F1 Fanatic

@PT

I read somewhere that Robby Gordon might have cheated during a Baja race but he was later cleared.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/blog/from_the_marbles/post/Robby-Gordon-charged-with-cheating-in-offroad-ra?urn=nascar,148975

I love his “straightforwardness”:

Looks like Coma’s lost 5 minutes to Cyril on the live tracker which is a shame, c’mon Coma!

@PT The Hummers are built to SCORE (Baja 500/1000) Trophy Truck regulations which are legal for Dakar. Big engine, big tires, big suspension travel & a Tire Inflation System. The ASO/FIA have approved this same system for the past handful of years now & did so before this years rally started.

The issue comes with the air-take, the Hummers have to run a Restrictor Plate behind the throttle body & the rules state that there can be no air entering the intake system after the Restrictor.

Well the Inflation system is hooked into the intake so that when the tires are being deflated the vacuum of the engine pulls the air out of the tires faster. Despite being technically illegal it passed tech the past several years and again prior to the start of this years race the ASO/FIA said it was ok. Well after the Hummers were so much faster then the Mini’s (which has more to do with Suspension travel & the car being able to “glide” over bumps), Peterhansel filed a Protest about the Hummer’s Inflation system. The same ASO/FIA officials that said it was legal just a week or so before (and years prior) had then decided that no it wasn’t legal (which technically by the rulebook it really isn’t legal). Basically it was legal to the French ASO/FIA Officials as long as you weren’t beating the French driver who just so happens to have a major partner sponsor of the Rally.

Robby filed a protest & cut/plugged the line to the intake and still went out and was just as fast in the following stages.

Anybody who knows anything about engines knows that the small amount of air that would be pulled out of the tires via that vacuum tube during deflation 2 or 3 times a stage (when needed) wouldn’t act as a Turbo/Supercharger, if anything it would lean out the air-fuel mixture which would hurt preformance.

As with everything FIA related though the controversy is deeper then just that. On the first week of the race one of the big trucks got DQ’d for hitting one of the cars and not “providing enough help”. The truck team after hitting the car stopped to make sure everybody was ok & even offered to help get the car able to drive or tow it back in. The car told them they were alright & declined assistance so the truck went and completed the stage. Later that night the truck driver was told that his vehicle was excluded from the race. The driver of the car that he hit pleaded with the ASO/FIA to not exclude the truck as it was an accident and they did stop to offer help, but the ASO/FIA didn’t care & stuck with the exclusion.

Peterhansel a few stages later hit a Motorcyle rider during a watercrossing knocking the bike fully into the water amd physically running into the rider… Peterhansel did not stop to offer assistance at all, and was not penalized. A stage or two later Robby came up on Peterhansel and was faster so he used the Sentinel warning system (basically the modern GPS version of a horn) which means the driver infront is supposed to move over & let the faster driver by… Peterhansel didn’t respond to the warning system (grounds for DQ according to the rules) and forced Robby offline and into a Rock which severely damaged the right-side tires & suspension of the Hummer, Peterhansel continued on without stopping after the accident like you’re supposed to to offer assistance. The ASO/FIA did not penalize Peterhansel at all for either of those two safety/unsportsman like violations even though a similar thing had gotten a Truck excluded during the first week of the Rally. Yet Robby was given a DQ because the French ASO/FIA officials decided halfway though the race that was they said was legal to run isn’t legal to run when you’re faster then the French driver.

Geniel De Villiers Got third over all, I am so happy about that. Geraad De Rooy won the truck section. Just what I needed.

My thoughts to all the people who lost loved ones or got injured.

If someone want to download screensaver or wallpaper…here is the link:

Iveco-Petronas-Dakar-2012

I’ve found a little video that shows the fantastic victory of Italians Iveco :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8uLbFXAcAY

My guess is:
Bikes: Cyril Despres
Quads: –
Cars: Nasser Al Attiyah
Trucks: Russia

But I wish that there won’t be any drama for lives.

The opener was yesterday and Carlos Sainz won the cars’ stage. In the bikes, Lopez is first with Despres, the favourite, in fifth. In the quads Seminario is first and the Dutch are first in the trucks.