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It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  The Dakar Rally!   Thanks to things like family and “real life, what is wrong with you get off the internet and touch some grass” I’ve already succumbed to the Dakar snowball as it started today! gently caress. As a result, more of this than usual will be recycled from last year or much lazier and stage one's results won't be up until tomorrow. Hopefully along with stage two.  I cannot recommend strongly enough listening to the dakar daily podcast. It mostly follows bikes but they are the best. https://open.spotify.com/show/01uj5aeqDcmQR1yZ7ad05y NBC sports also has coverage. https://racer.com/2022/12/28/nightly-dakar-rally-coverage-begins-new-years-day-on-nbc-sports/ It’s again in Saudi Arabia so by reading this post you are helping sportswash a regime that continues to have a pretty bad humanitarian record.  I still love the race itself and by once again acknowledging the sportswashing we’re all now morally absolved of any participation in it. Right? But the US does bad things too? The british empire? No, one bad action doesn't justify other bad actions? I have a tough time with this and you should too. It happens all over and I think the very least we can do is be thoughtful about when it happens and how we react to it. There's no ethical consumption under capitalism and I like to think that you can't just say "haha, by watching this race you are now supporting all the evil things I have done. Tricked you!" But I'm not the judge.  I only care about bikes but I'm trying to include other vehicles because I like the race a lot and there are also trucks which I love and I hope you read this and also love the race. SxS and quads, you're dead to me. just kidding, I love all of you  Dakar is a rally. You have to follow a roadbook. It's... difficult. At least cars and trucks get navigators to read these pretty pictures. Husqvarna's factory team explains it all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q_iisT7RWc  If you read the pictures wrong it is bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xbnMXv9YNQ Red Bull has a really good set of get hyped about dakar videos. You should watch all of them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZycFXb6KMw The riders this year are largely the same as last year. KTM still sports the biggest team with factory riders on KTM, white KTM and red KTM. Then there's Honda who has gotten a lot better and actually won twice since stealing one of KTM's managers. Honda On team red, there's Ricky Brabec, american hero and the man whose life Talladega Nights was loosely based on.  Here is Ricky training all by himself.  Nacho Cornejo whose nickname is Nacho.  Male model Pablo Quintanilla  And joining Honda for the first time this year after Yamaha folded their factory effort (which was only Yamaha Europe anyway so...).... Wheelie boy and crowd pleaser Adrien van Beveren. Ricky Brabec does not like AVB. I don't know why but this will be fun subext to watch throughout the race.  Bang bang barreda who is super fast and SUPER GOOD at crashing has a factory Honda but had to pay his own way so is no longer a factory rider. KTM KTM has three teams. KTM, Husqvarna and Gas Gas.  (that's mason klein peeking in) We only care about one though. Husqvarna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSkvAYPjYdE Skyler Howes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FysVpRWRRvg You should root for Skyler Howes because he has a great story and is by all accounts a genuinely nice guy. He's coming in hot, having won Rallye du Maroc, the last rally on the calendar last year. He sold everything he owns to be able to race Dakar and then got a factory ride. Nobody cares about the rest of the husky team. But if you did it'd be Luciano Benavides, Kevin Benavides's brother. He's also very nice. And short. KTM On KTM we have bush mechanic Toby Price. He fixed a tire with zip ties and rode hundreds of miles on it and is generally awesome and hilarious. Also, he's very fast. And famous (if you listen to a bunch of podcasts and follow along throughout the year) for doing things like looking for folks on tinder when he's in the middle of a bivouac a hundred miles from the nearest town. Also, he has a mullet.  God, look how beautiful that mullet is. https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/watch/1981966403705 Then we have weird looking dude and Austrian so he's never getting fired from KTM and is also supposedly an amazing test rider and oh yeah he won a dakar, Matthias Walkner.  He is also good at wheelies.  Last, but not least, Gas Gas https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2948614402059640 Which has Daniel Sanders, an Australian who is 100% going to win a Dakar at some point because holy poo poo he is just so fast.   https://www.speedcafe.com/2021/12/10/video-sanders-pathway-to-dakar/ (I love the "Note: Video contains coarse language.") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfuu4Z0BjyQ And defending champion Sam "win it or bin it" Sunderland who is british and, guess what, also won a Dakar and then won another Dakar last year when he learned that "win it or bin it is a loving poo poo strategy for this race and actually "just don't lose on any one day" is the best way to win.  If you're counting along at home, that's Price, Walkner, Sunderland and Benavides who have all won a dakar riding for KTM and on Honda you have... RICKY BRABEC. Who used to be a 300lb roofer (seriously) and then got serious about racing. He's said one of his advantages is that his body is used to eating garbage because he wasn't always an elite athlete so he deals better with eating bivouac food for three weeks. Anyway, I'm obviously torn so am just rooting for everyone. KTM really is one tea.... mmm, tool roll.  Sorry, distracted. One team. They all train together and here is a picture of them eating tacos. They will definitely win because of the tacos. I don't know what to tell you but if you are going to do a race you should max out on tacos beforehand because I bet it works for them.  OK, that's the teams that are contenders. Yamaha is out this year and our remaining factory teams are Indian manufacturer Hero and Chinese company Kove.  Neither will be good but Hero will be better. Chinese companies have tried to race Dakar a number of times but they have that fundamental misunderstanding of the requirements that you so often see when something looks like "just throw a bike at it how hard can it be?" but is actually "sweet baby jesus this is impossible what the gently caress?" https://www.advpulse.com/adv-news/new-kove-450-rally-bike-hitting-north-american-showrooms-soon American Hero, Andrew Short who is faster on a motorcycle with no rear tire than you are on anything else was going to ride on Yamaha but instead he is going to be a navigator for a side by side. RIP. I just wanted to post this video again. What the hell dude? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDfBOHDgBPM Mason Klein is a young american - only 20 - and if he does well he'll probably get a factory ride next year. Look how young and helpful he is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAou9wA41Ec Dakar is dangerous. This is CS Santosh, best Indian rider ever and very good pro rider. This is just brutal to watch and hear him talk about, but it's good to see him doing a lot better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWl1GpJ5AOo This is the best page for results. http://trackingdakar.com/en/stage-1/bikes/waypoints/ You can look at the official Dakar YouTube channel and Redbull should have decent coverage this year, otherwise I’ll probably post some more pictures every few days because I like it a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_wma4-889E There are also cars. I don't have a lot of stuff on the cars but there's a real focus on moving toward hybrid and eco fuel and... we'll see what happens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOkUIfasaO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXCWUiyP4A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr6vT6jtH4g Yup, this picture is from testing last year. Not this year. Sorry. Touching grass is weird. Do not recommend it as it takes away from important reading about dakar time.  Nasser is back in his toyota. After he won last year, he's probably the favorite for this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZPSmZR9zaE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FidPPFOGwQE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcqsRCkusMs But really, probably it will be Peterhansel again. Audi is back with their hybrid electric buggy. The turbo diesel that was the generator has been replaced by an ethanol hybrid motor for this year. So we'll see how that goes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXrN8ZSa2r4 They also have Carlos Sainz, who's won the Dakar as well. He's still pretty good at driving, I heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq0CxZ7Getw Sebastien Loeb is also competing. He is not my favorite. Still. Maybe he will stop competing in dakar because every time he loses and that must be difficult for him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUMj63VUz08 The coronel brothers on the other hand are always entertaining. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXBI3_VF26M The most important thing to remember about trucks? loving kamaz. (3m12s in) https://youtu.be/3NP41lLs9ZQ   breaking news:sirens: what's this? By gawd, from the top rope it's Russia invading Ukraine and getting their partially state-owned racing truck company loving ruined by sanctions. Well, if I had to call what it would take for not-Kamaz to win it would have been something like this. https://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2022/09/kamaz-master-formally-kills-dakar-2023-plans/ At least they're coming out with a new dakar model to make up for it. https://nvl5.ru/kamaz-dakar-2023-2024/ Look how easy the terrain is for the trucks compared to the bikes and cars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x84juglO7pM Nice inside view of one of the non-kamaz trucks. It is still very confusing that a yellow truck might win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPd7RLZ2MOE New rules The really interesting new rules that were supposed to happen - having different waypoints - didn't. Because they couldn't get electronic roadbooks that you can read in the glare of the sun.  So the bikes are all going to have paper again and everyone's waypoints will be the same. https://dirtfish.com/off-road/dakar/how-navigation-is-evolving-on-the-dakar-rally/ But, there is one big rule change - to compensate for the difficulty of having to lead out in the desert vs. just following someone's tracks, they will add 1.5 second/kilometer for first, 1 second/kilometer for second and .5 second/kilometer for third until you reach the first refueling stop. The longest stage has that at 200k in so you could get up to 5 minutes if you can lead out and are then first to refueling. You almost certainly won't but it's meant to compensate for leading out and stop the game of snakes and ladders we've had the last couple years. Links If you just cycle through these links you'll be ahead of me, but that will be a pain in the rear end so instead just follow along here. https://trackingdakar.com/en/stage-0/bikes/waypoints/ https://www.dakar.com/en/stage-0/bike https://twitter.com/dakar https://www.facebook.com/dakar/photos/?ref=page_internal https://www.youtube.com/user/dakar/videos https://www.dakar.com/en/withdrawal https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dakar+2023&sp=CAI%3D https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dakar2023?src=hashtag_click&f=live https://twitter.com/hashtag/DakarRally?src=hashtag_click&f=live https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/dakar2023/ https://lnk.bio/dakar https://www.facebook.com/rally.pov https://www.youtube.com/@RallyPOV/videos https://www.youtube.com/@RalliTurkTV/videos https://www.facebook.com/mmphotocz/photos https://www.instagram.com/mchphotocz/ https://www.youtube.com/c/BrakeMagazine/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/AutoMundoARG/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/wwwmotoit/videos https://www.facebook.com/patrick.trahan https://www.facebook.com/SomosDakar/photos/?ref=page_internal https://www.facebook.com/iGo2Dakar/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100047240911730 https://www.stream4free.live/france-4 https://w.wallhaven.cc/full/4d/wallhaven-4d2wxl.jpg https://www.wikiwand.com/en/2023_Dakar_Rally https://www.instagram.com/adrienvanbeveren/ https://www.instagram.com/danielsanders_11/ https://www.instagram.com/kevinmaxbenavides/ https://www.instagram.com/tobyprice87/ https://www.instagram.com/sundersam/ https://www.instagram.com/rickybrabec/ https://www.instagram.com/skylerhowes110/ https://www.instagram.com/quintanilla102/ https://www.instagram.com/xavierdesoultrait/ https://www.instagram.com/rossbranchbw/ https://www.instagram.com/matthias_walkner/ https://www.instagram.com/francopiccoadventures/ https://www.instagram.com/joanbarredabort/ https://www.instagram.com/stefansvitko/ https://www.instagram.com/l.benavides77/ https://www.instagram.com/harithnoah8/ https://www.instagram.com/ruigoncalves999/ https://www.instagram.com/lorenzosantolino/
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Jan 2, 2023 03:45
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There are no rules. God is dead. This post is clear evidence as I am covering the prologue, stage one and stage two all at once.  Every year someone goes out before their race has really started. This year, honors go to Eduardo Iglesias Sanches.  He's doing OK now. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm1FlTeNZYb/?hl=en But things were awfully rough after his crash in the prologue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Belonrqra6I Daniel Sanders, on the other side of things, gives us a little show. Will he replace AVB as the fan favorite? Maybe. He finished the prologue in second. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm1Dgs7hzJe/ His countryman, Toby Price, the ninth wonder of the world finished first after a little refreshment. Remember kids, drink Red Bull and/or Monster but not the real stuff, instead the cans of water that are given to athletes for branding purposes.  Kevin Benavides, also fast, but not Toby Price. You can tell because Toby is too heavy for his bike to get air. It's OK, he's still very fast. And handsome. And beloved.  Ross Branch, the kalahari ferrari (seriously that's still his nickname) finished the prologue in third on hero. He's very good and fast so maybe hero will also finish on the podium this year (but he is not as good and as fast as the guys on honda or any of the KTMs and his bike is not as good so he will not).  "I'm sure I could do this. I am very good at driving." I hear you think. Sure, sure, but could you do it with a person in the seat next to you shouting nonsense? Probably you could.  Full prologue video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTb9G7j5E-E Get the gently caress out of the way of the trucks or you will die. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=614884633972154&ref=sharing This video has some more angles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLYgtl8XmPw Also get out of the way of the cars, but, you know, not as fast because they are small and you'll be fine if they hit you. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1907175389621182 If you speak italian, the folks at fantic are doing videos of the whole rally. I do not speak italian, sadly. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=569155821270760 Yes, SxSs are real vehicles and not horrible abominations driven entirely by jackasses with two coolers full of beer, a belly that jiggles like a bowl full of jelly and pristine fingernails unblackened by maintenance and I am sure deserve attention too. https://www.facebook.com/559460983/videos/557516685965132/ Ricky Brabec wants you to know that he sees you and you matter to him.  Unless it's on course. Then the only thing that matters is speed. And honda's electricals not catching on fire or failing in another way.  The Coronel brothers continue to have fun at the dakar. Respect to them for being loaded and doing this with their money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sEa7KQMLJ4 The extended highlights this year actually seem pretty decent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EOsmysrJPE Good luck, dad! Have a good day at work.  https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609810720052416512?cxt=HHwWgMC4xcOUmdcsAAAA The big question this year is whether Audi can come back and not have a dumpster fire of a rally with things going wrong and putting a whole shitload of stress on one of their rear suspension items that wasn't meant to bear that much weight and then it breaks over and over and your car dies and you ruin a year of Mr. Dakar. Or will Nasser in his toyota win again?  Audi started out well winning the prologue but it doesn't really matter. You can really only lose the rally in the first week. Not win it. Loeb second, Peterhansel third and Al-Attiyah (that's Nasser) fourth with Sainz a pathetic 13 seconds back in sixth. Get your head in the game, man. https://motorsport.tv/embed/34h6j7hI-dakar-2023-top-competitors-autos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYc-gQdi41Q And now, on to stage one.  https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609766651653951488  The first stage was long. Let's take a moment to watch Sam Sunderland's little blurb on trying to repeat. I'm sure me focusing on this right now is meaningless and nobody should worry about what happens three lines later in this post. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE9jwmKi7xI We finally stole Petr Angelo Vlcec from the Czech Republic so I bought a t-shirt this year. He's lived in South Carolina forever and races his Dakar rally bike in the sandblast rally every year but this is his first year flying the US flag.   This motorbicycle, it is made of pasta. Not the al dente kind. The "this post is a racism against italians" kind. Sorry, I still don't speak italian but Kove is still in it! So that's good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IINhMO1yIEo Mason Klein leads out. Huh, weird that Sunderland isn't on there....  Oh. Oh...   At least he's OKish?   And his bike is OK!  Rolling with that #1 plate before the crash.  Niiiiiice. Too bad the rider retired.  Well, who hasn't lost today?  Kevin Benavides hasn't lost!  Ross Branch crashed and now his eyes are gone. Listen to this poo poo. He is so absurdly tough. https://www.facebook.com/639925622/videos/475187984788563/ Bradley Cox is out too with a disclocated elbow.  Skyler Howes finished in eight. Good job not losing on stage one!  Other, less good American, Ricky Brabec, finished in first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSHj7h2gRso    A brief break for some heartwarming SxS content. Overheated CVT. https://twitter.com/Tijntjuuhh/status/1609588235189248000 And in cars, Oscar Fuertes did a thing. This is going to be on all the highlights. https://twitter.com/i/status/1609585179177132036 OK, back to bikes. The Koves made it! 1.5-2 hours off the top pace... but still faster than I'd have done it  Luciano Benavides also made it! Only ten minutes back.  Stage One extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RnwearO02E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCIbnPpxonc  In cars, Sainz came in first, keeping in Audi in top spot with Loeb in second, Nasser in 8th and Peterhansel in 10th. https://twitter.com/i/status/1609890220484296704 In trucks, it's going to be the Czechs, Macik vs. Loprais, the whole way I think and probably quite confusing for them too. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609589094841212931 Pictured: not Kamaz.   Poor tiziano. I really hope he finishes. Crash at ~3m 55seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N60G4PfoM0s Worth watching for the subtitles "dude, what's that?" "look out!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdYFAF7Ps6Q Franco Caimi from Argentina in some spectacular scenery far from home.  Sometimes the desert is wet. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609833178650316801   And now, on to stage two!   Some beautiful scenery opened up stage two.   This is appropriate spectator distance.  Carlos Sainz's bivouac is slightly different than the malle moto (or "Original by motul" bivouacs...)  This is what the refueling stops look like. Yes, you have to speak french there. https://www.facebook.com/559460983/videos/867310207938811/ I know Ricky Brabec is no Skyler Howes, but it's just a brutal sport for everyone. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cm5ilBmMHZS/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D This fast and you still come in four minutes behind the leader. https://twitter.com/i/status/1609848968640622592 Mason Klein! Remember, I called him being in line for a factory ride yesterday? It's really nice when the writers arrange things so well: he won stage two!  Just a reminder. He's twenty. Maybe twenty one now? Either way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxZiP7Fgkgs Howes came in third to move up to 7th overall, five minutes back. This is a good position generally although second is probably a little faster than he wanted to finish.  Better than his riding? His mustache.  Boy howdy.  So far, Sunderland is the only top rider out of it. We'll see what the remaining days in the first week bring... I'm sure it will all be fine. Oh.  Imagine crashing in this stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq1EiOz7jKs Ow. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609906842066620417 Mandatory SxS content.  And don't worry, in the coming days now that I've caught up and nothing will happen and I will be on time for all the remaining stages and have extra time for sure I will do another post about all the cars in the dakar classics category too.    Interviews. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYnoe5gIboE In cars, Peterhansel lost 36 minutes on first, with Nasser https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609927087988822019  Peterhansel on the Audi. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609959430715756546 It's OK though because Loeb came in an hour and twenty minutes back. Oops. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usJI3Ekb_ws OK, it is impressive that they repaired their tires (after breaking all of the spares) and rode in on plugs in the Dakar Rally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j0IauhmfvM That puts Sainz in first overall with Nasser two minutes back and Peterhansel 36 minutes back. Something for the fetishists among you. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609886214907396096 Coronel Brothers again. Let's enjoy them until they crash out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9_NRl50CJI Some in-car action. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609915764861026304 God damnit, we went over this already. GET OUT OF THE WAY OF THE TRUCKS YOU WILL DIE. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1609946347544666113 The best constellation. Stop ruining the view, SxS.  In trucks, Macik finished an hour and twenty minutes behind Loprais, in first. van Kasteren was second - must have been an issue with timing somewhere as Loprais was two minutes faster.  Stage Two extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s473o7fbErM Let's watch this video of Skyler Howes and Mason Klein hanging out. I love them and would absolutely watch a buddy cop movie about them only instead of cops they're rally racers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyjG3wL6N9M
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Jan 3, 2023 03:36
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SlowBloke posted:Youtube autotranslate is 95% accurate in this case, since the speaker does the standard youtuber voice which helps the ML engine. Because I am so diligent, I saw it before youtube had done its magic with autotranslate being a possibility.  But yeah, I agree this is a great option. Last year Kamaz was putting up 20 minute videos every day that were just fantastic and I used auto translate to watch them all. Even when I didn't understand the exact words, I think it did pretty well with the spirit of the thing. Which was "lol, look how loving good our truck is."
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Jan 3, 2023 20:24
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Stage Three Bill Conger also races in the US. He is very fast and for a long time rode an Aprilia MXV550 at Sandblast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yo4kEMTocw And he was the navigator for the new top gear goes to baja in a sxs bit. Look, there he is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up_BdQeUCJ4 Anyway, he's pretty nice in person and has raced dakar a few times on a bike and now he's back as a navigator and it is raining. A lot. I'm sure this makes the liaison extra fun for the bikes. https://www.facebook.com/1430450718/videos/562577308720872/ Look how early it is!   Speaking of bikes, today is the first day that the new rule about leading out goes into effect. 1.5seconds/k for 1st, 1 for 2nd, .5 for 3rd. Only counts through refueling but it's meant to stop the yoyo of leading out, then dropping a ton of time, then blazing through the pack to lead out again, then dropping a ton of time. Let's see how it works, shall we?  After his (first of many I expect) stage win, Mason Klein had to lead out.  At the beginning there are five minutes between starts (and then reduces to three at some point). That means he has a five minute head start and the folks behind him get to follow his tracks until they catch up. It's a lot easier to follow tracks because it reaffirms your decisions when reading the roadbook at speed and if you're following tracks from 10+ bikes you can probably just turn your brain off and follow. Then, when you see a person in front, you can watch them for contours in the terrain. They might have to slow down for a big ditch or gully but if you see them just dip a little bit before they're through you can go full gas and hit it and this really adds up over time. Of course, once you catch them you have to be faster straight up to pass. Anyway, what this means is that everyone will be chasing him to the refueling station and if he stays in the lead until then he gets a bunch of time added back. I know it's spoiling things a bit but here, you can see the time added back, bringing him from what would have been seventh place back up to third.  First place went to Daniel "Chucky" Sanders. His nickname comes from overeating until he threw up when he was younger. Australia is a savage place where only the strong survive but it gives us men of steel like Chucky and Toby Price. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1tWtxW252w  Thanks to the time bonus, Skyler Howes actually came in second instead of fifth! He had a great day. And his mustache continues to live on in spectacular glory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3mKw6UzWv4   Walkner is gutting it out after yesterday with a tenth place finish. I can't imagine riding again after a bad fall breaking The big news of the day though is that our second former champion is out.  Ricky Brabec crashed 274 km into the special stage and had neck pain which is probably short for "holy poo poo this dude ragdolled like gumby being shot out of a cannon and we cannot believe he is not dead." He was absolutely flying, matching pace with Daniel Sanders, before crashing and it will be interesting to see how much longer Sanders can maintain his pace before he crashes (I think I've mentioned, as soon as Sanders learns to ride at 99 or 95% instead of 100, he's going to win a dakar).  This is particularly heartbreaking because the stage was actually shortened after the medical copters couldn't fly anymore thanks to weather. It does look pretty gross though https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1226811798232390 Fourth place went to Benavides who is in the group of top riders still in line for a victory.   And... what's this? AN MCH PHOTOGRAPHY DUMP OF THE HONDA'S MEDIA SHOTS IN MEMORY OF RICKY BRABEC'S DAKAR CHANCES?!?!?!?      I love this shot.      As our heroes ride off into the sunset, only one question remains.  Who could have placed that rock at precisely the right angle to derail Brabec's dakar hopes? Who indeed, Mr. van Beveren, who indeed?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3fwshcAUYc Old stage two photos. At least they got the picture right on the second try.   Ross Branch, tough as nails. Eye location still unknown.  You take the low road and I'll oh god please don't run me over I'm so scared.  One of my favorite genres - not quite-flying trucks.  And actually flying cars.  And photographers!  And, obviously, bikes.    Rodolphe de Palmas.  The sun probably makes driving easier.  Good job not hitting that rock.    The MCH rides.  In Dakar classic news, gently caress yes inject that porsche with big wheels directly into my veins.  Oh, I see.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tEcgbcVgJ8 Yes, you are also fine.  And I love you too.  This will be my only "GET TO DA CHOPPA" joke for today.  You may have one SxS content, as a treat because you have made it this far.  I have never sympathized with a feeling of dejection more. This is what dakar would be like for me.  Not, no matter how much I might want it, like this.   In truck news, they have't finished yet but Macik is up front on stage and here is three minutes onboard with current leader Aleš Loprais. I want to drive this truck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjf9MGK0doY  How to make tea: step one, find a nice quiet spot.  In cars, Carlos Sainz had a bad day. https://twitter.com/SoyMotor/status/1610248540764180482 This is widely considered less good than Sebastien Loeb having a bad day.  Chicerit finished in first, with Peterhansel seven minutes back in third. Nasser finished 13th, 21 minutes back and Sainz bad day cost him 56 minutes. Loeb finished 37 minutes back thanks to moral turpitude. That means the overall is still up for grabs. Peterhansel is 21 minutes behind Nasser in the overall with Sainz 33 minutes back. Early days and you can't win yet, but you can still lose. Nobody has done that yet but Audi has work to do if they want to take the trophy.  Remember earlier when I was talking about the stage being shortened because helicopters can't fly?   And the trucks not being finished yet? Yeah, look at this. I honestly don't know what they'll do. Maybe reroute everyone when they hit refueling or checkpoints but for those in the middle of it? Good luck and welcome to Dakar. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=877819443531361   Trucks are the most virtuous vehicle.  Without them where would we be? https://twitter.com/isma_mvp/status/1610304469488762883 A very odd motorcycle.  Pocket sand!  And gift bags! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raIdJqT4hKo You have died. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cm8qQYPBWi7
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Jan 3, 2023 20:24
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SlowBloke posted:Stage 3 extended summary is out  That weather looks even more horrible in this. I'll be curious to see if this is an issue for anywhere else or if Saudi Arabia has different weather patterns from coast to coast. I guess it doesn't really matter because the next two stages are tulip style out and backs to the same bivouac so we may be seeing stage closures or at the very least adjustments from the floods for the next two days. Little more bill conger content. https://www.facebook.com/1430450718/videos/726681738670459/ "I see that, I see that, I see that, please let me do that!" builds character fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jan 3, 2023 |
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Jan 3, 2023 22:10
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T Zero posted:Pardon my ignorance, but how/why does one get a speeding penalty at Dakar? An important thing to remember is that despite moving more and more toward a wholly professional closed course race, this started out as a bunch of dudes riding from Paris to Dakar after one of them got lost and almost died in the desert. It is also so long that, like the Tour de France which is coincidentally run by the same folks, it traverses the countryside. The countryside includes people. People who get touchy about hundreds of high powered racing vehicles tearing through their towns. Of course those people are generally poor and not in charge of the country (but capable of putting obstructions up nonetheless…) so the compromise is speed zones. You might have a special stage that goes tearing through the desert for 200k, hits a little village and drops to 50kph for 10k and then goes back up to race pace. There’s a very loud device that beeps when you hit speed zones so you know to slow down. But not everyone does. And then they get a penalty. The penalties get worse the more you do it so speeding is meaningless now but at the end of the rally if you’re sloppy can be significant. There are also speed zones before the refueling and checkpoints so you don’t have racers coming in at 100mph to a place with rally employees setup. There’s also a futile attempt to slow the bikes down by limiting them to 160kph top speed. But no mechanical limit. Interestingly, apparently some factory teams have a button you push when you’re in a speed zone and it will sit the bike right on the speed limit without going over.
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Jan 4, 2023 05:47
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https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1610588621660360705 Stage Four  I had some concern that the stage would be shortened or cancelled because of weather but, while there were apparently a few moments of navigating water hazards, generally the rain had passed and made for great sand with tremendous traction.  Generally.  Not always,  but generally.  In bikes, Daniel Sanders is six minutes back but with a positive 3m48s bonus for opening, he's currently sitting in first overall! Maybe he is learning to take it just slow enough? I suspect that what's happening is that he's actually slow because he's spent this whole year recovering from last Dakar's injury (and then the re-injury when he tried to come back too soon) and this is the first race he's done since and he's still tender (his elbow seems like it was proper hosed but who knows) and he's going to start to fade and make mistakes in the second half. That's my guess, but we shall see. It would certainly be exciting if he just played it slow for the first half and then went WOT the second. And when he does, I think he might be the fastest rider out there right now. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1610693919162908672 Here you can see the live tracking showing Mason Klein, Howes and Chucky all opening the tracks and getting their bonus time.  Mason Klein in particular continues to really impress. He and Chucky will have some fantastic battles over the next ten years if this is any indication.  But in first? NACHO!  Just kidding, it's actually bang bang, joan barreda bort. Nacho stopped to help someone and initially got a full 25 minutes back but they ended up cutting that down a little, giving the stage win to Bang Bang (or bam bam if you're less charitable with your nicknames - he goes fast but he crashes a lot). The rule in play here is that if you stop to assist a fellow competitor who is in distress (medical or a crash type distress, not just "wow, this race really is difficult" distress) then you get back the time that you were stopped.  Speaking of honda, we've had a lot of KTM recently, and while there are still the top three and seven of the top ten riding bikes from Mattighofen, let's check out some Honda pictures. They still have 3/4 of their top riders in the top ten and that's nothing to sneeze at.    Back on KTM, Matthias Walkner's hand is broken. He continues to ride on it. Is this a good idea? No, absolutely not.  Of course, it could be worse.  It could always be worse (that's actually Benediktas Vargas who drives a car and is also out).  At least his bike is OK.  Before he crashed.  One running theme since the Dakar moved to Saudi Arabia is that Aramco is not very good at providing the riders with gas that doesn't have water in it. Starting in 2021 with Andrew Short (an American) and then today with Mason Klein, another American and... wait a minute is this a conspiracy theory I smell? https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cm_iSXXhSWN/ You make the gas in-country*, at least give us the good stuff. *no idea if this is true, I assume that because I am saying it for comedic effect it is just crude they produce and it's actually refined elsewhere. In the cars, Peterhansel and Sainz both stole back a minute from Nasser but Al-Attiyah remains firmly in the lead  with his teammate Yazeed Al Rajhi 18 minutes back in second, https://twitter.com/YazeedRacing/status/1610724944534446081 just a half minute ahead of Peterhansel. Yes, I know this is a picture of Sainz. He is also fast and would you have really noticed if I hadn't said anything? I talk about it later, but note you can see from the sand that it's a two wheel drive buggy.  Loeb also managed to win the stage. Great. Huzzah. https://twitter.com/BRaidXtreme/status/1610735337092808705 An interesting subplot in the cars is whether or not an absolutely livid Nasser is faster. Because he is loving pissed. Why is Nasser, who is 18 and a half minutes ahead of the Audis pissed off? Well, funny you should ask. You see there's always some sense that the orga gives preferential treatment to the French. Sure, Mr. Dakar, Peterhansel is easily the best ever and there's no question about it. But he's also French. And, well, read for yourself.  Yup, there are power equivalence rules for Audi's electric buggy and they must have paid the extra $5k to unlock turbo mode. Nasser is, to put it mildly, furious. The tension between his toyota and the audis is both gas vs. electric(ish) and 4x4 vs. a 4x2 buggy. The buggy gets bigger tires and more suspension travel and was a wildly successful platform until it stopped being fun and all the manufacturers quit and Nasser got to win (also they changed the rules on his tires, letting him run bigger tires in the 4x4 class and that helped a lot). https://www.instagram.com/p/CnABZUMsI_-/ This is what he drove like before he was angry. Let's see how he turns out tomorrow... https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm_xXdkh6kf/ I don't know enough one way or the other to tell you whether or not this is a fair decision. Audi definitely provides their telemetry data to the orga but is it a sanitized version? Because Carlos Sainz doesn't look like he needs a lot of help flying up this hill. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1610628487949213696 The checkpoints certainly do go by quickly for the Audis... Seriously, great job by the stamper here. https://twitter.com/OfficialW2RC/status/1610568432247881728 I don't know if you remember Laia Sanz, the fastest woman in the world on a bike, but she is racing cars now. She is still fast. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1101707060525696/?s=single_unit In Trucks, Macik was first on the day, pulling nine minutes back on Loprais.  Second went to dutchman Vandenbrink who is now also second overall, 27 minutes back of Loprais. Trucks are interesting because they tend to either just keep plowing along because they have a lower speed limit on course (because holy poo poo can you imagine these loving things without any speed limit at all? Everyone would die but it would be like group B times a thousand) or have huge swings and in the past it's been a Kamaz 1-2 or 1-2-3 so it will be interesting to see how things change as this race goes on. Loprais has the real advantage but can he remain mistake free? He certainly can't keep giving up 9 minutes a stage. Whatever happens? https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1610737833685155853 Trucks own. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1610730283711471617 Extended coverage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tQt7dIH76g Some sweet, sweet dakar classic cars. Cars and trucks 2m in. https://www.facebook.com/adrenaline24h/videos/572584441378077 And another in french. https://www.facebook.com/pascal.sibeyre/videos/859547508633328 Mmmmmmm, safari porsche. https://www.facebook.com/reel/445552107651228/?s=single_unit That must mean it's time for a DAKAR CLASSIC INTERLUDE  Beautiful.   But beauty takes work.  Teamwork.  But mostly work with hammers.  And power tools.  And shovels.  And in the end?  It's all worth it  because you get something like this.  poo poo, poo poo. Sorry, I meant something like this.  Or this  Something wondrous  And spare  And true  Redbull got some great footage here. https://www.facebook.com/RedBullMotorsports/videos/477726091190623 Get some learning done while you're here. This is actually a great account. https://twitter.com/Geo_Dakar If you know the right folks, instead of hanging out in your truck waiting for things to kick off...  You get to hang out here.  My favorite photographers are MCH https://www.facebook.com/mchphoto.cz/, who are again official photographers for the ASO. They will have a huge photo dump at the end again and I will just repost all their pictures and you can save them for the desktop because they are literally the best. But a close second is MM https://www.facebook.com/mmphotocz and they're also just great. Just look at these pictures. A perfect example of what the rain does to the sand. Look how small the rooster tail is - all the power is going into moving the bike forward instead of kicking sand in the air.  If you're thirsty, they're thirsty.    Playing peekabo with the helicopters.   truck   Every time I see someone hiding behind a rock like this I am reminded of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and the lee of the stone.    They even make quads look good.     And with that, we say: goodnight bikes.  Goodnight trucks.  Goodnight quads.  Goodnight Dakar classic-category cars.  Goodn...Wait a minute... is that?  It's SKYLER HOWES!  gently caress  Yes 
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Jan 5, 2023 05:27
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I forgot the best part of the whole day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uccp7n8HYjw It's beautiful. This is also beautiful. Just listen to him. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmRHDR6jYwk
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Jan 5, 2023 05:52
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SlowBloke posted:Stage 5 summary is up
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Jan 6, 2023 06:59
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Stage Five Honda has now won three out of the first five stages! Adrien van Beveren brought home the win today, showing why starting out 5-8 is the best spot per traditional wisdom - close enough to the front that you don't have too many ruts or other riders to pass, but far enough back that the tracks are all laid out for you and you can focus on throttle to the donkey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u-1EO_kuOs I'm sure it's all coincidence that Brabec won and then crashed out, and then Bang Bang won and, you guessed it, promptly crashed. And then got run over by Toby "I like to start the Dakar at 100 kilos" Price (riders typically lose 5-20 lbs over the two week course) so being able to shovel gorbage into your pie hole and starting out just with just a little extra fat is actually a pretty helpful strategy. Look at this absolute beauty. Just look at him.   Anyway, I'm not saying that AVB did it because I'm scared of him but I ain't saying he didn't do it either. Despite the crash that was definitely not caused by the french, and Bang Bang actually being knocked out, he managed to get back on his bike and finish the stage. I don't know if this is the crash or a navigation error, but you can see from the tracks here that he had some difficulty today but managed to keep up with AVB, Price, Howes and Quintanilla.  Nacho finished second navigating entirely by himself (he's an incredible navigator even relative to the other riders) but AVB pipped him to first by 13 seconds.  Price was in third and moved up into second  two minutes back of fifth place finisher and your current Dakar Rally leader, Skyler Howes!    The rally doesn't really start until after the rest day but we're really seeing the stage being set for the second half at this point with the top seven all within about ten minutes. Daniel Sanders, after a blazing start and being in first yesterday promptly got diarrhea. The course looks miserable enough without being desperately sick. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnDs2-RoTlJ The worst day of your life so far. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnDPc6OK01A/ These riders are just incredibly tough.  Ace Nilson posted:And just like that my Dakar dream has come to an end. I started the day Stage 5) feeling refreshed and ready for the challenge that was ahead. I was having the best day! The bike was handling great and even talked the team into running a baja style tyre for the sandy stage! What a difference compared to the Michelin Desert Race. I was accelerating up dunes and literally hooting and hollering in my helmet! We also made a spring change in the forks and the boyz from DUUST and WP Factory absolutely nailed it. The bike was absolutely perfect. It opened with 65km of fast flowing sandy roads and a few easy dunes, then progressed into larger dunes. All was going great until km172. 4th gear through the valley of the dunes picking my lines - surfing the sand and wham! The rear of the bike slid down the right side of a rut (front stayed up) and the high sided and threw me. How sand can be so soft and so hard within feet of itself remains a mystery to me! Unfortunately I landed on the hard pack on my right side. Wind knocked out of me it took me a few minutes to gather myself. The phone on the bike was ringing and someone was asking if I was ok. I insisted I was but I honestly didn’t know what was what yet. I had pain all over but nothing broke so I picked up the bike and started to push forward! I made it to the next gas stop where a trauma doctor checked me out. He actually cleared me and I finished the stage (200km) in a lot of pain hoping his diagnosis was correct. The 129km liaison was brutal as the pain Med was clearly gone. Once back to the bivouac I went to the medical center on site for X-rays. Inconclusive so that bought me a ticket to the local trauma center for more X-rays and a complete CT scan revealed multiple non-displaced fractures of transverse vertebrae (T-4, T-5, T-6) and bilateral fractures of sternum/rib junction. That landed me in the ICU for the next 24-48 hours. To say I’m gutted would be a huge understatement. I’m sorry I can’t continue but as soon as he read the CT he gave me the news that I was done. So heart wrenching I can’t even describe. Far worse than the pain from these injuries… thank you for all your support! Absolutely incredible.  This is a cool look at the CR-6, one of the "cheap" buggies in the car class. Quite interesting if you want to learn a bit more about some technical specs (although if you have questions about other technical specs, let me know and I'll do my best). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_xGnCXguV0 I can't figure out how to just link the video but holy poo poo, Peterhansel almost kills these guys. https://www.carburando.com/notas/impresionante-peterhansel-casi-atropella-a-espectadores-en-el-dakar With the airbag vests, we now have data on crashes. Sam Sunderland's crash that knocked him out on day one was over 27 Gs! That's a lot. But what caught my eye was the half a second of flight and what looks like almost two seconds of tumbling is absolutely brutal as well.  You may remember Lyndon Poskitt from his series "Lyndon does a poo at the dakar rally." It's great and well worth watching. He gave a great technical explanation of some of the ways that you can run out of fuel on a bike like Hero's Ross Branch did.  It is well worth a read. Lyndon Poskitt posted:I don't know for sure if this is what happened to hero but I have a lot of experience with the Husky/KTM/GagGas bikes and pretty sure Hero use a similar system, so to answer the question "How do they run out of fuel", here is my 0.02c on one of the ways they can. This is quite common, seem it many times before and so take extra precautions to make sure it doesn't happen. It's something the guys get trained to spot and resolve quickly at my rally school. This is different to water in fuel, that is a whole different scenario Extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghiro1wWTio Ready for some side by side content? This one is a bit of a crossover.  You may remember Manny Lucchese, the loveable italian who gave us this great "how much does it really cost" video and managed to do Dakar on a shoestring budget for years. He's back driving that SxS!  His experience in malle moto probably helped him fix it but it's still awful to be starting the liason at 10:30pm.  In Dakar classic, please, take an hour and ten minutes and watch this (bonus Ken Block appearance). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFghtD7QQ4I I don't particularly care for Sebastien Loeb because he came in to Dakar quite entitled and blaming everyone but himself for his losses. I've been pretty up front about that and I like to joke about disliking him but I don't really actively dislike him, he's still driving plaid-speed fast and the mentality required to have the success he has had over his career is one that probably doesn't net you a ton of friends. I'm certain he doesn't care. Still, all of that said, when you see a scene like this you have to feel for the guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83alynO8los I mean, look at that. Totally his navigator's fault for driving directly over the lip of that dune, assuming it would be fine on the other side instead of doing the little crabwalk you see literally every other top competitor doing to crest a dune. Yup, that's on the codriver. To say nothing of the orga for not marking it properly and the buggy for not having enough power/suspension/handling/dust in his ey...  poo poo, you think he heard me?  Elsewhere in cars we have the Nasser vs. Audi "discussion" heating up a beat as Audi fired back on social media.  Earlier I'd posted this video of Sainz climbing a hill saying he didn't need help up it. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1610628487949213696 But if you look at the same hill and what Nasser did then I think there's an open question about whether Audi has less power/torque, they have the same power but they're delivering it differently (this is what I think is probably happening) or it's a function of 2wd vs 4wd.   Despite the unfairness of changing a competitor's power in the middle of a race, angry Nasser is fast Nasser. He put two more minutes on Sains and almost four on Peterhansel today, putting him 22 up on the overall on Peterhansel. That's still well within the amount you can lose in a single day, but you can tell he's mad - usually he posts "MAXIMUM ATTACK" when he has a fast day. Here? Nothing. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnDqxWMhtIg/ See, maximum attack! https://www.instagram.com/p/CnCzBsGh82v/ But don't worry.  Mr. Dakar doesn't panic.  These folks panic.  These folks definitely panic.  This poor pro (Jakup Przygonski) is already an hour and fifty minutes back in his ford raptor.  The orga has the dumbest rule about media ever which is that they typically don't let you have more than a couple of minutes of consecutive footage and a cap of something like ten minutes/day and ahhhh, I demand more than just these three minutes riding along with Loprais! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOUMI0Z8NGY Loprais remains in first in trucks, while his main rival is shaping up to be Martin Van Den Brink, who is 15 minutes back and racing in his fifteenth dakar.  He is not impressed with Macik's 54 minute deficit.  This is what it feels like to wake up and know you are going to drive a dakar truck.  Give  Me  All  The  Trucks  https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnACI3tB6uF and bikes, please  
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Jan 6, 2023 07:00
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AFewBricksShy posted:I love this thread every year. Thanks for posting it Thanks! SlowBloke posted:Daily stage recap is out That was fast! Nicely done.
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Jan 7, 2023 01:06
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Stage Six A cold morning to start.  But folks manage to keep warm. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611241961738096640 God drat, look at Skyler riding at the end of this video. It reminds me of Dakar winner (two times) Toby Price which is bad news for everyone else. https://twitter.com/OfficialW2RC/status/1611433661718532107 Except Toby Price who is still himself.  And still beautiful.  Dakar winner (one time only) Walkner looks pretty OK too, to be honest. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611321051526356994 His wrist is improving. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnEvlUpjN5l/  And so is his mood. Matthias Walkner posted:
But it was Luciano Benavides who won stage six.  Howes managed to maintain his lead in the overall by finishing second while Price remains in touching distance having finished third and only 3:31 back.  But you can see there's still everything to play for with the top seven all managing to stay within touching distance under 13 minutes back.  Here's the scene of the crash for stage five where Bang Bang crashed and Price crashed into him.  Stage Seven is cancelled for the bikes, but cars, trucks and dakar classic (which race a different course) will all be racing tomorrow. I am skeptical that the tiredness of the riders is any consideration at all but it's an interesting though. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611407632358588452 https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611407636351811584 It does look a bit wet still.  But generally there are only two kinds of weather problems that will lead to cancellation: floods washing out the trail or not being able to fly the medical helicopters.  And this?  It's not the former.  Anyway, as I said, dakar classic...  You can see  These?  These are not the same dunes that are evident in the stage for the rest of the competitors.  Bill is enjoying his time at the Dakar. It's a little funny to me to think that you'd have the dakar rally in your backyard and you'd go do hillclimbs like this instead of watching it. https://www.facebook.com/bill.conger.3/posts/pfbid0FtVcdX1NLZMEb8uCJYMEWz6bpyFBxtwVvqXfn7NPweU9mbdMu1fvmUDf8wSm8mxJl Like these folks.  Of course, it's not all local hillclimbs...   Bill Conger posted:Thirteen hours later we are still in the car with at least an hour to go, could be longer as the ASO just sent a bulletin neutralizing the final arrival check point due to traffic jams approaching and in Riyadh. And as I type this traffic comes to a halt. And from back at stage three. It's one of the problems with the dakar - it's a long outdoor race and you can't control the weather. https://www.facebook.com/bill.conger.3/posts/pfbid02aG4BkVR9AgR6fNbxn5LAqfqYd8wu3pFduQxnF2Rxuc7qHyLv6ibqo1ZdvUmvoXeJl This is how you drive in the dunes. https://www.facebook.com/100003846555615/videos/743612753769182?idorvanity=249190166573147 And now to the big story of the day... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfk0VxBCjc4 Well well well, I guess those eleven extra HP really were too much. Nasser was just trying to look out for the Audis. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611326727795478530 Peterhansel doesn't even remember going over the dune. His copilot was airlifted out although his car wasn't badly damaged. However, you can see that Sainz's car in the video has an issue with something in the rear suspension. I wonder if it's the same problem that the Audis had last year. Watching this interview, I should probably take back all the mean things I said about Loeb now. Oof. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611410308169609216  But even if Peterhansel makes the same mistakes Loeb does, he's no Nasser. This is great sportsmanship. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnEsafys5JB/ Nasser posted:In the heat of the moment, I reacted harshly to the FIA’s EOT decision. I like to defend my title fairly, and at the first instant, the decision did not seem fair. I now understand the situation better, and would like to apologise for my earlier post. And then, back to MAXIMUM ATTACK! https://www.instagram.com/p/CnE4eanBXvz/  and a stage win. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnFUtUGhD--/  Sainz and Peterhansel are out. At least Sainz finished last year. It will be interesting to see if the rally lets them compete again, even if just for the testing.  I imagine the crash was somewhere like this, just much bigger. In the video it looked like they may have just destroyed suspension components so I wonder how fast they were going.  Imagine crashing so hard in a car that you were knocked out for five minutes and then continuing on. https://twitter.com/GCKmotorsport/status/1611423286554165249 Side by sides are also racing.  Keep digging, you'll get to the other side of that dune soon enough. Or a truck will be along to rescue you.  hilux  bikes and cars living in harmony.  This is interesting. I don't see the front tires kicking up sand but the toyotas should all be 4x4.  Truck time!  Project 2030 is a fully electric truck. THE FUTURE IS N.... well, it's eventually anyway.  What a great truck. One hundred forty five furious horsepower https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611421253319155713 Claudio Bellina also has a good truck. That livery pops in the sand.  But he did not finish top on the day. That honor was reserved for M. Van Den Brink. No, not Martin. His twenty year old son, Mitchel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHX1MTyBCDA Throwing a little shade at his son but still a good dad. Martin Van Den Brink posted:You cannot win the Dakar on the first day. It’s a two-week race for which you need a lot of experience, which is why older drivers often do well I think. Last year I finished in sixth position so this year, with no Kamaz, we must fight for the podium! Maybe if Macik's dad was competing instead of just serving as his mechanic he'd be higher up in the overall?  Loprais is still in first. M.V.D.B. senior is in second, twenty three seconds back. Macik is fourth, thirty minutes back. No, that's not this stage but look at the angle of Loprais's front tire.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7QA_wE0QEw and behind van Kasteren.  Usually it's all russians at the top. This year you have to be either Czech or Dutch.  Extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPOQwGI-fks These helicopter pilots are just insane.  https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611416876562911235 The coronel brothers take some tea. https://twitter.com/TimCoronel/status/1611315203798360064 You're going to want that later. https://twitter.com/sada_alralyat/status/1611385451134287872 Bivouac mechanic albeit in spanish. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnAdhgYIGF5/ You got a little sand on you. Not so much there or there as... right there.  Teeny tiny headlights remind me of a crab.  You think this car looks small in the scenery? Wait until we get to the empty quarter after the rest day.   Very clever tire-saving technique.         Of course, not everyone has mastered it yet.   Sanders is clearly only half recovered.  Nacho is using the opportunity to play shadow puppets on the desert sand.  Even the cars are getting in on the action.     The bivouac is a huge affair.  But not everyone makes it back to the bivouac. 
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Jan 7, 2023 01:06
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Stage Seven Thanks to weather  Stage seven was cancelled for the bikes.  Technically not cancelled, just converted entirely to liaison so if they crash or their bike breaks on stage they can’t get outside assistance)  What are the cars even going to do without any bikes to follow?  Oh… yeah, fair enough. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnHiiYfvcYF/?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk= While the cars were getting lost, the bikes improvised on the first day of the marathon stage to the bivouac.  Marathon stage means that you don’t get a motor home and everyone sleeps in a big tent. Just like the Malle moto folks. dakar website posted:The bivouac in Ha’il was disfigured by the rain that poured down yesterday. For the bikers who arrived feeling freezing cold, they had to look for solutions to warm up. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611779973655953409?s=20&t=RaFJgrq7PkjhGItuhj3gqA But there are still some creature comforts before you head out.  That’s the spot.  The crews will meet up with them tomorrow night. In the meantime…  In cars, frankly it’s not much of a competition anymore. Nasser is an hour ahead and even if he gets lost along with everyone else every day he should be able to nurse a lead to the finish. Only some real problems of his own making (or a bunch of flats in a row) will stop him from winning at this point. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnH6-I5hk8k/?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk=  He’s not even “maximum attack”ing anymore. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnH-byYBxZj/?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk= RIP Audi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w1Mh8jn-lM Here’s an excellent article that’s well worth reading on not-Nasser’s woes and the why of it. https://dirtfish.com/off-road/dakar/why-are-drivers-blacking-out-on-the-dakar/ This is the best shot I’ve seen of where Peterhansel and Sainz crashed. You can see the dune they came off of behind them. So they were just blasting through and went straight off as if it were a cliff.  And today, again, the remaining Audis had a bit of an issue.  Ekström hit a rock.  And also broke his rear wishbone and Sainz gave his to keep Ekström in the race. More or less.  Coronel brothers with quite a crash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1N0Ezq2UbM But they got a tow in https://twitter.com/pascaldebaar/status/1611755644217860096 Don’t worry.  That  Will buff  Right  Out  The helicopter got a bit lost following not-Nasser.  This is correct. https://mobile.twitter.com/dakar/status/1611688850253877248 And here is a truck. https://twitter.com/pascaldebaar/status/1611745319691358209?s=46&t=WBk9bkDUJBYmGjFWKVAFIA Van Kasteren won in trucks, putting 17 minutes on Loprais, but he’s still 20 minutes back and van den brink is only 3 minutes back so it’s mostly a two man race here for now. Still, 17 minutes in a day is solid work and shows that this one is far from over.  https://mobile.twitter.com/dakar/status/1611715651952955393?cxt=HHwWgsC-mZS2-90sAAAA This man is 55 years old and racing dakar for the first time.  He has yet to finish a stage before dark.  But there’s always a warm fire waiting for him.  
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Jan 8, 2023 02:56
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A few more trucks.   
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Jan 8, 2023 03:54
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SlowBloke posted:Daily recap is out What did you think of the day?
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Jan 9, 2023 15:53
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 Stage 8  After cancelling stage 7 all the bikes had a good laugh watching cars try to navigate by themselves. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611995369587593219 Then it was their turn and on the last stage before the rest day, the first five all had a tough time of it, with Luciano Benavides leading out after his stage win and eventually grouping up https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611986223421337600 with Howes, Price, Bang Bang and his brother Kevin.  From there they all rode roughly together to the end of the stage meaning that at the end of the day our leaderboard looks pretty similar. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612110943143469056 Howes leads   with KTM rider Kevin Benavides  and not-yet-factory-rider-but-definitely-after-this Mason Klein both 13 seconds behind.  Toby Price is in great position  two minutes back  as are Quintanilla 2:45   and AVB 2:49 back.    The last two likely contenders at this point are Sanders    and Bang Bang both a bit over seven minutes back. That's a crash from stage five, but it seems appropriate for him. https://twitter.com/teledeporte/status/1612199908634918912 In ninth it's a much further drop - Nacho is almost twenty minutes back and will need some real help to win.    I think the favorites have to be Toby Price by a nose because I think he's the fastest rider out there and he's won two dakars before, then Benavides who has great speed and, IMO, the best navigation, then Howes who is actually in first, and then probably Sanders who may actually be faster than Toby Price but he crashes more too so is that actually faster? I can't really say. We'll see who actually comes through next week!  Before that though, let's celebrate our eight stage winner out of eight. (counting the prologue, hush)  Ross "Kalahari Ferrari" Branch!   This is also Hero's second Dakar with a stage win. At this point they're the closest to a third factory team in contention but they're still well back of KTM and Honda.    Their first place rider, Argentine Franco Caimi is 1 hour and 15 minutes back in the general classification.   While their second place rider, Sebastien Bühler is 3 hours and 50 minutes back.   Skyler Howes's thoughts on the stage cancellation on a rally fans FB page. One of the reasons that I like the guy is this is him reading the big (lol, "big") US fb page on rally and responding to it with this from the bivouac. Just seems like a great guy. Skyler Howes posted:I’ll chime in. All of us want to race believe me. But it’s not up to us. Some of the Malle Moto guys haven’t slept in 2 days and are coming in with hypothermia cuz of the long liaisons in the rain, the rain has been super gnarly and we have 1000km days now with the bivouacs flooded and new routes to get to the stages. Some bike guys aren’t making it in till super late then have a 3am wake up time next day. Of course the GP guys and professionals are fine to race but we aren’t the only ones out there. It’s already one of the hardest dakars in recent history. We don’t want to make it more dangerous and have guys stuck out in the rain at night freezing.  Look at them all riding together. https://www.facebook.com/RedBullMotorsports/videos/1224493305153989 Toby Price posted:We’ve finished up Stage 8 in 17th and I’m definitely looking forward to the rest day now 😅 I lost a little time today riding up near the front, but my overall position is still decent. In the leading group today we were leaving perfect tracks for the guys behind to follow, so it was inevitable that we would lose some minutes. The rocks were super-slippery, too, which meant it was best just to ease off a little rather than risk a crash! 😌 Nacho posted:
  Kevin Benavides posted:It was a very technical stage, with a lot of navigation, in which I went out trying to push from the start.  Mmmm, sportswashing. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612162653354622976 In cars, Nasser continues to coast.  Sainz won the stage on pace but a five minute speeding penalty saw Audi back in third.  And meant Loeb got his first stage win of this Dakar. Yay.  He is a great driver.  And much beloved.  By everyone.  Puddles!       Trucks continue to be the most virtuous of racers. https://twitter.com/TomCoronel/status/1612123513812312064 A productive end to stage 7 for Macik (remember, the teams only have a half hour pit stop after the special on a marathon stage before the racers head to the bivouac and can't get any outside help for until the end of the next stage) https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1611715651952955393 Segued nicely into a stage 8 victory.  What a beautiful machine.  This guy was actually waiting for Loprais (maybe, who can really say) Look at the suspension here.  Mitchel van den Brink (the kid) has a good fb page. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1842288772771252  And a good truck.  A very good truck.  Today is Kevin Benavides's birthday. His brother, Luciano, wishes him a happy birthday. Awww.     Do not unmute. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612077536179003392 NBC extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_cQNG6kMcA SxS  Whatever you do, don't fall.  Something wicked this way comes. yup, that's adrien van beveren  Now you're just showing off.  Stefan Svitko, the fastest man to never get a factory contract. Probably, if we're all honest, because he's from Slovakia and isn't quite fast enough that the factories have to choose him over someone from a more marketable (Read: bigger and buy more motorcycles) country.  Always nice to have someone to double check your work.  Sometimes your solutions aren't exactly the same.  But you still end up in the right place. 
builds character fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Jan 9, 2023 |
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Jan 9, 2023 16:32
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Rest Day means it's time for an image dump from my favorite photographers, MCH photo. I'm not posting all of them in the hope it encourages you to go like them on facebook and follow them on instagram because in our current cyberpunk dystopia that's how you help out artists. You are of course welcome to go there and like their page and then post whatever you want. There are 100 photos total and they are all fantastic.        In every heart, on every shoulder, there are two voices  A devil  And an angel     
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Jan 9, 2023 18:05
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SlowBloke posted:I'm happy about the trucks having some decent fights without the Russian armada blocking them from achieving anything. Bit sad about audi getting pretty much wiped out from the race for cars esp. since i doubt Peterhansel and Sainz are going to keep racing forever. Loeb having to fight for scraps is oddly satisfying. Trucks are actually having a great race this year. Last year it was 1. Dmitry Sotnikov (RAF), Kamaz-Master 30:02:36; 2. Eduard Nikolaev (RAF), Kamaz-Master, 30:14:01; 3. Anton Shibalov (RAF), Kamaz-Master, 30:42:59. So it's a bit similar with Loprais, MvdB +16, van Kasteren and Macik both +38, but agreed that it's way more exciting now that it's not just "which Kamaz will top the podium this year?" I'm still really curious to know how much of Audi's issues are that rear suspension. It seems like both Sainz and Peterhansel got taken out by the same dune - one because of a broken codriver and the other because of a broken car, but then ekstrom had an issue with his rear suspension as well and it just seems like Audi hasn't quite figured out how to have the heavy vehicle with the power and appropriate suspension. I know the sand being wet probably didn't help Sainz and Peterhansel so you can certainly tell a story about how it's not Audi's fault but it is curious they continue to have the same issue with the same area of the car. Almost like someone who welds in a gusset and then the stress breaks a part 3" further up. Nasser's toyota is only 100kg lighter than the audis. Loeb really is an amazing driver and deserves a ton of credit for his success in WRC (and in dakar), but it's interesting to see how he really just isn't that competitive in Dakar. Even in 2017 when he came close, he had one stage where he got in front of Peterhansel and then Peterhansel promptly reeled him back in and led the rest of the way. I wonder if partly he's taken some time to get used to driving a little slower sometimes (ex you saw on some of the rocky stages this year, you're a lot more likely to mess up the sidewall of your tires in dakar than on a WRC course, I think) and now that he's gotten there he just doesn't have the car anymore.
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Jan 9, 2023 18:19
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SlowBloke posted:I wouldn't be surprised if Audi deciding to use weird composites to keep the car light is the cause of all these failures, Toyota looks like they are using conventional tube frames which is far more sturdy. One might ask why only the Audi got their drivers skull made concave without other casualties in the top teams. Yeah, certainly makes sense to me. And I would expect there are slightly different stresses with the hybrid/electric motor than what they and the offroad industry generally are used to. You can always engineer to the expected case but then Sainz jumps your car off a 30 foot dune or Ekstrom drives into a big rock at 100mph and oops. Still, this is what testing is for and they did have last year too. It'll be interesting to see what changes they make for next year either way.
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Jan 9, 2023 22:38
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Rest Day This year's Dakar is long. And difficult. It's so long and so difficult that you get a whole entire day off in the middle of it. The rest day after a mere 5691 kilometers. During the rest day the mechanics on the teams frantically try to replace everything they possibly can while the riders and drivers all hang out and nap as much as possible. Thanks to Bill, let's take a look at what a Bivouac looks when none of the racers are there.  Bill Conger posted:The Dakar rules have evolved over the years allowing teams to rejoin the race after a bad day that in the past would have removed the competitor from the competition. If rejoining the team can compete for experience and stage placement but is not considered a Dakar Finisher.                                           And now, imagine that's full of cars and bikes and truck mechanics all hard at work. https://www.redbull.com/us-en/videos/dakar-rally-2023-dakar-daily-rest-day           https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612507227843354624 Like the skoda itself, https://www.facebook.com/pascal.sibeyre/videos/694087108756373 We get some great shots inside the trucks too. https://www.facebook.com/pascal.sibeyre/videos/1125677358139309 And plenty of rider reflections. Skyler Howes grew a mustache because his late grandfather had one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yeglwl6Oxs Sportswashing, just a little "it's good to be the king" action or a racer extending his hospitality to friends and competitors? https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612502699106308107 https://twitter.com/YazeedRacing/status/1612462680350117890 Know how I know Sebastien Loeb is the bad guy? https://twitter.com/Ben_Sulayem/status/1612423825182068738/photo/1 A great look at Nasser's team. https://twitter.com/TGR_W2RC/status/1612439275517140997 And one last cool shot. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612396994718220289
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Jan 10, 2023 19:18
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Dakar Classics. The VW Iltis won the 1980 Dakar Rally and it's back again this year! https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/1978-82-volkswagen-type-183-iltis  Along with a lot of others.  So many others.  This is just pictures, no commentary because nothing I can say will be better than the thing itself.  Or funnier. What the hell are you doing out in the desert in those?  No, no. This is a great idea. Go for it!  OK, this really is a loving great idea and I love it.  Just like I love you.  And you.  And especially you.  You're original, but you still get to live here.   OK, on to the picture-only section.       Bill!                  You fool. You absolute and utter rube. The car of the year 1974 belongs in a museum!          Just a reminder: you're old. Playstation.                butt        HOT HATCH             
builds character fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Jan 10, 2023 |
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Jan 10, 2023 19:36
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Stage Nine Before we start on stage nine, let's talk a little bit about the malle moto or "original by Motul" riders. https://www.redbull.com/us-en/videos/dakar-rally-2023-dakar-stories-3 Most riders have a team that supports them with a mechanic. They wake up, eat as much as they can, powder their nose, get their gear on, get on the bike, grab the roadbook and go. Then they get to the bivouac, give the bike to the mechanic, shower, eat and sleep.  Malle moto is a class that hearkens back to the old days when it was just some sketchy french dudes in the desert by themselves. They are not permitted any outside assistance and must perform all the work on their motorcycle themselves. There's a fine line there, of course, in that sometimes the pro mechanics feel bad for them and will tell them what to do. But what it really means is that the horrifying, merciless grind of the dakar is even worse for them. They never get to rest. The time they would be sleeping they are instead working on the bike. These guys are the real deal and while it's cool to see the pro riders go fast, these are the ones that, to me anyway, most embody the spirit of the dakar rally.  Here's a great video showing Piotr Angelo "Wolfey" Vlcek. He shows up at ~ five minutes in. You have to watch it before you go any further. He used to own a skate-surf shop in South Carolina but apparently sold it this year and is a very nice guy. He's 47 years old and started riding when he was 36. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmHlFeod6hQ OK, on to the pros. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612765947244208131  The really interesting thing to watch for today was what happened with Toby Price and Skyler Howes. Price was starting in 17th and Howes in 19th but I think Price is faster and so the question was, in this spot where they're both far enough behind to really just focus on following tracks and ripping, what will happen? Luciano Benavides won. Huh. He started 21st and his forte is not navigation but he was fast.  Price was a minute back in second and Howes came in two minutes behind that. Which means that he's still our leader, by three seconds! Next stage, Price will be in second and Howes in first so it will be a real test of their navigation as well as speed to see who can lose the least time to the folks behind and who can put time on the other. Probably a very slight advantage to Price but given that Luciano isn't as good at navigation as his brother Kevin, I would guess Price will catch him. Whether Howes catches Price is an open question. They next really big question will be the second set of marathon stages, 11 and 12 in the dunes of the empty quarter. Quintanilla with an absolutely picture-perfect launch. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612681138425708544 Bang Bang crashed again. He's the fastest guy who just can't help himself.  It's tragic every time but never particularly surprising.  Skyler Howes loves puddles as much as I do. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612775258532057094 Just great livery. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612759907488382976 In cars, Loeb won.  He is still quite fast. https://twitter.com/BRaidXtreme/status/1612850094335823877 But it doesn't matter because he's still an hour and forty minutes behind Nasser. Nasser really is just in cruise control at this point. Still no MAXIMUM ATTACK so you know he's just relaxing. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnPbp4_hMgZ/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CnPcg94hsIW/ As far as the audis... well, uh carlos, you remember before when I was all cheerful and I said "ah ha ha, that'll buff right out"? I don't think that's going to buff out. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612739851677478912 We'll need at least two, maybe three grinding wheels with heavy sparks in slow motion to fix this one. https://www.facebook.com/petr.lusk.3/videos/570856924526477 Sadly, the angle grinder is willing but the flesh is weak and Sainz had to withdraw.  Nasser's teammate, Lategan, also had some issues with the stones.  Oh hey, it's andrew short 2.0. https://twitter.com/redbullmotors/status/1612844001891356674 This really highlights the difference between the pros and everyone else. These folks are probably all as fast as anyone you've ever ridden with or seen ride or met and they look like they're out for a trail ride compared to the pros. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612826243787034629 Help, my truck is stuck! https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612800047036436481 Don't panic, just call a tow truck with a mechanic. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612793009640452097 As you can see, while the bikes "easily" splashed through the puddles, it was a brutal stage for the heavy trucks.  Van Kasteren won, putting 11 minutes on Loprais but van den Brink (old) is projected to lose 30 minutes on Loprais and Macik to lose another ten on top of that.  Loprais is alone at the top, 27 minutes ahead of van Kasteren and likely at least that much ahead of van den Brink and Macik, although they're not yet home.  Hey you guuuuyyyyys  Dunes.  This is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world - when you go over a hill and your rear hooks up and you loft the front, spitting dirt all the way down.  This is probably fun too but I wouldn't know.    Puddles!!!    
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Jan 10, 2023 20:17
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Another crash I didn't see earlier. In the extended highlights - Mason Klein and AVB crashed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYL2BwSOl0g&t=222s I wonder who's to blame for this. Interestingly, according to the extended highlights, Sainz actually got in the helicopter and then got airlifted out before asking them to turn around and come back. My understanding of the rules was that as soon as you get in the medical chopper your race is done. I have never heard of anything like this happening before so I will be curious to see if he is permitted to continue. If he is, I would guess it will be because he's racing for audi but not competing for the win.
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Jan 10, 2023 21:39
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SlowBloke posted:edit: second page didn't load properly so i didn't see the last post Sorry, you posted. Now you have to say what you thought about the day.  Unrelated, I discovered a new photographer, Peter Lusk  and I'm a sucker for pictures of puddles.        Barreda broke his back but no spinal injury so at least that's something.       I think this one is my favorite.   
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Jan 10, 2023 23:56
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Tell your spouse: racing the dakar together is good for your relationship. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1612918532207173633
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Jan 11, 2023 00:09
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Stage Ten We start stage ten with a tragedy. Loprais came over a dune and struck a photographer/fan who was on the other side. The man was taken to the hospital with nausea several hours later and died of a heart attack on the way. You can see the video of the accident 1m40s into this link so avoid that if you don't want to see it but to be honest it's not particularly gruesome. Just sad. https://twitter.com/rallyraidnews/status/1613095969079296000 Loprais has withdrawn (whether by choice or because he had to cooperate with the investigation is unclear) and seems incredibly broken up about it. It's not his fault. One of the most important things to remember when you are in the dunes generally and on a racetrack in particular is that anyone coming over the dune CANNOT SEE YOU. It's tragic that this accident happened and someone died, and I understand the desire to get as close as you can to the vehicles but if you ever get a chance to go be a spectator at any motorsport or to play in the dunes with vehicles, please remember that the other side of a hill can't see you. And you can't see it either. You should have a spotter if you're going to go racing over the crest of a dune outside of a race course. In a race course you need to stay off the course and if you're coming up the dune you need to come up the dune out of the racing line, then walk along the crest until you get to the spot.  On to the racing. Stage ten was a short stage of just over 100k to setup for the marathon stages of eleven and twelve. But it was still brutal for the motorcycles with the first riders up at 1:30 AM so they could do 467k of liaison before the start of the race. Imagine riding almost 500k, racing 100k and then another hundred+ back to the bivouac. The orga are a cruel people.  In trucks, with Loprais out, de Baar finished first (you haven't heard of him because he's 28h back in the overall), van den Brink (old) second and van Kasteren a minute behind him in third.  That means van Kasteren leads, with van den Brink (old) 22m41s back and Macik in third 51m7s later. As in bikes, it's everything to play for in the next two stages. van Kasteren has the advantage but a single mistake in the big dunes of the empty quarter could be the end.  Speaking of bikes, we finally have a new leader in the overall. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613182735077740545 Ross Branch won the stage    but Kevin Benavides was flying.  He came in fourth after starting seventh and having a crash on the stage and put 6m38s on Howes and 7m16s on Price to give himself a 1m29s lead over Howes. Price is third, 2m10s back in the overall.  Fourth is AVB almost ten minutes back and it only gets worse from there.  Tomorrow is the first stage in the marathon stages and Howes and Price clearly have a different plan.  Benavides will start in fourth which is not great because you really want to be a little further back for a huge dunes stage like we have next.  Skyler and Toby are starting 15th and 16th respectively and will be able to push all day.   Of course maybe Benavides did this because he thinks he fourth is a good position to not bleed too much time on the first day but set himself up for a great start on the second day when everyone is even more tired and navigation will be even more difficult. Who knows but I can't wait to see!  There are still three Hondas in the top ten but AVB is Honda's best hope to win. Unfortunately for him, he will really have his work cut out being ten minutes back. It's not that he can't make that time up on any one person, it's that he has to do it to three great riders and not lose any time to the guys 5-10 minutes behind him.  Not impossible, but much less likely than one of the top three winning at this point. Of course there's still Quintanilla 15 minutes back and Nacho 20 minutes back and both are great riders too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV2a5Ret5TQ Chucky is 23m40s back in the overall, never having really recovered from his bout with the stomach flu.     In cars, Loeb once again won the day  marking the first time that the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team had 1-2-3 on any stage.  Instead of talking about how fast Loeb is, let's watch him try to setup a tent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5A3TKGQQK4 And look at some toyota pictures. Nasser is an hour and 37 minutes up on Loeb so it's still his to lose.   I expect Toyota to push enough that he only loses at most a few minutes each day and have Yazeed Al Rajhi either start just behind him each day or start ahead and pull over and wait for him so that if anything goes wrong there's a watercarrier to scavenge parts from or help him if he rolls or needs a new tire.   I don't know that I would have chosen Adele over the sound of the engines, but I sure like the video. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613135682486284289 Kove was never going to win but I really hope they actually are committed for five years - it would be great to have another real factory in the dakar. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613238922301300736 An explanation from hero's team manager on what they do. https://www.facebook.com/HeroMotoSports/videos/736827257814128 You guys know you can wheelie any day of the week, right? https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613230210186633216 I think this may have been footage from yesterday. https://twitter.com/redbullmotors/status/1613210941931376641 It's important to come down the other side of the dune at an angle so you don't roll. But not too much of an angle so you don't roll the other way either. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613190215979655169 Footage from yesterday but I still love puddles. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613153011370721281 It really was a tiny roadbook today. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613079862297743360 https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613059594275753987 Some classic action.              Old stage but still classic and puddles so you know I'm posting them.    A photographer making friends.      Extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmsMhuv9690 And now, on into the empty quarter and the two days that will decide the Dakar Rally!   
builds character fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Jan 11, 2023 |
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Jan 11, 2023 20:51
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SlowBloke posted:I'm mostly perplexed on what's going on in Sainz head, beside massive trauma. While I'm expecting his Audi overlords to be massive dicks, i don't think there is much to gain to continue racing when there is no way to even get into points for the rallyraid league. Looks like he ended up not starting stage ten so he's out of the race for good. There's always testing and data to gather, but if he's injured I agree it makes sense to stay out. Listen if you think you can get away with not telling me what you think about the day just by editing your last post then you're thinking of the wrong A.S.O. Follow the guidelines! 
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Jan 11, 2023 20:56
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SlowBloke posted:Well losing a contestant for what is actually is a proper freak accident is far from optimal, esp on a class that already lost a good number of vehicles, and I generally don't give the crowd the benefit of the doubt in rallies. I strongly doubt the drivers are trying to do a carmageddon special on the sly. I’m not sure I would call “loving floor it lol idgaf about that dunes yolo” a freak accident. Or do you mean Loprais? In which case absolutely agree. In the in-cab footage you can’t even see the guy they hit. I wonder if for Sainz it was a quiet Toyota protest. I really think the rule is if you call the helicopter to come get you you’re out. Let alone get picked up by it. I will have to look it up at some point. Peterhansel did have the same “yolo” over a dune issue but I think that was just reading the roadbook and trying to make up time by not slowing down for a (double?) caution.
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Jan 12, 2023 02:43
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SlowBloke posted:I was referring to Loprais, It's not like you couldn't hear the engine from miles away. Gotcha. Yeah, I agree. But even if you couldn’t, the line was clear from all the tracks at that point. And the other fans and the other vehicles going by and etc etc. just a bad decision with a terrible result, unfortunately.
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Jan 12, 2023 13:12
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Stage Eleven The first day of the marathon stage and it's all to play for in bikes and trucks and even in cars if Nasser's brain breaks and his team implodes due to being hit by an asteroid!  Toby Price had the opportunity to make up time today  and finished a solid third.  Huh, flat earthers actually were right.  Luciano Benavides finished first on the day but he's still 18m6s back in the overall.  While his brother, Kevin, lost time putting Skyler Howes back in first! 28 seconds ahead of Toby Price and 2m44s ahead of Kevin Benavides.  That's three KTMs up front, and with Price starting third tomorrow, Howes starting fourth and Kevin Benavides tenth, I think that makes Benavides the current favorite to win. On the second day of a marathon stage in the dunes, everyone should be a little extra tired so starting out in front will be even more of a disadvantage. As between Price and Howes I think it's better to start fourth than third but it's awfully close. This is incredible and we are very lucky to have a Dakar Rally that's this close. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613604472705675264 Nacho finished eight minutes back of first but his race is probably over barring catastrophe for everyone else as he's almost 25 minutes back overall.  AVB started in second today and this was probably the death knell for his hopes of victory as well as he finished 9 minutes back and is now 15m24s back overall.  Pablo "Why Male Models" Quintanilla is 14m14s back overall.  Nasser continued his game of cat and mouse only actually the mouse is already Sebastien Loeb and Nasser is going to win a Dakar so he doesn't care about stage wins.  Which, of course, means that Loeb won the day while Nasser lost 6 minutes, putting Loeb an hour and thirty minutes out of first. The Brazilian Lucas Moraes in another toyota is in second, almost ten minutes ahead of Loeb. Remember Loeb setting up a tent? Nasser remembers. He's a veteran and a professional and he's going to win this Dakar, but he wants Loeb to know. He's faster. And he's showing him in the language of performative tent-setting-up. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613584525006864384 Macik was eighteen minutes back in the trucks.  But he still finished second. Look at him flying.  Of course, that puts van den Brink (old) in first by a fair bit and now the overall in trucks is incredibly close too! van Kasteren leads van den Brink (old) by only one minute and twelve seconds! https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613552870762373121 Macik is ~48 minutes back in third and Valtr is fourth, 2h35m back.  Just a reminder, this is Peterhansel's trophy case. I assume this won't be his last dakar but if it is the moniker "Mr. Dakar" is still well deserved.  Look at that concentration. Must be difficult I guess?  An example of the area immediately after the special. Folks stop and have a little break before heading out onto the liaison.    Air your tires back up for the road back.  Little jump?  Great job!  Yup, that's a tire.  That too.  Hmm, that's an engine.   STOP PUTTING YOUR FOOT DOWN, THIS IS NOT FLAT TRACK. Is advice I would give myself if I were riding because it's a bad habit on my part too.  Mandatory SxS content. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613563897361076225 And off, into the sunset.  Why go over the dune when you can go through it?  I'm sure this will be just fine.   Yup, no problems here.  This will be just fine too, I'm sure.    Paolo Lucci walking his bike.  And Paolo Lucci riding it. Just to prove he can.  It's interesting to see the different line the car takes.  Matthias Walkner is still riding on a broken hand. I bet you forgot, didn't you?  This gives a good sense of the variety of dunes and the power the bikes are putting down.  Still just great livery.  Another picture that gives you some sense of the size of the dunes.  These are "medium"  NBC's extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saiui3HHgo8 Everyone wants a picture with Walkner.  And it's easy to see why. I'm sorry, I just love this man.  It looks great but you can tell things are going wrong because of the height of the rooster tail. You want that sand going back, not up.   Just your regular reminder that the non-pros participating are among the fastest, most talented people you will ever meet.  Genius plan: find the road through the dunes.  Huh, it's actually working.  Or just follow the tracks. You can imagine how much easier this makes navigating than the first bikes on stage.  Look how far down those tracks behind the rider are.  Beautiful, but what are those trees doing there?  Look familiar to anyone?  Some of this racing is right by a road. I'm sure the temptation to hop on for a few K is tough.  Clement Razy from France.  And Belgian Jerome Martiny who is cool  But not as cool as these Belgians  The Rothman's livery on a safari porsche is great every single time I see it.  Venezualan Nicolas Alberto Cardona Vagnoni shows us how to sit when you can and stand when you have to.  Toby is just showing off here.   Truck!  Truck!  Truck!  Truck!  TRUCK!    At this point in the rally there are only two real stages left and everyone is, at best, banged up.  Some haven't made it.   For one reason  Or another   Can I offer you an egg in this trying time?  But for those that are left, the bivouac at a marathon stage offers camaraderie and a few hours of rest.  Just pick up your snack and your jammies.  Of course the trucks brought air mattresses.  But there's carpet to lounge on.  I assume that's the line for the one bathroom.  Later on there will be eggs!  Varying degrees of exhaustion.  Seriously though  Why male models?  Are you serious? I just... I just told you that a moment ago.  Classic.    R.I.P. 
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Jan 13, 2023 03:31
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Stage Twelve https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613747473817780224 Only 290 kilometers of special stage left and two days! 154k tomorrow and 136k on the last day. Traditionally, the last day has been more of a victory lap than anything but with racing this tight I expect we'll see folks going full throttle to the donkey for both days.  Today was the most important day of the final stretch.   https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613749043057811457 And it was Toby Price who came out on top.   Starting and finishing third on the stage  He's now 28 seconds ahead of Skyler Howes.  It's probably the fact that Toby Price is ridiculously fast and good at racing, but sure check the spokes again my friend.  But there's still tomorrow when Howes will start in sixth and Price again from third.  Benavides is only 2m40s back overall but he starts 5th, one ahead of Howes and behind Price, so he'll be hard pressed to win. It's not impossible but it will require a great ride.  Daniel Sanders continues to ride with, apparently, a huge thorn stuck in his arm. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnWPXwpqVXp Ow.  First place was Nacho whose nickname is Nacho but they still give him the "N. Cornejo" instead of "I." for Ignacio.  Stop me if you've heard this before...  Loeb won. His fifth in a row.  Almost like Nasser doesn't care who wins each stage and just wants to keep his... 1h27m lead intact. He's even letting Yazeed get all the photo ops.  OK maybe still one for Nasser. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613934774111838208 van Kasteren stamped his imprint on the stage in trucks, putting 30 minutes on van den Brink (old).  Macik finished 32m back. He's been out for a while but that cements it.  His truck still looks awesome though.     scuse  me  Seriously, who wouldn't want a picture with Walkner?  He is photogenic as gently caress.  Laia Sanz is still the most talented rider out there even though she's driving a car. Yeah, I'm talking to you Peterhansel.   Great in-car video. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613896594583326720 https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613888924354772992 Classic cars in the bivouac.  Arriving at the rear end late.     double vision     2000 era not-quite-trophy-truck    And the other end of the spectrum.   The truck class started out exactly like this. Support trucks following the competitors and then the trucks started racing each other and voila!  It's interesting seeing the different ways they open up.    Have to admit, I've never seen the socks under the windshield wipers before.  Bill Conger enjoying the marathon bivouac.  Fun fact: Bill did some of the stunt driving in Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby  Seriously. He wouldn't tell me if there were any real cougars involved in that scene though.  If it weren't sand it would puncture a tire.  Did you know that to engage four wheel drive you used to have to turn those little red knobs you see in the front wheel? Crazy, right?  They came prepared for getting stuck.  That's authentic 90s highlighter yellow.  This isn't a classic ca.... oh. ohhhhh. I'm old.  This is a classic.  This too.    Working on the car at the marathon bivouac.  Fanta!  The classic cars get wee dunes.     GET  TO  DA  CHOPPA  This is what I would look like too if I got to fly a dakar helicopter.  You can see how they go and find you here.  South African Kirsten Landmen is the only woman racing malle moto this year. She's still in it.  #selfie from our dutch photographer  I already made the "my truck is stuck" joke, right?  I'm the guy in the back. Maybe if I just stare at it then I won't have to do any maintenance and it will magically fix itself?  Wolfey still in it!  And the people love him.  Yes, this is much better than just giving us 20 minutes of straight footage of the vehicles. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613873243710013444 Strong On Any Sunday vibes here.  Luciano Benavides led out today so those are tracks in the background from folks who knew where the course would be and went out to see it. That makes me wonder if there isn't someone who knows the route and if they don't pass some of that info along. Who knows...  Don't get lost.  And try not to crash. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613850499211530240 Ross Branch still competing.  And Martin Prokop putting in a workmanlike professional showing in his ford raptor.  6th  But...  3h back in the overall  Talk about surfing dunes.  https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613840653770801152 You can surf in water too. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnOkXhBpZHu/ Mad Max needed a dakar buggy.   Quads!  And the obligatory SxS.  Extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgozKO2cDuk The empty quarter has terrible cell coverage so folks have been posting fewer photographs. Now that it's over, we should have more from MM and MCH on the last two days.  Han Wei in a SMG buggy is in eigth, four hours back.  Making it awfully hard not to root for Luciano Benevides with all his wheelies and stage wins and birthday post for his brother.  Listen to that bike. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1613778636473094144 I already have my SxS content! What are you doing here?  Either Ross Branch never crashes or he has new plastics every stage.  Denis Krotov from Kyrgyztan for the x raid mini team.    But things don't always go right.  Sometimes they go wrong.  Very  Very  Wrong  Sometimes they go right.  It's really all... perspective.  The fastest (read: only) Audi is driven by Ekstrom, a mere seven hours back.  I can't even pretend I'm able to come up with something for this picture. Just look at it. 
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Jan 13, 2023 23:05
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These pictures and this video were worth their own post. https://fb.watch/i1EXU-gstU/  
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Jan 14, 2023 04:27
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Stage 13 The battle today between Price, Howes and Benavides was still neck and neck.  Price finished four minutes and ten seconds behind first with Howes finishing a full minute faster than that.  But because of the time bonus for leading out for the top three, Price's time was reduced by 1m42s and his adjusted time was 2m28s behind first and kept him 1m31s ahead of Howes in the overall.  But the big news came from the Argentine. Kevin Benavides was first and is now a mere 12 seconds behind Price.  That means he starts in first on the last stage but as it should be quite easy in terms of navigation Price and Howes may not have quite the advantage they ordinarily would.  He's in with a shot but Price has to be the favorite with the lead and a starting position in fourth.  I wouldn't be surprised if Howes eased off a bit to avoid crashing and make sure he finished on the podium.  A minute and a half is probably too much to make up on the last stage but these folks aren't built quite the same way I am so he might just absolutely pin it.  van Beveren finished fourth on the stage and is in his best spot in the overall heading into the last day in fourth as well, a mere 8 seconds ahead of his teammate Quintanilla in fifth.  In cars, look, I know this is boring this year in cars. Made worse by bikes and trucks being so close. But Loeb wins again, Nasser is second and he's going to win next stage.  If you like Loeb, you can point out that he has six stage wins in a row - a record - and seven stage wins overall and that is very good.  But Nasser has clearly been milking his lead since Peterhansel and Sainz crashed out.  In trucks,  Macik finished first with van Kasteren coming in second three and a half minutes behind.  But the big news was van den Brink (old) running into problems and dropping 2h35m.  That moves him into third, but he's still ahead of his son in fourth, 85 minutes further back.  Stefan Svitko is in 12th overall after the thirteenth stage. He's a bit of a happy story in that he's gotten to race the dakar ten times and finished second overall in 2016 but, as mentioned earlier, a bit of a sad story because he's from Slovakia and that probably played a part in him never getting a factory ride.  Not pictured: half empty beer cooler in the back.       In sad news, heartthrob Matthias Walkner crashed out and was sent straight to hospital with lower back pain after riding for almost the whole race with a broken hand. Don't worry, he's OK.  Stage 13 NBC extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD3My73wVEk  
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Jan 15, 2023 20:08
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Stage 14 https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1614604562358276097 https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1614638391420932097 Lining up for one last day.     Kevin Benavides started just 12 seconds back and needed to do it  Interestingly, this year they went back to the reverse start order on the last stage.  That means Toby Price starts last, Benavides second to last and Howes third to last and they all have to race up through the slower guys up front. It gives Benavides a real chance, but if there's anyone with real speed on a bike it's Price. Sorry, Skyler. I still think you're great.  Benavides was tied with Price at waypoint one https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1614522386275094530 and then just turned it on. Putting himself 1m49 seconds up by waypoint two and finishing the stage 55 seconds ahead of Price and first in the overall. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1614572720624214018 Winning his second Dakar Rally!  Price finished second and Howes third  but everyone celebrated at team Mattighoffen.   I love how much the Benavides brothers seem to care about each other.  If you ain't first you might still be third and that's loving great at the dakar.  Price said that if he won this year he would retire to race trucks but I wonder if that will still happen after he came in second.   Some day Ross Branch will find the man who stole his eyes.  Cars was no surprise with Nasser winning his fifth title in cars.    Loeb was second.    It was no surprise that Macik came in second in trucks.     With Janus van Kasteren bringing first home to the Netherlands for Iveco.       van den Brink (old) coming in third.  And van den Brink (child) making a strong case as the future of the trucks category in fourth.  Charan Moore came away with the overall win in malle moto.  Kirsty Landman was first and only among the women racing malle moto.  Look how exhausted she is the night before.  van Kasteren powering up a dune. https://twitter.com/RallyRaidNews/status/1614370548762529796 Laia finished 32nd overall in the cars. Not too shabby.  Look at this suspension working. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1614616013890326529 I love the emotion you see at the end of this race. These are folks who have given it literally everything they have.  A big thank you to all the photographers who let us follow along. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1614579355451281409 Just imagine having ridden almost five thousand kilometers, being a hundred from the end and you hit this. https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1614507172607533056     SxS towing a quad! https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1614629232063426563 Quick wash before the podium.  Extended highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyjPWBgBm3c Maybe next year, but this year the fiddle made of gold is Benavides's.  An old dakar support truck.  One last picture of Walkner. For me.  Bug!  Honda without Brabec  The parking lot at the end.     Joy!  https://twitter.com/dakar/status/1614663702422212611 I'll come back with one last post when MCH and MM post their big picture dumps. Until then I hope you've all enjoyed following along during this, the most wonderful time of the year.
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Jan 15, 2023 21:14
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Post-Race Pictures Some pictures I found after posting about stage 14         and then select pictures from the MCH Photo - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=mchphoto.cz&set=a.707935474064406 and MM Photography - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=mmphotocz&set=a.609729504495372 dumps. Go like, follow, etc because they're great and take the best pictures.                                    
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Jan 18, 2023 01:21
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SlowBloke posted:Classic final results are still not in, at stage 13 both Pandas were both in the run, it would be nice to have them both reach the finish line. Looks like they made it! This is their team FB page https://www.facebook.com/adrenaline24h/posts/pfbid0GNnbB1Mi4SYa5kVvqmvnyPXFuWhr7CQ21YW4E2v2ywN2VGY34NJ3io3X3rnRt7wZl and then this video is from there as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiFnjnhWfn8&t=366s sharkytm posted:Very cool, and thanks for all the work. I used to watch back when Speed was a network on my mom's dish network box. I haven't in years, but it's an amazing race. Glad you (and everyone else) enjoyed it. It's an incredible race and I'm glad the social media and videos from it are getting better and better. Hopefully some day folks can just follow along live but that's really a pipe dream (or absurd effort following the stage reports and GPS tracks and looking at live snapchat uploads by heatmap) at this point.
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Jan 19, 2023 18:02
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SlowBloke posted:Being able to grab the the completion award in a busted panda 4x4 while multimillion custom audi prototypes didn't must be rewarding. Different course, but absolutely, 100% yes.
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Jan 19, 2023 19:03
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