The Racemakers1

7/30/2019 The Racemakers1

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Before the Dakar Rally, a reconnaissance team drives

the length of the course to compile the guidebook for

the drivers. Ahead of the 35th Dakar the fourth since itsmove from Africa to South America The Red Bulletin called

shotgun on this extraordinary exploratory expedition

Words: Christophe Couvrat Photography: Heinz Stephan Tesarek

TheRacemakers

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A C T I O N


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GPS co-ordinates,inch-perfect mileage, all

potential obstacles noted

with military precision.Nothing le to chance


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PERU

BOLIVIA

PACIFIC

OCEAN

LIMA

PISCO

NAZCA

ARICA

CALAMA

COPIAP

LA RIOJALA SERENA

SANTIAGODE CHILE

ARGENTINA

CHILE

SALTA

SANMIGUEL DETUCUMN

BRAZIL

AREQUIPA

CRDOBA

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3AtacamaDesert

FIAMBAL

Whats the plan?Jean-Pierre Fontenay (left) and

David Castera getting back to Dakar basics. Even in this era of GPS,in the high plains of South America, the two sometimes use a goodold-fashioned paper map to work out where they are

hen youre travelling

at speeds of around 130kph and conditions are more off-road

than on, the slightest bump in the road could be fatal. Yet

when dangerous-looking ground rapidly fills the windscreenof a 4x4 piloted by two veteran French motorsportsmen as

they map out the course for the Dakar Rally, theres no panic.

Jip, in the drivers seat, whispers across something to Jackyas he makes two swift pedal manoeuvres. Jacky makes a note

in the book in his lap. These two men know each other, and

the terrain, better than anyone.You might call Jean-Pierre Jip Fontenay and Jacky Dubois

an old couple, but dont let them hear you. Fontenay, a sprightly

55, has a sun-weathered face rich with wrinkles, but he still

has that same beady eye and cast-iron grip that has seen himcomplete 21 Dakars, including victory in 1998.

Alongside him is Jacky Dubois, an even sprightlier 63,

who has raced so many special stage kilometres, on the Dakarand elsewhere and everywhere, that he has lost count. When,

as is the case now, he is creating the road book for a rally which

each driver and, more particularly, his co-driver will use to

navigate through the race, he uses three different coloured felt-tip pens, which are kept on the dashboard just in front of him,

under a GPS device. In this car, a Toyota Hilux that the two

men refer to as The Toy, there is a brake pedal under his rightfoot. Sometimes its one, sometimes the other who stops the

car. But it is Dubois who notices the slightest changes in terrain.

Every bump, ditch, trench, rut, dip, stretch of water, patch of

water... It all gets noted down, hand-written in, drawn on. >

W

Fontenay has rackedup 21 Dakar rallies.

Dubois, sittingnext to him, has lost

count of how manyrallies he has been on

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4/5

Any bump,ditch, trench,water... It all

gets noted down,handwritten,drawn on

STEEP-SIDED ROADIn Argentina, Dakar 2013participants discoverstunning landscapes

such as here, justa few kilometres awayfrom the wine-growingarea of Cafayate, in thenorth of the country

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The Toy comes to a halt; it is Fontenay on the brakes thistime. Dubois is the judge investigating the road. The two men

come to an agreement on the DZ 30s 30kph danger zones,

a compulsory one for the book whenever the race course passesthrough a village and the PPs, which are main roads. At each

feature, GPS co-ordinates, distances from and to other features

on the course, and the level of difficulty and any potentialobstacles, are all noted down with pin-point accuracy. On paper,using the felt pens. Even if we provide a glossary in all languages

for foreign drivers, says Dubois, nothings as good as a drawing.

This is proof of the old one about experience and therebeing no substitute for it. David Castera, the Dakars sporting

director, would not have his road book made any other way.

Obviously, we have to come up with the best road bookpossible, says Castera. We enter the GPS co-ordinates into

the computer every evening. Sometimes were too tired, so it

all stays in Jackys notebooks and we take care of it later, either

when were on the plane or once were back in Paris [where theDakars organising company is based]. Let me tell you, we

definitely dont want to lose those notebooks.

During the rally itself, only a few top drivers will take thetime to conscientiously study the road book every evening

before drifting off to sleep. The others will either be up to

their elbows in muck fixing cars, or out for the count. But it is

unfamiliarity with the road book that causes more problemsthan anything else. Take the motorcyclists, says Castera, who

came in third on two wheels on the 1997 Dakar Rally. There

are 15 who are really fast, 15 who are fast and 200 who trundlealong at a regular pace because they havent read the book. >

Setting offon the rightfoot Thereconnaissancemissions arent allplain sailing. Theymight well provide

a chance to wave andchat to the locals(below right andopposite page), butthey can also holdsome nasty surprises.David Castera gotthe rear end of hisToyota stuck ina slippery, muddystream (top right).Fontenay and Duboistow him out with tworopes; one wasntenough. All partof a days work

The thermometer reads close

to 0C at an altitude of 4,850m.Back down in the valleys,its showing 38C

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