January 3 - Long days in Lisbon

Day two of my first Dakar.

Long.

Very. Long.

Alarm went off at 6.50. Showered and met a bunch of ASO guys at breakfast. Out of the door at 7.30 and in scrutineering by 8am.

Large car-park with at first a few bikes and cars, then more and more, with trucks added in too. Speed of vehicles passing through the technical check tents had all the hallmarks of glacial flow. No matter how hard you studied it and how long you left the tents to return to the Press Office, there seemed no noticable change.

However, eventually, it seems, everythign warmed up a little and things started to move. Part of today’s job was a decent number of support and service vehicles. These, by their nature, are not competition vehicles and have often not appeared either on the Dakar or any other event and so they often need more modification than competitor’s equipment.

All competing vehicles are fitted with GPS, IriTrack (GPS-based tracking system) and Sentinel (a system that allows cars/trucks to alert bikes to their presence behind them) by separate teams before they even get into the scrutineering sheds and such was the backlog, the Safety teams had everyone done long before the competitors were called into the tech tents.

There seemed to be about a 3-hour wait in the car park after your alloted time before you were called forward. Just as well it wasn’t in Wales! Warm and sunny weather made the wait less painful than it might have been. Luckily the forecast is set fair for the week.

Among today’s stars were former WRC greats Markku Alen (his Isuzu prototype pick-up bearing the legend “Maximum Attack since 1971” and double-World Champion Miki Biasion. Miki, like Markku, spent his glory years as part of the Fiat group (Markku with Fiat then Lancia, Miki in the GpA Deltas) and the amiable Italian is still in the fold. After competing in (Fiat-owned) Iveco trucks, he now finds himself peering down the telescope the other way, in a Panda 4x4! He shares (as ever) with Tiziano Siviero, the other team car (dubbed the Pandakar) driven by another rally legend, Bruno Saby.

But attracting the largest crowd was a Citroen.

No, the team that has dominated the WRC for the past 2 years has not returned to the desert, where it won with 205T16 and 405T16 models a generation ago (though don’t put it that way to Ari Vatanen – who won in them and is still here after all these years.) Rather, a small group of French loonies (who else?) have entered a 2CV.

Yes, a 2CV.

That’s right. One of those funny little cars with the fabric roof and the umbrella-handle gear lever.

After an attempt in 2004 failed around the halfway mark, the crew has spent 2 years building a new, purpose-made, space-frame-chassis 2CV. It’s a proper 4x4, as well. Sort of. It boasts an engine and transmisssion at either end!

Fully 300kg lighter than its steel-monocoque predecessor, the 2007 car now puts out a whopping (in 2CV terms – everything is relative) 30 bhp from EACH of its air-cooled twins. Capacity has been upped from 602cc to a massive 652cc but the 2CV ethos remains the focus and both (original) gearboxes feature toughened 2CV internals.

“We wanted to remain true to the concept of the 2CV,” grinned architect of the project, driver (and barking madman) Georges Marques. The team’s website – http://www.2cvclub.com - details every stage of the build. As a temple of devotion to insanity, it has few peers!

Makes Maidenhead to Monaco in 2CVs look relatively straightforward. So, that’s me and Hindhaugh entered for that, then!

And the best part of the whole deal is that the 2CV sailed through Tech and is in the event. Renault 4s on the RAC Rally and Safari have nothing on these guys! Expect news of them all through the event.

Apart from Froggy craziness, the day just went on and on.

And on.

Working late in the Press Office, I managed to cadge a lift home with some ASO folks at 8.30pm. Arrived back in the hotel at 9, then tagged onto another group going out to dinner at 9.30. Now 11.30 and heading to bed feeling dog-tired after doing largely not very much, other than wait for the day to eventually end.

Hopefully, more top names to meet tomorrow.