Dakar Ford Raptor Media Release 12
The Last Man (or Woman) Standing… Wins!!
Dakar Heads for Buenos Aires
By Chris Collard
January 15, 2011; Cordoba, Chile

There is a saying in the Dakar racing circles that goes like this; “To Finish is to Win!” Does it sound cliché? Maybe. But, if you’ve ever competed in the Dakar Rally, or any race for that matter, you know there is no checkered flag for those who don’t finish. It doesn’t matter how fast you went on day #1, or how many cars you passed in day #2, or how quickly your support crew repaired your car on day #3.  If you wreck the car or can’t complete on day #10, any hopes of a podium finish, or any finish, will elude the best intentions. Dakar is truly a game of survival of not the fastest, but the fittest. One where the attrition rate is high, and the stakes are higher. If you consider the 430 adrenalin-charged souls who began this marathon of abuse two weeks ago, checkered flags and un-corked bottles of Champaign swirling around in their heads, less than half will be starting tomorrow’s stage. Those who do, who have survived and are still standing, will be heading for the checkered flag in Buenos Aires tomorrow night.

Stage 12 - San Juan to Cordoba 678 kilometers

This would be another grueling stage for the Dakar Ford Raptor team of Darren Skilton and Sue Mead. The endless desert stages of the past week gave way to boulders, river crossings and mud. Unfortunately, the T4 trucks led out of the gate this morning, lending for refrigerator-sized ruts in the track. This caused many competitors time as they navigated tricky sections or became mired in mud. Skilton was at the wheel for the day, managing to get the Raptor safely through the 500+ kilometer Special.  

Rolling into the bivouac about 10:30 pm, Mead said as she peeled a sweaty helmet from her head, “ Darren, as always, did a masterful job of driving today. He’s a perfectionist; I don’t think we could have made it to this point without that approach… It was really rough in the beginning and I believe many teams may still be out there… including the other Ford Raptor team from Chile.”

Keeping the Raptor in Motion

It is a huge undertaking to prepare and race an Out-of-the-Box, OEM vehicle in the Dakar. It is even more impressive to finish. It is not by chance that the Dakar Ford Raptor and team are where they are now. For starters, they began with the best consumer-available platform, the Ford SVT F-150 Raptor. Second is the experience of Darren Skilton and his mechanic crew, Troy Johnson and Dan Moore. The logistics of prepping the vehicle, managing the crew, shipping support truck and spare parts, and sorting out details once on the ground, can only be accomplished by a someone with Skilton’s background as a race team manager.
As midnight rolled around, Skilton, Troy Johnson and Dan Moore were tearing into the front end of the Raptor to address a ‘clunking’ noise in the steering. Maintenance on the Raptor thus far has been nominal. Last night they inspected the rear ring & pinion and ARB air locker. Two nights ago they replaced one of the General Grabber tires which acquired a bubble in the sidewall due to heat issues. Other issues have been rocks in behind the brake backing plate and repairing a rock-damaged lower control arm mount.

Airing up and down numerous times each day the team utilizes two sources for air. The first is a Powertank, scuba-style, air tank system that is powerful enough for the team to run air tools if needed.  The Second is an ARB 12-volt, under-the-hood compressor. Redundancy of this type, as team technician Dan Moore stated,  “is vital for success in an event like the Dakar. “  Moore continued, “ Aspiration and engine lubricants are often overlooked. We change or clean the air filter every day. If there is a lot of silt, they may need to do it on the track, as the silt will just choke a motor. Racing is horribly demanding on the motor. It is running at high-rpm hour after hour. If our lubricants fail, we’re out of the race. In the motor, transmission and differentials we use Royal Purples oils exclusively. RP (Royal Purple) knows what racers need and we appreciate it.

Final Stage Tomorrow

Skilton and Mead cleared today’s gauntlet in 40th position for the day, landing them in 36th place of all autos, Class T1 or T2. Tomorrow’s stage, a total of 826 kilometers, will include a 180km Special which concludes in a short course style stadium finish. Sources say they are expecting several hundred thousand spectators in the arrival area (finish line). American Mark Miller is still holding 7th place overall, and motorcycle riders Quinn Cody and Jonah Street are holding onto 9th and 13th respectfully in their class. You can view real time Iritrack position updates at Dakar.com (vehicle 374) and follow the team at Facebook under Dakar Ford Raptor. Or, stay tuned here.
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Please see attachment and images, and contact the team’s media manager Chris Collard for additional information or to set up an interview.
Chris Collard
Media Manager – 2011 Dakar Ford Raptor Team
Adventure Architects Photography
PH: 001-916-952-3630
FX: 001-916-644-6380

Dakar Ford Raptor Media Release 11
January 13, 2011
Copiapo, Chile

Dakar Rally Crosses Andean Peaks a Second Time
By Chris Collard

January 13, 2011, San Juan, Argentina

The last forty-eight hours have continued the breakneck pace for competitors in the 2011 Dakar Rally. Beginning from Copiapo, Chile on January 10th, teams were once again directed into the barren and desolate waist lands of the Atacama Desert. Though the stages leading up to the rest day in Arica, and the two days in Copiapo, were beyond brutal to man, woman and machine, organizers have not eased the pressure or intensity. Dakar, as it seams, is all about selfless subjection to abuse, life in a perpetual sleep deprivation, sleeping in sweat-soaked clothes in a dirty sleeping bag the midst of a dusty noisy dirt lot turned 24-hour auto shop. If you are lucky, you have good set of earplugs.  It is the aforementioned qualities that levy such a high level of pride and accomplishment in completing what the world has come to know as Dakar.

Copiapo, Chile to Chilecito Argentina – 862km

Stage 10, from Copiapo, Chile to Chilecito, Argentina brought the total distance from the starting point in Buenos Aires to a staggering 7,328 kilometers. As the day turned to night, rough conditions of the stage resulted in additional culling of the remaining field. The leader board in the auto class has been shuffled in the past few days. Carlos Sainz, of Spain, who lead early in the week, now trails Al-Attiyah of Kuwait by almost two hours. De Villiers of South Africa, while our own Mark Miller slipped to sixth overall.

The Dakar Ford Raptor, driven by Sue Mead and Darren Skilton and the only remaining team in all of the OP classes, had a hard and close encounter with a large boulder yesterday. Mid-way through the Stage, they took a hard hit to the lower A-arm on the driver’s side. The A-arm was remained attached but the mount to the frame was torn open. Skilton contacted the support team that it would be a late night, as he and Mead would try to limp the Raptor into camp.  After sixteen hours behind the wheel, they rolled into the bivouac, and in an unbelievable 37th position in the auto class.  

Team mechanics Troy Johnson and Dan Moore immediately assessed the situation and went to work. At 2am, they had the front end of the Raptor disassembled, had straighten the bent A-arm mount, welded bracing where needed and were in re-assembling mode. It is not surprise these guys know how to ‘Get It’ when it comes to fixing things. Johnson owns The FabSchool, Dan Moore is his lead instructor, and they, along with their Fall 2010 class of students, were responsible for race-prepping the Raptor for Dakar.

Chilecito to San Juan, Argentina – 786km

The bright side about today’s section is that there are flies. Yes, flies are a good sign. It means that there is stuff for flies to eat. And that means there is water, vegetation and life… non of which are found in the Atacama.

Did I mention the attrition rate at Dakar is through the roof.  Of the 250+ T1 (autos) and T4(Semi trucks on steroids), only 101 would take a position in the starting line up this morning. Of the total 786km today, the Special, or dirt section, would be 622km.

While meeting with the crew last night, Dakar Ford Raptor team manager Darren Skilton said, “ I’m really happy to be here and that the truck is holding together. These past two days have been unbelievable, scary and very dangerous. It is just crazy out there. I was driving when we hit the slit beds. It was a mess. Cars went in, disappeared and never came out. I was driving and pulled quick Baja move. We took the far right side away from the dog pile found our own track. We could hear the engines and carnage in the cloud of slit. But we got around all of it and must have passed fifteen cars.” Skilton continued, “ That is the good news. The bad news is we hit that rock really hard, damaged the car, and I was really worried that we could put ourselves out the race. We got lucky this time… but we have to drive smart to finish this thing.”

Autos, bikes and trucks are filtering into the bivouac as this goes to print. Mead and Skilton have passed Check Point 2 and are on the Liaison portion (paved). At this point there are racing only against themselves. All other OP/1 and OP/2 are out of the race. If they can keep the Raptor together for three more days, they will land a podium finish for one of the only production vehicles in the race. Official postings last night showed the team in 37th position in the Auto Class
For Stage 12 tomorrow, organizers are changing it up a bit. At 0415 hours, the T4 trucks will lead the stage to Cordoba – followed by bikes and then autos. Today’s stage kicked up the ante to 8117 kilometers, and tomorrow will tack on another 700km.  You can view real time Iritrack position updates at Dakar.com and follow the team at Facebook under Dakar Ford Raptor. Or, stay tuned here.

Dakar Ford Raptor Media Release 10
January 10, 2011
Copiapo, Chile

Ford Raptor Team USA Leads SCORE Class at Dakar Rally
By Chris Collard

January 10, 2011, Copiapo, Chile:

Stage 8 of the 2011 Dakar Rally was a great day for the FabSchool-General Tire Ford Raptor Team. The Stage, which encompassed 776 kilometers, was the forth of five extremely difficult days of the rally. Beginning in the Chilean coastal town of Antofagasta, competitors again headed towards the unforgiving interior of the Atacama Desert. The first 268kilometers, the liaison or paved section, brought them to the base of the sand dunes near Pan de Azucar. From there they began another 500+ kilometers of dunes, hard-pack and loose rock.

If you have been following the progress of Team Raptor USA you know that Sue Mead and Darren Skilton have been practicing disciples of the “You have to finish to win” philosophy.  The duo has been maintaining a fast yet cautious pace; doing everything they can do to reduce navigation errors and the possibility of damaging the vehicle. Early frustrations of being passed by a number of cars each day have diminished as they have slowly climbed the leader board from 126th.

Their strategy is paying off.

Darren Skilton, co-driver and team manager for the Dakar Ford Raptor team, said this morning, “We lost a lot of vehicles in the past three days. It is very, very dangerous out there, especially when it gets dark. People are breaking, rolling, getting stuck… your can hear engines screaming as drivers try to push their vehicles to the limit.  We had a really rough time the other night. It was about 3a.m. we’d been trying to make our way to a waypoint and ran into a dozen other teams doing the same thing. The problem was that no one could get up a really steep and really loose dune. There was no moon and we could find no way around. We ended up sleeping for a while, when we awoke it was a mess. Cars everywhere, a T4 rolled over nearby. It was just crazy.”

During the past year, in the months preparing for this type of challenge, the team considered product selection very carefully. Dakar is a very expensive race to attend. If just one aspect is compromised or overlooked, it could mean the difference between winning, not finishing, breaking and going home on a tow strap, or worse.  Over the past four days in the Atacama, the team has passed dozens of cars with punctured or destroyed tires. While no tire is indestructible, and flats are often diver error, the team’s General Grabber tires have been bulletproof thus far. FabSchool, while preparing the Raptor’s roll cage and adding King Racing shocks, installed an ARB Air Locker in the rear axle. It has been an invaluable asset in providing 100% traction to the tires with the flip of one button on the dash.
In the dunes, the team is regularly reducing tire pressure to 18, 13 and even 7psi.  These low air pressures would not be attainable without the use of the Walker Evans beadlock racing wheels.

Because this type of competition subjects engine and drivetrain components to some of the harshest conditions know to internal combustion engines, oil selection was not taken lightly. Team Manager and co-driver Darren Skilton chose Royal Purple lubricants for the entire truck. Chief mechanic Troy Johnson said, “Racing is brutal on engines… and your motor oil is not the place to compromise quality.”

As of the start of competition earlier today, Stage 9, a mere 270 kilometers, the Dakar Ford Raptor team was in 51st position in the automotive class.  The track today is a loop run from the bivouac near Copiapo, into the Atacama and back to the bivouac. Though shorter than other stages thus far, today’s course will challenge teams with three major dune crossings.  At this point all vehicles in their class (SCORE Class), with the exception of Eliseo Salazar of Chile in a Robby Gordon HUMMER, have been eliminated from the race.

!!STOP THE PRESS!!  !!STOP THE PRESS!!

Word is just into the Dakar Village headquarters that Salazar in the Robby Gordon HUMMER have burn up a transmission in the sand dunes and are out of the race!!! This will put Sue Mead, America’s first female driver of record, and team mate Darren Skilton officially in first place for all SCORE Class vehicles.  If the team can keep the Raptor in tact and complete the next four days and Special Stages, this could mean a spot on the podium and a Dakar Class Championship.

With this news, several TV crews are gathering around the team’s MAN Support Truck for interviews with the team when they arrive. Sue and Darren have passed checkpoint two and the completion of day’s Stage. They should be on the paved road heading for the bivouac this very moment. We’re sure their spirits are through the roof at this time.

We’ll keep you posted with details as they arrive.  You can view real time Iritrack position updates at Dakar.com and follow the team at Facebook under Dakar Ford Raptor. Or, stay tuned here.

Dakar Ford Raptor Media Release 8
January 8, 2011
Arica, Chile

“Nothing About Dakar is Easy”

Following the Dakar Ford Raptor Team USA in the Toughest Race on the Planet
By Chris Collard

There must be a deeply rooted need for personal discomfort that drives one to participate in the Dakar. Nothing about it is easy; not for the support teams, the organizers the media. And God help the drivers and navigators.  It’s been a flat-out grind from the moment the green flag dropped in Buenos Aires. Scorching humidity in the Argentine lowlands near San Miguel de Tucuman kept everyone’s skin and clothing in a permanent state of sweat-soaked stickiness, and Torrential downpours in San Salvador de Jujuy sent rivers of muddy slurry through our tents. The day of Stage IV, the 2500 people involved with Dakar ascended the Andes to an ear-popping elevation of 16,000 feet in less than twenty-four hours, sending almost everyone for their meds kit for Tylenol, asprin or other remedy for high-altitude headaches.  

The Atacama Desert is akin to a visit to the moon. It is absolutely void of flora and fauna.  Not a damn thing lives there. Flies won’t even call it home. The view of the Chilean Pacific coast would have been a pleasant reprieve from the previous five days – but most competitors arrived in the coastal town of Iquique well into the night - many, not until sunrise of the following day.  The good news was they only had another 760 kilometers back through the Atacama desert before arriving in Arica, Chile, for a rest day.  As I said, “ Nothing about Dakar Rally is easy. “

Statistics for Stages so far are as follows.

• Buenos Aires to Victoria: 377km
• Victoria to Cordoba: 758km
• Cordoba to San Miguel de Tucuman: 740km
• Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy: 752km
• Jujuy to Calama: 761km
• Calama to Iquique, Chile: 459
• Iquique to Arica: 721km

Cumulative from Buenos Aires: 4,504km
Competitors Out Of The Competition
Motorcycles – 41
Autos – 37
T4 Trucks – 18

Today is the rest day, and if you made it this far it is a welcome and much needed reprieve. The past two days in the Atacama were beyond brutal and have thinned out the contingent fairly well. More than twenty-five percent of the completion was knocked out in Stages six and seven. America’s popular Robby Gordon lost a wheel bearing in Stage six, had to get towed three hundred kilometers into the bivouac. His late arrival disqualified him from the race.
Team Dakar Ford Raptor USA

For Sue Mead and Darren Skilton Stages 5 & 6 were forty-eight hours of hell. The Raptor was modified with competition-grade King Racing shocks for the harsh conditions of Dakar. Unfortunately, the right rear shock mount, though tough enough for 99% of what off-roading has to offer, gave it up in the Special Stage and broke. Skilton was at the wheel and after numerous attempts at a field-fix, needed to slow the pace considerably. Darkness came and the duo was out in the middle of the Atacama dunes with several dozen other ‘lost’ racers. Massive T4 semi-style trucks were rolled over, other cars were buried in the sand or broken, and the sound so screaming engines could be heard in the darkness.  They and about a dozen other teams hunkered down until dawn to continue.

Skilton piloted the Raptor into the bivouac within minutes of the witching hour. If they did not complete the stage within an hour of the there scheduled start time for the next day, they would have succumbed to the same fate as Gordon. As it was, team mechanics Troy Johnson and Dan Moore dug in with wrenches, grinders and welders and with only minutes to spare, they had the Raptor patched up and ready for the track.  Johnson said, “ That was just about the ugliest weld I’ve ever done.. and I’m a run a certified welding school. But were work with the tools that we have. It doesn’t look good but it will defiantly hold.”

The team endured another twenty-four hour day, not arriving at the Arica, Chile bivouac until 0630hrs this morning.  The support crew waited for the team at a course checkpoint at kilometer 450 until 2230hrs. Though it was only for moral support (support crews are not allowed to assist unless in the bivouac), Mead said this morning, “My lord, it was so uplifting to see you guys out there in the dark waiting for us. It made us feel like we were not alone out there.”
“To finish is to win in my opinion.” Mead said. “ This isn’t about just bringing home a trophy; this is about bringing the truck and the team across the finish line. Everyone has a roll, it we cross the finish line, we cross as a team. It is the guys who wait for hours and days just to fix the car if needed.  Everyone’s roll is unique, no one person can succeed in this type of race along. It is one of the things I love about racing, everyone putting their skills together, each bringing a valuable part of the puzzle to the table to see the whole picture. Only this type of collaboration can make it work. “

“I’ve prayed many nights in the past year that I would be here… last night my prayers were that we survive.” Mead, who turned sixty this year, has held the dream of racing the Dakar for more than a decade (when she ran with Skilton as navigator/co-driver), wanted to do something BIG for her 60th…  as they say, be carful that you wish for.

Sue took her place in the support trucks sleeping quarters while Skilton retreated to his roof-mounted ARB tent. They were out in about twenty-five milliseconds and enjoyed a long 4-hour sleep(long being a relative term to Dakar). The order of business on the rest day is more work. Troy and Dan replaced one of the General Grabber tires that had sustained a sidewall gash, drained and replaced engine and differential fluids with Royal Purple lubricants, checked welds, lights, suspension components and torqued nuts. Then cleaned the Raptor inside and out.

The bivouac on this day, unlike the five previous nights, was akin to a State Fair or carnival. The Chilean visitors bureau, Chilean Military and local vendors were on hand to add to the atmosphere.  Sue and Darren spent the afternoon doing radio interviews and photo shoots with the Raptor.
What is to come…

Skilton, a Dakar veteran who in almost no circumstance raises his voice above a contemplative directive, said, “The next three days will really be the test for us. We’re back in the dunes for part of tomorrow, which could be though, but the loop stage from Copiapo to Copiapo is going to be the real deal. There is no way we will reach the dunes in the daylight… so it will be another test of how well we can cope with navigating some really rough terrain at in the dark. There will probably be a lot of cars out there, a lot of carnage ”

Last check with the ASO officials showed Sue and Darren starting at 0630 and in 73rd position. Total distance will be 817 kilometers as they ascend the coastal mountains to the Atacama, heading south towards the Tocopilla and Antofagasta, tomorrow night’s bivouac. You can view real time Iritrack position updates at Dakar.com and follow the team at Facebook under Dakar Ford Raptor. Or, stay tuned here.

Dakar Ford Raptor Media Release 9
January 9, 2011
Antofagasta, Chile

Dakar Ford Raptor Team USA  Leads Class after Stage 7
By Chris Collard

The sun’s first rays spread across the protected harbor of Antofagasta, Chile, this morning as competitors prepared for the eighth leg of the 2011 Dakar Rally. After the rest day between stages six and seven, the field had been trimmed by more than twenty-five percent. With each leg of the race, a few more vehicles crash or break, a few more motorcycle riders go down with injuries, and another massive T4 truck is eliminated.

Leg seven, from Arica to Antofagasta, teams got back to the business of racing in heart of one of the harshest deserts on the planet, the Atacama. At 819 kilometers, this was the longest Stage of the race. But after loosing so many vehicles in leg six, organizers trimmed the Special Stage, or dirt section, by 250 kilometers. This reduction in the daily abuse was a welcome reprieve and most teams had completed the stage by 2200hrs. When the dust settled, Spanish driver Carlos Sainz remained overall leader, followed by Al-Attiyah of Quate and Stephan Peterhansel of France.

The big news on the American front is that of the eight U.S. teams, or riders, who rolled off the podium in Buenos Aires seven days ago, four are still in the competition. Mark Miller lost some ground today but remains in sixth place overall, in the automotive class two hours and thirteen minutes behind the leader. Motorcycle riders Quinn Cody and Jonah Street held on to 11th and 14th positions in the Moto Class.

Sue Mead and Darren Skilton, piloting the FabSchool-General Tire Ford Raptor, have been working their way up from a low of 126th position. Over the course of the past seven days of racing and 5300 kilometers, the duo has cut that number in half, starting in 51st position in the automotive class, and 1st in their specific vehicle class. The two have been sharing driving duties, swapping driving/navigator on alternate days. For Stage 7, the traded positions mid-day. Mead said, “ I felt really bad because I got us stuck on a sand ridge and it cost us time. Darren though, is such an amazing coach and teammate. He keeps his cool no matter what seems to be happening. His navigation is perfect, and as a driving, Darren has a constant awareness of his surroundings, knows how far he can push the car, and us. We got hi-centered again latter when Darren was driving.  He didn’t get upset or frustrated, he just got out and dealt with it. When it comes to racing, he is a true professional.

The two arrived at the bivouac around 2100hrs last night and were strapping into the Raptor at 0630 this morning. Today’s Stage will take the duo inland, back through the Atacama, and 776 kilometer to the south. When the sun sets on the Pacific the team will hopefully be at the nightly bivouac in the Chilean town of Copiapo.  You can view real time Iritrack position updates at Dakar.com and follow the team at Facebook under Dakar Ford Raptor. Or, stay tuned here.
Image:

Team Manager Darren Skilton and the crew relax a bit on the rest day in Arica, Chile. (right to left: Troy Johnson, Sue Mead, Dan Moore)
The FabSchool-General Tire Ford Raptor raised it’s game in the past five days, rising from 126th position to 51st position for the beginning f Stage 8
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Please see attachment and images, and contact the team’s media manager Chris Collard for additional information or to set up an interview.
Chris Collard
Media Manager – 2011 Dakar Ford Raptor Team
Adventure Architects Photography
PH: 001-916-952-3630
FX: 001-916-644-6380