What can we say about today? Well, today proves that no matter how much money you have, how well prepared you are or how professional your team is, there is always a learning curve leading up to a win. The Monster HUMMER was the fastest beast on the road today, but fell victim to a kinked fuel hose. Once again, the giant is felled by a mouse of a problem. They managed to keep their 8th place position overall though, and the confidence level is high that they will win the remaining stages.
Be sure to visit the Team Dakar USA site, and visit their corporate partners. Without their support, the team likely wouldn’t be publishing these great videos.
As the 2007 Dakar gets closer to the end, Team Dakar USA continues to move up the scoreboard. A strong performance on Stage 9, along with failures from 2 of the VW powerhouse have moved the HUMMER up to 8th place overall in the cars. If all keeps going their way, a top 5 finish could be a real possibility. Today’s video includes more killer in car.
The longest stage so far, and Robby Gordon had to baby the HUMMER to conserve fuel. A 589 Km special stage! Until you’ve driven a stage rally, you can’t begin to comprehend how tough this must be. Years ago, at the Tall Pines Rally, we ran a stage that was about 37 or so Km long. At the time, it was the longest stage in Canada and it was exhausting. I just can’t imagine a stage of almost 600 km. Continued strong finishes and Team Dakar USA has broken into the top ten.
A stage win and a couple of good finishes have moved Robby Gordon back up into 10th place overall. Really, the team has done a great job. In the televised show of stage 7, it was funny to see the VW’s gingerly picking their way over some train tracks. Suddenly, there was the Monster HUMMER flying through the air over the tracks, leaving the VW’s in it’s dust. Very cool.
In today’s video from team Dakar USA, wartch near the end for the helicopter on the left. Well over 100 mph, 20 or 30 feet off the desert sand. Wild.
We knew he could do it. Robby Gordon is the first American to win a stage on the Dakar. With rain damping the dust, Gordon took advantage of the conditions to take the win on stage 6. This moved him up to 19th position overall.
Ever wonder how a co-driver feels on a scary stage? Today’s video from the Team Dakar USA HUMMER should give you a pretty good idea of what it’s like in the passenger seat when there is no road on the right. The video is great and the sound of the HUMMER is just incredible. Robby Gordon definately had the drive of the day, starting 77th and finishing an awesome 15th on the road.
The coolest thing to remember is that almost all vehicle repairs on the Dakar are done by the driving team. How many other NASCAR regulars could diagnose and repair a fuel injection problem themselves? Keep up the great work Robby.
Well, I missed the OLN coverage tonight. Too much other stuff going on. I caught the last few minutes, where they said Robby rolled the HUMMER. Watching today’s video, it wasn’t much of a roll. More like a dump on it’s side in a ditch. No big deal really, just a minor bump. Good video though, enjoy.
For further coverage, don’t forget to visit Robby’s site
Today’s video from Robby Gordon includes some nice bumper cam views that give some idea of how many spectators line the race course in the early days of Dakar. Better than the video though is the audio. The HUMMER sounds mean as hell!
Today’s standings show the Team Dakar USA HUMMER in 18th place. Don’t worry folks, this is a long event & I’m sure we’ll see Robby on the leaderboard soon.
One thing about being Canadian is that we don’t get all riled up about all this political nonsense like our neighbours to the south do. Personally, I think the idea of a bunch of kids whacking the shit out of a Humvee full of GI Joe’s is pretty funny.
Isn’t this just the coolest, ugliest thing you’ve ever seen? Even better, it’s built right here in Ontario! The Gurka is a fully armoured vehicle, with protection that is unequaled by anything this side of a tank. Best yet, they are available for civilians to drive on the street, providing you’ve got a couple of hundred grand floating around. The first civilian model is of course going to Cali, to a friend of the Governator who wants to one up Arnold and his HUMMER.
We’ll see if we can’t get some seat time in one of these puppies and report back on their talents.
