dakar

Sebastien Loeb to Compete in FIA World Rallycross

February 29, 2016 by ponycargirl 1 Comment

News just broke that Sebastien Loeb has joined Team Peugeot Hansen to compete in the 2016 FIA World Rallycross season. He joins Timmy Hansen in driving a 550-horsepower 208 WRX Supercar for the full season.

The 42-year old Frenchman has won the World Rally Championship a record nine times, has twice driven in the the 24 Hours of LeMans, and in 2016 drove in his first Dakar Rally, winning four stages and finishing ninth.

“I’m very excited by this opportunity to participate in the full Rallycross Championship for the first time. Over the years I have been fortunate to participate in some truly amazing racing, but rallycross – with the sheer power and the competitiveness of the PEUGEOT 208 WRX, plus the intense nature of the competition – will be something very special. The car and the strategy for this type of racing is completely new to me, so I have a lot to learn, but I hope I can be competitive pretty soon,” said Loeb.

With Loeb signing on to the series, it should prove to be a very competitive year with seasoned rallycross drivers Ken Block, Petter Solberg, and a deep field of experienced European competitors. FIA World RX will come to Trois Rivieres August 5-7 2016.

Sebastien Loeb poeses for a portrait during Rallycross on Ice 2016 Sweden in Are, Sweden on 16 February 2016

Last But Not Least: Redefining the Meaning of Winning

January 21, 2013 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

Race 2 Recovery on the podium at Dakar

A guest post by Colene Allen

“What you have achieved was a triumph of perseverance and teamwork, and you have shown the world what true valour looks like.” – The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge.

Winners.

In motorsport, there are many of them. Winners of races, winners of championships, winners of purse money, and winners of trophies. We define a winner by where they place in a competition. We often refer to the second place finisher as the first loser. For most drivers, teams, and sponsors, winning is the benchmark of success in motorsport. Given all that, something happened during the 2013 edition of the Dakar Rally-Raid that completely redefines what a winner is. In fact, what happened completely redefined motorsport as many of us know and view it.

Motorsport by its nature is a combination of man and machine, teamwork, determination, perseverance, sheer grit, and courage. We often focus on the machine part of the equation and concern ourselves with the latest advancements in aerodynamics, engine technology, or computer controlled systems. We focus occasionally on an exceptional driver, an outstanding performance, or a glimmer of greatness. We rarely focus on what people put into the work they do in motorsport to achieve the results they do. We do not notice what they overcome to achieve the results they do, and given our definition of what a winner is, we would never consider finishing in last place to be a triumph.

Approximately two years ago, while attending a therapy session at a rehabilitation clinic for wounded soldiers in the United Kingdom, Captain Tony Harris turned to his mate, Corporal Tom Neathway and expressed a desire to start a race team to compete in and finish the 2013 Dakar Rally-Raid. Over the next two years, the two mates assembled a team of wounded soldiers from the American and British militaries, several veterans, and a number of experts from the motorsports arena. They put together deals with high profile sponsors, including the Royal Family of Windsor, and trained and practised to get ready to take on the Dakar Rally-Raid. Harris and Neathway named the team Race2Recovery and set out to prove that being a single, double, or triple amputee has no bearing on the ability to compete in motorsports.
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Team Chinook update from Dakar

January 8, 2011 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

Team Chinook in the desert

Today is rest day for the competitors at Dakar. A day for drivers and co-drivers to get some sleep and maybe even a shower if they are lucky. We’ve heard stories that it is 140 degrees F in the desert and folks haven’t had a shower in a week! Funky!

Team Chinook are still on the road, on their way to being the first Canadian team to finish the event on 4 wheels. That is not to say that it has been easy though. Earlier in the week, the battled some fuel problems and then on Wednesday, the alternator failed on the race truck. Crew member, Troy, apparently sold his soul to ~~the devil~~ Robby Gordon’s crew to procure a new one.
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Team Chinook still on the road at Dakar

January 4, 2011 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

In past years, I’ve been all over covering Dakar. This year though, I just haven’t been able to wrap my head around it. That is a shame, because Conor Malone and Tom Frank are attempting to become the first Canadian team to finish the Dakar on 4 wheels.

As of this writing, the Team Chinook Chevy is still on the road, having passed today’s waypoint 6 in 110th position out of 135 cars. This is despite an off yesterday that required some all night welding and a 40 minute delay caused by a misplaced nomex balaclava!
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This is so rad.

November 17, 2009 by Erik Ockwell 1 Comment

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Anybody that knows me knows I love Subarus. But only a select few know I have a special soft spot for Foresters, or “bricks” as I like to call them.

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Dakar 2009 in images

January 17, 2009 by Gary Grant 3 Comments

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!

Dakar 2009: Shaking things up at Stage 12

January 15, 2009 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

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.

Dakar 2009: Robby Gordon is movin’ on up

January 6, 2009 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

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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Dakar 2009 gets under way

January 3, 2009 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

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.

The latest news on Dakar… finally.

January 29, 2008 by Gary Faules 3 Comments

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.

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