Addicted to Dakar

Addicted to Dakar by Leeroy Poulter The Dakar rally is, withoutt a doubt, the world’s toutoughestghest motorsport event. And whilehile it now takes pplacelace in South America, rather than Africa,ca, tthehe race is still knowknownn aass ttheheh Dakar rally. As a matter off fact, the Dakar has become a brand in its own right, andd 2016 saw the 38th rurunningnnin ng of one of the planet’s most iconicconic races. For me, 2016 presented a third opportunity to take part in Our Toyota Hilux’s naturally aspirated V8 engine works best the rally. As a factory car driver for a local car manufacturer at sea level, or low altitudes. It doesn’t like the thin air of the I was able to take part in the South African National Rally Andes, which is where the turbo-charged Minis and Peugeots Championship, and won the title in 2014. I have also are more at home. So our plan was to push hard over the competed in the South African National Cross-Country first few days, and steal an early lead. Then we could try Championship, and won that title in 2015. So it is safe to to defend that lead as best we could at high altitude, and say that motor racing is a big part of my life. hopefully be in for the final fight during the last week, when the Dakar returned to lower altitudes. The opportunity to compete in the Dakar first came in 2014, when we raced as the Toyota Imperial South African Dakar So much for strategy. With the opening stage cancelled, Team. My introduction to this mammoth event was not our opportunities to steal a march on the competition were easy, and we (navigator Rob Howie and I) finished in 33rd taken away by the weather. But then the Dakar isn’t a race place. We returned in 2015 in the same team colours, and that is won in a day. Actually, it isn’t a race that you can achieved an improved position of 16th overall. It was still a chase at all. You have to be as quick as possible, sure. But tough race, but last year gave me much more insight into you also have to be safe, be careful not to break the car, what it takes to do well in a race that covers nearly and above all, be consistent. 10 000 km and takes place over 14 days. If you post Top 10 stage times each day, chances are you’ll By the time the 2016 rally arrived, our team had changed be in the Top 5 by the time the race ends. This is a race to the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team, and we fielded of attrition as much as anything else, and even the top the toughest, meanest Toyota Hilux ever. The vehicle is dogs make mistakes. This year, nine times world rally powered by a normally aspirated 5 litre Lexus V8 engine, champion, Sebastien Loeb, raced for the Peugeot team. and features a sequential gearbox, clever differentials and He was fast at the start, but rolled his Peugeot buggy a suspension system that simply boggles the mind. It is a out of contention when the terrain became very tricky. multi-million-rand beast that looks and sounds fantastic, as But that was his first race. well as being great to drive. Carlos Sainz, a former winner of the Dakar and a rally So, armed with the best equipment, and backed by a legend, damaged his Peugeot beyond repair when highly skilled and experienced team of mechanics and race frustration got the better of him at an entry into a riverbed. engineers, we set off for South America. My teammates Nasser Al-Attiyah, in a Mini, also rolled but managed to were former Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers and Saudi racing recover. So there are always opportunities to make up ace, Yazeed al Rajhi. places – as long as you don’t make mistakes yourself. This year’s race started in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, and then snaked northwards into Bolivia. There we For me the highlight of Dakar 2016 was when I led the competed at extreme altitudes around the famous salt pan 481 km-long stage 11. This was a proper test – a massively of Uyuni, before crossing the border back into Argentina. long stage with WRC driver Mikko Hirvonen, in a Mini, The race, which started on 2 January, finished in the city of right on my tail. The stage took five-and-a-half hours to Rosario on 16 January. In between lay 13 stages of varying complete, and for five of those we were the fastest car on distance, countless dune crossings, high altitude tracks, rain, the route. Unfortunately, we ran into the dust of a slower mud, dust, hope and heartache. But then again, this is the competitor near the end of the stage, and just slipped off Dakar, so that’s what one should expect. the track in a tightening corner. It was heartbreaking, but we lost our two-minute lead, plus another 30 seconds, finishing third on the stage. Even so, we mixed it up with This year the race was dampened initially by a weather guys like Nasser and Mikko, which is another great thing system known as El Niño, which brought unnaturally high about the Dakar. We finished fifth overall this year, and are rainfall to the north of Argentina. This meant that Stage 1 pleased with that result. had to be cancelled due to flooding, and the first week of the race was marked not so much by the desert scenes we expected, but rather by mud and heavy rain on the stages. Contact Leeroy Poulter, [email protected] Engineers @ Leisure.

Load more