One of the most incredible aspects of the 2018 Dakar was the campaign of Lyndon Poskitt. The previous year he created a feature length film of his competition in the Malle Moto class, and his experience taught him that the media efforts of the Dakar organizers were seriously lacking. In Lyndon’s words, “If the Dakar Rally is so long, why is the TV coverage so short?” Stunningly, he set out to fix that by crowdsourcing funds to bring a full media crew with him and cover the race on a daily basis. The last episode has just released, so it’s the perfect opportunity for those of you that weren’t aware to catch the whole thing.
Malle Moto is the craziest class in Dakar – it’s a motorcycle class in which no outside assistance is allowed. There’s no support team, the riders have to do everything themselves. Lyndon calls it “The Forgotten Dakar.” After placing second in the class in 2017, he felt that the existing media coverage barely scratched the surface of what competitors went through, so he started a Kickstarter and people responded by giving him more than he requested.
The end result was an episode every day of Lyndon’s Dakar effort this year. Here’s Episode 1 to give you a preview:
The racing starts with Episode 5, which I’m sharing so you can see if you like the behind the scenes story:
If that appeals to you, go here to watch the entire playlist!
An interesting piece of feedback from Lyndon after he completed the race:
Folks, I just completed the official Dakar post race questionnaire and wanted to share my input. On the whole, this Dakar Rally 2018 was the hardest race I have ever done. The terrain was brutal and relentless, just how it should be! The organisation did a sterling job to keep everything rolling and keep everyone informed at all times. The only two points I was dissatisfied with are below and here are my words:
1) Your satisfaction with the FIM / officials and their decisions during the race.
For me the spirit of Malle Moto / originals was lost. The officials just change the rules or twist the rules to suit their moment or their desires within the race. Last year we were told that if a fork seal was to fail, in the spirit of Malle Moto the competitor must repair the fork themselves. This should be the same for engines. If a part of the engine has broken and can be replaced, the competitor should have the mechanical knowledge to repair the item himself. This year, they allowed Olivier to change his complete engine without repairing the damaged one. The engine only needed cylinder and piston as a result of not cleaning his radiator out on the marathon stage and thus overheating his engine. The category lost its way. Upon challenge, I was then told the rules are not clear. When I challenged what was made clear the previous year where items have to be repaired wherever possible, I was then told this year that it is OK to replace your forks with a new set from a different team, just like it is OK to change your engine (a completely different message to that given last year). This whole change in approach without any change to the regulations made a mockery of whole category. This is a big disappointment and something that needs to be resolved for future years. The officials cannot just change the rules from year to year to suit the outcome they want. Very sad to see this.
2) Your thoughts on the finish / podium celebrations.
I thought we had been robbed of one of the most special moments a Dakar finisher has, their time on the podium. I don’t even have a podium photograph to remember my Dakar 2018 finish, very disappointing. Also, the Dakar Rally speak so highly of the “Originals” being the true heroes of the Dakar but their category was excluded from the podium. So sad to see that the only people that got to go on the podium were those with tens of people supporting them, massive teams investing lots of money into the ASO to be part of the race. The only people worthy of podiums this year were those with support teams and air conditioned motor homes to sleep in, all the others were forgotten. Disappointing.
Finally, just for points of clarity as its been brought to my attention that this was discussed during the race:
a) I had a media vehicle and crew with me to do just that, make media. Before the race we discussed the operation of the team and they were informed that under no circumstances do they touch the bike or my tools or help me in any way. The only interaction they could make with me was to do with filming or cameras (fresh batteries and cards etc). They respected that throughout the race.
b) While I received my race forks before the race, the spare forks removed from the bike were given to Nomad racing (Emmanuel Braga) to carry for me and take back to Le Havre after the race and this save the cost of shipping them. They are still in his truck and on rest day in La Paz I cleaned and prepared my forks myself, the same ones I had on the bike for the entire race.
Finally, the day before the race started I noticed that the regulations stated that no Malle Moto competitor could have any association with any other team or crew in the race, not even media. Obviously I had paid tens of thousands of Euros to have my media team at the event and needed this to be explained. I was told it was a new change to the regulations. I managed to get an amendment to the regulations with the help of the ASO (who obviously had accepted my money to make the media) so I was able to continue with my program although it looks like it will be going back into the regulations for future years so we are unlikely to see another Malle Moto competitor with a media crew.
Just sharing my feelings and thoughts. Super happy with my performance and finish / results. For the record, Olivier Pain was a great competitor, a faster rider than me in a lot of terrain and he worked hard to stay in the race and get the win, nobody is questioning that. I enjoyed racing with him and sharing the experience.
Right, what next…..I have to go do some work. I have some engines to build, back to the workshop 🙂
Lyndon
This bike-uriousity brought to you by Glen I!