A huge challenge awaits Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) and his German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz: Fifteen stages over 9,200 kilometres – including 5,736 stage kilometres – make up the 30th running of the Dakar Rally.
‘I’m looking forward to every single day of the rally, and especially the long stages in Africa,’ explains von Zitzewitz, who feverishly awaits the approaching start on 5 January in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.
‘The organisers have put together a very demanding route for the Dakar Rally’s 30th anniversary,’ explains Giniel de Villiers, who finished second in 2006 with a Volkswagen Race Touareg and in doing so recorded the best ever position for a diesel vehicle in the desert classic. ‘With around 5,700 stage kilometres the length of the competition is considerably longer than in previous years. Also, with eight stages the percentage of the route in Mauritania is very high, and, as a rule, the toughest stages with huge amounts of sand are encountered there.’
Continue reading ‘“This ‘Dakar’ will be very hard”’
This is really getting old..
The Lisbon-Dakar Rally will follow its planned route through Mauritania despite two deadly attacks, one of them claimed as an Al Qaeda raid, a senior event official said.
An unauthenticated audio recording broadcast by Al Arabiya television said Al Qaeda’s North African wing - Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb - had killed four Mauritanian soldiers in the remote north of the country late on Wednesday.
The attack came after gunmen shot dead four French tourists in Mauritania on Monday, which officials have said may have been carried out by Islamic militants.
The attacks raised fears that Al Qaeda-linked militants who have carried out attacks in Algeria and Morocco may be seeking to extend operations southwards to Mauritania, Mali and Senegal, where the rally is due to finish on January 20th.
Roger Kalmanovitz, the rally’s head of security, has been in the country meeting military, police and government officials and said the January 5-20 event would go ahead as planned.
‘We are satisfied and the rally will indeed start in Lisbon on January 5th and arrive on Mauritanian soil on January 11th,’ he told reporters in the capital Nouakchott.
Last year, organisers of the 9,000km (5,600 miles) race cancelled two stages after France’s security services said rally participants risked being kidnapped or ambushed by Algerian rebels while passing through Mali.”
- autosport.com
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Great article from greencar.com. It’s great to see “companies” thinking thiws way. Yes it’s specific to Volkswagen but one needs to lead!
Volkswagen releases gas in the general direction of CAFE standards! CEO Martin Winterkorn has confirmed the company is working on an ultra-high-mileage car that will get 235 mpg, according to Greencar.com. The VeeDub hypermiler is a tandem two-seater with a Cd of 0.159 and an estimated range of 400 miles on its 1.7 gallon fuel tank. The engine is a single cylinder diesel displacing 300 - 500cc, attached to a six-speed DSG transmission. Thanks to lightweight materials like carbon fiber, magnesium and lightweight alloys, the entire vehicle weighs in at 639 pounds. VW says a limited production version could be offered by 2010. Unless VW hacks Tesla’s ‘customer’ list, the chances are the complete vehicle won’t make it to market. But look for a carbon fiber wing mirror on the next GTI.
- The Truth About Cars
Wishing you, your family and of course your VW, Audi or Porsche a safe and happy one!
We are headed to Utah for some much needed R&R, snowboarding and snowball fights. It will be slow speeds here at oneighturbo.com but we have a bunch in store for 2008!
Can’t land a Touareg for a rental.. owell. Think we have to go American. 
L8R
