For off-road enthusiasts, there are few races that hold the mystique and allure of the Dakar Rally. Editor David Kennedy covered the rally last year, when Volkswagen made history by being the first team to win the Dakar using a fuel-efficient, high-torque diesel engine. Diesel Power returned to cover this amazing race again in 2010, only this time instead of piloting a Volkswagen Touareg press vehicle, we were riding in Darren Skilton's huge MAN-each letter is pronounced individually (M-A-N) like you pronounce GMC-support truck with other American journalists on a 17-day, 4,500-mile road trip across South America. Diesel support trucks like Skilton's are the backbone of the Dakar Rally, operating as mobile service trucks filled with every part imaginable-and they still run through the same treacherous course as the race vehicles.
Before The Rally
Before the race begins, all the vehicles in the race-whether motorcycles, race cars, or support trucks-are subject to a tech inspection known as scrutineering. The Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) that organizes the Dakar thoroughly inspects all vehicles for safety and ensures race vehicles meet class requirements. Scrutineering also allowed us to check out all of the cool diesel cars and trucks in the race before they got dirty.
Of the hundreds of vehicles we saw during scrutineering, Robby Gordon's Freightliner support trucks created the biggest stir. These six-wheel-drive semitrucks are a dramatic departure from traditional support trucks. While longer and lower than the typical MAN or Tatra truck, the Freightliners were rolling fabrication shops complete with a lathe, mill, and all the supplies you would need to fix just about any problem.
How The Dakar Rally Works
Two courses are generally set out from each bivouac. The racecourse consists of untimed liaison sections that are generally on paved roads, and timed specials that take place in the dirt, gravel, and dunes. Competitors navigate through these two types of courses each day using a road book and a trip meter-GPS is not permitted in the competition. Press and some support vehicles take an assistance route directly from one bivouac (the nightly campsite and pit stop) to the next and are allowed to use GPS to navigate. This presented a problem for us. We wanted to catch the action on the racecourse, however, we did not want to beat up the MAN truck and take too long to travel from one stage to the next. As a result, we relied on good old-fashioned maps and followed the assistance route until it converged or came close to the racecourse, at which point we intersected the course to watch the race and shoot photos.
All vehicles that are part...
All vehicles that are part of the Dakar Rally have to go through scrutineering to be evaluated for safety and conformance with class rules prior to the race. Robby Gordon's Freightliner support trucks caused the biggest stir, as they are a dramatic departure from the traditional Dakar support truck.
The race began late on New Year's Day, after a wild night in Buenos Aires. All of the competitors came across the podium at the start in front of a crowd of thousands before taking the freeway to Colon, Argentina, 200 miles away. There was no timed (called a "special") stage on this day, only the "liaison" to Colon, but the scene was still overwhelming. The freeway was lined with people five deep nearly all the way from Buenos Aires to Colon. It quickly became apparent to us that Argentines take their motorsports seriously. As we drove along, Darren set the ground rules for the trip. "I don't want to break anything, and I don't want to have to change a 300-pound tire."
Day 2, Colon to Cordoba (341 Miles Today, 538 Total)
The first special stage was held on a fast gravel road that is used for World Rally Championship (WRC) racing. The motorcycles left the bivouac at 4:25 a.m. and were long gone by the time we awoke. The grim reality set in that if we wanted to see action during the Dakar Rally, we weren't going to be getting much sleep during the next two weeks.