The Dakar 2019 Adventure Begins - Arrival & Shakedown

1/2-1/3 | Arrival and Setup

January 2nd, our Dakar 2019 adventure began with a 9 and a half hour flight from Los Angeles, CA to Lima, Peru. With a little wait for our luggage we were off to our hotel and our first late night as we got to our rooms at 3am. The next day Cody, Ray and Tucker went down to the port to retrieve the race vehicles and our M2. Meanwhile Casey and myself stayed back at the hotel and took in a little bit of Lima’s atmosphere. After a few hour wait down at the port the team got access to our team vehicles and started the transfer to the first bivouac.

We showed up to the bivouac where the team is cranking away at setting up the compound. Parts for the upcoming 10 days of racing fill pallet upon pallet. Bags consume the pits due to the nearly 75+ people on our team.

With our final shakedown of the vehicles tomorrow, the crew is in full swing to get the Can-Am’s pieced together and ready for the race. 

1/4 | Shakedown

The day started with the final decals going on to the Can-Am. After that the team was headed a hour south to a testing area. The trip was filled with some of the wildest traffic we’ve ever seen, you have to fight for every square inch of road.

A massive dune towered above our camp as the final bit of testing commenced. Other than a few small tweaks the car was perfect and ready for scrutineering.

Shakedown also was a time for press to get some pre-race interviews and action shots. Tomorrow will bring scrutineering, where the Can-Am’s will go through final tech to be approved for the race.