2014 Vegas To Reno

Robby Gordon will run in the 2014 Vegas To Reno race on Friday, August 15. Qualifying is on Wednesday, August 13. Gordon will run the Gordini, and will have the opportunity to put many race miles on the truck prepping for the 2015 Dakar Rally. We will have raceday chat and full coverage.

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Permalink Reply by deantac on August 17, 2014 at 8:50pm

If you test and nothing breaks or happens is it still a test that's a learning experience ? I think not but that's just me. finding the limits of components is very important I believe. real word testing can not be replicated on a computer, get out and hammer on it.

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Permalink Reply by Dave-O on August 17, 2014 at 9:04pm

Definitely. I learn a lot more from my f*** ups than from what goes right the first time. But, I'm not running a 7 figure DAKAR operation.

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Permalink Reply by FD REBEL on August 18, 2014 at 10:56am

The Vegas 2 Reno course was a bit tougher than most had expected. Im going to offer my views as an informed fan. I have owned, built, prepped, tested, chased and raced off road race cars and motorcycles for over 4 decades. We have entered and raced many of the the very same races (in different classes) along with robby since the 80's. I came to respect RG as a dedicated, talented, aggressive racer and not just another driver out on the course making dust. Now that he is a business man is the racing to promote his businesses? or the bussiness to promote the racing programs? Who knows? What I do know is what it takes to build prep and field a car to compete in off road racing, as for the V 2 R he said he was testing, so when you test you run at 100% PLUS to weed out potential equipment problems AND push your suspension to the limit. Durring a race you do a delicate balance of going fast, saving your equipment, and FINISHING. So IF RG was testing he was pushing the limit on a demanding course.....and broke...in a testing sense.. a success.

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Permalink Reply by J.R. Sands on August 18, 2014 at 5:51pm

Thanks FD

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Permalink Reply by Robert Valentine on August 18, 2014 at 5:56pm

I agree with everything you have said. I did not get to go follow his race this time. But I did follow the whole racetrack start to finish. Thanks to IRC tracking, BITD, Planet Robby and Google Earth it was informative. I compared Robby time compared to others. He maintain equal times while running las horsepower and less suspension dimensions. Great test. I am some they have a lot of good intel.

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Permalink Reply by Hendricus on August 18, 2014 at 6:08pm

@FD, I see your point. In other words, "Let's push to the point of breaking," more so than, "Let's conserve, and finish."

In theory, there is more to learn from pushing to the point of breaking, than there is to conserving.

I get your "fine line" point too. Not much is learned if you push too hard too soon. You don't learn much if you break in the first 50 miles, because you pushed it too hard from the start.

The Gordini held her own with the TT's. It was a significant side story in the race. I bet we see her in the Baja 1000. What do you think?

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Permalink Reply by Hendricus on August 18, 2014 at 6:12pm

But then, maybe not the 1000. The terrain could be very unlike Dakar, but it still would be another great punishment test. Plus we all get to watch the testing along with watching the race.