MOTORSPORT: Dakar longer, higher, harder

Aussie hopes ride in Isuzu ute and a Polaris
For the hundreds of competitors from around the world -- and thousands of crew members -- readying themselves for the Dakar Rally, the Christmas-New Year period is no holiday season.

It’s the time of final preparations – mechanical, physical and mental – for the world’s toughest torture test in motorsport, with temperatures up to 60 degrees Celsius in car cabins during daylight to freezing at overnight bivouacs.

For the 2014 Dakar, the sixth in South America (where the event moved after 2008’s cancellation in Africa because of terrorist threats), the motto could be “longer, higher and harder”.

In two weeks from January 5 those of the 450 vehicles expected to start that make it all the way from Rosario in Argentina to Valparaiso in Chile, this time via Bolivia in the heart of the continent, will have covered more than 9000km – and about 5500km of that in 13 competitive stages.

They will have reached new altitudes in the Andes mountains and have conquered north-west Argentina’s canyons and sandy valleys, the world’s largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni, the world’s driest spot, the Atacama Desert, as well as countless dunes -- one of them 1.4km high.

Five Dakar-winning drivers head the entry list in the car category – Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel in an X-Raid Mini All4, Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah also in a Mini, South Africa’s Giniel De Villiers in a Toyota Hilux, and Spaniards Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma in a French SMG buggy and Mini respectively.

Peterhansel is chasing his 12th Dakar win and sixth on four wheels after six on motorcycles.

He retains the record as winner of the most motorcycle stages in Dakar history – 33, compared with his countryman and defending two-wheel victor Cyril Depres – and equal second most in the cars (29, the same as Belgian ex-Formula One driver Jacky Ickx) but still way short of legendary Finn Ari Vatanen’s 50.

Among other outright contenders will be American Robby Gordon in a new Hummer while B.J. “Balistic” Baldwin, winner of this year’s Baja 1000, is a Dakar rookie in a Chevrolet and Italian rally legend Miki Biasion is in a Fiat Panda.

There also will be great interest in two Australian-developed but South African-prepared Ford Ranger utes fitted with the Mustang’s thirsty 5-litre petrol V8 for which they have 500-litre fuel tanks.

One of the Rangers will be driven by a top Argentinean Lucio Alvarez, while the other has a South African line-up.  

Australia’s regular competitors of recent years, Bruce Garland and 2013 Australasian Safari winner Geoff Olholm, won’t be there this time, but there are two Aussie entries among more than 150 cars – Peter Jerie and Glenn Watman in an ex-Garland 2008 Isuzu D-Max ute and Garry Connell in a Polaris buggy with Swedish woman Annie Seel, a five-time Dakar finisher on motorcycles.

There also are six Aussie riders in the motorcycle section, the best of them expected to be Bathurst’s Ben Grabham on a KTM 450 SX-F.

Four of the others – Troy O’Connor, Mark Davidson, Clayton Jacobsen and Allan Roberts – are on KTMs while Shane Niener is aboard a Yamaha.

The bikes and quads will take a different route to the cars and trucks for about a third of the rally distance.

The Jerie-Watman Isuzu has a good history in the Dakar.
Garland and long-time co-driver Harry Suzuki finished 11th outright, and first diesel ute, in it in 2009 and last year West Australian Adrian Di Lallo finished 38th in it on debut with Victorian veteran Steve Riley.

“That D-Max has been all over the world and gone well – it’s got its own passport,” said Garland, hoping to return to Dakar in 2015 with Isuzu’s new MU-X wagon after cancer surgery this year.

“Dakar is the ultimate challenge for an off-road racer – it’s like Mt Everest for a mountain climber.

“Everyone that lives dies, but not everyone who dies has lived – and you haven’t felt the power of living until you’ve done the Dakar!”

Jerie, a Czech long based in Australia, started three Dakars in the days that it began in Europe and ended in Africa – but he was never there at the finish.

Software programmer Jerie, fifth in this year’s Australasian Safari, only met co-driver Watman recently but felt his great mechanical skills would benefit him for his new Dakar quest.

“All my previous experiences on the Dakar were very difficult,” Jerie said.

“The first time, in 2005, I rented a car from a European-based team and saw the car the day before the start.

“Living in Australia, the steering wheel was on the wrong side for me.

“I quit in Mauritania because of a clutch problem. In 2006 the gear box of my Honda buggy broke and in 2007 we suffered electrical issues on our Renault Megane.

“I always wanted to come back to the Dakar. It'll be the first time I have my own car. I just want to finish.

“I know I don't have the car to compete in the GC (general classification).

“Glenn, my co-driver is very experienced. He's from a family of off-road champions. He's a very good mechanic and was part of Adrian Di Lallo's service crew last year.”

Gary Connell, of Perth, started the 2010 Dakar on a motorcycle but last only three stages before he was forced out by a knee injury.

A crash in the following year’s Australasian Safari made him reconsider things and he switched to four wheels.

This year he had a class win in the Merzouga Rally in Africa with friend Greg Whittle, who suffered car sickness in the dunes of the Morocco Rally, opening the way for Seel to step in as co-driver of the Polaris RZR XP900 Rallye prepared and supported by the Xtreme Plus team.

She was the highest-placed woman motorcycle rider in the 2010 Dakar in 45th.

She also holds a world altitude record for climbing to Mt Everest base camp on a motorcycle.

Seel said that going back to Dakar on four wheels was “a dream opportunity”.

“My life was boring without the Dakar,” she said.

“The Polaris lies halfway between a motorcycle and a car.

“I’ve christened it my flying sofa.”

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