Jan 11th 2010 Dakar Rally Stage 9 Race Info & Discussion

Join in and discuss all the action from Stage 9 of the 2010 Dakar Rally. Raceday chat will also be available throughout the entire 2010 Dakar Rally.

STAGE 9: Copiapo > La Serena

Connection 0 km | Special Stage 338 km | Connection 209 km | Total 547 km

Course Overview

The last day in the Atacama will be a good opportunity to make the best of sand and dunes: it is mainly on the first 180 kilometres that the difficulties will be gathered. The terrain being fairly open, the bikers will take off in lines of twenty. At this stage of the race, the leaders are clearly identified in each class but the podium can still change at any moment. In the same way, those who will have reached La Serena will certainly have covered the toughest part, technically speaking. A long distance will however have to still be covered with cold blood and taking it easily. For the amateurs, it is on these qualities that a Dakar can be played.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by geothermaljones on January 11, 2010 at 3:23pm

I thought the restrictor was larger than last years & allowed more power, At least that's what the rule book allowed in August. They might have changed it back, as they were restricting some of the diesel issues & VW probably objected,
Reliability is the definite back biter this year, Between Belts & tires with the odd alternater, it's cost them big time. Last year a quick roll & a couple off track mianders were the only real delays. A few flats for sure, but no more than the rest. I've got to imagine RG will be back with another rig design, Hummer or Not. The original Jim Beam Hummer lost big time early on when it lost it's single cell radiator & they drove it in "dry". The next year (first Monster) they had a completely redesigned cooling system with 2 or 3 cells in the radiator & each can be isolated... Looks like the inflate/tire system will get the same treatment this go round. Maybe some better belt holds as well.
It would be nice to get these things operational for more track time SCORE or ??? but RGH said years ago these things are built for a wide variety of terrain, dunes to gravel to pavement,etc... Basically they're nothing like the Trophy Trucks or Baja.Glam's buggies...

Permalink Reply by Jan on January 11, 2010 at 12:54pm

whats the cutoff time for BJ & Kellon to get in.....obviously they really have something bad going on

Permalink Reply by Carl Abrams on January 11, 2010 at 1:01pm

Ends day +38 minutes

Permalink Reply by Bill McPherson on January 11, 2010 at 1:03pm

Robby and Andy have completed the stage + 38'55"- 12th place for now.

Permalink Reply by Jan on January 11, 2010 at 1:27pm

15 of the 65 that started haven't gone thru KM71 yet & the #351 Hummer isn't shown as withdrawn yet.

Permalink Reply by IndyTim on January 11, 2010 at 2:35pm

anybody know what bit them today?

Permalink Reply by Jan on January 11, 2010 at 3:09pm

RG got stuck & BJ pulled him out, then BJ got stuck & when they got pulled out the air jack got damaged, so they had to try to fix that. Finally showing BJ has gone through KM135. +02:43:11 but there are also others that are still behind him so see how that shakes out because the last it showed #351 would still be 23rd overall

Permalink Reply by geothermaljones on January 11, 2010 at 3:33pm

BJ finished bak 3 hrs 5 mins

Permalink Reply by Joey Griffin on January 11, 2010 at 5:34pm

Im going to be straight forward robby nor bj dont have a chance in hell of winning the dakar if they keep this up im getting to the point where i dont even wanna watch it anymore.

Permalink Reply by TOG on January 11, 2010 at 4:42pm

BJ is in at 45th.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Meyer on January 11, 2010 at 5:00pm

Another tough day of racing for team hummer today. But hey, we could be reading about Elliot Sadler's latest hunting/fishing trip instead of bad ass racing in the most difficult event in the world!! Gas on RG!

Permalink Reply by TOG on January 11, 2010 at 5:13pm

yup. Keep on, keeping on !