Thom Cannell 2009 Dakar Coverage 3

Special to The Auto Channel
By Thom Cannell
The Auto Channel
Detroit Bureau

I have time to write today as we are all trapped, encircled by racing bikes, cars and trucks, circling helicopters, and omnipresent clouds of dust. Somehow we have entered the racecourse rather than our Assistant’s route. We found this out abruptly and violently as a motorcycle passed us—not an uncommon occurrence—and kicked our door! A second competitive cycle followed and we knew were well and truly screwed. Our convoy pulled to the side and we have had a private viewing of the third stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile.

Yesterday ended in amazement and awe as we got the same kind of welcome and adulation as Bon Jovi or Queen Latifah. The crowds, rich and poor, lined both sides of whatever street parallels Puerto Madryd’s endless beach. How many “hola’s” we said, how many high fives we exchange is unknown, as are the number of smiling people we shared a special afternoon with. After moments in the bivouac, we departed to a hotel on the beach (complete with casino) for five hours of sleep, seven hours if you had no work to do, or stories to file. Wakeup calls were set at 0420 and departure at 0500.

The route, legal for us journalists according to our GPS system, led onto Route 2, a wide gravel road capable of producing impenetrable clouds of dust; our follow distance went from 30 meters to 300-3000 to preserve vision and safety. This is the real Dakar experience, living in the vacuum cleaner bag for three weeks.

We took fuel at Sierra Negra and set out for Gan Gan, and then further west to Gastre and El Molle, then north to Jacobacci and our evening’s bivouac, this time in tents.

The land has changed, temperatures have dropped from 35 to 15°C and the plains have become a different kind of desert. We travel through pampas grass and thorny scrub brush, low mushroom shaped shrubbery and almost no trees. Overall, with the buttes and low ochre hills, it is rather like driving from Jerome to Sedona, Arizona.

Clouds are amazing this morning, perhaps it’s our proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. Rather than the puffy cotton ball clouds of the Midwest I see formations that appear the aftermath of a huge whipped cream fight. Dollops and streaks of cloud, most with blue and gray bellies fill the sky. It is a Julia Child morning.

The route becomes more confining and changes from gravel to rock, it is almost impossible to set a pen on paper let alone pound the keys of a laptop.

Our race prepped (roll cages, fire and communications systems) VW Touareg 2 is otherwise stock, using standard steel springs instead of luxury air suspension found on US vehicles. It is quiet, billet sturdy, and with the 3.0-liter diesel’s transmission set into Sport mode, easy to push through slick corners. Just ease off the throttle, feel the back start to slide and apply power. Sweet! And though we are not rally drivers, my co-driver Sue Mead hangs it out a tad as we encounter locals at the tight corners. So now we are trapped, waiting more cars, quads, motorcycles, and competition trucks. Then we may continue safely, though by the rules all we must do is don our racing helmets and continue on the race route. We really are competitors after all. However we will wait and encourage safety for all of us¬—and all of them.

Thom Cannell