Dakar
Rally Painting
I did this motorcycle
painting of the great Dakar Rally rider Marc Coma for a friend of mine. The photo I worked from is from the 2110 Dakar Rally and is 30" x 36" acrylic on
unsatretched canvas.
For those of you
who don’t know, the
Dakar
is The Most Dangerous Race on Earth. In
Marc Coma’s
Dakar
race in 2015 he drew on his experience
for his fifth victory. This was in the
overall rankings. “I’m happy and proud,” Coma
said at the finish in Barradero, 90 miles north of
Buenos Aires. “As usual, it was a grueling
rally. We had to overcome a problem on the second day that slowed us down a bit
in the rankings. From that point, we had to change strategy a little and push
to recover that time. We knew the marathons would be key stages, and they were.
This fifth win says a lot about all of us.”
Coma had achieved, 5 wins, and 6 world championships. Coma said on his
Facebook page that he believed the time was right to retire. “I have to be
honest with myself and with all the people who have been supported me along
those years. To my sponsors and specially KTM, where I’ve always felt at home,
thank you.”
About the Dakar
Started by French motorcylist Thierry Sabine, the first
rally of 182 vehicles left Paris on Dec. 26,
1978 on a 6,000-mile journey to Dakar,
Senegal. The
race has been in South America since security
concerns forced the cancellation of the 2008 rally. Cars, trucks, quads and motorbikes in the
off-road endurance race scramble over rugged terrain in three South American
countries.
The
Dakar insanity is
a one-of-a-kind, approximately 9,000-kilometer rally loop-de-looping through
South America and it is not your average ramble in the country.
For 30 years in Africa and now in
South America
it has been considered the toughest motor vehicle race in the world. As proving
grounds for the manufacturers, approximately 45 percent do not finish the race
– which only proves you can roll them and fold them and light them on fire.
Vehicle parts fly and sometimes, so do the drivers.
How dangerous is the race? One
year a rider got lost on the route and three days later they brought him out in
a bag. Argentine quad driver
Marco
Patronelli said, "You
could be dying at the side of the road and they would pass by at top
speed." Although the vehicles do have rear-view mirrors the drivers/riders
do not look back. There is not much
financial rewards for the event with the winner receiving a few thousand euros.
I guess that is better than a trophy, and a kiss from a
Buenos
Aires beach bunny but it barely pays for the
physical therapy a driver/rider needs after finishing the race. The sport takes speed, endurance and keeping
your bottom-side down. There is no bunching behind the leader, no caution
flags, and no parade lap.
The Dakar
January 14, 2017
The 12-stage Dakar Rally traveled through
Paraguay,
Bolivia,
and
Argentina. Sam Sunderland became
Britain's first
Dakar Rally winner on as his lead of over 30 minutes in the bike category never
came under threat during the final stage.
