Below is his account of how things went. Although Darren didn't manage to finish, it's an interesting read, and I take my hat off to anyone who has a go.
Hi Everyone,
A hearty and immense thanks from me to all of you that supported me and helped me on the way to the great adventure of the Dakar Rallye 2006.
I was intending to have finished a write up on my adventure by now, but not enough time and so much to do (like sorting out the career!). Something more detailed will follow in the coming weeks, but until then here's just a quick round up;
I had a fantastic adventure, but not without its ups and downs! Even though I’ve done plenty of smaller rallyees, I still learnt and saw new ways to beat the system and make that luck needed to get all the way to the finish. The lasting impressions are that it's an unbelievable event, the size, the amount organisation, modern communications, media and technology, plus huge nightly travelling bivouacs. Then the number of spectators coming out to cheer us on was absolutely stunning. In Portugal tens of thousands turned out in the cold and wet at five in the morning! They lined the Motorways, bridges and the whole of the first special end to end.
I had a solid, terrific and competitive run, nearly to the end of day 7. The KTM 660 Rallye bike ran faultlessly to that point. The Portuguese terrain was not too hard or muddy (for us Brits anyway!) - no more difficult than a Welsh Rally. The gravel of Morocco and modest dunes were definitely 660 fodder! Mauritania started off well but quickly followed its reputation for show-stopping terrain! I was thrilled to run in the top 25% - 48th place at one stage, and proud to be the leading Brit for a bit. In the end a combination of small factors contributed and accumulated to stop me. The 'series of unfortunate events' started after the special of Day 2. There was a difference of the interpretation of an arrangement, which meant that I had to run brand new tyres and mousses down the tarmac liaison at high speed for 450 kms, instead of being loaded into the van of leading Honda UK factory rider - Mick Extance. This escalated at Malaga when Mick's race engineer, Dennis, went off to England without unloading my personal bag, a set of clothing, cold weather riding gear, toiletries, some nav gear, safety gear, plus critically my jump leads. The fact that he wouldn't turn around led to strong words between Mick and I.
With super easy navigation (compared with Amateur Rallies that are about navigation as THE test), on the fast gravel pistes of Morocco (my speciality), I was riding well within the limit, cruising even. I was so comfortable and in great shape, that I didn’t even get a blister, callous or sore arse!..… although this was probably largely down to padded gloves, foam grips and a special seat I had built. Apart from a bit of wrist strain towards the end of the day, (a carry over from the Dubai crash) my only ‘injury’ or pain was that my left big toe nail fell off - because of all the gear changes were made by it! Luckily it didn't hurt so much. Now I know why some riders and extended gear levers...............
I was a little bit more tired after Day 5, due to the mechanics error of forgetting to connect the steering stabiliser, making the slow and fast speed riding very hairy and stressful. I nearly crashed 20 times and had the biggest tank slapping moment ever witnessed (by team-mate Tom Classen) at 155kph! Phew! This problem probably cost me an hour (but less than the accumulative time effect needing to stop and fix it - then overtake slower riders, dusk, then fast cars, then even more dust.....).
The second Mauritania day was Day 7, a 499kms special almost entirely in sand and/or camel grass of some description. I made the mistake of pacing myself and stopping a number of times for other riders in distress who flagged me down. I helped some French guys, one broken down, but no tools, some others out of fuel! I even found some of that super soft sand Mauritania is famous for. One hour to do 1km! Steve Holland and I rode together for a bit, but I think we were hampering each other and eventually lost touch. In the end darkness fell at 6pm, and due a carburettor fault flooding the engine whenever I dropped it (disappointedly regularly in the dark - so difficult to do dunes with headlights). These regular draining re-starts plus all the lights and nav gear on, meant the battery did go flat at one point and it took a couple of hours to flag someone down who had actually got any jump leads. (I found out that only about one in five will stop at all even if you feign death in the middle of the path ..... they just steer round you!) I should have chucked the bike in a helpful Spanish truck at this point (as a couple of others did!). Instead I had to stop to rest an overheating clutch that had started smelling for the previous half km or so. Unfortunately after parking for half an hour and a snack, the battery had completely given up and being in the centre of a 1km wide piste, no one came along my dune that night! At least my training had paid off, even riding into the night I never ran out of energy or the strength to pick the bike up for the umpteenth time! During the next day, there were a few locals and some assistance vehicles coming the other way up the course, looking for their competitors and I should have waived some money at someone ....... perhaps then I would have made it? Being stranded in the freezing cold Mauritanian desert for 2 nights without much in the way of clothing and provisions, certainly makes you consider life, the universe and its meaning! Luckily a helicopter dropped off a lunch bag and a litre of water. During the early hours of the second night, the sweeper truck arrived and the bike and I gladly climbed aboard. It was one of the biggest disappointments of my life so far, to realise that I wouldn’t make it to Dakar under my own steam and greet friends on the finishers podium.
I did still make it to Dakar (in a fashion, ..... in a Nissan!). The driver of the Rally Raid UK Team 4x4 that my shared mechanic was in, had a fall out and took a flight home. So they offered me the job of driving a Patrol with no rear dampers and each rear coil spring broken into three pieces! Very very tedious with the super slow going off road (even on-road avoiding the potholes of the tarmac roads), I was surprised how tiring eight to ten hours of this driving could be. I'll stick to the adrenalin rush of the bike next time! However it was very interesting to see it from the Assistance point of view for half of the rally..... Perhaps more of an eye-opener, because you know more about what is going on! I must admit I am still haunted by poor sleep, waking up in the middle of the night wondering were I am and where my survival equipment is! (Even though most of it didn't work when needed!)
It was terrific to receive so many messages of interest and good luck. It really buoyed my spirits. A big big thanks to everyone that sent texts. Sorry I wasn’t able to respond to them after a few days as I had less and less time and no signal in Mauritania. Sorry I'd didn't make it, and if I can get some sponsorship I very much hope I will be privileged to have another go!
A special thanks to;
First classfriend - Annette Kratzer for her sponsorship (she cancelled my third world debt from the Berlin-Breslau Rally :-)
Swedish rally princess - Annie Seel for flying into to Lisbon and beinggreat company, especially spannering and helping out at scrutineering.
Top mate - Angus Brown for his training tips and encouragement.
hids4u.co.uk for their assistance with the xenon light conversionkits.
The KTM Rallye Department for going the extra mile, always finding parts for me (even iffor my team mates) that were not available on the normal customer service truck.
There some pics of me at;
http://www.maindruphoto.com/maindruweb/2048/index_flash.asp event Dakar 2006, no. 222.............
main event web site;
www.dakar.com
Best wishes and thanks again,
Darren Duesbury
