Pavey totals bike three days before departure
for South America.
In a dramatic turn of events, a freak incident almost
put the Dakar campaign on hold as Simon cart-wheeled
the G450 X Rallye just days before the bike was due to
ship to South America.
Simon was using his last opportunity before the race
to do some very final testing of the suspension and to
shoot more photos.
“The bike has been feeling very strong, all the
various components we tested in Portugal have held up
well. We went out on the on Friday to make sure I was
100% happy with the bike before we swapped the engine
out and packed everything into the boxes for
scrutineering on Wednesday.
The biggest issue we have had with building the bike
has been the sump guard because the bike has not got a
cradle style frame, the sump guard would normally
mount straight to the engine. I felt this is a really
weak design that could lead to split or damaged
crankcases very easily. We have worked very hard with
Colin from Askey Engineering to develop a design that
eliminates this worry. This, coupled with the rule
that every Dakar rider’s bike must carry at least 3
litres drinking water on the bike creates a problem.
The easiest place for the water has traditionally been
in the sump guard. The Prototype guard that was
on the bike was just a little too square edged and had
a weld line where the final design wouldn’t. We were
doing a pretty big jump for the camera and the bike
felt fantastic. I could hit the jump much bigger and
harder than I ever would on the standard bike and the
bike just soaked it up.
I hit the jump for the 20th time and when I
landed I caught a tiny edge on an embedded rock with
the sump guard and the bike just end for ended. It
came out of nowhere and scared me senseless at the
time. I was pretty lucky to get away with it in
reality, but the bike was pretty banged up, I could
see that from everyone’s faces when I was lying on
the ground. I made some rather frantic phone calls to
Touratech and they managed to sort out a whole new
fairing kit over the weekend.”
With lots of work still needing to be done to make the
boat in Le Havre the timing couldn’t have been any
worse.
“By Monday night we still had to rebuild the spare
engine, change the engine in the bike, and change all
the tanks, fit and pack all the mousses and tyres,
pack all the boxes and kit for the race and fix all
the bike damage. Then on Tuesday we had to pack
the van and head down towards France for scrutineering
in Le Havre. I want to say a massive to thank you
to Gwyn Barraclough and Off Road Skills Technician
Evan Davies for going beyond the call of duty and
putting in some serious workshop time and pizza
consumption to reshape the bike, the front end was a
bit of a mess, but at least we found out that the bike
does roll well and that the sump guard needed some
revision. I am just glad I found out in Wales not
Argentina.”
Somehow everything got packed in time and mid
afternoon on Monday the van was packed with
everything.
“Returning to scrutineering was really exciting for
me. It bought everything to reality and reminded me
how close to the start we are. I am really excited for
the race again this year; with the change of bike size
it has put a massive unknown into the equation.
It was great to see my bike against all the
other racers. While I haven’t got anything like one
of the factory machines, out of all the privateer
bikes I feel we have one of the very best setups. The
time we have put in and the experience we have from
the previous seven Dakar’s has really shone through
and I feel like I have a strong bike. I am really
excited for the race to begin properly.”
To see more images go to; http://tinyurl.com/2wx4g8t
The race coverage will be aired on British Eurosport
and the race starts on the 1st January
2011.
If you would like any of the images as high res please
for press purposes please email: llel@ThatCameraKid.com
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