Rally Chaser

With the event over - and everyone has probably seen the results, with Jonah at 9th and David crashing out -we're tending to team stuff. Jonah would have been on the podium if he hadn't have nailed a couple of penalties. That's racing though; the penalties count. And Cyril! Running out of fuel 100 km from the special stage end? That's almost impossible. Was it sabotage?

Des and I are driving the truck to Nürmburg last night and crashing in a hotel. German hotels are SO CLEAN. Everything just so. The power to the room turns off when you remove your card key. Internet is cheap. Rossa sent me this little gag movie today, and nothing is funnier in Germany than Hitler jokes. Plus I am a GS rider.

It's good to hear a language I can pronounce on my own and often decipher. No complaints about Hungary, of course. I'll be less able to deal with French, as I usually am. This'll be my first time in France actually. But in Germany I can say please, thank you, good morning/day/evening and other things. I am less of a clueless traveler. More empowered.

So the bike has to go to Paris to some guy named Eric, for the Trans-Oriental Rally next month. At six thousand miles, much more of a Dakar than the CER. Then we're off to Calais to take a ferry to England, meeting Sid from Rally Pan Am, and maybe someone named Giles if we're in London soon enough to go out on the town. I'm connecting with my own friends in London as well, for a few days before going to Amsterdam to decompress for a couple of weeks. I'll probably try to mix them all together, since I enjoy that kind of social chemistry.

Quick breakfast, back on the autobahn. I'll have some six hours to tag and sort photos, though certainly I'll be quite distracted, between scenery and conversation.

Posted by Rocky Mullin at 06:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had a post half done with lots of stats and stuff but it seems to have been lost in the shuffle. I'll do what I can in the time I have - I've been shooting and working with the team and sleeping a few hours per night but that's about it - no time for photo processing or blogging. Our hotel, in Balatonfüred, is amazing in some ways but sucks in the most crucial way of all: no internet! None! So don't plan to be very productive if you hit the Hotel Anabella. To add to that mess, we're 30+ minutes away from the service park, and the press center closes at 9 PM. I would be happy as a clam working from my van outside, but theyturn off the internet at night. As if.

We're in the press center now and just got hushed for our reaction to the following clip, where Roby Gordon's car piles through a curve and nearly plows over an event organizer out on the course.

One might say that this kind of thing is part of what makes this sport so exciting. Things happen. They could happen to you. Hey, I got a ride in one of the race trucks on my first day here...

So, on to the big news for Team Rally Pan Am...

First of all, David's out. In fact, he's in the hospital. Took a big spill at the end of the last stage yesterday, the very end. Today's stages were pretty easy so it's a big bummer. He's OK, just tore out ligaments in his thumb or something. Not really any English speakers at the hospital, which was certainly disconcerting when they put him under general anesthesia to do the surgery. He was moving up in the standings quickly, having finally hit his stride. He's a great guy and we all wish him a quick and full recovery.

Niles is going to ride his bike back to Budapest, where a KTM dealer will arrange to get to the giant orange KTM mothership in Salzburg, Austria. Though I am on a bit of a schedule to get to London before meeting up with the gang in Amsterdam, i sure would have liked to see KTM.

Jonah is kicking holy ass. He was penalized an hour for problems outside of his control, so we'll see how that turns out. It seems that protesting the penalty has worked a little - they lopped off 20 minutes of it, quietly, yesterday. Looking at his times he'd be FOURTH overall without the penalty. Sure we're biased, but it seems pretty unfair. As of now he's sitting ninth among the 71 remaining riders in the motorcycle class. Even without penalties that's a great result, for most anyone. No offense to my spectacular community of friends and colleagues, but Jonah's probably the most focused individual I've ever worked with. Well, that I've ever met, actually. That's probably because I've never met a pro athlete climbing to the top of his or her game, like Jonah is. Then again, I've met a number of pro athletes this week...

I'm pondering a run to the Baja 500 at the end of May. That'll take some doing, with regards to time, schedule, and money. It seems like a good idea.

Also I'm looking to expand Rally Chaser, since I can't attend everything out there, not yet. Far from it. No one could, I reckon. I've been pondering bringing on others to blog rallies. Any of you out there going to attend something in the near future? I can set up your own section. Just drop an email to rocky at rallychaser dot com if you're interested.

Time to go do some Rally Pan Am work, so I'm outta here. I'll leave y'all with this spectacular sequence that happened a couple hundred meters (when in Rome!) from our camp in the service park. Sadly, I wasn't there to shoot it:

De Villiers goes flugtag.

Be well!

Posted by Rocky Mullin at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, here we are. I missed a day and I might try to catch up. Part of the problem was simply having too much work to do, and part was having shot 3000 pictures. I was out on a stage watching the cars, trucks and bikes go by. It's nearly 3 AM. Wake up is at 4 AM to do yet another liaison to special stage one, Veszprem, east and a wee bit south of Budapest.

As usual, there are some stories from the day, as well as a killer set of image pages culled from several hundred photos shot on the day. I took a lot at the start of special stage two as well as the liaison. Look for great shots of some of the stars, wheelies, and general good times. There will not be a test.

As you know, there are two kinds of stages: specials are races, and liaison are transporting everything to the next place to set up and race. Also as you know, timing for specials is synchronized, one racer every minute. Liaisons aren't timed for score, but each racer is given a set time at or before which they must arrive. Be late and you're penalized. The upshot of this is that we've been totally hauling ass. The whole crew is suddenly in the race. And as a driver of one of those vehicles, it's particularly exciting for me. It has a bit of the gumball flavor to it.

So, Jonah is in fifth overall! This is very big indeed. He is going to move up in this thing. I feel that his prowess at racing and his career are on the constant rise.

We had another border crossing today, but in a different location. We went back into Hungary from Romania. I shall miss Romania. The countryside in the mountains around Baia Mare are stunning, dotted with little villages. Like real little villages, that follow the river from the mountains (as does the road). And though the city center is kind of, well, bleak is how I put it, the people in it are stellar. Completely wonderful people, helpful cops, good prices for once. I am sad to see it go. But hats off, Romania, I'm impressed.

Anyway the crossing was jovial, had some people around to watch, and smooth. At one point another rider came through - doing the liaison on his bike. He did the passport thing and then wound up to throw a huge wheelie across the border. I got a shot of it, though not very good:

The Pan Am guys are really fun. We're missing Charlie in many ways, but still having a great time. Evan almost had an aneurysm tonight from laughing to damned hard. Fun, despite the hard work and exhaustion.

I have to wrap this up. One hour of sleep awaits....

Posted by Rocky Mullin at 02:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Baia Mare, Transylvania, Romania, is a pretty big town of 140,000 people or so. Romania has the same cool plastic money that Australia has. The language sounds kind of pretty and reminds me of Italian. The little houses in the country, as old and run down as some can get, are still really pretty. It's 2 AM and I have to be up at 4 again. I don't mind but I am finally getting loopy. But we're racing!!

Before I forget, here is today's photo gallery!

So today in Budapest was the big start. Then there was a 60k special stage which dumped out into service park one. Another, smaller stage and then we had a 400 km liaison. To keep David from having to ride it, we yanked the seats out of my rented van and shoved the KTM 690 Rally into it. David got some good rest. We had to be there by a certain time, though the time is picked so that everyone has enough to make it. It is possible to lose during a liaison though. And carrying a bike, how great! I was told in no uncertain terms that we had a bike and a rider to get someplace on time.

Jonah finished on the day in 8th! That's nine places from his start at 17th. David moved up as well but I can't remember where he's at.

The drive was really fun. Easily the longest road trip I've driven outside of the US. After the border the roads got horrible. For the first 50km, horse drawn vehicles were everywhere, and it was VERY rural. Not rural like Los Banos or something. Rural where people till the soil with animals. We'd see a family by the side of the road threshing or whatever that is. It wasn't for another 200 km that there were even more than wee villages to go through, and at that point we were in our destination. The border is a real border and really fascinating. Definitely intimidating. I've never really driven through a border before.

People line the streets to witness the spectacle that is the Dakar. Des would hit 'em with the Ford's massive train horns. This was endlessly amusing. There are other things about it too, I talked about it before. Just exciting to be a part of it. It's where I should be, though. I felt that way in WRC, in 2004 at the Finland rally.

The Ford goes like a mother but I kept up just fine. The event went well though there were crashes. Mark Miller rolled. The service park is amazing, right in the middle of downtown. Everything but the sidewalk is closed to non-credentialed rally participants. Even late on a Sunday night, people walk up and down watching the teams. I've done it as a spectator as well. It's way, way better on the other side of the plastic tape. I'm using the van a bit to shuttle our folks around, too. I'm NOT sleeping in it as planned, instead using extra team rooms. Miro and Evan are in the room with me, Miro being rad and taking the floor. He's a fantastic co-pilot for a road trip; we had a ball today.

More tomorrow, I promise.

Posted by Rocky Mullin at 01:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, I saw the sun rise. It was beautiful, and it's only now (fifteen hours later) that I'm finally tired. But I'm really, really tired. Today had some sustained excitement. I'm going to have to run it down kind of quickly. I'll first mention that I put a lot of detail into captions in the gallery pages so make sure to check 'em!

Tonight is the big press conference. I have a press pass and an assistance/team pass, so I could go. It's a big to-do, with in-ear translations like at the UN. I'd love to go, but then I'd die. Kinda feel like I'm failing at my job a bit, but c'est la vie. I've got to DRIVE tomorrow.

Breakfast was at 7. The food here doesn't suit me at all. I don't eat meat (except fish) and don't like cheese. One of the big items here is grilled goose liver with red onion jelly. Seriously.

After that the Rally Pan Am team went out for a photo. A little clowning around and really laid back, but I got the impression that it's always done and to me that is a ritual. Rituals are good things, especially for teams. I was even in one of 'em, and that was nice.

Then I had to do some chores, before going to register my van as an assistance vehicle. To the mall, to get SIM cards. I hate to say it, but the European phone system sucks. Just dialing is confusing. There is no standard layout for numbers. You can't do certain things unless you are a local. The only good thing is that you can top off your prepaid at a certain bank's ATMs. The totally awesome James Home loaned me an unlocked RAZR. I also got an iPhone for Shawna, unlocked it, and needed a SIM. I bought them and then put them in. The RAZR one didn't work. Back home if that had happened I'd have been SOL and that would have been it. The fantastic and infinitely patient Attila Hosslu at the local Vodafone (Aréna Plaza) sorta walked away and came back with an old janky phone that worked and just gave it to me. Never would have happened at home. It was fantastic.

Leaving the mall i decided on a cab from the train station, and the cabbie tried to charge me 4000 HUF flat rate to take me two kilometers. That's $25. Even with the greenbhat being so lousy that was a scam. I told him to pound sand and hoofed it instead. Still, I was upbeat.

Registration and scrutineering was at the stadium, so I thought. That was actually where parking was. I was walking and didn't know how far I'd have to go, which turned out to be like three miles. I'd noticed one of the trucks parked and once it started rolling I put out my thumb. He stopped! It was Brazilian driver Andre De Azevedo, who placed fifth last year. He's been running the Dakar for 20 years and his best result has been second place. The Tatra is massive and I slipped trying to climb up the slick wheel hub and nearly took a faceplant. It was ugly, but I scrambled in, introduced myself, and took a bunch of photos and a video interview. I hope to find the time to process it. Anyway like any Brazilian, this guy is superbacana, totally happy, and really friendly. We were rolling down the street in this huge 1200 HP Petrobras/Lubrax truck that I've seen flinging across the desert on TV. This ain't NASCAR. We went right into scrutineering but I could have passengered in that thing all day long. I adore the Dakar trucks. There are more pictures and details in today's photo gallery. He'd met Charlie that day and my affiliation really helped get the conversation going. There are throngs of people all over the place for the event and I really was a visible part of it for that ride and it was just as cool as could be. Rally is easily the most up close and personal professional sport I can think of, even as a spectator who knows no one, as it was when I went to the WRC rally in Finland in 2004.

At registration I met Alexia, a French Dakar vet and her assistant Nickie, a local. Very cool chick and probably someone I'll run into on another Dakar event. Along the way one of the longtime Dakar honchos, Pierre Kistler, took a turn at wearing my leather cowboy hat. I tell ya, it helps in these situations to be noticeable. Alexia gave it a try, too.

After all this the Rally Pan Am guys did their scrutineering. It all went off without a hitch, as far as I could make it. Then the riders did a tiny 8 km special stage, just a ride around the city to get the public what they want and expand the presence of the Dakar here. We met them in parc firme afterward. Racing has lots of rules. In the Dakar, once you're in parc firme you can't even touch your vehicle. I think there are time limits about how much you can do before you have to be in there, too.

We all grabbed some food and found that we were seven people trying to go a few miles in the team's big Ford. If it wasn't full of roll bars and racing seats and equipment in the double-cab we could do it. To solve the problem, Niles, Charlie and I sat on the roof among the tires and rolled up, then back down, the festive streets of Budapest. People cheered, stared, took pictures, or various combinations thereof. Niles had 'em fire up the compressor for the three-trumpeted TRAIN HORNS on the front of the thing and that was amusing. No photos, but I did video. It was a total hoot.

Tomorrow - 7 AM the bikes start followed by cars and trucks. At a minute apart, the start should take a few hours. Tomorrow's stage is 60 km (I think) with like a 200 km liaison stage (just driving, not racing, on non-closed roads) before the event is suddenly set up somewhere else. We've yanked the seats out of my rental van and I'll be transporting one of the bikes, to save its rider from 200 km of rain and Hungarian driving. I probably have an hour of HTML foolery to make the gallery pages work right and have navigation. Look for more from me tomorrow night. Turns out there are extra rooms for the team (well, bed spaces) so I'm probably not going to be doing any camping or sleeping in the van. Kinda cool though I am totally prepped to sleep outside, in weather. Hmm, I have to pack, too... and I really should follow through on photocopying the road book since ASO ran out and we all need one (its the route, etc.).

Call time tomorrow is 6:30 AM. As it turns out, I'm transporting David's bike in my van. Rally isn't just about racing during the specials. Even in the liaison stages, the racer has to be at certain place at certain times, not too early, and not too late. When the bike is in my van, I'm in the race. 240 km or so and a stop for gas could mean we're cutting it close or even a time penalty. The times are of course calculated so that you need not break any road rules, and you can be penalized for doing that as well. Anyway, that's a preview for tomorrow. Should be fun.

Posted by Rocky Mullin at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's nearly 5 AM. My flight from Dublin was late, the Aer Lingus board said two hours. OK, I thought, I can deal. I went to a bar thing with a hotspot and logged in. Got chatting with some lads. They knew I was going to Budapest. In the middle of a conversation about Iggy Pop, one looked up in that I-just-heard-the-PA motion and said "Budapest, isn't that you? Last call." I flung my MacBook closed and hauled ass outta there, hearing my name announced on the PA. Jesus.

It turned out that a plane came in so they moved the departure time up. I guess they do that. Now I know. Anyway, I made the flight.

SNAFU with the rental car but AutoEurope and Europcar totally fixed it. Kinga at the counter is a total cutie. I drove off in the passenger van, hoping I can call tomorrow to get a cargo van because Rally Pan Am wants me to haul a bike during a liaison stage. Ain't that a kicker?

I drove off with my printed map. Got about 20 km and realized that a printed map wasn't going to do me jack the moment I got off track. I have a Garmin 60CSx and a dash mount, but the one time I used it for on the fly turn by turn navigation, going to a wedding in Texas in the rain (it actually snowed later, in April!) we found ourselves on backroads, then water crossings. So I didn't want to risk it. I returned to rent the Garmin Nuvi GPS and flirt more with Kinga. Ten euro per day, sheesh, which is a LOT considering that the greenback has become the greenbhat. Better to mount them BOTH in the van and see if my 60CSx performs as it should.

I got to the Hotel Stadion without missing a turn, at about 11:30 PM. Clearly I was in the right place as the front of the hotel and the vacant lot across the street were both filled with Dakar vehicles, including the Rally Pan Am Ford XLT Super Duty that I have seen in San Francisco before.

I parked the VW van, a nice diesel affair, and went in to check in. The lobby and adjacent bar was filled with foreign teams, chatting, smoking and drinking. I guess the Rally Pan Am fellers have more sense than to be out carousing until midnight, though tomorrow isn't a race day.

Charlie (RPA head honcho) had set me up with a room with another team member, which is super awesome of him, but I knew I would be up late shooting, dealing with unpacking all my crap that was packed just to get it all here rather than in the right bag (the photography bag, the backpack, etc) for following the event. Also I snore like mad, though I have a CPAP machine coming which will fix that. Coming when I get back to San Francisco.

Anyway tomorrow (well, today, in two hours) we meet for breakfast in the lobby at 7 AM, then a team photo. My van gets scrutineered with the rest of the team vehicles at 1PM. Enough time to get a cargo van, to prevent me from having to remove the seats of the VW and strap them to the roof of the Ford n order to move one of the bikes during a liaison stage. Which I'll do, because being involved like that is a complete kick in the pants. I wish Sid was around, though.

As you can see, gentle reader, I stopped outside to shoot some vehicles. Then back to the room to "develop" them and sort them. Then hours of hacking on the HTML that Aperture spits out to get the bloody ads in there - never mind the navigation. Oh hell, maybe I'll hack the navigation and just stay up. I took some breaks to sort the room, sort of plan the pack and the bags for tomorrow. Talked to my pal Ilan, who lives here now. Hopefully we'll go get some dinner. He wants to take me to some rave at one of the many amazing mineral baths here but I have a feeling I'm going to want to sleep tomorrow. Especially with the event following that, and me needing to pack. At least nothing needs to be compressed to a fine, 30 kg paste in my bags, as I'll be moving into the VW and living out of it with Miro for for about four days of racing.

I also talked to Shauna, and did a little brain dump. She just got word of having been awarded a fellowship for the 2008 Banff World Television Festival. The girl is charmed, but that can't be all there is to it. Tomorrow I imagine we'll even meet in person. I'll also meet my van passenger for the trip, cameraman Miro. Shawna hooked up with a "TOP photographer" who would love to drive around the city with us today for some photo ops. Sounds like a plan. Having owned a DSLR camera for six days now - and never an SLR or DSLR before then - I can use all the osmosis I can get. I wonder if I'll even turn the video camera on.

I'm on the 8th floor. The birds are chirping and there is the tiniest stripe of orange on the horizon. I guess my room faces west. So I'm looking home, wondering about what the day will bring.

Posted by Rocky Mullin at 04:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Expanding on the previous in-the-airport post. This should
introduce the blog, the project, the hack. As I arrive on
the scene, and as the race starts, these posts will be heavier
on the newsy-sportsy coverage even though some of the funk
will remain of course. I seek news, images, sounds and stories
with a flavor of pleasing distinction. Also, I haven't slept more
than two hours in the last day and a half, so please forgive
sentences like that previous one.

Quick shout out to Aer Lingus *again*. Power ports at every
seat on this A330. And not one of those 12v ones either, I've
got A/C. Perhaps I won't sleep on this flight after all...
I'm such a sucker for a window seat. A *Recaro* window seat!
The flight is maybe 20%
full. I've got a window with a vacant seat next to me, but
the center rows of four seats had no people in them. I grabbed
one thinking I'd sleep but I just can't bear to be away from
the windows on planes. I love the view. As I type I have
the loveliest view of Pyramid Lake, Black Rock, and Winnemucca
piggelties it's wiggly up ahead of us.

Actually I have kind of a lot to do. I have had a lot to do for
weeks now, with this project, watching it snowball. One really
big awesome snowball. Logistics are something I enjoy. And gear.
The pack I have taken with me is the fourth I bought; the rest
have been returned. Each little piece in its place. Then I get
the van in Budapest and I'll simply move into it. My mom will be
pleased that I have the little purple bag she gave me for Xmas
in the eat next to me as well as all the übergear. The maps
of Africa won't be too handy, though, but it was the nicest thought.

When this goes onto the site I will already have landed in Dublin.
I have a 24 hour layover, which is just perfect for visiting an
old housemate Brian Keegan and his wife Helen. She's Rossa's
cousin, and I should be meeting more of their family there.

The Plans on the Ground

Budapest I reckon to be 36 hours away. I'm in the same hotel
with the Rally Pan Am guys at the start and finish. The van is
to be scrutineered (but really, wouldn't we just chase the root word
back down and call it 'scrutinized' in that tense?) as a support
vehicle. In case you're new to this sort of thing, Rally Pan Am
is a race team. They were set to do the 2008 Lisbon-Dakar in
January - they were in Lisbon - and the event was canceled until
further notice due to, we're told, increasing violence against tourists
in Mauritania. Like the day before the event. Teams were
there, most of everyone's budget was long ago spent on fielding the
team and getting there. Same with spectators and the press. I
had to pull out of the trip at the last minute, otherwise I'd have
been in it a ton of cash that wouldn't have come back.

This shorter make-up event is the kickoff of a Dakar series.
This is the event I'll be following.

Who the hell is Shawna, anyway?

The Canadian Film Girl is hard to pin down. We've only
met this last month, and only on the phone and email, her at the
head of nearly a year and a half of prep
for her film project, once aborted, then merely postponed, back in
January. Her story is captivatingly frantic. As such, I'm not exactly
sure I even fully understand it. In short though, she got more or less
the same wild hair that I did, about a year earlier. She's met a lot
of fascinating people from the North American rally-raid scene.
All five of them. Just kidding, LOL, etc. I'll have to check my
paperwork but there may be only five North American teams racing in
all three classes at this event. Likely in only two since the trucks
raced on the Dakar aren't all that popular with the North American.
I don't even think you can get the stuff they race (the likes of Kamaz,
Tatra, and DAF.) in North America, though Unimogs would be the exception.
But they're rare back home. Anyway. Shawna turned up on everyone's
radar and is having a BLAST. I jumped on as a production assistant
for things I can help with and one of her camera people, Miro, is
rolling in the van with me. His task is to shoot the starts of each stage, so expect
plenty . Then we're rolling along the route, or to spectator spots, to shoot more.

There are more players - many more. I'll get y'all brought up to speed on them
as soon as I can. Right now, I'm about to pass out. I like it.

Posted by Rocky Mullin at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, I'm in SFO! Good stuff. Aer Lingus to Dublin, 24 hour layover, then on to Budapest to get the giant Ford Transit rental van. Meet up with Miro, my travel partner. He's shooting for Shawn's project. We'll get all the starts, for sure.

Too bad I'll miss the Volkswagen rollout, Mark Miller et all.

Ok, boarding begins!

Posted by Rocky Mullin at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My flight leaves in a week. It's been quite a journey, planning the trip to Africa only to have the event cancelled. Political discussions followed as family & friends heard the news that the Africa event was cancelled until further notice. I'm saddened by the missed opportunity to cross northwest Africa, but excited for the South America event scheduled for January 2009. It's a new event for everyone, and out of that kind of chaos comes good stories.

Before the rally was cancelled, I attended a kickoff party for Team Rally Pan America at the historic San Francisco Motorcycle Club clubhouse on Folsom Street, just blocks from my home. The team was there with news and goodies, and I even won a slick Motion Pro chest protector in the fundraiser raffle. People had come from as far away as Seattle to wish the team well. After some beer, munchies and lots of gawking at the team's race-prepped KTM 690 Rally, RPA's Charlie Rauseo spoke about the team. Team rider Jonah Street also took the stage and answered questions from the crowd. There are a tremendous number of fans of rally-raid in North America and nearly no coverage of the sport in which we can keep informed. The Rallychaser project intends to help fill this void.

The wrenched guts that the cancellation wrought have been turned to giddy excitement for all of us participants. Butterflies too, as no one, not even organizers ASO, know exactly what to expect. Us newbies are on equal footing with the Dakar veterans. Not only that, but I get to be there at the start of something. The first one.

I've signed on to do production assistant duties for filmmaker Shawna Cox. She's been working a million angles for over a year to get in with teams and ASO and finds herself in an incredible position with both, as well as media outlets who want to leverage her talents and charisma. This is a tremendous opportunity for me as well as bringing some much needed assistance to Shawna. The door is opening, too, to the familial world of racers, teams, media, and other participants. A couple of hours with the film "Dust to Glory" can give anyone a glimpse into this world, where we're all linked by our passion for the experience, and the way we do things not only because we can, but because we must.
I look forward to a week of gearing up and readying the site for the trip. Many thanks to James Home, Sonic, and Benjy Feen for their invaluable assistance, and of course my wife Leah: without her unyielding support none of this would be possible for me.

Check out the image gallery for shots of the event at SFMC.

Posted by sonic at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)