The Hog Wild Dakar story

News about sidecars competing in the Dakar Rally and other enduro related items

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The Hog Wild Dakar story

Post by Scott »

Thanks everyone here for posting and cheering us on. We really appreciate your support. Duane and I did our best and got caught early by a mechanical at a most unfortunate time. Other than that one issue, the bike was working really well. We're confident with a fix of the sprocket issue, and a few minor tweaks, we're ready for another go at Dakar. It was an amazing experience, and we only regret that we didn't get at least a few more days into it. We did come home with two Dakar stage wins in our category, so most things went very well! We are looking towards Dakar 2007.

I finally got started with our story from the race. It's got a few photos to go along with it. Since everyone wants to know the details of what went wrong, I started the story with the day our problems hit. I'll fill in the before and after as soon as I can. Check it out on our news page here:
Hog Wild News

Thanks to Bill Bartels and Bartels’ H-D for the significant financial and technical help. Without your support and enthusiasm for our project, we probably would have never made it to the starting line.

Thanks also to O’Neal, Works Performance, Tire Balls, Baja Designs, Hapag-Lloyd, and Rally Raid UK for your excellent products and support. With our eye on Dakar 2007, we’ll need more to join this list. We get amazing media exposure, so we can really make it worth your while to join us. http://dakar.francetv.fr/dakar-2006-vid ... rticle=220

Thanks to the Nomads trail moto club of Portugal for making our stay in Lisboa very enjoyable, and amazingly helpful. I sure hope we can return there in 2007, and you can visit us here someday soon! And thanks also to the Portugal Costa Azul Chapter of H.O.G. Your warmth and friendship reminded us again of the close Harley bond we all share.

Thanks to all the Team Hog Wild contributors. I hope we gave you all some enjoyment and at least a small personal connection to the race.

Thanks to American Kevin Heath for the long conversations and all the priceless Dakar advice. Get well soon!

Thanks to Charlie Rauseo for his amazingly assembled Team Rally PanAm, and Robb and the gang for helping us out. Get well soon Charlie.

Thanks Rien, who has kept this web site going, stronger than ever!

Thanks to brother Eric (WildTurkeyWay), who appears to have had a hidden mic on us because his race-time insights were right on the money! And Dad, who is just now returning from Africa. And Mom, who held down the fort while we were out playing. Family is everything, and I’m blessed to have such a great nest on all sides!

And a very very special thanks to my loving wife Adriana for putting up with a couple years of absent husband. Without your moral support and endless understanding, I would have been sitting at the TV just dreaming of that impossible adventure, Dakar.

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Thorina

Post by Thorina »

:-?
Last edited by Thorina on Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Pascal
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Welcome back!!!

Post by Pascal »

Hi Scott!

Welcome back and thank you for these informations. Sorry that "crossing our fingers" didn't work! :-?

More luck next time! :-D

Pascal & Silvia
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Re: Welcome back!!!

Post by Scott »

Pascal wrote:Hi Scott!
Welcome back and thank you for these informations. Sorry that "crossing our fingers" didn't work! :-?
More luck next time! :-D
Pascal & Silvia
Pascal, your finger crossing got us back home safely, so it did it's most important job!

Is it possible for you to translate the description of what happened to the Swiss team from here:
http://sidecarcross.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3204
The computer translator does a terrible job from German to English. The only thing I could figure out is they had a problem with the chain guide, and also a broken frame. Is that correct?
Thanks,
Scott
2fastdre

A Dakar media question

Post by 2fastdre »

Scott,

I have been watching and following the Dakar 2006 race and kept looking for you guys on OLN and your website. I saw a glimpse of you on Stage 2 in a helicopter shot when one of the VW cars (maybe Sainz) was passing you on a narrow muddy section.

Sorry to hear about the disqualification. :(

I have a question about the reasons why OLN refused to do an interview with you at the early point of the race. Your description almost suggests that OLN had something against you. Was it just because you were not high enough in the standings for them to care, or something else?

I will keep looking out for possible sponsorship opportunities (but not looking good short-term).

Thanks for taking us on this adventure with your descriptions and pictures!
Andre Smirnov
ton

free translation of the German story of the Swiss team

Post by ton »

Here a free translation of the German story of the Swiss team:

Since yesterday Ruedi and Sandy Lanaro are back in Switserland again. This evening I had a talk with Ruedi. They experienced many nice and exciting events and I will shortly describe what has led to the end of the Swiss team in the Dakar rally. On the 5th stage that they completed, they had severe technical problems. The chain was not guided properly and broke. Probably as a consequence of the forces invoked by the broken chain, the screws of the tube going from the motor cycle to the sidecar (the upper inclined one) came lose and prohibited changing of gears. Also the engine came lose. Too much time was required for the emergency repairs. Consequently, they arrived late at the finish (what we knew already). It turned out to be impossible on such a short notice without all necessary support to repair the frame in a safe way. Therefore, Ruedi and Sandy decided to stop their Dakar rally.

Scott, once again many thanks for your courage to persue your dream!

Hopefully, we will all see you in Dakar in 2007!

best regards,

Ton Bor
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Re: A Dakar media question

Post by Scott »

Thanks Ton for the translation. That helped a lot.
2fastdre wrote:Scott, I have been watching and following the Dakar 2006 race and kept looking for you guys on OLN and your website. I saw a glimpse of you on Stage 2 in a helicopter shot when one of the VW cars (maybe Sainz) was passing you on a narrow muddy section.
Sorry to hear about the disqualification. :(
I have a question about the reasons why OLN refused to do an interview with you at the early point of the race. Your description almost suggests that OLN had something against you. Was it just because you were not high enough in the standings for them to care, or something else?
I will keep looking out for possible sponsorship opportunities (but not looking good short-term).
Thanks for taking us on this adventure with your descriptions and pictures!
Andre Smirnov
Andre, good to see you are still out there thinking of us. Thanks!

We don't know the reason OLN would not interview us (and the other privateers). There is a very long discussion about that in the "racing" forum at AdvRider.com. I don't think it was because they "don't like us". I suspect it may be more related to giving more coverage to the one or two American teams who’s sponsors buy a lot of advertising on OLN. The other possibility I see is that they only have a limited time, so they want to only cover the top name competitors (Robby Gordon, KTM RedBull team, etc).

We did get much better coverage on European TV. They interviewed us, and aired that as well as other action shots of us. Overall I’m pretty happy with the TV exposure we got. It’s a lot more than most of the other American privateers bikers got (Charlie, Mike, Kevin, James). I think had we made it beyond half way, OLN may well have changed their position, and covered us a bit more.

Throughout our days in Lisbon prior to the start and continuing into the race, we received a LOT of interest from other media. They just couldn’t believe there was a Harley entered in the race. There was a constant flow of photographers focusing on our bike everywhere we went. I think we’ll see photos and more in magazines over the coming months.

We are taking what we learned this year, and looking towards Dakar 2007 now.

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2fastdre

Post by 2fastdre »

Scott,

Yea - I saw your link to the French TV interview with you guys. Awesome!

There was a privateer team that got a TON of coverage on OLN (the Schlesser Ford Buggy). But Schlesser has been doing Dakar for a while.

Andre.
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Post by Scott »

I completed our Dakar Stage 1 story (happier times than Stage 3):
http://www.hogwildracing.com/blog/index.php?itemid=37

See the crowd dive for cover (Dakar Stage 1):
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Post by Scott »

Here's what one of our custom front sprockets looks like before use:
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A few more nice photos came in from a fan in Portugal, Dakar Stage 1:

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Phil the pastor

Post by Phil the pastor »

Scott

Reading through your excellent write-up of your shortened Dakar adventure I saw you had to do lots of road miles after the Portugal stage to get to the port. Is that right? A couple of big "ifs".. If you do Dakar 2007 and if it again starts in Portugal I may be able to help with the link. I live on the Portugal-Spain border and have a van and can get a bike trailer. I'll haul you from stage to port so you wouldn't have to do the road link again. Interested?
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Post by Scott »

Phil the pastor wrote:Scott
Reading through your excellent write-up of your shortened Dakar adventure I saw you had to do lots of road miles after the Portugal stage to get to the port. Is that right? A couple of big "ifs".. If you do Dakar 2007 and if it again starts in Portugal I may be able to help with the link. I live on the Portugal-Spain border and have a van and can get a bike trailer. I'll haul you from stage to port so you wouldn't have to do the road link again. Interested?
Yes, we rode the 387km liaison to Malaga while most others had their bikes in trucks and trailers. That extra riding was when our sprocket started going bad.

Your first "if" is the biggest one. Yes, we want to return for Dakar 2007. But, we can only go IF we find a BIG sponsor. I'm working hard on that now. From what I have heard, Dakar 2007 will start in Portugal again. YES, we are interested in your offer of help. Dakar is such a difficult race, every bit of help is MUCH appreciated. IF they have a liaison in Spain like 2006, your van and trailer could really be of GREAT help. I'll keep your kind offer in mind, and if the IF's are all yes, then you'll be hearing from me!
Gracias,
Scott
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