Oppo Dakar 2016- A Madcap Plan

"Cebu" (menostwelve) 04/20/2014 at 14:01 • Filed to: None

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I'm thinking about entering the 2016 rally with a bonkers king-cab funded from Kickstarter ($10 to put your name on the tailgate!). Obviously, since I'm more of a dirt-rally type of driver and not a dune basher, it'd be piloted, navigated, etc. by someone else, I'd just be the Adrian Newey-type designer and sometimes fabricator.\

Budget: $500,000

$200,000 for transport, entry fee
$300,000 for car, other stuff

I'll leave you folks with this slightly potato picture to stew on while I get on fraggin' noobs.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Cebu 04/20/2014 at 14:25

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I've got $10 to contribute. And maybe a donor truck! lol

Cebu > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 04/20/2014 at 15:48

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Hmm.

Needs moar lift and moar fuel tanks.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Cebu 04/20/2014 at 15:56

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Make the entire bed a fuel tank. Take out the rear seats and you could put at least 2 spare tires back there. Probably need some more heavily bolstered front seats.

Cebu > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 04/20/2014 at 17:38

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Eh, I'm thinking use a wrecked inner-spring matress for the fronts, put the spares on the wings like they did in the Thirties, and use the bed for a fuel tank and spare wishbones, diffs, and other things that break often. The back seats can be used for moar spares and moar fuel, or maybe get a king cab and have 2 driver/navigator crews, with 1 sleeping and 1 driving? Sure, it'd be a really bad sleep, but the Dakar knocks you out entirely. As for the floppiness of king cabs, just put in some crossmembers were the transmission tunnel used to go, then a bit of scaffolding over the bed.

Dusty Ventures > Cebu 04/20/2014 at 17:40

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$75,000 is barely enough to cover a team entry fee. That said if you're serious I'd be interested in getting onboard with this. I have both desert and rally competition experience and have a few connections for Dakar advice and resources.

Cebu > Dusty Ventures 04/20/2014 at 17:49

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Not bad. I'm the Adrian Newey type, so if you're looking for financial backing or actual rally skill (sure, I'm better than the average bear at hooning around dirt, but that was with an RC car...), look elsewhere. However, I am quite a good designer- and at that budget, we can go one of two ways:

-Get Jalopnik's blessing and have at it with a lifted 240 or Miata and a fully stocked support truck with the money from the Gawker Media sponsorship (if any)

-Go full-bore Kickstarter. Budget goal: $500,000.

Half-Mil Half-Chance:

A somewhat bonkers but mostly doable king-cab six-wheeler.

Images fol... aw heck, wait a minute and I'll update the OP.

Dusty Ventures > Cebu 04/20/2014 at 18:05

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I can tell you right now that Gawker/Jalopnik sponsorship won't happen. The budget for it isn't there and even if it was sponsoring race cars in international events isn't really their thing.

Unfortunately Dakar rule constraints are far stricter than they were back in the days of vehicles like the mad Jules six-wheeler. If a vehicle wasn't manufactured with six wheels you can't make it a six-wheeler. There's a lot of limits to suspension modifications, engine output, drivetrain, tire size, etc now as well.

Cebu > Dusty Ventures 04/20/2014 at 18:07

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Do they have an experimental class, or should we go ahead and forget the Dakar, make our own no-limits rally series?

Dusty Ventures > Cebu 04/20/2014 at 22:17

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No experimental classes. They were cut a ways back to keep deep pockets from building over the top one-off Dakar machines that would make the Group B era seam tame.