortium).

NPO arrange the WCCRC round Rallye Oilibya de Tunisie (formerly OPTIC 2000 Tunisie?) and the Egypt Sphinx Rallye (formerly Pharoahs?) Oh, and NPO also have the Shamrock Rallye (in Marocco... in october), so that makes actually SIX rallye raids in the west sahara africa region...? Is there any one else think "market saturation" may have been achieved yet?

On top of this you have all the other established events on the FIA/FIM world cross country rally calender (UAE Desert Challenge, Des Sertoes Brazil, etc.) and the Silk Road/Takliman desert event in Mongolia/China, the Aust. Safari down under... and now this "new" event - reported here by wrk2surf - to be run in Mexico (2012 Rally of Cortez?) following on the recent success of the NORRA Mexico 1000...?

By my quick head count, that's well over a dozen (more like 14 or 15) major multi-day rally events around the globe... Consider that the one thing all have in common is that they need (at least) 150 - 200 competitors (minimum) to be viable (the big events closer to double that), and the amount of time/finance resources needed to compete in a series (like the FIA/FIM cross country rally series). Even the best supported teams are at a stretch to get to FOUR events a year... AND THEN consider how many privateer competitors are out there around the world (many realistically who only have the time/finances to do maybe ONE event... perhaps even every second year), then it don't take a genius to figure that the calender is full, and the marketplace of "customers" is relatively small (shrinking?)

While I think it's great that there are so many different events available for people to choose between, the reality is that many of these races are going to fight (struggle) to survive... and this (like in any business) means competition. Is it any wonder that the biggest fish in the pond, plays "hard ball" to protect it's tademark... and looks at every alternative to capitalize on it... Even if it means taking it to a new setting.

Yeah- I think alot is lost in the translation. I thought the 3 days was referring to the Mexican 1000 which was just completed- 3 days with liasons/specials.

I won't hold my breath.

And to think we were lamenting the "Death of the sport" with the cancellation of Dakar 2008. (I'll admit to being the worst worrier)

The Mexican 1000 Rally was a little of both. NORRA wanted to make it easy for the Baja racers to compete, so they provided roadbooks AND a GPS file. Though there were no course markers like are used in the typical Baja races. Some people navigated by roadbook, some by GPS, and some used both. Next year I think they will tighten it up a bit and maybe eliminate the GPS navigation.

Those moto roadbooks are MY roadbooks that I made for them. The roadbook they orignally provided was oriented towards cars and would not fit in a standard moto roadbook holder. So I offered to take their info from the car roadbook and convert it into a moto roadbook, which I completed just in time for the race. A few single-seater buggies also used the moto roadbook. Most of the regular Baja racing people need some educating on the whole roadbook thing before they'll use it. NORRA is heading in the right direction.

I can attest to the quality of roadbook that Hogwild produces from recent experience.

<embed src='http://tv.trackinginternational.com/player11/1014/30101' width='640' height='390' wmode='window' allowScriptAccess='always' allowfullscreen='true' />

up in the air...

Can't hide nothin' from the viral net media.

That's odd, because I thought he rode a Honda XR600R in that race.




Edit: I'm really cornfused now. Just read the other thread, so Jonah started on a Husky, it seized on the 1st day and then what? He finished on the Honda?

The Husky siezed 15 miles into the first special, and he swapped bikes...

Anyone have $40K to get Jonah to Dakar '11? I was chatting with him about it at rally school

IIRC he got the honda from Tim Morton (bajaboundmoto).

Yeah that's a bummer for Jonah right now. I spoke to him a few weekends ago when I stopped in his home town Ellensburg, on the way to Desert 100. He said he didn't have a team yet for Dakar, I guess RPA was taking some time off. I sure hope he finds some sponsors soon. I would if I could.

Hello everyone,

Things are progressing nicely regarding our Dakar film documentary "Dream Racer"

The text treatment and the 4 minutes trailer have now been completed and will be presented to the TV Broadcasters in May. The trailer shows the whole storyline from 6 months prior to the race until crossing the finish line in Buenos Aires -- including crashes, close death call with Robby Gordon Hummer and many behind the scene things you don't see in the regular Dakar footage and what it takes to take on the Dakar alone with no sponsors, no assistance, no mechanic, and just a tool roll, 2 trunks and some wheels. If anyone has any contact high enough in the TV world (Asia/Pac, South America, Europe, USA) that will be an extra help if you could put us in touch with them.

Our goals is to show the documentary toward the end of the year as a preview to the 2011 Dakar. It will be shown either on TV or in the Movies.

The more quotes we receive from viewers interested the better -- so that we can include them in our document to convince broadcasters. You can post them at http://www.teamrallyaustralia.com in the contact section. Just tell us why you would love to watch the story. http://www.teamrallyaustralia.com/dream-racer/dream-racer

In the meantime, please see the press release below, a new challenge awaits -- 4 wheels -- one seat! But the first one is finding some sponsors and partners to join in the adventure as i don't think i can work more than 15-16 hours a day to finance it.

http://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/3387

Cheers,

CBV

I just read from a friend on Twitter the following:

"Emilie Poucan, Dakar Rally Press Attache, was killed in a plane crash in Tripoli today."

This is the same plane that crashed killing all but one 10 year old boy. Sad news for the organizers... Sounds like there may be something in the works for a route through Libya though...

Emilie was coming back from a Holiday in South Africa, it was only a stop over. It was her birthday as well, very sad.

Ah... very sad indeed...

R.I.P. Emilie, very sad

Muere Emilie Poucan, responsable de prensa del Rally Dakar
http://mundod.lavoz.com.ar/motores/muere-emilie-poucan-responsable-de-prensa-del-rally-dakar-0