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

[Deadly99]

Originally Posted by Drif10

It's kinda screwy that Chile, while being south of Peru, is following the same time zone as Argentina, which goes east to the Atlantic. And Chile is on the Pacific...

Makes our lives easier, though. I really like these timings. They've about got the liason done by the time I get my first coffee down. *sip*

Last year was the first year the race has ever used tine zones. "Rally time" has always been the time from the starting location. Bending the traditions to better suit the media I suppose. As long as they don't have mandatory commercial breaks for the riders during the specials I'm fine with it

[troy safari carpente]

Originally Posted by Flood

I have an appeal running with the AF5O to credit me with 271 cliff notes posts. It's eligible under the "rendering assistance to fellow competitors" clause.

They say I didn't push the button on their balise, so it won't count. Frenchies, pff.

I think the AF5O jury will probably accept that appeal f5lood...

Given the amount of "fumbling around behind the scenes to keep the shit f5ight that is the f5irehouse/cliff notes interface kosher" that you do... I am almost certain that a compassionate post refund (or credit as it were) of sorts is in order...

BUT...

In accordance with F5 clause 205.1: "Compassionate post credits" for mods will be granted with a restrictor-gate coefficient of x 0.25... given that "cliff notes" posts are effectively only copy/paste in nature and require only one keyboard stroke

.

To wit the F5 jury recognise that the act of "cliff note" posting does require a fair degree of combing the virtual piste backwards (say that with a listhp Carlton ) on the part of the f5 mod's in question and therefore a great deal of the time spent can be equated to searching for vitual WPM's (Well Posted Memo's ), the coefficient of 0.25, will be increased to a factor of 0.50... if the mod in question has contributed* (meaningful) text to the aforementioned and "quoted" wirtual WPM.

regards,

Af5o Clerk of Course/F5 Jury President

I. Don Giffafuk.





the f5ool known as TSC is exempt from this clause... as it has already been established he contributes little in the way of constructive or meaningful material...

[garfey]

G'Mornin' f5olks

[orlando_orange]

Originally Posted by Stagehand

The Dakar is not quite difficult enough. Need to Train during

just reviewing the videos i have tagged in my sweep, as i chow down on my lunch of spaghetti carbonara and....

the way CDP says "regeneration of my body" whilst stroking his thigh cracks me up.. so french...

[Aussie66]

Originally Posted by misc

I was glad to see him appear on the stage and overall results. He's doing a great job, go go Hans Jos!!

Just call him "paardenmepper". Zo kennen de meeste hem.

[Drif10]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

Morning folks. I'm surprised, as I assume the ASO is that the attrition rate is so low this year. Maybe the next two days of Copiapo dunes will be tough.

With them curtailing one of the tough stages (seems like they bill all of them as tough, though), I'm sure that affected numbers.

I also wonder that it is because of their criteria for entry. There are more competitors trying to enter now (from what we've heard), so they've been more selective as to the pedigree of the entrants. This would, in turn, make for a field more capable of finishing, I would think.

Couple that with the bikes available. Anyone got a guess at how many 450RR's are in this one? Well developed bike, and with reasonable care, can easily complete the distance. So less mechanicals. As long as the rules allow its entry, the Huskys getting more reliable, same for the Hondas, I can see how that would make for better chance at completion.

Hope they've got enough finisher medals made...

[Flood]

Originally Posted by Drif10

It's kinda screwy that Chile, while being south of Peru, is following the same time zone as Argentina, which goes east to the Atlantic. And Chile is on the Pacific...

Makes our lives easier, though. I really like these timings. They've about got the liason done by the time I get my first coffee down. *sip*

[smartass]They're in different time zones. It's just that Chile observes DST, and Argentina doesn't, so they appear to be in the same zone in summer[/smartass]

[ric678]

mornin f5ers

[Bluebull2007]

Originally Posted by 8340SU

... and once again no words from Helder, he looked quite pissed off.

But we get to see the japanese fuel injection engineer, mr. Junji Miyazaki. He talks, but I couldn't understand a word of it...

Yep I think theyre hiding the truth....sneaky buggers!

[PackMule]

Originally Posted by Brodovitch

KTMs 1-4, with a Husky in 5th, although the Yamahas of Pain & Verhoeven are now an hour to an hour-fifteen in 7th and 8th. First HRCs are 9th and 10th with Helder & Pizzolito. At least they are in front of the privateer bikes

Sorry to hear of Barreda's shoulder, he looked in quite a lot of pain at the finish yesterday,unless he was just sand bagging and disappointed he lost so much time after opening the course. Remember that 1.15 difference on stage 10, when Cyril opened and Barreda played catch up? Well, yesterday while the tables were reversed, Joan lost 4.30 to Cyril

On HRC, there is so much controversy and spin that I can't really pass judgement on their tactics. We know for a fact that Helder is fast, the bike just doesn't seem to play along. OK it's their first year, but does anyone not think that he would have been (much) better placed this year on his Yam? For a rider, that's all that counts. Loose wires, fuel issues, pumps, excuses, excuses can wreak havoc on a racer's morale. Where has the biggest smile (with Casteu) of the bivouac gone? The bottom line is that HRC are not performing as expected. I just hope they are smart enough to stick with the riders they've got and keep pushing for results as a team instead of making a knee-jerk reaction and changing their line up. It's obvious that their problems are elsewhere.

Fiambala to Copiapo!! Kurt opens on mainly On Piste stuff... bring on today

Great commentary, Brodo.

[michalCCR]

Originally Posted by garfey

G'Mornin' f5olks

Originally Posted by ric678

mornin f5ers

mornin y'all, I jsut finished my lunch
...and now it's back to work

[Drif10]

Originally Posted by Flood

[smartass]They're in different time zones. It's just that Chile observes DST, and Argentina doesn't, so they appear to be in the same zone in summer[/smartass]

But it's summer there, smartass.

[PackMule]

Originally Posted by K_N_Fodder

Most excellent!



So Mr. Nate, I"m sure this is a massive 205, but any chance of getting Casselli in on a Rally Radio interview?

I don't have any connections to him, but if someone does, feel free to pass them along.

[PackMule]

Originally Posted by kaia

personally... i'm a bit dissappointed with the quality (and quantity) of the webventure photos so far this year. in past years we had hundreds, if not thousands of photos with a high percentage of them being "amazing"... this year, the quality and uniqueness of the photos seems a bit below webventure's historical "par". we get lots of good & great shots, and lots of repeat shots (the same shot with different vehicles) but not as many "amazing" or "jaw dropping" shots as in past years. the numbers don't lie... we're about to start stage 12, and there have been just under 700 total photos made public on webventure's site. last year, for example, there were the following 1409 bike related photos at the end of the rally. at the rate they're going, i doubt we'll break half that (for the bikes)


maybe i'm jaded from working at SmugMug, with all the amazing photography i see on a daily basis... but i almost feel as if (a) the quality is down this year, or (b) they're not releasing the best shots to the public, but keeping them to sell to the competitors as part of the photo packages that they sign up for at scruitineering. i think it's almost definitly (b)... i really hope it's not (a).


what does everyone else think?

Does your gathering capture late releases? I get the feeling that webventure are suffering under the flow -- their release times have definitely seemed to slip over the past few years.

Dave from RMS says they're great guys, and a very small outfit.

My impression is that the photos on Dakar.com have been much better this year -- is Webventure supplying photos to them, and therefore not able to release those images on their own site? Just a hunch.

[ric678]

Dakar Cars

94 cars will be taking starter's orders on the day's special. With a time of 57:16'03", the last man out will be British driver Matthew O'Hare, one of the drivers for the Race2Recovery team. A former soldier, he saw his best friend lose a leg during a tour of duty in Afghanistan. This is also the case for his co-pilot Philip Gillespie, who had to be amputated after being injured in the call of duty. However, neither of them has abandoned their dream: to take part in the Dakar… They are in last place, but still there, and that is what is most important