The preparation for the Dakar continued this past weekend and was based around the Dublin mountains for a change with some loops on the Gasser EC300. With the cold and wet now firmly set in there is few if any offroad motorcycles knocking about the practice areas which makes the loops very quiet and interesting…..not to mention muddy as hell!

The trusty KTM 510cc Team Ireland Rally bike, wheels and spare engine is now firmly packed up with 500 other competitor vehicles in a ship heading for the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires where it is due to arrive on December 28th before we pick it up in the Delta docks on Dec. 29th. The trip to the UK to drop off the machine involved 16 hours driving in 24 hours and 16ft. waves to contend with en route back to Dublin…..not pretty! In fact ours was the last boat to get out of Holyhead before they called off the entire crossing until the weather settled. Maybe this is a lucky omen for things to come in South America!

The countdown is firmly on now with only 19 days to Christmas and 23 days until we pick up the bike and all of the equipment in Buenos Aires for the start of the 32rd Dakar Rally and the 2nd Dakar in South America, we are very much looking forward to it now. Next week we expect to see some interviews in the Irish Times and the Sunday World in anticipation of the Rally. We will also be speaking with RTE in advance of the departure for a live interview on the 27th of December as they want to capture the moment before we depart.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank JT sprokets who have come on board to support us for this year’s event. In addition we would also like to thank Draper tools Ireland who are the official tool sponsors for the Irish Team in 2010.        
   
Until next time, we’ll keep you posted on developments.

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