So, what can we do better next year -- Dakar Coverage?

While it's fresh in your minds, what can we do better/different/more next year?

Throw a sticky on every sub forum to announce the official thread. Maybe have a designated sub-forum just for the month or two leading up to it, during, and for one month or so after.

DOnate more to Baldy and RAllyRaidio.

maybe sponsor a Dakar F5 reporting team to go and chase down the important info

:

Elevate JMLATVANAFAN to F5 god status & make sure he is on board for 2013

at first glance I thought it said

"While it's fesh in your minds, what can we do better/different/more next "


I think theres not much available to improve on
repetitive negative posts kinda took a little away from it although I agreed with 70% of them
they were still an essential part of the experience but some horses were beat too much
not much you can do about that though I suppose

+ a Gazillion
that dude was seriously an invaluable asset



Also

take up a collection so I can take off 14 days

scratch that

take up a collection so Packmule, Bluebull, and TSC can take off 14 days to follow the rally and do live 1 on 1 reporting from checkpoints and the bivoac

You guys did an awesome job. I just wish we had more American speaking tv coverage or teach us all Spanish so we can understand what coverage we can stream. On a lighter note you could always take me with you guys...LOL

I think having a Rally specific sub-forum would be nice. Also, instead of one huge mega-thread, separate it into one that is moto-specific, and one that is car-specific. As much as I liked keeping up with the cars, it gave the thread a different feel.
Overall, though, coverage was fantastic.

Seed more fabricated stories to the networks.

RC heli HD cam

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BU97bnxUc3I" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

- Ned's calls were about the best part IMO this year. We got to have a daily report from the privateer side of things that we do not get through the regular media. It would be nice if we could find a way to get even more people on board with that... If we throw a few $ at it to help cover the satellite phone calls and if we are enough we may be able to get great insider information. Plus if there is another Deadly99 next year maybe he can be the one roaming the bivouac and getting people to call in...
- Fire hose thread is awesome, it is hard to keep up with but it is neat to see everybody that stumble across some information, that has not been posted, putting it out there.
- Was not a good year to be french but maybe next year will be different if Gordon and Cody lead the rally
- I love the breath of knowledge you, Troy, Doyle, Flood to name a few have years of experience following the Dakar and well verse in the rules and previous happening of similar events to enlighten us on what is going on!


350 days left until next year

+10

I have one thought, and it's about Rally Radio. Not being quite sure how Rally Radio is set up, this may or may not work.

It seemed that a highlight of the two weeks was hearing Ned and the others checking in. For me, it gave a feeling of being closer and more involved.

I'm wondering, Can Rally Radio be set up so lots of other competitors can log, or call into their account, then leave their message so their own family and friends, and of course the F5 Team, can click on it and listen? Maybe have a directory of sorts.


Edit: 205'd

Get Eurosport to have action sequences during the face-to-face interviews.

I thought the ADV (and Rally Raidio coverage in particular) was great. The F5 thread is hard to keep up with, but good nuggets in there. I wish there was something halfway in between the "cliff notes" thread and the F5 thread. There were lots of interesting tidbits and comments in the F5 thread that I didn't want to miss, but not enough in the cliff notes by comparison.

Seriously, I don't know how you guys are able to put so much effort, knowledge, creativity, and thought into what you do to bring the rest of us, virtually, to Dakar. It's incredible.

Re: RallyRaidio - that was absolutely my favourite for SURE. It would be great to have other privateers call in. Simon Pavey, for example, would be a good call in if he were running. The more Rally Raidio, the better!

The Eurosport coverage this year (especially according to my wife, a die-hard Dakar fan!), was worse than previous years. No Gerhardt wandering around the bivouac digging up stories, only the same helicopter shots time after time, with essentially NO coverage of privateers this year. Nobody out on stage actually shooting from the ground and getting stories in the field. Disappointing. That has nothing to do with the coverage here on ADV, but highlights how good it is here compared to Eurosport.

dc

I wouldn't split forums, or change the firehose.

I agree with the suggestion of a dedicated RR phone in the biv, if we can find someone who's going to be with the riders every evening to help set up calls. Leave the Rally Radio donate button open all year to help pre-fund this. If more pics can be added during the event to that data stream, it would rule - as would short video (30-60 second shout-outs).

Mischa needs a trophy for improving the timing-tracking, though I'll admit by the end I'd figured out dakar.com enough to scoop his site by 30 seconds or so. Perhaps a tutorial on this, if anyone can remember all the steps, and ASO doesn't change up the format too much before 2013.

JML also needs a trophy, for the captured and hosted video. I hope he or someone like him can pull off the same stunt next year, given the lousy coverage available through any other proper means in the US. Associated with that, I'd love to know how people found all the streaming live video from local broadcasters - and maybe a sticky about how to use them. I know Canal-7 today had quite a few embedded spam layers to fight through, if the first person to figure it out has a way to document that for others, it would make viewing easier.



Of course, the ultimate solution is to get a Rally Radio 4x4 van set up for 2 weeks of expedition, w/a motorcycle on the back hitch to roam and grab video coverage from multiple angles, edit in the biv, get interviews, and beam it all up via satellite link on a daily basis. Our own press corps. Wouldn't take more than 2 or 3 people, and of course, money. Perhaps sponsorship is possible for something like this, I dunno. One of the non-KTM factories, maybe, or a 3rd party with deep pockets. Van makes a nice billboard for near-exclusive US coverage. Wonder what the ASO rules on press are? Clearly there's a bunch besides Eurosport, so they can't enforce total exclusivity if we go for press credentials. Just a thought.



Finally, if nothing changes and 2013 is a total repeat of the most excellent effort we saw this year, even with dead horses, cows, and keyboards, it'll be fantastic - so don't feel pressured at all to top this at any cost. It's good, man, it's damn good.

A few years back there was a scheme afoot to fund one of the inmates to do the Dakar. How about rather funding a newsman? We all score then, instead of just the guy that gets to do the race, and we can also be certain that we get our money's worth for the full number of stages.......

I also really enjoyed Teds updates from the bivouac. I was captivated by what goes on there that most of the world doesn't get to know. Some of Teds observations of Gordon and how his crew interacted with him were priceless. I figure there are lots more juicy bits that Ted is holding back for the book. So anyway we could get another seat on the truck for more of this inside info next year would be awesome. Maybe Ted would be willing to go back?

I missed what Ned had to say about Robby.....


I continue to believe that this site is one of the most refreshing places on the web. I cannot think of anything more that would have made the rally experience any better for me.

Thank you to all who posted.

Feels right weird in the bivouac without the bikes....good thing we have the Robby Gordon show next door to keep us company. That dude is a work aholic, he has a staff of 20 or so and they are all standing around watching him wrench on his vechicle. Saw hime ask a mechanic to tighten something, the dude just stares at him so) grabs the wrench and puts it on the bolt then grabs the dudes hand and puts it on the wrench. Tells a photogrpaher to take a picture and the "mechanic" does a cheeseball pose. Seriously that RB guy is insane. The other day he had zero sleep as he was dealing with aso officials about some bogus ruling thenhe turned wrenches until it was time for him to leave. Crazy.