Dakar 2022

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Dakar 2022

meowmeowmeowmeow: Jan 4, 2017

thanks for these daily updates, just started following but enjoying the posts.

I kinda follow baja-style desert racing, is there a reason trophy trucks/buggies arent more common in the dakar? I have done zero research on this, figured I'd just ask - saw the Menzies crash so I figure they're out there?

E: apparently the vehicles need to be road legal in their home countries which explains why no trophy trucks or buggies. I assume quads and SxS don't need to follow this rule because of their class or something.

meowmeowmeowmeow fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Jan 4, 2022

# ¿ Jan 4, 2022 21:24

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 03:29

meowmeowmeowmeow: Jan 4, 2017

thanks for the explanation of baja desert vs rally desert racing and vehicles, appreciate the effort and your continued updates day to day.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2022 03:31

meowmeowmeowmeow: Jan 4, 2017

Are there any of these desert rally type races held in the US that involve navigation? I'm aware of the Baja type races and some of the road rallys but didn't see anything or was looking wrong for off-road rallys like this.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2022 20:46

meowmeowmeowmeow: Jan 4, 2017

None of the BITD races are rally raid style (right term?) with roadbooks yeah? The BITD website is pretty light on details, but it looks like 'baja-style' racing for lack of better terms.

The sonora rally looks loving sick, I'm so far from ready from doing something like that but fun to dream about for '23. Seems like a bike would be easier to build and less expensive but a truck or car easier during the race? Fun to think about for sure.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2022 23:41

meowmeowmeowmeow: Jan 4, 2017

builds character posted:

Yeah, that's right. I think generally they're called "navigation rallies." Or at least that's how I think of them which I guess isn't the same thing at all. Do you have any experience racing anything ever?

You have a dirtbike, right? If yes, then a bike is WAY EASIER TO BUILD and WAYYYYYY LESS EXPENSIVE. A truck or car is easier during the race unless something breaks. If you can't ride a motorcycle and I'm thinking of another poster then ~~you should buy a motorcycle and learn to ride~~ a SxS is probably the best answer.

Rallysprint is another name for what I call rallycross. It looks like there's an organization in the PNW but it only has cars and SxSs.
https://www.nwrallyassociation.com/rallysprint-rules/#vehicle-classification

Despite being an absolute cesspool for many things, advrider has probably the strongest US navigation rally presence on the internet. For example, some googling led me to this. https://advrider.com/f/threads/2021-socal-roadbook-rally.1488736/ which I bet you could sign up to advrider and just message that guy and be like "yo, I live in the PNW and rally is in my blooood" and then in a year you'd be posting here "amateur, wtf are you doing with all this dakar nonsense speculation, here's how it be" and post a bunch of pictures from the bivouac and tell stories and I would really like that. So, get started!

For serious though, if you're actually interested in racing I would start out with a harescramble. They're a ton of fun (I am also bad at them). Closed course, off road, nice folks and usually just a 15-45 minute lap depending on how fast you are, that you do for two hours. Also, and this is important, they are super cheap. So if you actually hate racing you can just not. Then work up to something like the stumpjumper 100. https://stumpjumpers.org/sjmc/events-and-races/desert100/

Then you just have to bite the bullet and travel to a race but at that point you should have a pretty good idea of what all you're looking for and what you enjoy and be willing to spend a little more (and I recognize here I'm spending someone else's money so...) to travel.

e: these guys have a school. https://rallypanam.squarespace.com/ But really what you want is this guy's rally school. https://jimmylewisoffroad.com/

This guy is super nice if he thinks you are worth talking to and uh... not if not but he has a nice video on the taste of dakar https://www.altrider.com/taste-of-dakar-2020/pid/1391
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDNvO7r5Jpk

All great info, thank you!

Yes I do have a dirt bike ('07 KLX250 DS) that I'm not super comfortable on but am an advanced/low expert MTB rider, the lack of comfort on the moto is mostly a lack of seat time due to lack of riding buddies. Sand riding would be a whole new world but I'm feeling pretty good on PNW forest single track as long as its not too technical or steep where the lack of familiarity with low speed moto riding skills holds me back. The idea of building out a car or truck with some buddies is very interesting as the build would be super fun, but I'd be way more likely to actually do it on a bike due to cost and level of effort involved.

That ADV rider thing looks loving sick, I'll have to send him a PM and see if he's thinking of doing one this year, would be an awesome goal to work towards. Looks like they all run bigger bikes than I have which kinda sucks but kinda adds a reason to actually look for a ktm 350 or 500 other than 'it'd be cool'. I'll have to take a browse on advrider a little more and see whats out there. Harescrambles also seem like a great starting point.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2022 00:33

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Dakar 2022