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First of two parts
TO the
casual motorist, Stephane Peterhansel may be just
another ordinary Frenchman who drives a Mitsubishi
Outlander, with a preference for the Mitsubishi Pajero.
But to the hard-core enthusiast, he is one of the most
decorated drivers in motorsports history.
Peterhansel has won the grueling 10,000-km-plus Dakar
Rally off-road endurance race nine times, six times with
Yamaha (1991 to 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1998) and three
times with Mitsubishi (2004, 2005 and 2007). He is one
of only two men (the other being Hubert Auriol) to win
both the Dakar Rally’s automobile and motorcycle
categories.
Recently
the Frenchman gave local motoring media and mavens a
taste of what life is like in the Dakar Rally, when he
appeared at the Mitsubishi booth at the 2nd Philippine
International Motor Show, where this writer had a chat
with the man many consider to be “Mister Dakar.”
Please
give us a short summary of your racing history.
This is
my sixth year with Mitsubishi. Before Dakar, I was a
professional motorcycle enduro and motocross racer, all
with Yamaha. I was an 11-time French enduro champion. I
started when I was 13 years old and became a motorcycle
champion when I was 16.
I spent
10 years racing Dakar on a Yamaha bike, then I switched
to Nissan for three years on four wheels (one driving a
prototype, the next two were race-prepped cars), then
moved to Mitsubishi.
I wanted
to go to Mitsubishi after hanging up my helmet racing
bikes in Dakar. I actually called the Mitsubishi
Ralliart works team then, asking for a seat. They told
me that they were full (they had four drivers in their
lineup at that time), and they were willing to let me
come aboard only if I provided a lot of money. I didn’t
have a lot of money at that time, so I went to Nissan
for three years. After that (in 2004), Mitsubishi
invited me to join their team. Even when I was riding
bikes for Yamaha, my dream was to become a Mitsubishi
rally raid driver, since they had the best car that
fulfilled all the requirements for winning the Dakar
Rally.
How did
you take the news regarding last year’s Dakar Rally?
It was a
big shock to us in the team when Dakar ’07 was canceled.
When our bosses told us the news, I thought that was not
possible, that they were just joking. Every team also
was very surprised. We all wanted even just a five-day
rally raid in Morocco, but the organizers said that
wasn’t possible. Even some of the host African
countries—Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal, in
particular—weren’t happy that the race was cancelled
because they put up a lot of money to organize this. But
in the end, the teams lost nothing. No lives or
equipment lost, everybody was safe.
Will the
new South American race venue of Dakar affect you?
It’s
going to be a challenge with the new destination,
because we don’t know exactly what kind of race it will
be. But it will be very interesting, more wide open…I
really can’t say, I really don’t know. What I do know is
that there are less sand dunes in South America than in
Africa, and the course runs through what WRC uses for
Rally South America, so there will be more dirt roads
than sand roads. The roads in South America are cleaner
and have less road hazards than in Africa.
I have
competed in a rally raid race in Argentina—the Por Las
Pampas Rally. It was way different compared to racing in
Africa. In Africa you have a lot less grip, a lot more
off-road adventures. In the South America rally raids
it’s just like WRC. But I think the organizers will try
to keep the same spirit as the original Dakar
rallies—long stages, 10,000-plus kilometers, 15 days
long—and I don’t think it will be easy. They do keep the
safety of the racers and teams in mind, and I feel it
was a good decision to move the Dakar Rally to South
America. At least in Argentina it won’t be as dangerous.
We will
be starting in Buenos Aires, cross the Andes and get
back to Buenos Aires. It’s essentially a whole lap
around South America. It evens out the competition
because no one has complete familiarity with the course,
not even Carlos Sainz (who races for Volkswagen). It
will be the same for everybody.
Speaking
of Volkswagen, do you feel that there’s more competition
now?
I feel
that there’s more competition and they’re catching up.
Carlos Sainz and the Volkswagen team are fast. He may
have a tough time in the dunes, but on dirt roads with a
technical tinge he is very fast. BMW’s works team is
also competitive.
Did you
do some research on the South American roads before the
upcoming Dakar Rally?
I do try
to get some research on the different road conditions in
South America—such as the dunes and dirt roads—via
Google Earth to get an idea. For example, the dunes in
Africa are very different from those in South America.
But I’d like to make it clear that it’s not my job; it’s
the job of my codriver (Jean-Paul Cottret) to feed me
information about the road conditions and altitude.
Speaking of that, the altitude will also play a big part
in how a team fares. In Africa we were running at 1,000
to 1,200 meters. In South America, we will be going
through certain mountain stages in the Andes where the
altitude is 4,000-plus meters. Definitely it will be
necessary to do a lot of tests with the car,
particularly engine behavior and fuel delivery to the
engine at high altitude.
What
adjustments will Mitsubishi do with your car for Dakar
’08?
In the
next Dakar we will be using a completely new car, and
for the first time we will be using diesel technology. I
have already tested the car (I have been testing the new
car for four months already) and I’ll be in Morocco for
the next few weeks to do further testing. The car is
okay, but it’s a completely different drive thanks to
the new diesel engine. There’s not much difference when
it comes to the engine’s pace, probably 10 to 15 more
horsepower than the previous car. There’s more torque,
there’s more than 50-percent torque (40 to 65-plus Nm)
with the engine but we have to test it more for
durability since it’s a completely new engine. It’s the
first time that Mitsubishi has used a diesel Pajero for
Dakar. VW and BMW have used it already before us. We
hope to do 20,000 kilometers worth of testing on the new
car in Africa before the start of Dakar.
We even
had to cancel participation in some rallies and rally
raid races—like the Dubai Rally—so that we can focus
solely on testing the new car.
In your
opinion, what were the different hazards you experienced
in Dakar?
In
Morocco, for example, the roads have numerous and large
potholes that can swallow and destroy wheels and
suspensions.
In
Mauritania, there were a lot of security and
political-instability dangers, and we had to be
airlifted a lot out of certain stages for safety.
Aside
from the road hazards and safety issues, one big problem
during the previous Dakar Rallies was photojournalists.
Some of them just jump out in front of you just to take
a shot or lean out of the loaner vehicle in such a way
that oncoming vehicles (and there were a lot during the
previous Dakar rallies) could hit them.
Dakar
rallies total 10,000 kilometers traveled, 15 days, 500
kilometers per stage (transport and special stage) and
you’ll be spending five to seven hours in the car. But
we make sure that we always finish in the night. Each
kilometer feels longer during the night due to the sand
and bad visibility.
What’s
the difference between racing motorcycles and racing
four-wheelers in Dakar?
Bike
rally raids and auto rally raids require two different
driving styles. My first passion was motorcycles and
still motorcycles, but for Dakar I consider riding
highly dangerous. Even in my first year with Yamaha it
was already dangerous. I saw with my own eyes one of my
teammates crash out and break his back. And this was
after just three days in Africa. Every morning during
those times with Yamaha I’d be nervous. Of course, I’d
win and was happy about it, but I really couldn’t savor
the victories. It was enough just being alive and well.
I was never relaxed during that 10-year Dakar run on a
bike.
When I
switched to cars I felt more pleasure, primarily because
of the safety features (like roll cages). And I had a
codriver to share all the Dakar sights and sounds. On
bikes I couldn’t do that because I was alone and
frequently nervous during stages. If you make a mistake
in a bike, it could be your last. But if you make a
mistake in a car, you and your codriver wouldn’t feel a
thing.
But I
still do motorcycle rallies, since that is my passion. I
occasionally do motorcycle rallies in Europe.
To be continued |
