Dakar – lessons from the longest race on earth. Part 11

January 12 – Stage 8

Today is the longest Special (Dirt race section) of the Rally.  171 km liaison, 487 km special, then another 171 km liaison back to the bivouac.  

It was a mix of terrain.  First it was fast, then dunes, then fast, then dunes, rocks, fast again, then just crap.

It was a tough day.  It started with dunes – big ones.  BIG.  We were behind another car when we approached the foot of a huge dune.  Another car had failed and was coming down at us. In the dunes, you have to get on the gas and get momentum and speed, or you will not make it up and over.  Your engine is whining at max rpm, but your speed is slowing and slowing as you go up.  If you feel you aren’t going to make it you have to turn down and around, otherwise you will bury all four tires and be stick on a steep slope.  It is sketchy when you turn down because when you are off camber, you feel like you are going to flip over.  You have to get the nose pointed down as soon as possible if you abort.

So this guy is coming down at us, and the guy in front of me decides to go left and around.  I follow.  Soon, we are making virgin tracks.  My plan is to cut right when I can and find the race line to rejoin it.  The sun is directly overhead, and my eyes can’t make out the shapes or the dunes or even see where the crest is. I’m surprised by sudden drops, I did not see coming. The color of the sand in front of me is the same as the sand of the higher dune in the distance, and it all blends together. I am feeling uncomfortable.

I can’t drive aggressively like you should in the dunes because I don’t want to crest a dune at speed and flip the car forward end over end, as happens to more than a few drivers.  We drop down a 20-foot slope, and the sand is super soft.  All four wheels dig in easily, and we are up to the skid plate in sand.  We are in a bowl – uphill on all sides.  Worst-case scenario.  Dennis gets out and gets to work.  He is not reporting progress.  I get out.  It’s bad.  I start digging with the shovel, but digging is not the whole answer because the undercarriage is already on the sand at the bottom of this bowl.  

The wind is blowing the sand up the slopes, and the sand is falling over the crests.  I see our deep tracks erased in minutes.  The dunes are being reshaped in real time before our eyes.  They are alive.

We have to put the two boards we have under the front tires, and jack the car up with the jack to put sand under the rear tires to lift them up.  We are jacking, and the bottom of the jack is going down and down, instead of the top coming up.  Quicksand.

I thought we were done.  From the looks of it, I didn’t think we’d ever get out.  Of course, I did not give up.  At this point, we’d die out there.  (A little dramatic. They have helicopters.)  We were off course. A chase truck could not get to our location, I didn’t think.  But we needed to finish, and we were early in the stage.  After 45 minutes, we thought we were ready to try to drive out.  The lowest part of the bowl was, unfortunately, at my seven o’clock position.  I had to get out going uphill, and turn sharply at the same time.  

I get in, start it up, and try.  I go three feet and bury in again.  Oh no!  Not good!

We get back to work.  Same procedure.  This time, by some miracle, and with engine revving and movement at a snails pace, I was able to inch forward and drive out.  Whew!  

We lost 1 1/2 hours.  Now we had to find the course.  While digging, I could hear engines in a direction over two giant crests.  I was worried about getting stuck now more than ever.  I burst through virgin sand to find the course line.  

I was grateful the rest of the day for still being in the race, no matter how much time we lost.  The overheating problem seemed to be solved.  We got back at 8:30 pm.  We were both very cold.

Tomorrow – we go one-way camping in a tent again.

Oh the joys…