ATVs in Dakar Rally 2010

I was working on vacation ATV trips for this summer when I came across Dakar Rally story which was in concluding stage. The Dakar requires not only top-notch riding skills, but also endurance, determination, and a lot of preparation. This could be only Rally with so many different varieties of vehicles. Participants on Cars and Bikes get most exposure and media treats the competitors in ATVs, Buggies and Trucks as stepchildren.

The second edition of the Dakar in Latin America ended on 16th January 2010. Only 14 of 25 ATV riders finished the competition. It shows how difficult and demanding the race was. The ATV category was won by Argentine’s Marcos Patronelli. Surprisingly, the second place was taken by his older brother, Alejandro. This year the route in the ATV category was 8,937 kilometers long and divided into 14 stages. Of this 4717 km came under special timed stage and 4220 km under transport / connection stages. Marcos Patronelli was the leader almost all the rally and won 4 of the 14 stages. It took him 64h 17m 44s to go through dunes, camel grass, mud and rocks averaging more than 73 km per hour.

This years winner Marcos Patronelli has this to say - :

One thing is sure: I would never have imagined this, not even in my wildest dreams. It’s incredible that two brothers finish first and second of the same raid! This Dakar was very hard. I cannot say more than that, except that I must thank my team. We are a family pushing hard, doing what it takes. I am also happy for my brother: it’s his first Dakar and he finishes second! Who wouldn’t be proud? The toughest part in this edition is really the stages in Northern Chile: Antofagasta – Copiapo, Iquique – Antofagasta. They were endless and very complicated. Navigation was hard there. We had to be really focused with all the way points. I am thrilled and I think that the fact that two brothers finish first and second is just making history. We will celebrate that!

This video on Marco was made while the Rally was progressing.

Life in the Dakar is tough enough on a bike or in a car, but you have to be an absolute lunatic to endure the pain of doing it on quad. Watch this video and get a behind the scenes look at what they have to endure on a daily basis

This is another good video that gives some ideas about preparing a Yamaha ATV for Dakar Rally. They can carry 47 litres of fuel and the top speed of this ATV is 140 km – these figures gives some more insights about the preparation.

This Rally passed through the very remote areas that can be called middle of nowhere. Here you simply make the tracks as you go. There are no signposts. Apart from the road book that gives instructions on the route, GPS was also extensively used.

A T V Prices need not be so expensive

A month back, on 7th  December 2009 -  kannada daily Vijay karnataka carried a news story on ATVs.  Like most stories in this newspaper, this has attractive sensational packaging but hollow inside when it comes to hard facts. There is considerable misinformation in the story.

ATV is unfortunately having  a bad start in India. This is a versatile machine that can be put to use in numerous ways but this continues to be plaything   limited to rich and famous here. The very small market coupled with fat margins are hindering the market growth.  

I made a honest effort to popularize this. Unfortunately reaching people from remote location is difficult thing. The above story mentions the cost as INR 120 K but it should be never more than 90 to 100K for this machine. Having imported & using past two years, I know what I am talking about. I am sure this can be made available @ 60 percent of the mentioned cost as I mentioned in a earlier blog post and  I have two surplus pieces in stock now. 

There are  committed  dealers in different parts of India who do import and sell the similar machines below or at INR 100 K but rich continue to patronize the dealers who wants to keep the prices HIGH.

ATV carrying fodder grass

After familiarizing myself with the ATV I set out on task of doing what this is capable of. I got a carrier and a trailer built in local mechanic shop. The carrier was able to carry about 40 kg very easily. We couldn’t load more as there is risk of toppling over. Here is a old clip of bringing grass fodder from our garden. Since I needed workers to load and unload - it did not prove as useful as anticipated.