DAKAR 2012. Its Peru !!

[csv8]

As the condor (rather than the crow) flies, almost 5,000 kilometres separate Mar del Plata from Lima. In 2012, the Dakar will be staging a pan-American adventure of more than 9,000 kilometres in total. Unlike previous year’s loops, the route will transport the rally from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to those of the Pacific, enabling its competitors to discover new lands and another aspect of South America. The scale of this challenge has also led to a change in the race’s format, which will include 14 days of racing in 2012. Constantly guided by the Andes Mountain range, the drivers and riders will be crossing the Atacama, and will experience in particular the diversity of the dunes as they head into Peru.


The competitors will be getting to the heart of the sporting matter on 1st January, after the starting ceremony at Mar del Plata. Used to journeying through Argentina, the riders, drivers and crews will this time be making a bee-line for the Andes Mountains. Only a few familiar landscapes as well as some first-rate sections, including dunes and canyons, have been selected for the Argentine part of the programme in 2012.

The rally will enter Chile with a spot of climbing. After having travelled over the Andes, the rally will then start to follow the range to its tip, working their way up between the mountains and ocean. During this journey northwards, the Dakar will be delving in to the heart of the Atacama Desert, where navigational skill is just as important as the ability to tame the dunes.

At sea level, crossing the border this time, painless, but the contrast is real. Prior to joining Lima, the oldest of the rally may be prepared to revise their classics. Sectors of Peruvian dunes may seem endless, except for those who master the Mauritanian. Where the diversity of territories and ways of life itself as obvious, the sands will require learning tricky.

Cann't wait !! pvr will be programmed daily!!!

[jaydee]

Cool, love the Dakar, watch it every year, the trucks are my favourite, the sheer power and brute strength.
Wonder if they will ever change the name, hasn't been to Dakar for a few years now (thankyou terrorists).

[csv8]

I agree, the trucks are incredible!! how they get thru is beyond belief!!!

[2011G6E]

That explains it...

I haven't followed the Dakar rally for a few years now, and when the first adverts for the excellent VW Amarok 4x4 came out, I was reading a magazine and my son asked "Isn't Dakar in Africa?", and I said yes, of course it is. He said the advert had printed small at the bottom of the screen "Dakar, South America". I scoffed and said he must have read it wrong.
The next time I took notice of it, and sure enough, yep. Had me puzzled for a while until you say it's going to be held in Peru...

[csv8]

Dakar is over for another year. Robby Gordon in his Hummer came 5th overall, a great result for the big machine. Despite the protests from the cheating frogs.
Great Wall finished 7th overall also a great result for a vehicle much ridiculed. I know, its not the same as what we buy..but credit where credit is due. Bring on 2013, Robby's going frog stomping!!!!