I'm curious about the lack of quads in the race. I watched the coverage of the first stage on OLN tonight and I didn't even see one! It was funny to see all those skinny tired two-wheeled KTM's on the beach getting pitched, dumped, and stuck on a 5 foot hill. What is the reason for the 2 wheel preference? I mean if I was going to do a 5,000 mile race, the 4 wheels would be a better choice. What am I missing? Anyone?

 

By the way here was the quad results

The Bombardier DS650X was the only quad to finish the 8956km Dakar rally for the second year running.

Six quads started this year

240 - DS650X - winner (and the only quad to finish ) Antoine Morel (french) - completed 8956km in 16 days
241 - Yamaha 450 - failed to start day 7
242 - Suzuki 600 (GSX motorcycle engine) - failed to start day 4
243 - DS650X - failed to start day 10
244 - DS650X - failed to start day 11
245 - Yamaha 850 (TDM motorcycle engine) - failed to start day 7
Source UK Quadscene

 

I watched it last night too on OLN, at the very very beginning the very first opening scene was a guy talking in Paris at the race start and right behind him in all its glory was a DS650 - it was red and really decked out with all kinds of gadgets and spare gas cans. But it was only one the screen for about 30 seconds or so, and I never saw another one again.

I agree - why not more quads??

 

There are some nice pictures included in a BRP press release.

http://www.brp.com/en-CA/Media.Cente...19.01.2005.htm

 

Id like to know what the deal is to. Tv coverage of races like pikes peak,baja,dakar rally was so bad you would never even know quads were running in them. Quads are some of the fastest machines to go up pikes peak yet all they show is the stupid bikes.

 

I was watching the coverage of stage 5 last night and they showed a short clip of an 05 DSx missing its right front wheel limping back to the pits. That was the only quad I saw.

 

last night (sunday) episode there was a black DS baja wit its front right wheel riped off [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

He was riding along with all his weight shifted to the rear left, keeping the front afloat and trying to get to the next checkpoint. They didn't say whether or not he made it, but I assume he did because it was only like day 5 or 6, and according to the results above all of the DS's made to at least day 10.

 

IN dakar failed a prototype Named Baraka 1000 , is a Ds Baja with engine Rotax 1000 cc , incredible and run the next year.

 

The reason why quads are not featured is because they are so damn slow. Most of these guys are running stock motors. The reason is simple. RELIABILITY. They also rebuild these quads motors each evening, so stock is way better and easier for spares.

So a stock DS650, with all that gear will most likely not go faster than about 120Km/h (78 miles per hour). It will be lucky to average a speed of about 100KM/h (60 miles per hour). Some stages they ride for over 900 Kilometre (600 miles) per day and trust me this is not freeway riding. The quads get to the end hours and hours after the bikes and cars. Imagine sitting on a quad for a whole damn day, starting in the morning when it is dark and finishing when the next morning already started.

The bikes are capable of doing over 190Km/h (120 Miles per hour) and clock up average speeds of over 160Km/h (100 miles per hour) The cars are even faster.

In the dunes the quad might have an advantage, for shooting up a hill, but if the road is even slightly flat, the bikes will drop them. Also, the camel grass is a very difficult thing. Two wheelers struggle to get out of 3rd gear in these conditions. They only have to worry about getting two wheels over or around the patches and bumps of grass. A quad with 4 wheels and 10 times wider is going to have a nightmare getting thru it. In these conditions they bikes are about 3 to 5 times quicker than the quads. So for every hour on the bike a quad will take 3 to 5 hours.

The other reason why so little quads are shown is because they mostly finish the stages long after the programme is made and being broadcasted. If they had to broadcast the quads finishing, they will have to use the day after to show it. The Quads finishes will therefore be a day after all the rest of the competitors.

 

Freeze that is very understandable indeed, and certainly shows the reaons for 2 wheeler preference.
Only a small protion of the race is dunes, not nearly nearly enough for a quad to make up the difference over a bike.

In North America, desert racing is a very quad orientated sport, and certainly more than 6 of them show up for each and every desert race we have over here. But its hard for Americans and Mexicans to justify the minimum $100K it would take to compete over there in the Dakar (the first night of broadcast of the Dakar coverage, it was stated that it takes a minimum $98K in order to compete).

Lately there have been several new Quad TV shows on OLN and OUT both, and maybe if we're lucky these shows will start showing more interest in Desert Racing, broadcast more quad desert racing here in North America, and eventually start covering a bit of the Dakar in a few years, so that more interest is sparked and more sponsers can be aquired for quads in Dakar. Its also important to note that quads arn't racing against the bikes or cars, but rather they are their own class, just as they are in GNCC and MX.



navarro welcome to the ATVConnection, and thanks for that info. That is very interesting and I look forward to seeing and hearing more about this Baraka 1000!