Editor's Note: Last month we introduced you to a group of American journalists who traveled 1,971 miles across South America in a MAN truck to cover the Dakar Rally. This month we catch up with the team in the resort town of Iquique, Chile, to bring you the remainder of the race action. If you missed last month's article, go to www.dieselpowermag.com to get up to speed.
Day 9, Iquique to Antofagasta
(235 Miles Today, 2,206 Total)
The rest day in Iquique was definitely appreciated, and we took the opportunity to do laundry, clean camera gear, and take our first hot shower in a week. Our MAN truck had a shower, but the heat exchanger wasn't working properly, and we had a limited amount of water on the truck. The race officially stopped for the night in Antofagasta, Chile, but we found Iquique to be much more inviting. The only problem with staying in Iquique was that it put us 200 miles behind the rest of the race vehicles-and we had to catch back up.
Helicopters (opposite page, top) offered an audible clue when the Dakar race leaders were
The race teams appreciated the rest day as well, although for different reasons. Many of the temporary fixes that had been made in the bivouac during the previous week of racing were properly repaired on the rest day. In other words, the mechanics and support crew did not get much rest on what was intended to be a day off.
Day 10, Antofagasta to Copiapo (357 Miles Today, 2,563 Total)
From Antofagasta we backtracked south to Copiapo along the Pacific coast. We were battling a headwind the whole way, which caused our 8-mpg average to drop to 6 mpg for that part of the trip. During this leg we had to traverse down a 12 percent grade that plunged 3,500 feet down to the ocean and left the brakes on the MAN truck glowing red hot. The racecourse ended right at the bivouac and we arrived just in time to see the leaders come diving down the dunes with a helicopter following-just a few feet off the ground. Stephen Peterhansel won the stage in his diesel-powered BMW X-Raid, but the Volkswagen Touaregs were slowly tightening their stranglehold on the overall victory with another strong showing from Sainz, Al-Attiyah, and Miller.
American B.J. Baldwin was a last minute entry for Nascar racers Robby Gordon's Team Dakar
Day 11, Copiapo to La Serena (220 Miles Today, 2,783 Total)
We had a relatively short drive today, which was fortunate since our MAN truck was having mechanical issues. Darren Skilton, our pilot for the rally and owner of the MAN L90 we got to ride in, noted that our rig was getting very hot as we climbed a steep grade out of Copiapo. We returned to town where Darren had the oil and fuel filters changed and the coolant flushed. The coolant level was alarmingly low.
After a late start, we stopped in the town of Vallenar for dinner. As we continued south down the coast, we noticed that vegetation and fresh water were starting to appear with more regularity. As the landscape became more hospitable, the people seemed to do the same.
When our MAN truck began lumbering and straining, the first thing Skilton checked was the
Day 12, La Serena to Santiago (326 Miles Today, 3,109 Total)
The Dakar lunch menu was like Groundhog Day. We had been eating the following every day for nearly two weeks straight:
French cuisine
(canned meat and some vegetables)
Granola bar
Fruit cup
Crackers
Cheese
Nutella
Wafer cookie (smashed to bits)
Most of us managed to make the whole trip without any French cuisine touching our lips. We supplemented the meals with beef jerky and Power Bars that we brought from the United States.
When we got into the bivouac, the MAN support crew replaced the priming pump on our truck and flushed the lines to the injectors to cure a hard-starting problem we were having when the truck sat overnight. We didn't have any more issues after the repairs. Every year MAN sends a fully stocked vehicle and factory service technicians to the rally to assist all the teams that use its vehicles. How is that for service?