Symons died in rippling sand

[Sneeky]

Rider killed in Dakar Rally.
Sad news

http://www.news24.com/News24/Sport/More_Sport/0,9294,2-9-32_2052803,00.html

 

[fivelza]

Very sad indeed....prayers and thoughts for his family and friends.

 

[NewsFlash]

Very sad.

The race has also been slammed for cutting a swathe through desert areas and villages and endangering local lives. Two boys were hit and killed by vehicles last year provoking another outcry that the Dakar should be scrapped.

Scrap the DAKAR? C'mon. Some peoples stupidity when it comes to these issues, then we should scrap Rugby, and traveling by car on the Highway in JHB, outright.

 

[Pitbull]

It's with great sadness that I have to make this comment.

I'm a biker myself...

I think the 2 wheels should be removed from the Dakar.
4 People in two races with more than a week to go... Makes one think.

I checked the start of the Dakar on Saturday. There was Quad's on the Dakar. Maybe move from 2 wheels to 4. I'm not saying it's beter (I had the hardest crash ever on a Quad) Fact is it's more stable on the lose gravel.

And like every guy that knows biking driving 2 wheels on lose gravel is deff. going to put U down one stage or another. No matter how good you are.

For the family.... Our Prayers are with you in this time, U can stand up and be proud ! Your Son Took Part In The Most Demanding Rally In The World !
This was his 3rd time doing the rally only 1 competting as a racer. He made us proud so stand up and be proud of who he was and what he did !

 

[fivelza]

Guys, please help me understand what rippling sand is and why is it so dangerous for bikers?

 

[StrongTurd]

We call it "sinkplaat pad". Its when a road surface becomes almost like a corrugated roof. It tends to destabilise any vehicle, even 4 wheeled.

 

[TooFastTim]

As mentioned earlier, corregations, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPbQakFXFtM.

Depends on the depth, some whoops can be several feet deep. I suspect Elmer was going too fast (remember the "roof"?) when he entered the whoop section and got out of shape in a big way. On a normal off-road bike it's usually just painful but a Dakar bike is a completely different animal. Getting swatted by one of them could be terminal.

 

[(DmZ)Wrecky]

My condolences.

 

[GavinMannion]

Very sad.

Scrap the DAKAR? C'mon. Some peoples stupidity when it comes to these issues, then we should scrap Rugby, and traveling by car on the Highway in JHB, outright.

I also feel for his family however I do think the DAKAR needs to take more responsibility for the civilian deaths that occur every year.

Unlike a Rugby match or a Highway the course on the Dakar is not marked or signposted. Imagine you are walking in a park and suddenly a guy drives through at 180Km/h. Would you have a problem with it?

It's not like the locals get anything from it, If the Dakar cannot afford to signpost and protect the locals from the contestants then it shouldn't be allowed. It never would in a first world country.

The desert is the home for these people, they shouldn't be driving through it without due care and attention.

That is again just my humble opinion, endangering people for fun is not allowed anywhere except in deepest darkest africa. Not right really

 

[Pitbull]

I also feel for his family however I do think the DAKAR needs to take more responsibility for the civilian deaths that occur every year.

Unlike a Rugby match or a Highway the course on the Dakar is not marked or signposted. Imagine you are walking in a park and suddenly a guy drives through at 180Km/h. Would you have a problem with it?

It's not like the locals get anything from it, If the Dakar cannot afford to signpost and protect the locals from the contestants then it shouldn't be allowed. It never would in a first world country.

The desert is the home for these people, they shouldn't be driving through it without due care and attention.

That is again just my humble opinion, endangering people for fun is not allowed anywhere except in deepest darkest africa. Not right really

IMO the biggest killer is the response time to an accident scene. Some sort of Tracker/Panic Button would make more sense. The problem is GPS is not allowed for the racers. I think there is a way of doing something like that without the racer using GPS. What do you guys think about this ?

 

[Random717]

from the article:

Organisers were informed during the morning that there had been an accident at kilometre 142 and a helicopter was despatched to the scene.
&
"The rally's nerve centre in Paris received an automatic satellite alert which indicated that the motorbike had come to an abrupt halt. The pilot was no doubt killed outright."

seems to indicate that they have some sort of real-time tracking device..

 

[Pitbull]

from the article:


seems to indicate that they have some sort of real-time tracking device..

Why was he then Laying in the Desert for hours ? 3 hours to be correct i think ?

 

[Random717]

It was a 670km stage in the middle of Morocco.. the helicopter might have had to fly through some extreme terrain to reach the site. We don't know where the helicopter took off from, maybe there was an unreasonable delay?

 

[Pitbull]

Anyone following the dakar you can do so from the official site.

http://www.dakar.com/2007/DAK/LIVE/us/500/index.html

@ xcleric42

Agreed... That is the problem with a race like this. The distances and secondly the terrain. There must be some kind of solution. Maybe making the stages shorter and the race days more ?

 

[pongo]

damn, poor guy. sounds like quite a kewl prang tho. are there any vidz of it on teh net?

 

[Pitbull]

damn, poor guy. sounds like quite a kewl prang tho. are there any vidz of it on teh net?

Doubt it.

These guys where doing a stretch of about 700kms doubt that that spesific accident would have been on tape. But out of respect I wouldn't want to see it anyway.

 

[Random717]

Wouldn't that reduce the attractiveness of the race? I'm sure most riders do it to see if they can survive the grueling conditions. Extending the rally would increase costs, as would providing more support, and demarcating areas to protect locals. Smaller teams would pull out and we'd be left with an elitist testing ground for big vehicle corporations (if it hasn't become that already..).
I say leave it as it is, I'm sure they have compensation packages for locals that are adversely affected, if not then these should be implemented.

 

[Pitbull]

I hear u.... It would make the rally less challenging

It's just sad to see 4 people die and 49 in the history of the race. But yes your right. I would make the race allot less challenging....

 

[Nanfeishen]

My condolences to his family and the families of the bystanders, but stopping the bikers from participation is a stupid idea, simply reroute certain portions of the rally away from certain villages, far simpler.
Having ridden off-road bikes for a number of years,(a long time ago) I think the biggest problem is the weight of these off road bikes nowadays, 500 and 600 cc TT ype bikes, are difficult enough as it is , but some of these bikes are running What? 1000 1200 cc nowdays, thats a lot of weight when it starts to hop on a corrugated surface, plus the extra weight of supplies that have to be carried with them, water, toolkits etc, you lose that at 120 or 140 , it is hello pearly gates.
Slightly off track, now here is a tough race, i take my hat and socks off to these guys, the Sahara Ultra marathon
http://www.pacesetters.com.my/resource/news/Sahara ultramarathon2007.htm

 

[NewsFlash]

I also feel for his family however I do think the DAKAR needs to take more responsibility for the civilian deaths that occur every year.

Unlike a Rugby match or a Highway the course on the Dakar is not marked or signposted. Imagine you are walking in a park and suddenly a guy drives through at 180Km/h. Would you have a problem with it?

It's not like the locals get anything from it, If the Dakar cannot afford to signpost and protect the locals from the contestants then it shouldn't be allowed. It never would in a first world country.

The desert is the home for these people, they shouldn't be driving through it without due care and attention.

That is again just my humble opinion, endangering people for fun is not allowed anywhere except in deepest darkest africa. Not right really

I would settle for better control and marked/mapped sections like rally driving but scrapping? Please No!