Dakar Supporters Tour 2012 http://dakarblog.com South African Dakar Rally Supporters Tour 2012 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:58:18 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 Results from Stages 11 to Finish http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/23/results-from-stages-11-to-finish/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/23/results-from-stages-11-to-finish/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:58:18 +0000 Dave http://dakarblog.com/?p=885 Continue reading →]]> Stages S11 Arica > Arequipa S12 Arequipa > Nasca S13 Nasca > Pisco S14 Pisco > Lima Bikes # Name S11 S12 S13 S14 Overall 64 Daniel Schröder 14 27 10 30 20 110 Chris Birch 17 24 27 40 27 144 Darryl Curtis 25 21 24 27 22 176 Gregg Raaff 83 84 95 69 83 Cars # Name S11 S12 S13 S14 Overall 301 Giniel De Villiers 4 3 2 4 3 313 Duncan Vos 9 31 15 17 11 359 Mark Corbett 37 17 14 14 24 Withdrawls S1 Alfie Cox and Jurgen Schröder (318) – Car caught fire S5 Orlando Terranova (308) – Navigator pulled out S5 Iain Stevenson (108) – Bike caught fire S5 Neil Scott-Williams (135) – Excluded ]]> http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/23/results-from-stages-11-to-finish/feed/ 0 Container chaos http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/17/container-chaos/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/17/container-chaos/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:50:32 +0000 Terri-Glen http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/17/container-chaos/ Continue reading →]]> As always things never go as planned at Dakar. After a hectic morning chasing Pewano for our bags, packing and riding to the warehouse (without a street number on a 20 km long road) we spent six hours waiting in a warehouse for a non-existent container. Waiver tried to blame the agents until confronted with the emails from Durban which clearly proved their fault in the matter. At this point they agreed to provide safe storage for our bikes and kit and promised to provide a team to assist the Maine’s with the packing of all the bikes on the 24th. Hopefully this will all go to plan. Unfortunately this does mean the Maine’s will give the rest of us a hard time for years to come.

]]> http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/17/container-chaos/feed/ 0 Final Day http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/15/final-day/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/15/final-day/#comments Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:45:37 +0000 Terri-Glen http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/15/final-day/ 20120115-134702.jpg

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]]> http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/15/final-day/feed/ 0 Scary border crashing by bus with chickens!! http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/13/scary-border-crashing-by-bus-with-chickens/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/13/scary-border-crashing-by-bus-with-chickens/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:10:17 +0000 Terri-Glen http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/13/scary-border-crashing-by-bus-with-chickens/ Continue reading →]]> Terri and Glen left Iquique in Lizzi, had the most beautiful scenic trip with sea on one side and huge dunes on the other. Stopped off at lots of places to eat and drink the local food. Got to Arica, found the guys a hotel, found the bus station, dropped Lizzi off at Hertz and got the taxi across the border….6 people in the car with no shocks, no aircon and a bad road in the desert…! Caught a bus from Tacna with chickens apples and a whole lot more to Arequipa. Arrived at the bus terminal miles away from anywhere at 2.00am in the morning with no booked accommodation…what a silly thing to have done. Found a taxi and asked him to take us to a hotel, any hotel. Well we are still alive to tell the story although for a while we thought we would not ever see another person again. Arequipa is one of the most beautiful places we have been to. Misty, the one volcano is,really spectacular. Picking up our new car, still to be named, just now and heading for Nasca.

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]]> http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/13/scary-border-crashing-by-bus-with-chickens/feed/ 0 Day 12….What a day for all!!! http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/13/day-12-what-a-day-for-all/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/13/day-12-what-a-day-for-all/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:54:33 +0000 Terri-Glen http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/13/day-12-what-a-day-for-all/ Continue reading →]]> What a night for the supporters tour! After a relatively painless border crossing and a few hours of sublime riding the KTM”s started breaking down (Tim’s Tiger seems to be the bike for Dakar). First Mike’s 690 developed its usual electrical problem and a 45 minute repair was required. We then climbed a huge pass and at the top Doug’s clutch had packed in. The only option was to ride without a clutch for 100 km. This meant keeping the bike going in huge traffic down mountain passes and needless to say Doug is a lot older today then he was yesterday. Malcolm and Doug managed to get to the Bivovac and with Jurgen’s help found the KTM mechanic Stephan who repaired the master cylinder seals. This was a two and a half hour job and involved some canabalising of parts from the race bikes. During this time we received a message from Mike saying that Pat’s bike had a fuel blockage and he was stuck in the desert. Mike had to leave Pat without comms (thanks MTN) and after taking the wrong turn and developing further bike travels he reached the Bivovac to try and arrange a rescue. By this time the Maines had reached Pat and they stripped the fuel tanks and pump off the bike in order to clean the fuel filter. Many hours later they all reached the hotel. Malcolm’s bike is also having problems (possibly overheating or fuel blockage) and this meant pushing the bike the last few 100m to the hotel in peak hour traffic. Just another day at Dakar.

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]]> http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/13/day-12-what-a-day-for-all/feed/ 0 Results from Stages 8 to 10 http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/10/results-from-stage-8/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/10/results-from-stage-8/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:14:14 +0000 Dave http://dakarblog.com/?p=864 Continue reading →]]> Stages S8 Copiapo > Antofagasta S9 Antofagasta > Iquique S10 Iquique > Arica Bikes # Name S8 S9 S10 Overall 64 Daniel Schröder 29 17 24 22 110 Chris Birch 35 30 17 32 144 Darryl Curtis 39 24 18 26 176 Gregg Raaff 92 90 92 86 Cars # Name S8 S9 S10 Overall 301 Giniel De Villiers 6 6 3 4 313 Duncan Vos 10 8 16 10 359 Mark Corbett 28 55 56 26 Withdrawls S1 Alfie Cox and Jurgen Schröder (318) – Car caught fire S5 Orlando Terranova (308) – Navigator pulled out S5 Iain Stevenson (108) – Bike caught fire S5 Neil Scott-Williams (135) – Excluded ]]> http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/10/results-from-stage-8/feed/ 0 Bike Tour Update After Rest Day http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/10/bike-tour-update-after-rest-day/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/10/bike-tour-update-after-rest-day/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:51:11 +0000 Dave http://dakarblog.com/?p=856 Continue reading →]]> After the extreme weather over the San Francisco pass the tour assembled in the coast village of Bahia Englesa 70km outside of Copiaco. The group has been joined by Doug Ross who rumor has it, is still adjusting to the size of a single shot of rum. The opportunity to spend a few nights in the same location and not chase the rally like madmen is a very welcome break. Yesterday the tour headed for Antofagasta, and today the rally ends with the most spectacular descent down a massive dune into the bivouac in Iquique. Bad news, is that Neil is out of the rally after missing some way points. Even worse news, after joining the bike tour Neil took a tumble while on a t-shirt ride and has hurt his hands badly enough to fly back to SA in a lot of pain. The whereabouts of the official Dakar blog media correspondent is still unclear and it is suspected that he is unable to leave his beloved 690 long enough to post any stories.

The dune finish in Iquique

]]> http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/10/bike-tour-update-after-rest-day/feed/ 0 Results from Stages 4 to the rest day http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/09/results-from-stages-4-to-the-rest-day/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/09/results-from-stages-4-to-the-rest-day/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:30:14 +0000 Dave http://dakarblog.com/?p=853 Continue reading →]]> Stages S4 San Juan > Chilecito S5 Chilecito > Fiambala S6 Fiambala > Copiapo – CANCELLED S7 Copiapo > Copiapo Bikes # Name S4 S5 S7 Overall 64 Daniel Schröder 29 26 26 32 108 Iain Stevenson 107 110 Chris Birch 100 42 34 41 135 Neil Scott-Williams 130 144 Darryl Curtis 40 22 32 33 176 Gregg Raaff 102 91 106 95 Cars # Name S4 S5 S7 Overall 301 Giniel De Villiers 3 9 6 5 308 Orlando Terranova 2 313 Duncan Vos 8 12 16 11 359 Mark Corbett 20 70 24 20 Withdrawls S1 Alfie Cox and Jurgen Schröder (318) – Car caught fire S5 Orlando Terranova (308) – Navigator pulled out S5 Iain Stevenson (108) – Bike caught fire S5 Neil Scott-Williams (135) – Excluded ]]> http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/09/results-from-stages-4-to-the-rest-day/feed/ 0 Into Chile http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/06/into-chile/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/06/into-chile/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:01:30 +0000 Terri-Glen http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/06/into-chile/ Continue reading →]]> Day 6
Just found WIFI so thought we would catch up. We are in an awesome coastal town called Bahia Englesa 70km outside of Copiaco. Camping as apposed to a hotel. Terri and Glen arrived early yesterday and set up camp. Malcolm, Patrick and John had a very interesting ride across San Francisco Pass….hail, sleet, snow, thunder, lightening and a lot of sludge. Not sure how they made it but they did. They joined the campsite at about midnight extremely cold, tired and hungry. Iain’s bike burnt out and unfortunately he is out of the race. The Maine’s and Mike A, after big mechanical issues, is also reportedly making his way to the camp site (our very own bivouac) bound to arrive shortly. After diagnosing a kid next door to us in the camp with tourette syndrome John has now settled down and is quietly drinking away. Terri and Glen have now managed to arrange a car all the way through to Arica so stress is off.

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]]> http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/06/into-chile/feed/ 0 STAGE 6 FIAMBALA > COPIAPO CANCELLED http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/06/stage-6-fiambala-copiapo-cancelled/ http://dakarblog.com/2012/01/06/stage-6-fiambala-copiapo-cancelled/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:50:21 +0000 Dave http://dakarblog.com/?p=845 Continue reading →]]> Due to the bad weather continuing over the Andes Mountain Range (rain and snow), the Chilean authorities were forced to close, for the night, the border at the Paso de San Francisco pass, situated at 4700 m.

For the 7th time, the Dakar is about to cross over the Andes, and because of very unfavourable conditions, added to the fact that the course has been hit by rain and snow, in order to guarantee the security of the competitors and those following the rally, the organisers have decided to organise a convoy for all vehicles tomorrow. The itinerary has been changed after the border (follow the main road on the right which goes to Diego de Almagro).

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