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.
Robby’s people posted this today, following scrutineering.
Today’s quote from Robby Gordon:
“The stage was very tight and technical and the sand was soft and deep. We had a good race going but we got stuck trying to avoid hitting some fans. I would say we lost close to five minutes by being bogged down. That was the biggest problem. We had a couple of technical issues with the truck. The clutch was slipping so we had to baby it a bit. Overall we are going to be ok. I’m satisfied with how we are going to stack up against the competition.”
The 2007 running of the Dakar is now under way, having left Lisbon, Portugal earlier today. In fact, Portugal is proud today as the home town boy Ruben Faria has won the first stage. We’ll be keeping an eye on American boy Robbie Gordon in the car division. He wasn’t able to manage anything better than a 13th place finish on today’s stage.
Watch for ongoing coverage here in The Garage. TV coverage here in Canada begins tonight at 7 pm on OLN, with coverage every evening.
