“This year it will be more difficult whether it rains or not. The dunes will be a difficulty, but that is the Dakar. I am sure that the competitors will find a difficult course”warned MD David Castera, director of the Dakar, about the complexity that this year the competitors of the toughest race in the world would find themselves before their eyes starting from stage 5. The Dakar 2024 delves into the feared ‘Empty Quarter’, the largest sand desert in the world, with a total area of about 65,000 square km and there can be dunes of all types, even some giant ones that can reach 300 meters in height.
This desert stretches beyond Saudi Arabia, to Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates and it is known for its extreme conditions, with maximum temperatures that during the year can reach up to 55 degrees, and at night drop to 0.
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With about 1,000 km long and 500 wide, this is the famous ‘Rub ‘al Khali’, i.e. ’empty room’, because there is nothing in it. Just dunes, dunes and more dunes. The perfect setting for the Dakar adventure to be as authentic as possible. In 2023, there was a lot of expectation for the race to enter this territory, but in the end, the drivers were left wanting much more. And this year they have triple portion. A first stage to whet your appetite that was held yesterday, Wednesday, of 118 km and the long-awaited 48-hour stage (stage 6), the crown jewel of this Dakar, which takes place this Thursday and Friday, with 572 km of special to complete in those two days.
Pablo Quintanilla, at the Dakar 2024
ASO/E.Vargiolu/DPPI
For this reason, highly experienced Dakarians like the Pont Grup motorcycle riders, Javi Vega, without assistance, and the man from Salamanca Lorenzo Santolinowho is no longer in the race because he had to abandon due to a mechanical problem with his motorcycle, They explained to MD the hidden keys to driving in the dunes, the main protagonists of this edition of the Dakar 2024which can be absolutely decisive in the fight for this crown.
Images of Dakar 2023 in the Empty Quarter
ASO/E.Vargiolu/DPPI
The 48-hour stage is held in the ‘Empty Quarter’
Last year, the dune stages in the ‘Empty Quarter’ were too short. Stage 11, 275 km, and stage 12, 183. That was all that was done in the ‘Empty Quarter’. It was an appetizer, and a year later, the director of the Dakar took note and created a main course for this desert. After this Wednesday’s stage, entering the ‘Empty Quarter’, there will be two marathon days called ’48-hour time trial’. To put the drivers in the ‘Empty Quarter’, David Castera invented this special with 7 or 8 bivouacs spread throughout the route to stop the race at 4:00 p.m. on the first day of that 48-hour day and direct them to the camp they have. closer, and thus prevent them from sleeping in the desert before facing the remaining kilometers on the second day. In total, in those two days, competitors will complete a total of 600 km in dunes, almost double that of last year’s ‘Empty Quarter’.
Driving over dunes and their colors as a great track
Driving in the dunes requires a very different technique than other terrain, a specific one, and it is totally different to face them on a motorcycle or do it in a car or truck. On motorcycles, the rider can turn around and have a broader view of everything. By car, visibility is much reduced. Furthermore, on a motorcycle, its lower weight allows for a much wider range of routes, including much straighter routes to climb high dunes.
Images of Dakar 2023 in the Empty Quarter
ASO/E.Vargiolu/DPPI
The Side by Sides, whether T3 or T4, can replicate similar lines to motorcycles. But by car, the difficulty is much greater due to the weight and the risk of getting stuck is enormous. The 4×4, like the highest category (T1+) have it easier to climb. On the other hand, two-wheel drive vehicles like Laia Sanz’s (4×2) suffer more on this type of terrain and must face the ascent to the dunes by gaining more momentum, maintaining speed throughout the dune so as not to stop.
Laia Sanz, in the dunes of Saudi Arabia
And to all this we must add navigation and the complexity of choosing the most appropriate path. Javi Vega reflected on all this for MD weeks ago, before the Dakar in a visit by the Pont Grup pilots to the MD editorial office, the pilots
The color of the dunes gives clues
“For me the dunes are something similar to skiing. Like an off-piste. It’s like snow. In the end, each one has a color, depending on how the sun hits it, depending on how soft it is, harder… it’s not that you have time to look at the color, it’s that they come to you and you see which one seems softer and if you are going to go here or there,” he highlights. That is to say, he makes it clear that apart from driving on dangerous terrain at high speed and having to follow the instructions of the roadbook, the pilots even have time to understand the dunes by their colors. Incredible. And in that field, pilots who have always lived in the dunes, like Nasser Al-Attiyah, make the difference.
The dunes, a crucial element in the Dakar 2024 route
A.S.O./Florent Gooden/DPPI
“The natives of the dunes understand them very well just because of the color. I understand, you are able to see a little, but not at the level that they have. A Nasser, who has grown up in the desert, I think is very clear about where It has to happen,” commented Santolino. “Nasser smells it,” Vega confirmed, highlighting the variety of lines that can be seen on this terrain among drivers of many levels.
“In dunes there is a lot of difference between the lines of the professional drivers and those who are further back. The pro riders take a straighter line so as not to lose the ‘CAP’, so that the km does not derail you too much, and perhaps a more amateur one will look for an easier place or dune to climb without ceasing to see the line in the direction they “it goes,” he commented.
“It’s a nice drive because you can drive wherever you want. It gives you a feeling of freedom. And the views…”
Lorenzo Santolino
“It’s a nice drive because you can drive wherever you want. On hard terrain there is usually always a better step and you have to go that way. ANDIn dunes you have the option of going through more open terrain, moving how you want, trying new trajectories and it gives you a feeling of freedom and the view… in the race not much, but training you do see the immensity of the dunes and it is amazing.”said the man from Salamanca.
The dunes, a crucial element in the Dakar 2024 route
A.S.O./Antonin Vincent/DPPI
But all that glitters is not gold. Despite the beauty of the landscape and the pace of the race being reduced by having to climb dunes, the pilot’s stress is maximum because any dune, the one you least expect, can deceive your eyes and be cut off. “The dangerous thing on a motorcycle is trying to cross the dunes quickly. If you go at a calm speed you can go around them and the most that can happen to you is that you cannot reach the top and you have to turn around, try to find another step, but the risk is trying to keep a high pacewhich is where your vision and your interpretation can deceive you, and in an area where you have to brake a lot, you think that you don’t have to brake as much and jump…”, Santolino warned.
“The dangerous thing on a motorcycle is trying to cross the dunes quickly”
Lorenzo Santolino
Javi Vega, motorcycle pilot in the Dakar
ASO/H. Cabilla
Dunes and more dunes: How do I stay on track?
Another key in the dunes is the direction to follow. As there are only kilometers of dunes and dunes, without clear references such as mountains, trees or canyons, many pilots use the trick of following a course by looking at the clouds, for example. And since there are several routes, there is the danger of deviating from the direction indicated in the roadbook, something with which the pilot, especially the one who has to open the track, must be very attentive.
“Normally you have the CAP (marked course). The navigation that the motorcycle tells you. If you ever deviate from course, you have to have the ability to know how much you are deviating and how far you have gone off course and then take out the calculator and try to rectify it.”Santolino explained in this regard.
The dunes, a crucial element in the Dakar 2024 route
A.S.O./Antonin Vincent/DPPI
“But above all, the one who is opening the track has to be very attentive. Because the good thing about the dunes is that the trace is there. So, the one who comes behind can play a little more and look for an easier lateral passage… because You know that if you go to the right, when you go back to the left you will advance until you see traces. Or perhaps you find a pilot who is facing you, who gives you the doubt to say: ‘one of the two is going wrong.’ “.
“The one who opens the track has to be very attentive because the mark remains in the dunes and the one who comes behind can play a little more and look for an easier lateral passage…”
Of course, the pilots who leave behind and can follow tracks cannot be completely trusted. How to cheat on an exam, as Vega says, you have to check that everything is correct: “Even if there are traces, you always have to verify and keep the updated roadbook because there is a time when there are traces, but there are other times when you may not see them”.
For all this, it is understood what can happen in stage 6 of 48 hours and the reason why, for example, Carlos Sainz, Peterhansel and Loeb forced to start from the back. All of them can gain many minutes compared to Al-Attiyah, who leads the way. It is less understood then the excessive risk that the Qatari took in wanting to win stage 5 despite the fact that this meant having to open a track in stage 6, with no tracks to follow.
Javi Vega, motorcycle pilot in the Dakar
ASO/H. Cabilla
2024-01-12 04:30:05
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