The 2009 edition of Dakar is set to wrap up tomorrow, and while Robby Gordon is still shown in 3rd place things aren’t looking good for the American favorite. Yesterday Gordon finished a disappointing 16th on the stage thanks to a rock stuck in the throttle linkage. It appears that more problems have hit the Monster Hummer, as they are showing in 23rd place today but still clinging to that podium spot.

A couple of days ago, the Boston Globe published a big gallery of absolutely stunning images from Dakar. The battle royale between enthusiasts and tree huggers in the comments section is almost as fun as the photos!

As was so kindly pointed out by a commenter on Tom’s most recent Forgotten Ugly Sporty Cars post, I haven’t been keeping up to date with Dakar. I hate to say it, but sometimes life gets in the way of reporting.

While I’ve been away though, some pretty crazy stuff has been going on. Stage 11 was canceled due to wicked weather. WRC champ Carlos Sainz had a big one, dropping the nose of his VW into a ditch and flipping the beast on it’s roof. Somehow, he thought he would continue even though his co-piloto has a broken shoulder.

While Sainz’s retirement is big news, so is the climb of American Robby Gordon who is now up to 3rd overall. With a second place on Stage 10 and 3rd today on 12, it looks like the Dakar Gods are finally beginning to smile upon Robby G.

While we’re really just happy to have daily Dakar updates every evening on TV, most of us here in The Garage are really rooting for American anti-hero Robby Gordon. People can say what they want about Robby, but he truly is a racer’s racer who just wants to win in anything he drives.

At the end of day 1, I think we all were a little sad to read that he had only finished in 17th position. Watching the video after the break however, puts a bit of a different spin on things. Basically, Gordon scared the crap out of himself and a quad rider and is now driving with his brain. This is a good thing! Having seen some in car footage on the OLN coverage, I’m amazed that some riders haven’t been squished. The dust is incredibly thing and hangs in the air forever meaning that drivers can’t see a darned thing.

Fortunately, today’s standings show that Robby G is whittling away at his time deficit and has moved up to 9th position overall. This is despite a couple of left rear wheel failures caused by extended periods of 120 mph plus hammering across the countryside.

Check out the first video from Team Dakar USA after the break
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Things have been rather quiet here in The Garage these days, as we all attempt to actually be part of our families over the holidays. Fortunately for all of us, there are 542 rally crews who eat, sleep and breath Dakar!

The gigantic field of cars, bikes, atv’s and trucks left Buenos Aires this morning to begin a 6000 kilometer loop that will bring them back to Buenos Aires on January 17th.

This is the first time the Dakar has happened off the African continent. To give you an idea of how brutal the route must be, only 421 crews have finished the first stage!

We’ll try to keep our readers up to date as much as possible. Today, we have a lead up video from Robby Gordon and Team Dakar USA. Gordon finished the day in 17th place out of 168 cars.

Not only has the route been changed but so has the name. Now it will be called the Dakar Series which will take place in three stages. The first stage will start on April 11th in Budapest and finish in Hungary and Romania. The second stage will begin in Portugal in September and then they race through Spain and Portugal from Buenos Aries Argentina to Chile and then return to Buenos Aries for the finish.

ASO, the organizers of the event, have signed a deal with a promotion company in Argentina! And although the South American rally likely won’t happen this year, when it does it will likely revert to Dakar’s traditional January 1 starting date and take the place of the Pampas Rally in the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. The Pampas Rally will go to Chile and back again.

There has been other routes discussed such as Paris to Beijing Dubai and even Australia but the reports show those possibilities as being too expensive. Morocco was also discussed but intelligence ruled out because of terrorist problems in that area.

ASO had discussed running the event in 2008 just in Morocco, but intelligence ruled that out with terrorists close to the Mauritanian border.

Is this really what the world has come to? It seems even a legendary rally in the twisted minds of Al-Qaeda is contrary to their beliefs.

The Dakar Rally, the legendary race across the Sahara which is one of motorsport’s toughest and most dangerous competitions, has been cancelled for the first time in its 30-year history because of security fears. There have been security warnings in the past, but never potent enough to scrap the entire race.
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The Porsche Cayenne has had more than a few detractors since it’s inception, with many feeling that there is no reason for an SUV with 911 lineage. Porsche is determined to show the world that the Cayenne is a winner in it’s own arena. But what exactly is that arena?

This is no shopping mall autocross, this is the Transsyberia Rally. Beginning this morning, 25 rally prepped Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberias will begin the 7000 km trek from Moscow’s Red Square to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbataar. There are no over privileged soccer moms on board these Cayenne’s, with names like Rod Millen and Armin Schwarz at the wheel. There will be some serious stage action.

To cope with that action, the Cayenne’s have received more than a bit of beefing up from the big guys at Weissach. Mods include full roll cage, upgraded air intake and body sealing (for water crossings), additional lights and rally tires. As would be expected, each truck carries a full complement of navigational electronics to make sure the crews find their way.

The event runs until August 17 and will be covered live through the Porsche web site. You can also check back to The Garage, as we’ll keep readers up to date as we receive details.

Porsche press release and more photos after the break
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Car enthusiasts love concept cars. Journalists love concept cars. Chrysler loves to build concept cars! In fact they are dedicated to building the Coolest of Cool concept cars. In reality, every designer and every manufacturer thinks that their concepts are the coolest. Not every concept is a driver though and the Chrysler boys and girls try to make most of them runners. the even get them out on the road for journalists to have a go at. Not long ago, one lucky guy got to take the new Challenger down a drag strip!

It has been 20 years since Chrysler began taking this approach and they are pretty proud of some of those cars. Rightfully so, as a number of the cars on the list went on to production and a full model life. Viper, Prowler, Ram, Neon. These and more have been important to Chrysler fans all over, not to mention the company.

More images and press release after the break
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Dakar is done for another year. The Mitsubishi team won in the car division, capitalizing on their reliability, rather than outright speed. That is not to say they were slow by any means, but reliability is king in any endurance event. The HUMMER of Robby Gordon and Team Dakar USA finished a well deserved 8th. Reliability and bad luck prevented a better finish, but they cranked off a stage win and a number of top 5 stage finishes. The team did a great job overall.

So why is it that the Monster Energy HUMMER crew received such poor coverage in the televised coverage?
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