2016 OFFICIAL DAKAR f5irehose - THANK YOU ALL F5 posters and lurkers!

I've been involved in rally for only 15 years. There's been no shortage of people over that time opining what "real rally" is.

For myself I can't create a definition much more than "a race where multiple sections are timed individually and added to determine the winner, where the racers usually have the course to themselves" and not see that as "rally".

For anyone with a "x is real rally" or "x isn't the real Dakar" there's probably 500 people on this planet who are convinced, with equally convincing reasoning, that your favorite part of the event isn't "real". For example, there's a whole bunch of people here in the US who think rallies with motorcycles aren't "real rally".

Wackos.

Anders

Snooker is on ES2, the Dakar is supposed to be on ES1, still bloody plankers though

so Robbie Gordon mentioned on TVP getting in trouble for podium jumping and needs prior approval. Is this his unexplained 1hr penalty

Ralky and Rally Raid...very different :)

I think I know what that is

In Greece Dakar is on ES1

Ho. Lee. Crap. :)

I think maybe a start in Ten Sleep, WY would really put the soup in grimace.

So, do you have a commercial usage model or license??

Laia FB

After a little rest and a few interviews, it's time to get ready for tomorrow stage.




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Speedy FB

" is over the first week of ‪#‎dakar2016‬, the balance sheet for me is obviously positive, I finished the first week in front of the race, it is obvious that we still lack half of race to run, a long marathon awaits us. I'll try my best every day, store the advantage I have up until now, it is natural that the race in front go have some amendments, that one day lose yourself and another if you save time, but the goal is to try to get to the last day of the race With the leadership. Let's see, let's go to work every day towards that goal, and in the end, of course, I hope that we, I and the whole team HONDA HRC, achieve the goal we set out to do at the beginning of this rally."
Paulo Gonçalves
‪#‎Speedynodakar‬

Now they're showing the "top ten football (soccer) goalies own goals".... WTF?

per motorsport.com

Dakar Rally's sporting director Marc Coma has promised a tougher challenge for the second week of the 2016 event.
A number of competitors have voiced their concerns about the first week's routes being more akin to traditional rally stages than to rally-raid runs, with little in the way of navigational challenges - but Coma insists that the rest of the event will be of a different nature.

"The rally will change completely in the second week - and it will be very hard," Coma told Motorsport.com. "It's gotten tougher as the days have passed and that will continue in week two."

"I think we have to wait until the end of the rally to judge - right now it would be unfair. We need the full picture of the rally and I believe drivers will find navigation difficult [in the coming stages]."

Coma also insisted that Chile's withdrawal from the 2016 rally, while affecting the route, did not play a part in the levels of challenge.

"It was difficult to get the route done after we had to pretty much reassemble the whole rally," he said. "But this Dakar is as difficult - or even more so - than others."

No regrets over retirement
The Spaniard, who took on the role of Dakar's sporting director after winning the event for the fifth time in 2015, says he does not regret his change of focus.

"I'm happy with the decision I made," he said. "I am very happy with what I accomplished as a rider, but I am now 100 percent involved in this new role."

That said, Coma prefers to spend time among competitors in the bivouac rather than the office - and feels a certain affinity with his former colleagues in motorcycle racing.

"I like to know what [the competitors] are thinking," he said. "And I always try my best to care for [the motorcycle riders] as they are the most exposed in this event."

and that:

The Argentinean government says its intention is to keep the Dakar Rally in South America, despite speculation that organisers are seeking a new location.
The event, launched in 1978, left Africa after the cancelled 2008 rally, which was called off due to terrorist threats. South America has been its new home since 2009.

Recent speculation suggested the event could move to North America for 2017, but both Argentina and Bolivia say the plan is for the Dakar to stay where it is.

Gustavo Santos, Argentina's minister of tourism, said: "The intention is to keep the country linked to a brand as important as the Dakar."

The government representative added that ideally his country will continue to share the event with other South American countries.

"We must be able to think synergistically. I imagine sharing the Dakar with other countries or other events we have, everything that means to integrate South America."

Bolivia's minister of sport Tito Montano said his country wants to expand its involvement in the Dakar.

"I think it would be beneficial to incorporate other stages in other regions and thus boost the zones," he said.

"Uyuni changes much with the Dakar. Normally here is a strong presence of foreign tourists, but when the Dakar is here, the whole country is present in Uyuni. The benefits of Dakar are many."

It is believed Chile, which hosted Dakar stages from 2009 to 2015, is keen on having the event back, with its government ready to contribute $2 million for the organisation of the rally.

Peru, which was due to host part of the event from 2016 before withdrawing amid concerns about the El Nino weather phenomenon, has also been linked to a return, while Paraguay could be in the frame to host Dakar stages for the first time.

De Rooy: 2016 race is Dakar "in name only"


Dakar Rally's truck class frontrunner Gerard de Rooy has labelled the 2016 race as "strange", suggesting that the current route strays too far from what traditionally made up the event.
De Rooy, who won the race in 2012, currently sits second in the standings - five minutes behind compatriot Peter Versluis.

But despite having shown solid form, the Dutchman expressed his misgivings over the current format of the rally.

"We have done well the first week, but it was not what we expected," de Rooy told Motorsport.com. "The roads were more like those of the World Rally Championship and these are not my specialty.

"For me this is not really the Dakar and I have heard that many people feel the same. This is a strange Dakar - with mountains, altitude, roads, a lot of speed.

"It's a Dakar in name only. It's a different concept."

With sporting director Marc Coma promising a completely different Dakar after the rest day, de Rooy anticipates a more traditional race from now on.

"I'm waiting for the second week, with open space, dunes, to attack and recover what we have lost in the first days."

Now Eurosport are showing a compilation of "the top ten dancing sports fans".... definitely losing the will to live!

Stage 8

BTW as far as "tire-gate' goes, Peugeot's new tires (37" like Gordon's, not 35" as I read somewhere) were known about months ago. Not that Toyota or Mini could have developed new tires with Michelin since then, but they hadn't been a secret until last week. Mentioned in this post last September, probably from a press pack:

http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/threads/the-peugeot-2008-dkr16-just-got-bigger-and-better.123276/

Also noted: 350 hp, 800 Nm torque (~600 ft-lb), 460mm travel, 400 liters of fuel on board.

So... the rules and culture of the Dakar don't really matter, so long as it meets the dictionary definition of a "rally", since somebody or other is bound to like it?

Ahhh going offtrack. I´m no pro, but that is cap headings...isn´t it?