Dakar 2008

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

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Scott
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Dakar 2008

Post by Scott »

My passenger Duane McDowell has decided to quit sidecar racing. So, I am now testing with a new passenger (Joe). I'll announce more about him soon. He's good!!! He's won the Baja 1000, and other significant desert races. But he has never ridden an off-road sidecar before now. On the first two days with him on the sidecar, we rode 300 miles (480km) through some very difficult dunes and rough rocky desert. We crashed three times, had to push the sidecar over large boulders, and generally had a very hard time. The guy in the middle in the photo below (Mike Krynock, Dakar 2006 finisher) also crashed a few hours after this photo, was helicoptered out of the desert, and spent the past two weeks in the hospital with 11 broken ribs, collapsed lungs, broken collar bone, and more. This was a brutal weekend, and probably not the best way to introduce someone to sidecars. After all that, Joe is still interested in riding more, so I think he's crazy enough for Dakar!

My goal is to return for Dakar 2008. But we don't have a big sponsor yet, and we can not afford to do it all on our own, so it is possible we may have to wait for Dakar 2009. We still have a few more months before the entry deadline, so we'll see.
HogWildRacing.com

In this photo we are scouting a section of our upcoming Death Valley Rally (a 1000 mile navigation and training ride that we are organizing for all the Americans going to Dakar). We just passed through a deep river, and Joe is draining water from his boots!
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Other Dakar news:
The Swiss team of Sandro Lanardo / Ruedi Howald are building a new sidecar for Dakar 2008. Watch their website at sidecardakar.ch.
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Pascal
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Post by Pascal »

Good luck, my dear!!!!!!
Zixel

Post by Zixel »

Hey! I always wait whyle they show yo cool looking bike, or any other sidehack when wachin the race on TV! Dont quit fightin'.
Tracy T
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Great news

Post by Tracy T »

Scott,

it's great to see you are in preparation for the Dakar again - we will watch your progress, so please let us know how you get on during preparation, and good luck with the new passenger.
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Re: Great news

Post by Scott »

Tracy T wrote:Scott,
it's great to see you are in preparation for the Dakar again - we will watch your progress, so please let us know how you get on during preparation, and good luck with the new passenger.
Tracy, with Dakar 2008 entries opening in just 4 weeks, I think it's unlikely we will find a big sponsor in that time. So it's more likely we will be aiming for Dakar 2009. If the Swiss team makes it in this year, we can all cheer for them!

If we have to wait another year we will continue to test and improve the sidecar, and continue with desert and dunes training.

This weekend we are heading out to the desert again to scout and finalize another 300 mile rally stage for our Death Valley Rally. The weather report says the temperature will be 39C (102F)!

Here's my expanded report from our previous ride:
-----------------------------------
Got stuck when rear wheel dug a hole while crossing the river. Good thing the intake on the V-Rod is up high! The exhaust was under water. With the two of us pushing, and careful throttle, we got out pretty quick. But it took the rest of the day before we got all the water out of our boots.
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Typical desert trail:
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Coming down a "double black diamond" downhill:
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Had to get the bikes over the tall railroad rails. The two-wheelers had a bit of a hard time because their wheels fall perfectly between the two rails, and they get stuck easy. We picked a bit of a different approach, and kind of jumped the sidecar over.
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Halfway through the ride Mike crashed pretty hard (after this photo was taken). We had to call a helicopter to have him flow out to the hospital. Many broken ribs, collapsed lung, broken collar bone, didn’t know what country he was in, or how he got there. There’s a reason his blood type is printed on his helmet!
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Two of the three others that came along:
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This is a 1000ft altitude drop, with a sandy trail all the way down (Google Earth view). Yes, we came down that. WoooHooooooo!
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The uphill side of that monster downhill (Google Earth view):
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Went up this cool canyon (Google Earth view):
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Went up this 200ft high sand dune (Google Earth view). We crashed twice doing it, but eventually got where we had to go:
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Great sand wash:
http://www.hogwildracing.com/deathvalle ... 20Wash.jpg

Desert hills:
http://www.hogwildracing.com/deathvalle ... 20Road.jpg

Remote trails:
http://www.hogwildracing.com/deathvalle ... ilroad.jpg

Fifty miles from the nearest pavement. This is why we carry over 13 gallons of gas on the bike:
http://www.hogwildracing.com/deathvalle ... 0Trail.jpg

The purpose of this ride was to verify the roadbook (written directions sheet) we create for navigating the rally stages. Competitors in off-road rally races read the roadbooks while riding in order to follow the prescribed race course. Here’s a sample page (one of about 30 pages) from one of the past roadbooks we created:
http://www.hogwildracing.com/deathvalle ... e_x500.jpg
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