Monday 12 January 2015

Dakar - Villa Carlos Paz To San Juan

Jan 05th 2015, 3.00 am start, 4.00am on the road to Las Palmas, we arrived with about 15 minutes up our sleeve before the first Red Bull KTM moto rolled through, 15 minutes ahead of the next lads.

In the go slow town zone

IMG_4700 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Just out of the go slow zone

IMG_4705 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The motos providing some excellent riding, beautiful two wheel, stand up drifts at warp factor two…..and at one stage we were only one meter away from the riders…awesome.

IMG_4731 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

It was not long and the quads were firing through with a battle or two creating some great entertainment as they battled for clean non dust laden air.

IMG_4816 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

No sooner they had started to thin out the cars and utes appeared with V8’s singing out loud to the needy petrol heads …me included.

IMG_4822 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We were at the end of the town “go slow” section so when their beepers went off the throttle was hit shifting the hillside behind them at an astounding rate.

IMG_4849 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The acceleration, sound, gravel and dust making for full on Dakar happenings.

IMG_4854 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The treat continued as the various forms of utes, cars, single seaters etc ripped through creating great spectating and the crowds lapping it up, the custom cars with the big V8’s roaring throughout the entire valley....pure music

IMG_4858 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

For me I was keen to see the motos and the big trucks and soon enough the big trucks came through thundering their way past.

This guy was cheating cutting the corners

IMG_4869 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We watched in awe as the Red Bull truck was first up, the engine over boosting all the way through town in the go slow section so when they hit the exit and fuel all 1050 hp was ready and waiting.....and it was

To see 4 large knobbly wheels spinning spitting gravel and stones rearward like a roaster tail and the hearing the monster exhausts screaming with the whine from the turbos all with the base guitar of an 18 liter V8 engine was utterly impressive, stand up close to it and WOW.

Trucks at the first corner,

IMG_4890 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Check out the bend on the tire

IMG_5062 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The entertainment from the big boys left me with a grin that could not be measured, the 6 wheelers also putting on an impressive display enough to take your hat off to the drivers of these super trucks at a super pace.

IMG_5089 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_5216 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_5134 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

In the full spirit of the event the co-drivers taking time to wave at the crowd in acknowledgment for their effort to be watching them, seriously cool atmosphere on a seriously hot day with some seriously great riding and driving.

Ciao dude

IMG_5142 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

On completion of the last truck at about 4 pm there was virtually no crowds left, most had bailed and gone so it was Larry Lonely and his Chinese sidekick left otherwise known as Andi & Ellen, the bonus is the huge long string of traffic had all but dissipated so we had a clean run out.

Our bonus was to then ride the Dakar road back towards Villa Carlos Paz before turning off onto a remote road with stunning valley views, river crossings, rock faces and moon like landscapes.

The road powdered by big HP

P1220271 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Looks like Central Otago, New Zealand

P1220266 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1220252 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Tired, hungry and happy we rolled back in the door at about 7.30pm in the evening, wicked day out of full on petrolheadism to say the least.

Thanks Dakar racers, great display of great driving and riding

A video of our view of the day

http://youtu.be/zxFhsqlDCQY

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