Tubus Racing

The Australian/Swedish Isuzu Rally Team isprimed and ready for a start in the 2009 Dakar (Argentina) Rally.

Isuzu rally team

Aussies Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki andSwedes Pelle Wallentheim and Olle Ohlsson and their two Isuzu D-Max utes(numbers 362 and 447 respectively) are facing 14 days of competition overnearly 6000km when the new event kicks off with a ceremonial start on theevening of January 2 in Buenos Aires (approx 12 hours behind Australia).

A total of 539 teams from 49 countries arecontesting the event, including 188 ‘cars', which is the division the twoGarland-built Isuzus are entered in. They will travel from Buenos Aires toValparaiso in Chile and back, via the Andes Mountains and the Atacama Desert,said to be the driest place on earth. The event will travel to a height of4700m, the highest in the rally's history.

"Dakar is the biggest, hardest, toughest,most dangerous race in the world," says Garland.

"Nothing comes close to it. It's the MtEverest of rally and off-road, of all motorsport, really. If you can succeed inthat, it's a huge achievement.

"It's always been that way during the yearsthe event has been run in Africa. The difference is, no-one has ever raced likethis in Argentina and Chile before, so it will be a more level playing fieldfor us than it would have been in Africa."

Originally known as the Paris-Dakar, theDakar Rally has been staged in Africa since 1978, but last year's event wascancelled on the eve of the start after terrorists killed seven people in thearea and made direct threats to the organisers of the rally, hence the move toSouth America.

The Isuzu team (Garland MotorSports andTubus Racing) has been in Argentina since mid-December, preparing for theevent. The vehicles have been tested at 3800m to allow Isuzu engineers to re-tunethe engines to work more efficiently at high altitudes.

"We unloaded everything in Buenos Aires,then drove about 1100km to Mendoza, then started climbing into the mountainsnear the Chilean border to test the cars - and ourselves," Garland says.

"Working at this altitude is difficult -you feel the pressure in your head and you lose concentration and focus. If youtry to do something too quickly, it's very hard to breathe and your reactiontimes drop away, but we've had a lot of advice from the people at IsuzuArgentina which has really helped us acclimatise.

"We've learned to drink a lot more water,not just because of the heat but also because it helps with the altitudeissues, so we're doing that and we feel a lot more comfortable.

"But we know we will be getting up as highas 4700m and spending several hours at that height and that's when anymechanical issues, or a flat tyre, will present us with real problems. We'vesourced some oxygen to take with us, just in case."

Garland and Wallentheim are currentlyseeded 62^nd and 147^th respectively but, having sized upthe competition around them, are confident they will be re-seeded higher in theorder after the first day or two.

That's once things get serious though ... whichis not just yet. Because they strongly believe in a balance between work andplay, in typical  style they held a huge New Years Eve party complete withfireworks ("the locals thoughts they were in Baghdad!"). Then it was finaldocumentation and vehicle scrutineering late on New Year's Day.

"There were about 200,000 people there. Itwas just amazing. The Argentinians are just so excited about the event. It's agreat atmosphere."

The ceremonial start is on Friday eveningand the team has moved from its earlier headquarters on the BA outskirts, intotown, to make things easier for Saturday's start. In Australia, SBS TV willshow daily highlights of the event from Sunday, January 4 to Monday, January19, at 6pm.

Stage 1: Saturday, January 3
Buenos Aires - Santa Rosa

Competition (special stage) = 371km; Totaldistance: 733km.

Many have heard of La Pampa, where men arereputed to be "rough, but always courteous". This first stage will provide theopportunity to discover the length of these vast plains. Dakar competitors havenever faced such a long special. With over 400km of rolling routes, perhaps thefastest on the program, this will constitute a real warm-up.

Stage 2: Sunday, January 4
Santa Rosa - Puerto Madryn

Competition (special stage) = 237km; Totaldistance: 837km.

The longest stage of the rally will notnecessarily be the most difficult. However, it should still be approached withvigilance and, above all, with rally equipment that works. After a rapid firstpart of the special, there's a foretaste of the sand to come. On the off-roadsof this stage, crews will need to pay careful attention to their course. Themore distracted will begin to "turn in circles".