Dakar 2006 - Stage 5

[klaus]

stage 5 - Wednesday 4 January 2006 | Ouarzazate > Tan Tan (http://www.dakar.com/2006/DAK/LIVE/us/500/parcours.html)
Connection 187 km
Special 350 km
Connection 282 km
Total 819 km


http://www.dakar.com/PHOTOS/DAK/2006/500/PARCOURS.gif

http://www.dakar.com/PHOTOS/DAK/2006/500/FRANCE_ETAPE.jpg

[bufeo]

klaus, dammit how do you get that map? Every time I log on to the "tracking" I get the 'profile' form instead of the 'plan' and I can't figure out how to change it. Okay, so I was a wine-salesman, language teacher, and journalist how the hell am I supposed to know these things?

PS (on edit) I even tried to slip the URL into the Address but that didn't work either. ?????????

[klaus]

hey I can't share my secrets...hehe.
Just go to dakar.com > tracks or routes? > then select the stage. Its right there.

[mgobaja]

In another post you mentioned you have a way to see the TV coverage that those of us who work a normal 8-5 job miss, can you post a link or PM me one please ?

[FlyHiFlyLo7]

Good news, Robby starts so far back for this stage I won't have to sit on the computer all night. He is going to start 4 hours behind the leaders.

[Blackmutt]

FYI, there's additional Dakar coverage at www.eurosport.com.

[duchessofthedirt]

Let's hope for some miracles. If people like Masuoka keep dropping off we can keep moving right along!!!

[KeithTurk]

I hate RG lost the time... but hey... now the paths are marked for him and there won't be any major navigational issues.... all the other guys are going to have to spend thier time being careful of the route... these guys can sail now.... other then the dust and passing it might help... The other plus is that maybe they can hear of or see problems before they themselves become involved.... ( Okay I'm trying desperately here to put a good spin on this... )

Guys this site is really wonderful... and the information as well as freindly attitude simply rocks... thank you once again

Keith Turk

[klaus]

The bikes are of the line. Andy did well on stage3, hopefully he can repeat it today.

The theme of the day seems to be tires.

[klaus]

Due to bad weather conditions and heavy fog in Tan Tan, all the planes and means of trransmission are still blocked in Ouarzazate.
The live coverage of the race will not be abble to be done in a normal way.
We apologise to all the followers on the website.

[elsancho1976]

RG's off teh line @ aprox. 10:26 GMT. Thats about an hour and a half behind leaders

[klaus]

CP1 (101KM): The cars are now arriving at the first checkpoint and it is Nani Roma who is fastest. He is 6 seconds quicker than Mark Miller (VW), with Al Attiyah third (+0.43), Peterhansel fourth (+0.49), Kleinschmidt fifth (+1.13), Saby sixth (+1.25) and De Villiers seventh (+2.06)

Carlos Sainz, who started first on the stage, is 3mins 25secs adrift, but retains his overall lead...

[elsancho1976]

Miller is smokin at CP 2... 1st of 7 cars so far by 2 minutes..... and RG at CP1 in 1:18:05...23rd on stage so far

[plantman]

RG at CP2 in 2:45:15... about 15th on stage.. not bad in dust and traffic

[Woody]

Stage 5 Mark Miller at this time is the second fastest of the stage and the fastest of the Volkswagons

[Chase 2]

Mark 2nd on the Stage!!! He seems to be right on his game plan.

Chris & Andy have lost time again today. Is it the navigation that's killing us. or are we having equipment problems?

[westtexasbaja]

What do the race trucks have in them? Just supplies for the trucks or do they have car/bike teammates they "pit" for?

[bufeo]

...Chris & Andy have lost time again today. Is it the navigation that's killing us. or are we having equipment problems?

It's difficult to say until we get 'live' (ie. phone info) from the course. Yesterday, Grider, in addition to getting off-course following Caldecott in the beginning, got back on course and then had a fuel line separate. Lost gas, fixed fuel line, ran battery down, Blais stopped to give him a jump-start, and they both lost time.

I see on the tracking today that both motos had stops on the course, but can't tell if it was fuel, wrecks, stuck in sand...or what.

BTW, since there are TWO Andys in the top twenty, Andy Grider and Andy Caldecott, I'm going to refer to AG by his last name unless it's absolutely clear about whom I'm writing.

Since I'm also following #s 309 and 335 I have three computer screens in operation.

Great day for Mark!!! I don't see that Gordon made it to Tan Tan. Is that accurate, or is it we're waiting for their updates?

[curtnrod19]

it shows that he made it to tan tan.. way to go tobby. did he have any trouble today at all??

[klaus]

it took him 35 minutes longer then the leader putting his overall time over 4hours+

not good

[Ramsey_ElWardani]

it took him 35 minutes longer then the leader putting his overall time over 4hours+

not goodPassing 71 cars and who know how many bikes in that stage? Pretty good!

[chadrag2]

Excellent day for Mark. I think Mark is exactly where he wants to be, and is having a perfect race so far.

[Chase 2]

The Nascar guys are calling RG's car the Hummmbuggy. Yuck yuck.

[Offspring]

Excellent day for Mark. I think Mark is exactly where he wants to be, and is having a perfect race so far.

It does look as close to a perfect race as one can have. Moving right to the front. I also like the strategy to put the VW in front of other team cars to avoid "orders".

[FlyHiFlyLo7]

Well that makes for a decent recovery. 100+ to 19th for the day. I'm already getting excited for next year. This is now just a research mission. Win some stages, learn, Come back next year lighter, faster, stronger. I hope he races that "HummBuggy" <- (Gag me with a spoon) at San Filipe. The name of the Hummer is "The Monster" Robby called it that when I talked to him before x-mas.

[Chase 2]

Well that makes for a decent recovery. 100+ to 19th for the day. I'm already getting excited for next year. This is now just a research mission. Win some stages, learn, Come back next year lighter, faster, stronger. I hope he races that "HummBuggy" <- (Gag me with a spoon) at San Filipe. The name of the Hummer is "The Monster" Robby called it that when I talked to him before x-mas.

Well the pressure is off of him now, except to finish, and oh yeah win a stage or two, but other than that. Really RG is doing a great job.

RG in the JB Hummmmbuggy and Andy in the Red Bull Truck, Hummmm, my money is on Andy.

[allwaysbaja]

from robbygordon.com

TEAM DAKAR USA STORMS BACK


TEAM DAKAR USA > News > Stage Report
Posted by on Jan 4, 2006, 17:35
GORDON HUMMER MAKES INCREDIBLE RECOVERY ON DAY 5 OF DAKAR


Gordon on the gas during stage five
American Racer Robby Gordon’s “never give up” philosophy pays off in stage 5 run from Quarzatate to Tan Tan Morocco.

After three brilliant days on the Dakar Rally, Robby Gordon and navigator Darren Skilton had moved their specially built “Dakar Hummer H3” from a 35th starting position in Lisbon Portugal to fifth in Er Richidia, Morroco. On day four, from Er Richidia to Quarzazate, Gordon had the Hummer in contention for the overall win when a small bolt in the transmission failed, almost putting the Hummer completely out of the race. Only Gordon’s skill as a mechanic saved the moment as he had to repeatedly climb under the car and disassemble one of the transmission’s halfshafts to reattach the failing component. He did this six times in the desert finally completing the timed stage just two minutes from being disqualified for being past the allowed time. Then he had to limp over a hundred miles back to the liaison finish line to officially complete the fourth day of competition. Gordon arrived at 10:30 in the evening. This is when Gordon’s ace six-man crew went into action. The transmission was replaced with a new one, but the failing part had to be “re-engineered” so it wouldn’t fail again. The solution was simply to weld the suspect bolt into position so it couldn’t move. After an all-night thrash the Hummer was ready to run just as dawn was breaking over the Atlas Mountains in the far distance.

....a long way to go.

[allwaysbaja]

...a little more,
Gordon’s last finishing place from the night before relegated the team to 120th on the morning’s starting grid. “Through no fault of our own we went from the lead to so far back we could barely see the lead cars when they left the starting line. This was a real set back as this was the stage (from Quarzazate to Tan Tan) that Robby and I really felt we could win,” said Skilton after the finish.

Nevertheless Gordon moved from 120th up to 45th. “There was incredible dust on this leg, as we were far enough into the race where the cars are now combined with the trucks in overall finishing order, so that determines the start order for the next day,” said Skliton “If we’d started in front we could have made excellent time but we had to drive smart, taking no chances. We know this race has just begun. There are thousands of miles yet to cover across the roughest part of Africa. Robby passed some 70 cars before we began smelling oil. Not knowing the cause we had to stop and try to solve the problem but we could only determine the reservoir was low, so we topped up and cruised in to Tan Tan. The Hummer seems to be running fine, but we won’t know the source of the leak for sure until the crew gets on it.”

To make things even more interesting, officials have determined day six will be a “marathon leg” so the morning’s start time will come before dawn. The crew, having had to drive straight through from Quarzazate; leaving just as the car was finished, has had little sleep and is now working on the car to get it ready for the early morning start.

The good news? Gordon’s good finish today has moved the Hummer team back up the starting order, into contention for a top-10 overall finish. We’ll know more by tomorrow evening

[ShaneR]

The transaxle they run is the Albins, we run the same thing and at Parker last year on our second lap the little bolt that holds the output shaft/flange into the splines backed out. I had to remove the CV and replace the bolt and we were able to finish the race. I wonder if this is the same bolt? We have never had the problem again but from the manufacturer the torque rating on that bolt is very low. Or was this a prep deal and the CV bolts were loose or in the wrong hole and wallowed out the holes on the output flange?There are a set of metric and a set of standard bolt holes on the flange and they could have been cross threaded? Wonder if we will ever know? Todays run does show how fast an american built race car can be.
Mark is doing great and has a big team with experience behind him. It is great seeing the americans do well.
Has anyone heard if the Hog Wild team is still running?

[allwaysbaja]

yeah sounds like RG had a rough time. On OLN's footage last night looks like the H3 likes to stretch her legs! All we can do is sit and wait. I agree, seeing the american teams do well.

[Chase 2]

I haven't seen them in the standings since they reportely had sproket problems. Their webs site doesn't update for me and there are error messages at the bottom of the page. They are not listed as having withdrawn, but I have a bad feeling they may not be running.

[klaus]

Source: http://zitzewitz.com/dakar/?p=221

Mark Miller and Dirk von Zitzewitz finished 2nd !

Dirk mailed us a CD full of photos of the first 3 Days. Check it out in our Photo Gallery (http://zitzewitz.com/galerie/index.php?gallery=./Dakar%202006/Lissabon)

Mark Miller sums up the stage:
" I stick strictly to the plan and only drive at 90%. Today went flawless and the Roadbook was dead on. Dirk and myself are happy with the results of today's 2nd place and 4th overall."

Listen to Dirk's Audio call-in (German) (http://zitzewitz.com/dakar/wp-content/audio-dakar-2006/5-04-01-2006.mp3)
"Today went well just like the previous days. We didn't make any mistakes. We drove in the dust just like all of the competitors. We passed lots of motorcycles. Navigation worked well, the Road book was precise. We simply drove our stage. Everything worked well (laughing). Second place is a good base for tomorrow." "No, we aren't surprised, we didn't plan to be this far ahead in the game, but we are not complaining"

It looks like Mark and Dirk have much to offer, but there are still thousands ok kilometers to finish in the 2006 Dakar.

Audio call-ins of Mark Miller are available on his website. (http://usadakar.com/stageaudio_five.html)

[desertbull]

I read on some website www.DirtNewz.com that the Hog Wild Racing guys were out of the race and Whitney was at the airport already with his Side Hack...apparently they lost the front sprocket and while repairing it they missed the Stage 3 time limit to start the special, therefore eliminating them from the race...An ultimate bummer!

DB :)

Robby/Darren are at the start line now 9:55 pm local PST/5:55 am local GMT - Miller is well underway hauling the mail...Git' R' Done!

[bufeo]

Right on, DB, I'm glad there's someone else besides me up at this hour. :)

[desertbull]

Well, we're not the only ones...I talked to Klaus a little while ago and he was going to get something to eat and then back at it --- My wife thinks I'm nutz --- I told her --- after 20 years your just figuring that out --- LOL --- I said, "I went to LA Bay via the dirt last week for 2 days --- yes, I'm nutz!"

Go Grider!

[FlyHiFlyLo7]

Well, we're not the only ones...I talked to Klaus a little while ago and he was going to get something to eat and then back at it --- My wife thinks I'm nutz --- I told her --- after 20 years your just figuring that out --- LOL --- I said, "I went to LA Bay via the dirt last week for 2 days --- yes, I'm nutz!"

Go Grider!


Go Grider!

I talked to Darren's dad today. Team Hummer spent over 25 minutes looking for an oil leak on the engine to no avail. They would have won stage 5 for sure. I can't wait to see a wide open run with no probs on these big stages..