Just saw that the Dakar Rally has started but there is no mention of it on the Speed website. Anyone know details about when it will be broadcast?

 

Knowing Speed, prolly sometime in 2006.

I was thinking the same thing though, because I remember the 2004 Speed coverage was around this time last year. Donno.

 

It is not on SPEED this year. OLN will be doing 5+hours of coverage at the end of January. Yes, long after the event is finished.

http://www.olntv.com/showviewer.asp?sid=224

 

Robby Gordon is doing very well so far, as he's leading the cars so far.

I'm gonna follow Pål Anders Ullevålseter and hope he can win the bike category this year after doing very well the last couple of years.

Look here for more info on the rally : http://www.dakar.com/2005/us/index.html

 

I read a article that Robby Gordon grabbed the pole and is doing very well, Go Amercia

 

I'm pretty bummed about the lack of coverage on SPEED but without commercial sponsors, that's how it goes.

Anyone betting against Gordon is going to get a surprise, I think. It seems like forever ago now but he's won a couple of Baja 1000s and multiple Daytona 24 hours. He's also a tough bastard, physically and emotionally.

K

 

thanks for the link.

I saw in the local paper this past weekend that Robby Gordon did well on the first stage.

 

I'm sure it'll get some coverage on CNN or whatever once the gypsies start holding drivers hostage.

 

I'm bummin' now. My big Christmas present was TiVo and I was all fired up to immediately save the Paris-Dakar daily shows on Speed. That and the Tour de France are the two long running events I made an effort to keep up with each day. Last year they showed the P-D dailys and re-ran all of them a million times to the point that even I got tired of the repetition. Going from that to nothing this year then add the dropping of the Xmas day Runoffs marathon is a big concern.

I'll bet they won't be cutting down on the NASCAR "Men Behind the Wrenches", et al. drivel. What is next? "Darrel Waltrip Picks His Nose", "DW Picks Dale Jr.'s Nose" and on and on ad nauseum.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Going from that to nothing this year then add the dropping of the Xmas day Runoffs marathon is a big concern. </TD></TR></TABLE>

...and don't forget about the lack of the WRC marathon on New Years day. I was thinking about cancelling the part of my cable that gives me SpeedTV but thought "Hey, it's the off season! This is when they show V8 Supercars, BTCC, DTM, WRC, and all of the racing I'd actually give a **** to watch!" But then it dawned on me, the actual time from when they stop talking about last seasons Nascar until they start covering testing for next seasons Nascar is about 53.7 hours. When they actually do show some of those series I want to watch, they're at like noon on a Wednesday and hacked up. Now no Runoffs marathon, no WRC marathon, and no Dakar - I'm sorry, but screw that.

Should we take bets on if they're going to show any of the Daytona 24 hour at all this year? That coverage has been consistently cut back since they covered all 24 hours a couple years ago (where I watched 20 hours of it).

 

It might be an evil lie but OLN has Dakar coverage listed for 9:30(E) tonight - like in 18 minutes.

K

 

My TimeWarner shows it as:
"Dakar Rally: Team USA Rider Search"

sounds like some prequel stuff.... I guess we'll find out in 13 minutes...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I'll bet they won't be cutting down on the NASCAR "Men Behind the Wrenches", et al. drivel. What is next? "Darrel Waltrip Picks His Nose", "DW Picks Dale Jr.'s Nose" and on and on ad nauseum.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

"DW Picks Dale Jr.'s Nose" is going to be folded into a new Barret Jackson's Reality Auction show from now on. Team Texas is slated to finish last due to finger bredth so it should really come down to LA and ATL.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Knestis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It might be an evil lie but OLN has Dakar coverage listed for 9:30(E) tonight - like in 18 minutes.

K</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yah, the digi-thing says the same as Jeremy's "Team USA Rider Search" - not an evil lie, just a tease though.

 

Yup, it's just prequel stuff.

 

Big day on the Paris-Dakar. Check out the link above. Speedvision sucks fornot showing it. I think I will send an email complaint, not that they will care.

Don't want to be the spoiler but there were multiple flips amongst the car class leaders and one is out and may be injured.

 

Am I the only one that thinks that the truck group is the coolest of the three....and that the bikers are the most impressive.

 

No you are not alone

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by El Pollo Diablo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Am I the only one that thinks that the truck group is the coolest of the three....and that the bikers are the most impressive.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I like them all. The trucks are certainly interesting and amazing in their capabilities, the bikers are somewhere in the dim line of superheroism and insanity ( Announcer voice- "Biker XXX finished today after breaking both ankles yesterday and dragging his spleen in the dust for 50 miles. He will do self-surgery tonight in the bivouac and be ready to challenge tomorrow"). The cars are incredible as well with the factory rivalry adding to the furor.

After a few years of watching it, some of the top names we never hear outside of this event become familiar (Tchaguine, Meoni, Peterhansel, etc.) but the cars do pull outside drivers that we have heard of like McRae, Gordon, Vatinen, etc. that keep it interesting to newbs to the event. The amazing international (a timely word on this forum) pull of this incredible challenge makes it truly a world event. Thus it is due some friggin' TV time in this country!

 

From my "european" days I miss:

-Watching the camel trophy...does it even go on anymore?
-Watching the motorcross (or whatever it's called)....none of the stadium bullchit/man-made mounds either...motorcross through forests/rocks/streams etc...

 

Yeah I was surprised when my Dakar keyword wishlist on the TiVo didn't have any programs listed towards the end of December.

I've watched every Dakar 'episode' on Speed the last two years in a row, was looking forward to this one. Is by far my favorite motorsports event, and the production quality, commentary was outstanding.

I know it is a big undertaking to cover the Dakar, but honestly I was surprised when they decided not to. I assumed it was extremely popular, because so many of my friends watch it. Personally they underestimated the popularity of the show, likely the ratings/demographics monitoring stuff was not able to accurately depict the popularity.

Plus everyone I showed the show to loved it so it had pretty universal appeal, not like it was hard to watch or anything.

I think it was a big mistake, as was not showing the WRC reruns on New Years.

My predictions are that the OLN coverage will be substandard production quality, and already sucks because it isn't same-day. I want to watch the action unfold on video, so am trying to stay away from the Dakar site for live internet coverage, but am afraid that the show is going to suck so much that it won't be worth it.

Today I decided not to wait--to follow the race via the Internet and watch the OLN stuff later. Plus I'm hoping overseas folks will post their local shows as bit torrents.

-k

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rotten &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
My predictions are that the OLN coverage will be substandard production quality </TD></TR></TABLE>

The OLN broadcast, much like the one on Speed last year (and F1, WRC, etc), will be the world feed. I am watching day 1 and 2 now. The production is very similar to last year. Same announcer it sounds like from last year.

Who needs lame A$$CAR Speed when there is BT. They can go off the air for all I care now.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jpl95si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yup, it's just prequel stuff.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It was kind of interesting, at least. I particularly liked, "First lesson of racing in Africa - leave the keys in the bike and someone walks off with it" - as he wheels the poor rider selection candidate's ride off into the dark.

K

 

Grrrrr-------I hope those time slots weren't filled with more Nascar.....Danmit I just got the *** dvr to record all of it..... I look forward to that race for an entire year...

 

Gotta make sure that the TiVo is working before the OLN braodcasts. I have been following the web site nearly day to day so I know the storyline but I want the pics and color to fill in the major gaps.