From www.speedenergy.com

 

“We are very disappointed that both of our cars failed to finish the 2011 Dakar Rally. Our team was better prepared than ever, so two DNF's makes this hurt a lot. We will start preparing for the 2012 Dakar as soon as we return from the rally and try our best to compete with VW next year. I definitely felt that I could have matched their speed in Chile, but we do have our work cut out for us improving the race cars for the Argentina stages,” commented Robby Gordon.

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3 words...four wheel drive
I agree with you.  The thing is consider how much it will fundamentally change the car.  First thing gone:  wheel travel.  That was his ace in the hole and it's no small thing.
that's the easy way, not the RG way, the rules still unfair or uneven for 4x2, thats the key right now, hope he gets an extra mm for the restrictor for 2012,   he just need to work on his luck, haha, thats all.

Even if ASO removed restrictor from Robbys hummer for the Argentinian stages, he would have a hard time keeping up with the VW's. It is less about the power and more about traction and suspension geomertry/setup.

Traction, yes, suspension geo and set up, the Hummers have the most advanced suspension technology available. RG has to know this by now and thats that 4WD is a must on this Argentina-Chile type of Dakar.  Only an Africa dakar will be good for 2WD.

The problem with going to 4wd is that then Robby has to go toe to toe against the $100 million VW team with only a small fraction of the budget.  It isn't realistic to think he would be able to build a 4wd car that is close to as good as all the veedub money has. At least if he sticks with 2wd, he has some rule advantages that he can try to exploit to make up time such as the unlimited wheel travel, auto tire deflators, and larger tires.  What he needs is to lobby for a few more rule advantages, but he hasn't made any friends with ASO this year.  They will probably shrink his restrictor for next year.  And in reality, he was running in the top 5 before he crashed in stage 2 and in a few sections of stage 3, before the transmission issue, he put up the fastest times between some WPMs.  I don't think he is too far off if he can keep it out of the ditch and not have mechanical problems.  He also has a problem with logistics during the race.  If he had 3 or 4 RGM cars running like VW or X-raid, and a bigger support team, he would have been better off as well.

Robby needs to get the big truck to run in the Rally again, that alone should help tremendously if there are any issues along the way.

  In Short Bus more$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Money is less of a subject then many people think. VW is VW. Its overrated to say the least.  If youve evr worked on those you know..I think RG can build a 4WD that easily can compete with any factory team. 

I think RG need sto contact Ford to build a killer Raptor.  Both Raptors are still in the rally, a few days behind though, but theyre there with nearly stock drivetrains..

2 words.... 30 Milliyon dollars....

on DRIVE TRAIN alone....

thats what VW spots their teams.

ok! i cant count or type :P

A.  Need brighter color vehicle to be seen by team mate while roadside . . .Blaze orange aint cuttin` it .

 

B.  Bearing failure on the front wheel of a RWD only vehicle thats outfitted with the  best hardware money can buy? RG Take the WD40 off of the support truck . . .

( sorry fellas, i`m just a sore loser Like the boss ) Totally took the fun out of the Dakar when Robby got booted . .

No the guy shouldn't be driving sitting on his head ! haha or don't leave your glasses at home !!! GO ROBBY

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