Really late to the discussion, but whenever ASO's Dakar Rally come up it gets my attention. I've been a huge fan of the Dakar Rally going all the way back to when it was still the Paris to Dakar rally. My interest really climbed when fellow Southern California Desert racer Chuck Stearns became the first American to win a stage in 1985. Later when Danny LaPorte was racing I really started to want to go and be part of it. Finally when Mark Miller first decided to compete in the Dakar I was hoping to go with him when he competed in the Pro Truck class. I had been part of Mark's "Trophy Truck team when he won when he won the Nevada 2000 and won the 2002 Baja 500, 2003 Baja 500, Baja 1000 and the Baja 1000 again in 2004. Fortunately for Mark, Robby Gordon was not a good team player with VW and Mark took over Rubby's spot. Unfortunately for me, it meant that he had full VW factory support with a budget of $80,000,000 per year, so I never got my chance to go be part of his Dakar effort. The closest I got was when Mark talked VW into bringing the Dakar Race Touaregs to Baja for the 2008 Baja 500. I did get to be a part of the 2009 VW Baja Race Touareg program for the Baja 1000, but after that race a change in VW America's management the plug was pulled.
The Rally has never been easy to follow, for a short while it was getting easier with satellite tracking, but then terrorist activity in Africa caused the ASO to start delaying the data that was released. By the time ASO moved to South America they had become more greedy and controlling of any and all information that came out of the event to the media. For a while you could get much better information from Eurosport but here in the USA we seemed to get less and less and now even that is a full day late.
I was part of the first several Sonora Rallys and had the chance to meet Skyler Howes, so I've been following him as close as possible along with young local Mason Klein who show a lot of promise.
The Chevy Vortec entry in the Nevada 2000
Winning in Baja
The Baja Race Touareg
OK back to your regular scheduled program.
It would be cool if the Dakar folks did something similar to MXGP-TV or how the Isle of Man races are shown. Streaming Pay Per View. With the fan following all over the world it would seem like a profitable opportunity. I pay about $130-ish to watch the MXGP series, and paid about $50 to stream the Isle of man races this year. Add another $160 a year to watch the SMX racing. Somewhere in that range would seem pretty fair.
Used to watch WRC before they screwed up the series. That is another form of motorsport I love, that has never really taken off in the U.S. Sat next to Rick Mears on a flight and we had a great discussion about that. He had great insight into the whole thing that I (as a fan) had no clue.
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Thought it would be a great day to Head up into the Ashley N.F. via White Rocks Highway (runs north out of Fort Duchesne, UT). A bit gusty on the road but once in the mountains it calmed down nicely. Still snow above 10K' ASL, but not bad. Forest service roads are pretty torn up from all the use last year, but passable. Managed about 40 miles off-road.
Couple of pucker moments crossing big patches of snow that was covering the whole road, with the sidecar on the top side of the off camber. After the big Summer Vacation Road Trip, the rig will get some more appropriate tires for off-road. Thought I took more pictures, but this is all I found on the phone. Hmmmmm?
Found two great Jeep trails. One turned into an ATV trail, and I smacked the left side mirror and hand guard pretty good climbing a rocky hill. Quite a workout steering through all the embedded rocks, and trying to keep the sidecar from flipping over top of the rig on the serious off camber stuff. Next time I'll start the day with a bowl of Wheaties instead of oatmeal. 😉 Pretty impressed with how good the low end torque of the engine is.
Snow still covering half of main fire road above 10K' ASL. Some areas in the shade still had about 18" across the entire fire road. Got the rig pretty sideways a few times blasting through the longer snow covered sections. 😎
The great Screaming Yellow Slushy Machine
Back home without any breakage. A quick wash and it will be good to go for the next exciting adventure.
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Scott @scott-h, the one item that I recommend for your rig is to cover those two lower driving lights with a YELLOW film. On Amazon you can buy a 4" x 8" piece of YELLOW film, that is made for covering lights.
Why ? you ask....
Because in a sea of white lights, other drivers will SEE those YELLOW lights first, standing out better than all those white lights that they have been ignoring.
Secondly, the YELLOW lens cover will protect your driving lights. Cost on Amazon for that 4" x 8" piece of YELLOW lens material all of $ 10 bucks.
'twer it mine, I would also cover that LED light on the front of the sidecar body.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
@miles-ladue You had me at "Yellow"! 😍
I've been considering some yellow tinted clip on covers. Just keep forgetting to see what is available, or if I'd have to make them. The light bar on the sidecar definitely has me concerned because of how low it sits.
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Scott, I can't tell if your driving lights are round, or square, with rounded corners. Pictures don't show them well enough.
Look on Amazon for Rigid Industries light covers. You can buy them in almost any color.....but YELLOW is readily available. They are thick plastic, clip onto the black housing of your lights.
The beauty of these are.....get one pair of YELLOW lens covers, and one pair of CLEAR lens covers. Run the YELLOW covers 85 % of the time, and carry the CLEAR lens with you so that if you are out late at night, just remove the YELLOW lens covers, and snap on the CLEAR lens covers.
Easy to remove the lens covers to keep clean the light lens, but when in place these RIGID INDUSTRIES lens covers protect your lights.
The also sell them for round lights, and for that LED light that is mounted on the nose of your sidecar body.
And Scott...you want the YELLOW colored lens....NOT any other color except Clear, for night time riding, but YELLOW is the ones you want, as that is the light spectrum that gets other drivers attention.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
Thanks Miles. The spot lights on the bike are round. I'll do some measuring and see what can be found.
Agree, the greatest color in the world is yellow. Because that is the color of the rig. 🤣
If down the road it gets replaced with an Africa Twin in Red, then I'll have to re-evaluate the world's best color. But would still stick with yellow lens covers for the aux lighting. 👍
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Scott, an alternative, and easier to complete the project quicker is:
I have ordered this several times, for application on the lower driving/fog lights of both of my Subaru's, and it works GREAT. Have the same yellow film on both of my current Goldwing sidecar rigs, for the lower driving/fog lights.
You get 1 piece...4" x 8"...so all I did was cut the piece in half, so I ended up with a 4" x 4" piece, then laid it over the lens of the driving/fog light.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
That's a cool idea. I've done something similar in red rubylith for a laptop that was used for astronomy work. Back before we had all these epic phone apps that deleted the need for a laptop. lol
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Well today in preparation for the "Big Summer Adventure" it was time to clean, lubricate and adjust the clutch cable/linkage. Didn't realize I knew so many German expletives. 😮
Good gravy! How they could take something so simple, and make it so complicated / difficult to service is astonishing. 🤣
I looked at the repair manual, and new it was going to be fun when they show a special tool to adjust the throw-out lever.
It's done, it works better and all the specific clearances are correct. So now it is just a matter of loading the rig, setting the tire pressures correctly, and hitting the road.
T-10 days and counting. 🤩
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Packed all this "stuff" into the sidecar by removing the seat.
While it all fits, it would not have been fun trying to get everything in and out, especially if it's raining.
Swapped out the two burner camp stove and pots/pans kit, with a Jetboil setup, and decided to leave the full size camping cot at home.
Now it all packs/unpacks much better. With plenty of room around the cooler. There is also room for stuff that might get picked up along the way.
Really like the idea of a standing room tent with a full size cot. During the trip the 2-man tent, full size camp chair and table may get swapped out to a back-pack table and chair, and a stand up tent with a back-packers cot. Will have to see how much actual "camping" gets done.
T-3 days and counting to launch. Oh yeah! 
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FWIW, I utilize the upper struts to carry my giant tent and cot between the car and the bike. You might try it. A single bungie cord holds it all in place. The weight is fairly low and, more importantly, inside the load triangle, and there's enough room for my size 14 boot to reach the peg easily. Been doing it this way for years (ever since I graduated from a 2-man tent with a roll-up sleeping pad.)
2,300 miles into the "big summer vacation trip."
So far, so good. Visited the "Crossroads" intersection in Clarksville, MS today.
Was hoping for a 20HP gain and a reverse. But the devil was on hold with the Comcast tech guys, having internet problems, and didn't have time to chat. Said something about Miss Piggy holding his laptop for ransom.
Fuel mileage on this trip has been in the high thirties as long as it gets the "good stuff" for gas. Bike has been handling well, although the front tire is getting badly cupped. Will probably put a new set on in Indianapolis.
A few random shots from the trip.
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Well the "Big Summer Sidecar Vacation" version one-point-oh came to a close yesterday.
A bit over 4,800 miles of fun. Some closing shots:
Rig handled the whole trip with aplomb. So now it's time to do maintenance, and make some improvements.
Going to do a bit of experimenting with alignment. I noticed the inside of the rear tire has a bit more wear than the outside. The sidecar tire has some feathered wear consistent with toe in (bike rolls easy, so maybe correct). Front tire is very cupped and bar wobble progressively worsened with that wear. Will also experiment more with air pressure on the new tires.
Also going to look at improving personal gear storage options.
Learned so much. Got to hang out with awesome people. Met some great people on the road.
Looking forward to starting version two-point-oh later this summer.
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