Lisbon
29th - 30th December 2005
December 29th 2005 saw thousands of riders, drivers and fans descend on Lisbon, Portugal for the 28th Dakar Rallye.
For Team Touratech rider Nick Plumb, scrutineering went well with only one problem. Dakar riders are required to carry 3 litres of water on their bikes. On a tip off by one of the fellow Touratech modified BMW F650GS riding competitors (Matt Hall of the Race to Dakar team), whose almost identical bikes had just failed the scrutineering process, Nick was forced to make a call to his assistance crew to bring a camelpack and bottled water to make a quick modification to adhear to this rule. With a bit of resourcefulness and an equal amount of sweet-talking the officials Plumb cleared the scrutineering on the understanding that he would make some minor changes to fit the 3ltrs in.
After two long days of scrutineering the huge number of riders, drivers, navigators and assistance crew attended the riders briefing to be informed of the rules of the rally and of the changes for this year (including the removal of waypoints and directional arrow on the GPS) ready for the early start on the morning of the 31st.
Lisbon – Portimao
31st December 2005
The nerves started early for Plumb as he was given the start time of 6:58am (bikes started to leave at 6:30am). After a showboating entrance when Nick popped a small wheelie onto the start podium and a small interview over the PA system, Nick set off on the first 186km liaison stage on Portugal’s roads.
“The first road section was a huge boost for me” Said 28 year old Plumb “I rode a lot of the way with other British riders that had come to watch the Portuguese stage including a group of Scots that I met in Barcelona last year”
“It’s also great to see the thousands of locals that seemed to fill every bridge, fuel station and embankment all the way to the start of the special”
After the liaison Nicks 82km special stage started at 9:30am. The stage went well and saw Nick overtake several other riders with no problems from either rider or bike. Most of the stage was a mixture of wet muddy ground with several water crossings.
“Most of the stage was a mixture of wet muddy ground with several water crossings." said Plumb “There was a lot of rain on the way down so the tracks had got really slippery at points”
The final leg of the day saw the riders then complete a further 101km liaison stage to finish the day in Portimao on the Algarve.
“The day couldn’t have gone better” said an excited Nick at the end of the first day “I didn’t have the time to get the bike properly run in before we had to ship it to Lisbon so this first stage was really a testing session for the bike. I got my mechanic [Battersea BMW mechanic Bernie Wright] to give it the once over but everything seems to be fine and its ready for tomorrows stage"
Nick finished the stage in 65th place and was also the highest placed BMW rider. Fellow Touratech F650GS riding Race to Dakar members, Matt Hall, Charley Boorman and Simon Pavey finished 170th, 166th and 171st respectively.