GHR Honda Team Site & Blog
Archive for November, 2010
Packing up for Christmas in Buenos Aires
Nov 29th
Getting a race team to South America is no task for the faint of heart.
Even though the event doesn’t start until January 2011, everything needs to be shipped in time to clear all the import procedures and land well before the start of the event for shakedowns and checks.
All bikes, spares, tyres and tools need to be planned for in advance and packed away in a logical system to make set up in bivouac as quick and orderly affair.
The container carrying the bikes and nearly all the equipment and spares was shipped from Australia on 1 November and is due to arrive in Buenos Aires on 21 December 2010. The first crew fly in to BA the following day.
Then the real work begins…
Support Truck Build
Nov 28th
Solving the issue of crew transport.
The service crew are absolutely pivotal in a successful campaign in any rally event. Ensuring they have transport that can safely and reliably cart them and all service equipment from bivouac to bivouac is essential.
Over the duration of the event, the GHR support truck will travel something in the order of 7,000km at a maximum of 90 km/h. Delays setting up at service points because of mechanical problems could spell disaster because the team needs enough time to service 4 race bikes at each stop. Loss or breakage of parts and equipment have the same potential for stopping the show. At the end of a transport, the last thing the crew needs is to be left wondering where a spanner or spare part is! Time will be best spent driving, working, eating and sleeping (not necessarily in that order).
Because of the costs and time involved with transporting a vehicle which doesn’t fit in a container are so high if leaving from Australia, the decision was made to source a service truck in Europe and to do all the necessary work on it there prior to the event.
The support truck needs to be a complete rolling workshop. Steve (The Ginger Ninja) was sent over from Australia to the UK to perform the modifications. These included building and fitting the roof rack, fitting a crane, fabrication of the work bench area in the back of the truck body, changing all power points to suit Australian power tools (240v generators were shipped in the container) and fabrication of a ladder to access the roof.
The truck was acquired with rollover protection and race seats already fitted, saving a huge amount of time. Steve also fitted an number of tyres and tubes to rims to carry as spares.
Time turned out to be of the essence. It was only the week after Steve finished his work and flew home that England was subjected to -25°C conditions, plunging the whole country into white-out.
The truck was driven on to the ferry from the UK to Le Havre, France on 24 November, and then shipped sea freight to Buenos Aires. It is due to arrive around Christmas and the crew will have access to it on 28 December.
A snapshot from the past
Nov 28th
Vorsprung Durch Technik
A prime example of how technology changes all things!
This beautifully cared for piece of motorcycling history was spotted at the Australian Motorcycle Expo recently held in Melbourne. The R80G/S Paris-Dakar Was released to commemorate BMW’s success in the Paris-Dakar Rallies in the mid 1980s.
Although far less wild than Gaston Rahier’s HPN prepared race bikes, this bike embodies the typcial engineering concepts of the day. 25 years later the bikes we see entering the Dakar Rally are faster, weigh far less, and in some cases half the engine capacity.
GHR Honda are going to Dakar 2011
Nov 28th
Welcome to the GHR Honda Australia blog.
We are most proud to say that we are now in the closing stages of preparation for what will be the largest single Australian backed team ever to compete in the Dakar Rally moto class.
In the remaining days and weeks leading up to the start of the event, we will continue to bring you updates on the the riders, the team, and the incredible amount of planning required for this monumental event.
Stay tuned for what is bound to be an eventful ride…
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