Friday 31st January 2014

Dakar 2014 - behind the scenes

Embedded with Race2Recovery, our man at the Dakar recalls the highs and lows of an epic event

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Day 12 of the Dakar and I'm woken by the tell tale growl of the Race2Recovery truck. I scramble out of my tent and into the dust bowl of the Chilean bivouac. Its 6am, which means I've had four hours sleep - a rare treat. I haven't showered in two days and it's difficult to know whether I'm suntanned, or just smeared in dirt. Breakfast will be a RedBull and Snickers, for the second day running.

Wildcats were struck by double bad luck

I've got it easy, though. In the best traditions of Monty Python's Four Yorkshiremen sketch, this is luxury. The truck's three-man crew extricate themselves from the cab and collapse on to a camp bed. They've long since dispensed with their tents and don't even bother to remove their putrid race suits. Every minute of sleep is precious. They've just spent 21 hours in the cab and the start time for the next stage is less than three hours away.

This is the reality of life at the back of the DakarRally. Anyone who thinks Le Mans is tough is having a laugh - the Dakar is like doing 18 Le Mans on the bounce. "This is the hardest thing I've ever done," says co-driver Chris Ratter, who's been navigating through the fearsome dunes. "You're searching for reserves you don't know you have."

Hang tough
For Race2Recovery, this year's Dakar has been particularly tough. The team, comprised of seriously injured British servicemen and civilian volunteers, had planned to build on the success of last year's event when Philip 'Barney' Gillespie became the first amputee to finish the event. They entered two Wildcat rally cars, based on Land Rover Defenders, and a racing support truck, known as a 'T4' in Dakar parlance.

From support truck to sole representative

By the end of day two both Wildcat's were out. Gillespie, co-driving for Team Director Ben Gott, suffered a blown head gasket and was forced to retire. Then the second Wildcat, driven by amputee Tony Harris, rolled end-over-end. "I just misjudged a razorback dune," said Harris. "The car landed on its wheels and we continued to the end of the stage." It seemed innocuous, but there was terminal damage to the car's rollcage. The bar behind Harris' head had sheared and could not be repaired.

This left the truck, which follows the same route as the cars, to battle on. Its original role had been to provide technical support for the two cars but it would now be free to run its own rally. The T4 was purchased off a French Dakar team, Boucou, and is based on an old Renault Kerax quarry truck. Weighing 14 tonnes, it's slow, unwieldy and not the most obvious choice for a Dakar adventure.

Last man standing
Despite running last and often having to battle through the stages in the dead of night, they dragged themselves to rest day, then on in to the second week. Now they have to go to the well once more to reach to the finish.

Driver Mark Cullum is an off-road expert who once finished second on the Camel Trophy, but even he's finding it tough. "This is the hardest driving challenge I've ever taken on," he says. "There are times when we've been inching forwards in low ratio with sheer drops on either side. The truck has a rollcage but if you're on top of a dune and you start rolling, you don't know when you're doing to stop."

Mark, Daniel and Chris (L-R) with the truck

For the third member of the crew, Daniel 'Baz' Whittingham, this is a new experience. 'Baz' was a member of the support team last year, but has now strapped on a racesuit. A member of a bomb disposal team, he was blown up in Afghanistan four years ago and lost his left leg below the knee. Before each stage he can be seen cleaning his stump and prosthetic to combat the risk the infection posed by the filthy environment.

With just three days to go, 'Baz' is hanging on. "I don't know where I am or what day it is," he tells me. "It's my job to adjust the tyre pressures from the cab and help with the navigation, but I'm finding I'm even falling asleep on the special stages."

Tough get going
While the crew try to snatch some sleep this morning, the mechanics service the truck. The Dakar's hard on everyone. Even the support crews drive over 7000km in a fortnight just to get from bivouac to bivouac. Mechanics who've worked through the night must find a way of sleeping in the back of the team's Discoveries.

It really is about the taking part in the Dakar

At around 9am we pour the crew back into the cab and send them on their way. There's nothing more we can do. If anything breaks on the stage, they'll be forced to fix it themselves. Co-driver Ratter is an ace mechanic and the crew carry spares in the back of the truck, but the sheer scale of the T4 brings its own challenges. Even changing a punctured truck tyre is a Herculean effort for battered bodies nearing the end of the Dakar.

Somehow they go on until on January 18 where they finish the final special stage and roll on down to Valparaiso on Chile's Pacific coast. Cameraman Steve and I join the rest of the team on board the truck as we parade through the streets to the podium. It's an amazing scene of celebration. People talk about the 'spirit of the Dakar' but it's only when you've witnessed it first hand that you really understand it.

The Race2Recovery truck officially finished 49th out of 50 finishes but no-one really cares about that. Unless you're in one of the handful of top teams, it's all about getting to the finish. "It feels a bit surreal," says Whittingham. "I was told I'd never walk again but here I am finishing the Dakar. It gives you the confidence to take on anything." That's what makes all the sleepless nights worth it.

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For more pictures click here.

 

 

 

 

[garypotter]

What a great result not just for the truck driver and co drivers but for the whole team, well done.

Are you entering next years DAKAR?

[oldtimer2]

Epic stuff! It is an achievement in itself just to finish. Do you have any info how the RR Sport and Discoveries (the Red Bull support vehicles) fared during the rally? I believe the RR Sport was to follow the Red Bull entrants on the rally stages to get action photos.

[mcbook]

Seems to me like the Wildcats have a pretty poor reliability record on the Dakar. Head gasket failure on day 2 or the rally is a poor show. Will try to get some stats and come back to justify...

[markmullen]

One of my lifetime ambitions, to do the Dakar, and to do the 24 Hours at LM.

[Sarge 4x4]

Trouble with the Wildcats is they are now very old and things have moved on, did not think a h/gasket should have stopped it at the 2nd stage.

[richs2891]

Massive respect to the drivers and navigators for finishing the rally. Well done, but a little sad that they finished in the support truck and not the Bowlers

[DCLXIV]

I blame Pistonheads for overheating the engine before the rally started http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=2893...

[RSgeoff]

Great effort & achievement guys.

[only1ian]

We'll dine chaps. As my old Flt sgt used to say... No cuff too tough

[tallsean]

Just reading through all your comments, I'm Sean from race2recovery mechanical support. To clear up a few comments, the engine fitted to our Wildcats is the Jag V8 unfortunately you cannot remove the cylinder head from the engine in situ due to the room available doesn't allow enough lift of the heads.
The other issue we had was the veh wasn't recovered back giving enough time to carry out the work required to start the rally. As a team we were very deflated that we could not resurrect this broken car.
To be fair to the Wildcat it's not that unreliable, we have just been unlucky, it maybe old school but it's capable of completing the event.
This has gone down as the hardest Dakar for many years, the retirements on day 2 was monumental. We weren't the only dissappointed team.
Thanks for all your kind support
Sean

[TobesH]

Does remind me of this, just me? Has been a long week

[Madkat]

With an endurance event like that especially considering the teams ability and experience finishing IS winning. Regardless of what the rankings actually say.

Mucho respecto!

[jonnyharf]

What a fantastic effort from the race to recovery boys! Shame they didn't finish but an applause is well deserved! Just an observation from rally fan, the vehicle's they were competing with were built buy QT and not Bowler. However as stated the head gasket has no real effect on the reliability or the build quality of these vehicles, as the engine is just a standard off the shelf unit from JLR.