Familiar Faces Grace Podium of 2016 Dakar Rally

The final stage from Villa Carlos Pas to Rosario just finished, bringing the 2016 edition of the Dakar Rally to an end.  The top 3 steps of the podium are all faces that we would have expected the last 3 or 4 years in Dakar.  Stephane Peterhansel takes his 12th Dakar win, adding to an unbelievable career and giving Peugeot their first win since 1990.  It’s obvious why they call him Monsieur Dakar!  Thirty minutes back was last year’s champion and two time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah in the Mini X-Raid.…

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RALLY – Dakar Stage 13 w/ Robby Gordon

The Dakar Rally has been over for not quite a week now, and already the media arm of Robby Gordon’s off-road truck empire, Team Speed, has produced this very cool video of the final stage, which he won in the car class. It never ceases to amaze me how much control these drivers have when they appear to be completely out of control.  About 2:20 into the video, Robby bicycles the truck on a sharp left-hander, rights the truck and carries on, ultimately winning the stage. The video is mostly…

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Dakar – Welcome to the Brutality!

The Dakar rally is an interesting beast. The format is similar to a shorter, more traditional stage rally, but it’s spread out over two weeks and the distance is far longer than any conventional stage rally. This years route is 6,000 miles for cars, bikes and quads while the big trucks have a route of about 5,000 miles.  For all classes, about half the distance is non-competitive transit stages and the rest are full-on special stages. One interesting addition to this year’s Dakar is a Marathon Stage. The stage will…

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Episode 215 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThe illustrious Mr. Shaun Pechin returns to the OpenPaddock.net Podcast as he, Mr. Mike Whitesell, Mr. Mike Shaw, and Dr. Douglas Patterson stumble and stagger their way through the week’s motorsports news. We begin with a little NASCAR (that’s right!) and move into some of the changes happening in IndyCar. We also review the list of IndyCar and IndyLights drivers that will be competing in this weekend’s Rolex 24. Mr. Shaw gives us a rundown of the WRC’s first event, Rallye Monte Carlo, and…

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Dakar – El Matador Showing Perfection

Carlos Sainz has been perfect after two stages of the Dakar in his VW. The Spaniard has began his title defense by winning the two opening stages of the rally and has done so in convincing fashion. The rally is now underway and Sainz VW is now in a battle with X-Raid BMW’s Stephane Peterhansel. A one sided battle really as Sainz has taken comfortable margins in both stages. VW teammate Nasser al-Attiyah is third overall after finishing P2 in today’s stage. American Robby Gordon was not so fortunate today.…

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TV – Weekend Racing Schedule for Sept 24, 25, and 26.

Formula 1 is back on track! …well, such as the track may be. The Singapore GP is this weekend, and it really is a great spectacle, even if the racing action is junk. Being on the opposite side of the planet as the US is mitigated a bit by the fact that the race will be at night. The practice, qualifying, and race will be broadcast by Speed at sensible times of the morning. Cool! Formula 1 cars under the lights, even if the racing isn’t great, is always a…

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Episode 22 – Open Paddock Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Mike, Doug, and myself this week as we get into IndyCar winter meetings, VW snubbing IndyCar and every other form of racing, Dakar, WRC/IRC and the sorry but always entertaining world of Formula 1. See if Doug and Mike like their Jersey Shore nicknames…

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