Dakar 2013 - Official Event Coverage - thank you ALL TeamF5, lurkers and posters!

[Vladtux]

Hi Everyone!

I wanto thanks for feel like part of the Team F5

And like a gift I let you these Pics I did by casuallity when I drop by where the KTM Team (Depres, Farias, Caselli) was resting after the Dakar in Santiago




So here are









And the last one





until the next year!!

[kaia]

webventure.com.br has a bunch of new photos posted, from the finish line. it appears that they didnt' submit any photos from stage 14... :eek

as always, everything posted over in the Dakar 2013 Media thread.



#168 - LYNDON POSKITT (GBR)



#51 - SIMON PAVEY (AUS)





tldr; everything posted over in the Dakar 2013 Media thread.

[kaia]

thanks to everyone who participated this year, i'm looking forward to next year!


hopefully, i'll be able to participate more next year - had a ton of personal stuff pulling me away from being there for the stages.



congrats to all the riders who finished, you've done an amazing thing!

[dox]

It's that time...

The Dakar hangover begins. Sometime round about early February, the fog will burn off and things will return to normal for eight or nine months - for most of us.

But for those rare few, the gladiators contemplating their greatest battle, the gears have only just begun to turn. Thoughts of entering, checks to be written, support crews to be lined up... Previous competitors building on prior experience, new entries attempting to find their way.

The end is the beginning... and so it goes.

Thanks for another great year.

[Poweranger]

Want to say thanks to everyone for posting the awesome links to everything Dakar. Photos, tv coverage, facebook, blogs, tracking, ect. ect. With out the help from you many computer genius' I wouldn't have sat at work watching Eurosport coverage from a smartphone! It really is great having the coverage that this technology brings us. I didn't miss a post this entire event it was really great coverage. I got interested in Dakar when Chris Blais was racing it. I was glad to see someone else remembered him when his name was mentioned a few days ago. Now I can finally take a few days, let my eyes readjust, and get back to paying attention to the wife! So again thanks everyone this lurker really appreciates it!

[FishTaco]

Thank you F5irehose and Baldy. What a ride! Can hardly wait for 2014

[tehdutchie]

Originally Posted by Czechie

To me there are a few things which I don't understand:
- why Yamaha is not able to put together a team like KTM? Does it mean that Dakar is rather a low priority to them compared to Moto GP?


if any of you have more details on the Yamaha YZ tuning, please share it with us. I stil can't get my head around the exhause pipe loop over the swing arm.

What I keep noticing is the different builts of the YZ (not WR) that were in the race as 'supposed' factory bikes. I guess Yamaha still hasnt got a full works entry or Olivier Pain is not part of it. Once Yamaha deceides on a platform they can develop it and move forward.

The way I look at it now is that Yamaha just throws a few test bikes and some money at the riders and the 'factory' effort ends there...

Olivier Pain:


David Casteu:


Verhoeven:


Is it up to the rider to choose the bike and built or up to the rider?

Or is David Casteu the one that isn't on a factory bike (JVO Kit vs Alu tanks on the Factory)?

[Brodovitch]

Heinz Kingadner, via FB:

"it was clear that it will be difficult for Cyril at the beginning of the rally without Marc as a reference, especially in the sections where the navigation was difficult." At the end, but then, it was the experience of the team, with the bike and the riders who have made it through. The top 5 on the KTM, which is really very impressive, but the highlight for me was Kurt Caselli. It came only a few days before Christmas to the team and then showed an outstanding performance at his first Dakar."

Kini telling it like we saw it

[Tomas Kocanda]

Few more shots from J. Jindra... He travelled with the Dakar on last year´s racing bike of Jan Vesely (without numbers of coarse). Bike allowed him to easy reach places, where he could take nice photos from the race.

[troy safari carpente]

Originally Posted by Brodovitch

Heinz Kingadner, via FB:

"it was clear that it will be difficult for Cyril at the beginning of the rally without Marc as a reference, especially in the sections where the navigation was difficult." At the end, but then, it was the experience of the team, with the bike and the riders who have made it through. The top 5 on the KTM, which is really very impressive, but the highlight for me was Kurt Caselli. It came only a few days before Christmas to the team and then showed an outstanding performance at his first Dakar."

Kini telling it like we saw it

Guess that just answered the question as to who the new K(id on the block)TM rallye (alien grooming program) protogé is for 2013 onwards then...?



Now, I wonder if the other manufacturers can get some other "names" to cross over from WEC/GNCC/WORCS type competition into rallye... names like Knighter, Taddy, Josh Strang... maybe even some of the "soon to be expiry date" WEC stars...?

I always thought Shane Watt's would have had the gumbo and trailsmarts to do rally... I dunno how he felt about the navigation side of things though... but ride any bike over anything... that he can surely do without drama.

Formula 450cc may well just transform the Dakar and FIM Cross Country Rally into the desert version of WRC/F1 in the near future... Plenty of brands out there yet who haven't committed.

How many new/used hand me down/swap factory "original" engines did you say I can use to finish on again...?

The golden age of the four rider + factory squad could be on the way back in...?

[JMo (& piglet)]

Originally Posted by Czechie

To me there are a few things which I don't understand:
- why Yamaha is not able to put together a team like KTM? Does it mean that Dakar is rather a low priority to them compared to Moto GP?

I think that is exactly it... While the Dakar is huge to us, and in 'off road' circles, Yamaha sell tens of thousands of street/sports bikes the world over - it's a far larger market, and Moto GP is a whole season, with massive TV and media coverage in every corner of the world, not just one race?

Of course the budget for Dakar would be tiny compared to fielding a factory and satellite Moto GP team/s, but it is the concentration of engineers and resources, and not least the target of advertising and marketing that is going to dictate their current policy...

Off road bikes are not a huge priority for any of the Japanese brands (compared to street orientated machines)... and even with the huge growth in the 'Adventure' market in recent years, I think this Dakar more than any other has shown that the current generation of Dakar/rally bike is a lightweight precision racing machine, not ideally suited to a everyday 'Adventure' role?

- why BMW group puts a shine on their rather second tier brands, meaning Mini and Husqvarna. If this was the normal course of business, Husaberg would be celebrating 12 consecutive victory.

I think similarly to the above, BMW know their machines (both cars and bikes) are not 'competitive' in the same way - they are focused luxury brands, and in the case of the motorcycles, querky designs - and are sold to general mass market customers, not specialist niches?

BMW is a multi billion dollar company, and by extending their racing arm to associated brands, it minimises and disassociates any 'bad press' should those teams not do particularly well, in what is a very competitive but still niche field... noone in Munich wants to see a headline "BMW fail in.... [whatever]" in the press?

The flip side of this of course is also a return on their [acquisition] investments - should those sub-brands do well in their respective fields, then it elevates them in the eyes of the public (through subsequent marketing), and increases their appeal in what is a small and fiercely contested niche market in comparison... win win!

Jx

[JMo (& piglet)]

Originally Posted by tehdutchie

What I keep noticing is the different builts of the YZ (not WR) that were in the race as 'supposed' factory bikes. I guess Yamaha still hasnt got a full works entry or Olivier Pain is not part of it. Once Yamaha deceides on a platform they can develop it and move forward.

The way I look at it now is that Yamaha just throws a few test bikes and some money at the riders and the 'factory' effort ends there...

I think that is a good point - and essentially the reverse of what Honda did this past season...

By letting 'satellite' teams test the various options (and make any improvements), it minimises both the financial and [bad] publicity risk to developing their own 'factory' bike directly in the public eye?

Yamaha's brand image remains largely intact (certainly from a corporate point of view), while they are able to offer engineering support to the various teams, to help development.

Whether we will ultimately see them decide on a platform and bring all the riders/engineers 'in-house' so to speak, we can only hope so? - I believe a full factory effort by Yamaha would really shake things up for both Honda and KTM!

Jx

[Evil Invader]

Hey, anyone knows when Dakar is up on Eurosport today?














50 more weeks.....



Better go riding then!

Anyone need me I´ll be over in thumpers.

[Flanny]

Hey! Where'd everybody go?




All the trackers are down!

Has anyone contacted misha?

Even the Dakar site is down!

I wonder if Louis made it in last night?







(I guess old habits die hard...)

[640 Armageddon]

Many many thanks to all the people who made it possible for all of us to follow this great event and to be able to listen to all these interviews It has been a great pleasure to read all of you guys here.

Many thanks once again, this Dakar/Snooker event was one of the best ever