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.

The Dakar Hare & Hound finally went ahead this weekend in Clonkeen Co,Laois. After some dramatic bridge building from the team we were able to create two river crossings over the river separating the land. A big thanks to everyone involved in marking and building the course including Brian(who fell into said river by the way!!), Barry, Stephen, Cathal, David, Ger, Howard, Ivor, Collie, Stuey, Liam and Marie for her countless sandwiches and helping with the merchandise on Sunday.

The course which was lapping at 15 minutes per lap on Saturday evening turned out to be lapping about 15 -17 mins for seniors and experts and a little more for clubmen and novices on Sunday for the event. The event was won by 3 times Dakar entrant Vinnie Fitzimmons with Phil Purcell taking the honours in Seniors, Eddie Steenson winning Clubmans and John Carrol winning the Sports class.

Overall the event went well and the course started to dry out as times got faster throughout the day. Of note was the flying Italian Andre Bassi who gradually got faster as the day wore on. His parting comment at the end of the course was “ You Irish is Crazy” but he was delighted to complete his 1st Irish event and take second in the Expert class!

Paul Mc Loughlin was on fire in the experts class at the start of the event and was one lap clear of the field at the halfway point but had to pull up due to a problem with his rear wheel. Thanks to Paul from Kellys Ltd. in Bray for sponsoring the trophies for the event and to everyone who entered for their support .    
       
The countdown is now on, further updates on developments for Dakar 2010 are on the way. Excitement is mounting!

The final round of the Irish enduro championship was the action spot for the 2010 Team Dakar Ireland this weekend. Held in Tinahealy Co.Wicklow there was a big turnout for this last offical Championship race for the 2009 Irish Enduro championship , Southern Center Enduro Championship and TORC Championship.

Luckily the torrential rain forecast held off and although there were some puddles bordering on rivers on the second part of the course it turned out to be one of  the best enduros of the season. Seniors and experts were covering a lap in 53 plus minutes and the special test was undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable and technical tests of the year.     

The 2010 Team Dakar Ireland Rally bike is now back in Dublin after some excellent preparation work in Balinagoul  including new 2009 shamrocks on the front and rear of the bike!! We are  just awaiting some final sponsor graphics and 1-2 modifications for the  tool support units before the bike is transported to Le Harve in France in 2 weeks time.

A big thank you to Vee Rubber and Hi Flow filters for their support with the 2010 Team Dakar Ireland machine  this year; they are the official Tyre and filter sponsor of the team this year in Argentina and Chile. The machine will be running the Vee Rubber FIM Enduro  tyres and Hi Flow filters throughout the rally.    
      
Until next time, yours in offroad extreme rallying Team Ireland Dakar 2010.

On Saturday the 19th of  September we were in Waterford for the ‘Baby Sam Appeal’ which was a fundraiser to help raise funds for Baby Sam from Mooncoin to send him off to China for new stem cell  treatment. Proceedings started at 9.30 with a police escort into Waterford city from Mooncoin and on the Rally Bike to help raise the profile for the appeal.

On Sunday the 20th of September it was business as usual in terms of practice and Philip was down in Clonaslee with the 300cc 2T  for the Clonaslee Enduro. This was a round of the Southern Center Championship and Torc Enduro championship. The course was 320 minutes in total or four laps of 80 minutes with three special timed tests. The course was well laid out with great varied terrain for a real enduro so well done to George and Hughie for a great job and very well timed checks. The gasser and the rider got a good workout for the day and eventhough the kickstart spline failed on the 4th lap it made an interesting lap to run the bike for 80 minutes without stalling or stopping!

For all of you bike enthusiasts out there, the Team Ireland Dakar Rally Bike will be on display this coming weekend at the Cork 200 rally together with all of the Team Ireland merchandise fleeces, jackets, tee-shirts etc. so please drop along and have a chat with us and see all the latest modifications to the  bike for the 2010 Dakar .

The Team Dakar Ireland Rally Bike is almost completed and a big thanks to Martin at Torque Services in London for his help in preparing it at his base. Tthe bike has been completely re-wired and had some trick pieces added to aid the fast de-assembly of the machine during the race. 

From a practice point of view it was down to Fermoy, Co. Cork for round 4 of the Irish Enduro Championship this weekend. The event was run by Phil Gunn and his team and without doubt they laid out one of the best enduro courses seen on the I.E.C this season. Four laps of flat out racing with one of the best Enduro tests which was 8 -10mins long. Thorougly enjoyable and adrenaline fuelled!

The trusted gasser ec300 was the ideal weapon for the weekend although a 450 four stroke would not have been out of place on the fire roads of Kilworth for this extremely fast and flowing event. Some of the smaller capacity 4 stroke bikes suffered engine failure possibly as a result of the long flat out sections in between checks.

We will be loading the best shots taken at the fourth round to the blog later this week once all the pics taken by Brian have been edited. Altogether a great event and further great practice in advance of participation in the Dakar 2010 which is at this stage only 3 months away.  Bring it on and we’ll keep you updated on progress!!

Well, something a little different this month in preparation for the Dakar 2010. We were training in the desert in California for the weekend of 25-26th of July. We collected two new Honda CRF250’s from Eagle Rider in Los Angeles and trucked them down to Octillio Wells courtesy of Nate Markley and his F350 pick-up.

We travelled south from Los Angeles to Octillio Wells SVRA (an 80,000 acre desert for pure offroad riding), this is a 3-4 hour journey, and when we arrived at Octillio is was hitting 43 degress centrigrade even hotter again outside. Needless to say there were very few riders in the desert at these temperatures but undeterred we kitted up and headed off for some good training.

The first run was unbelievable with so many natural offhill cambers and knife edge drop offs you had to be wide awake and ready for action. With the temperature reaching scorching by midday we had to return to the truck to reload on water as we were basically dehydrating rapidly.

For the second run we moved into the devil’s creek area to try some dry river beds which, minus the shale, are a little similar to what one would see in Argentina. Octillio is a great training area for desert rally practice and would make a great place to run a future long endurance event. In any case a great time was had by all and thanks once again to Nate for the use of the pick-up truck and to the boys in Eagle Rider in Los Angeles.

On July 15th last we announced the first Official Irish Support Team for Dakar 2010 to support Philip Noone on his imminent adventure. The announcement was made at Birr Castle, Co. Offaly where Lord and Lady Ross were kind enough to host the event for us. The Midlands Simon Community representatives were also there in full force as well as a guest appearance from Gerald Kean, many thanks to you both. This is the first time that a full Irish team will be supporting an Irish competitor in the Dakar. Up until now all of the previous Irish riders have been provided with support from elsewhere. The team will provide full mechanical support, a support truck and jeep and on-site support for Philip in the bivouac for the duration of the event. Meanwhile Philip is in California this month hoping to do some training and on his return he will be ramping up his training and fitness schedule. We will also be holding a series of fundraising events for both the Simon Community and Team Dakar Ireland so we will keep you posted on where and when they are and would very much appreciate your support. Til next time…….yours in off-road racing!

It was off to County Wexford this weekend to compete in Round 2 of the Irish Enduro Championship in Mount Leinster. Traditionally Mount Leinster is one of the tougher enduros on the I.E.C calender and normally only 50% of the field finish the event however with the weather favourable this year the finish rate was a little higher. The event was great training with four laps of the course for Senior /Experts and three special tests. The special test was one of the longest this year with almost 10-15 mins in duration for most classes to complete the test. All in all a great event and extremely well laid out so that all competitors could compete regardless of the weather.

With the Mount Leinster event out of the way it is now time to concentrate on the Team Dakar Ireland official press launch which will take place on July 15th at 11.00 am at Birr Castle in County Offaly. The invited guest of honour for the event is Gerald Keane and all of the national newspapers will be in attendance.

The entry for Dakar 2010 has now been completed with the entry deposit now placed. The second part of the entry is due to be completed in September 2009. The WP suspension  for the Team Ireland bike has just been completely rebuilt and retuned and will be fitted and tested during July. The fairings are also being finished by Ken of the Motorcycle Paintshop in Dublin and will be fitted together with the new suspension.
      
Until next time yours in offroad extreme rallying Team Ireland Dakar 2010.

Well we’re back in the saddle again. After a rusty lay off since the middle of January it was back out on the trusty new 2009 gasser EC 300 with five hours and five laps of the all new Ballinderry Enduro in Co.Wicklow on Sunday last. An excellent course was laid out with 5 short laps of 45 mins to 1 hour and it was a welcome introduction to the 2010 Dakar training program.

The EC 300 two-stroke held up well and is a different beast completely to the EC125 Philip was using in the IEC in 2009. The 300 drives on a lot more into corners and a few branches were chewed during the 4-5 hours run-out! Mind you it’s a welcome change from the needle bushes of the Argentine Patagonia.

The 2010 Dakar course has now been released to the World Media and it will be the 2009 course in reverse which basically means all of the dunes will be crossed in the first seven days up until the rest day and the remaining seven stages will be open plain racing with three technical days thrown in for good measure.

Team Dakar Ireland 2010 will have a complete team including 2 support vehicles for 2010 and 2 assistance vehicle drivers as well as 2 mechanics completing the first ever comprehensive team to enter the Dakar from Ireland . We will be announcing a number of events shortly including the Official Press Launch of  Team Dakar Ireland 2010.  

Until next time yours in offroad extreme rallying Team Ireland Dakar 2010.
        

Well Dakar 2009 has drawn to a close and Gary has finished in 87th place!! Only 113 bikers were able to complete this year’s race out of an initial 235 entries. Last year Gary’s dream of finishing the race was cut short just a mere 90km from the end when he was forced off course by a passing car and broke his leg. But this year is his year and he is victorious and a deserved winner of his 87th place – what an amazing achievement. Congratulations from all of the team and we are really proud of him! He’s currently back in the hotel sinking bubbly like it’s going out of fashion and no doubt tomorrow will be full of celebrations in Buenos Aires too!!

Marc Coma was the overall winner in the bikes category, his second Dakar. The spaniard did not flinch on the fast and technical trails between Cordoba and Buenos Aires and between you and us we are huge fans and we’re just thrilled that he won! Aside from the fact that he is such a nice guy, unassuming and humble, he is a skilled strategist when it comes to the Dakar and he deserved the win wholeheartedly. 

Thanks to all of you for your support throughout the past two weeks, it’s been addictive and a real adventure. We’ll keep you posted on the plans for Dakar 2010!!