Manx Club

Yes, it's that time of year again!  The 2011 Dakar rally begins January 1st and runs throughout Chile and Argentina for the third year in a row.  Television coverage is on Versus TV and begins Sunday January 2nd, then daily 30 minute updates continue each day for two weeks.  If you haven't had a chance to watch, it can be very exciting to watch the cars, trucks, motorcycles and quads run through the various terrain so fast it makes your head spin!  It's like the Baja 1000 on steroids (think one Baja 500 type race every day for two weeks straight!).  They run through everything from open desert, to forrest land to Saharan style sand dunes and everything in between.  Below is the link to the official Dakar race site.  So get those DVR's fired up and enjoy. 

http://www.dakar.com/index_DAKus.html

Cool, I always to catch a little of the race.



--louis

Been a fan for years, it looks like a rough start though for So-Cal boy Robby Gordon and his Speed Energy Hummers.

Last year his Hummer couldn't fit through one of the back country free-range cattle gates (too wide) and lost a lot of time trying to get unstuck and find another way through. It was rumored that Robby would give up the H3 for a 4-wheel drive vehicle of some type. Didn't happen this year though. I think he would be better off running a smaller vehicle with 4-wheel drive. The perceived advantages for the rear drive Hummer just haven't panned out.  This year he ran into a rain storm on the course the first day and the two wheel drive just wasn't effective pushing through the slick mud.  Hopefully his luck will improve.