Mark Miller

Dakar 2006

A Personal Message from Mark Miller

I have heard that there was huge enthusiasm for Dakar this year which really makes me happy. It has been a real priority for me to bring the Dakar to the living rooms of the USA and with the help of OLN and VW it looks like things are really going well for that cause. It takes great fans and people like you who support our efforts and I am very thankful and humbled that so many people are on board! I also want to extend Ryan Arciero special thanks for staying on top of the site while I was gone.

As for the race, most of you know exactly how it went, I think you all knew how I was doing during the race before I did, the internet is an amazing thing. But there were some special moments to tell you about and I heard some things that just were plain wrong about the race that I’ll tell you about also.

Let’s start with Portugal and the first 2 stages. Dirk and I had no pressure from anyone to pin it in those stages and we didn’t. We really just had a nice easy pace and tried to not make a single mistake that would cost us anything. I think we accomplished that and as we headed to Africa it was a cat and mouse game. I can’t say for sure but I think that the organization basically lets the bike guys enjoy 5 days so they feel like they are getting their moneys worth and then around the 6th or 7th stage they do something to make most of the amateurs quit or retire. This is tough for the top cars to deal with because with a 100 plus bikes that we are passing on those first days, in Africa, stage finishes can really be affected by simply the risk you want to take in the dust passing bikes. I think it bit us the hardest on the Third stage and Fifth stage. The third stage because 2 bike guys riding side by side for over 10 kilometers at literally half speed through a windy rocky valley with no where to pass probably was the difference between 1st and 7th for us. We were 1 meter from them for the whole time with the horn on but they can’t hear that and there was no place to pass without them pulling over, it sucked! The 5th stage we finished 2nd but here also we had a point in a silt bed where we literally had to stop for close to a minute, wait for the bike dust to clear so we could be sure that we weren’t running over any bike guys. I think its times like those that the bike guys should really appreciate the empathy I have for them, because I don’t think most car guys would do that, but I don’t want to be running these guys over so it makes for a tough situation. I am fighting for a win and they are just trying to survive the day so it’s not a good mix.

The fourth stage was a nail biter, the top 10 cars start with 2 minute intervals which is why it is really important to finish in the top 10 everyday, we started 7th after the biker fiasco of the day before but it wasn’t all bad, early in the stage Jutta was right in front of us, She had small technical issue which allowed for us to close up on her early in the stage, she had started 6 minutes in front of us and Jutta is fast so we knew something was up, and then we were trying to get by her and she had a puncture, which sucked for her but made it nice for Dirk and I not to have to fight her dust. As soon as we passed her we were going down this pretty knarly cliff-downhill-pass (don’t know how else to describe it), and could see in the valley below that Roma was all over the Hummer and about 20 seconds ahead of us. We joined that battle in about 2 miles and then settled patiently in the dust until we came to a passing zone, local knowledge, and Roma and I passed Robby at the same time on the same line. So we knew we were doing pretty well because Roma started 2 minutes in front of us and Robby had started 4 minutes in front of us. This was a super rough and rocky stage to this point so all was well, Dirk and I discussed passing Roma but decided to follow him for a while to mark him and to really see what the Mitsubishi had, plus there was the first set of dunes coming and then we could get a feel for how competitive we would be versus them in the later stages when we got to the real dunes. We came out of the dunes together and then realized we should have passed him when we could because the dust was really bad, anyway Roma missed an intersection in the road book and we followed him, so did all the other front guys but in the process everyone we had passed and a few others got by us, so we went from champ to chump…Basically then it was a VW parade, with all 5 of us in a row, and I was 4th in the parade, so at first we were trying to pass Giniel who was the 1st VW in front of us, but after a while it was obvious that we had to just get to the finish and live to fight another day. And that’s how the Dakar is, we could have won that stage but one wrong decision relegated us to 10th!

There was nothing special about the 6th stage; we were wide open, no lift, and full throttle for I am guessing 100 miles! And the second half of the stage was small dunes and my first taste of camel grass in the VW, I had to learn how much abuse the car could take and be ready for the first big day, stage 7.

We took out on stage 7 on fire, passed Giniel, Bruno, Chicerit, Both Buggies, (Magnaldi and Schlesser) and Carlos Sainz, we were the 4th car physically to the first checkpoint with Peterhansel, Alphand and Jutta, and no one else was within 20 minutes, and we were plus or minus winning the rally at some point 350 kilometers into the stage, the cool thing was it was really just a good race pace, no crazy stuff at all. The road book led us astray though and we made a decision to enter the last dune crossing at the wrong place which turned out to be the decision that cost us any chance of winning the rally. But in typical American fashion, and you all know America loves a record, while trying to find the right tracks in what I would say were EXTREME dunes, don’t try this at home type dunes, you would have to be nuts to think you could make it type dunes, we crashed not once but twice… just like the coyote and the roadrunner when he goes off the cliff, moment of silence, at least it was a soft landing. We were alone and off the main course so no one was able to assist us, I heard comments that Robby burned his clutch up helping us but it is not true, we were so far ahead of Robby we were unstuck and moving before he would have come by, Dirk and I had to literally dig a whole in the sand with our hands to roll the car into so it could get back on it’s wheels, then jack the car up and fill the whole we had just dug in so we could drive out of it and we were able to carry on, the second crash was quite nice, a 100 meter freefall into a front flip that landed on the wheels, and back on the America loves a record, we still finished 14th on the stage! But small consolation when you consider that from VW’s standpoint we were a chase car from there on out.

Stage 8 was all good, it was a tough stage but we pretty much cleaned it, we were stuck for a few minutes on the last dune of the last crossing, we tried to help Sainz early in the stage and we waited for Giniel at that last dune crossing and followed him for a while until he had a puncture, his car waived us on as we were near the end so we pinned it to the finish. It’s another stage we should have won but it wouldn’t have been cool to leave Giniel after the last dunes so we waited and followed him for long enough to cost us the win. We tied Peterhansel for second though so it’s not like we were on vacation….

We were now at the rest day and although things weren’t great for us, we had at least proved that we were as fast as anyone else and I had hoped to be able to pin it on stage 9 and work on getting back up to a podium position but the guys who run the team had a different idea for me so I was the relegated chase car and after that I have to say things weren’t to exciting. The next day we parked for 10 minutes 10 miles into the stage to wait for Giniel, then at the end of the stage had to sit with Jutta until she got her technical problems resolved and ended up losing close to an hour. Stage 10 was a battle to pass Bruno early in the stage then things were looking pretty good until Giniel was parked and we had to stop again and follow him to the finish, another top 2 given away. Stage 11 we went 100 meter, pulled over and stopped for 4 cars and 8 minutes so we could follow Giniel. We did pass Schlesser, Roma, Jutta when she was in the tree and Peterhansel but Carlos Sousa was a moving chicane and was impossible to get by at the end because the dust at the end of the stage was really thick.

Stage 12 we were stuck in horrible dust because of the stage 11 finish and just had a very average 5th place stage finish with the only excitement coming when we had to pass Sousa in a village because he wouldn’t pull over, some hand gestures were involved, but nothing to bad. It was the start of the marathon stage which meant I had to do the car maintenance that night in the bivouac; I can assure you my mechanics had a sleepless night on that thought! Stage 13 was a little exiting because Peterhansel had crashed the day before and we were now only 7 minutes out of 4th. With him starting in the rear we should have been able to make 7 minutes easily, which we were doing, actually we were 7 seconds behind Giniel on time and 3rd on the stage after 3 hours and then a right rear tie rod broke, freaky deal, never had a tire off the track all day, but it took us 30 minutes to repair and we lost the chance at 4th overall. Stage 14 we had another bad start position due to the tie rod issue, we started 14th, we had passed a BMW and then the protruck was flipped on it’s side so we stopped and pulled him back over, after that there wasn’t any reason to risk anything, it was the last real stage of the rally and we just cruised, at the finish though it got a little exciting when we realized that almost everyone got lost, and we were 3rd on the stage. Peterhansel ended up losing over 20 minutes on the stage but he was still 3 minutes ahead of us for 4th overall. So the American Mark Miller finished 5th overall in the 2006 Dakar Rally.

The last stage is a ceremonial run down the beach for 10 miles then through a sand stadium course lined with spectators and finishing on the banks of Lac Rose, the pink lake in Dakar. It is a great feeling to see everyone and it’s nice to do all the media stuff, pictures, interviews and of course salute the fans!

So once again it proved that the Dakar is never over until the last stage, anything can happen and no lead, whether 20 minutes or 2 hours, is enough to feel comfortable. There are many great things about Dakar; it is really a test unlike anything else. It is unpredictable, and just when you think it is settled it can get turned upside down. Patience is rewarded while Panic is punished. Dakar is difficult, and well, it is brutal. The truth is that it is brutally difficult, mentally and physically. It takes real maturity to accept the proper perspective of this rally and not to let your ego get in the way of winning. Lastly the Dakar is the single largest motorsport event in the world, so it is fitting that it should be the hardest to win.

VW is an amazing team, they did a great job and it was an honor and pleasure to work with and learn from these people. The level of commitment from every member of the team is amazing, and it raised my game for sure. The race Touareg rocks! It is a real race car and was a fantastic experience. Don’t forget a VW is the car that started the whole Baja experience, they make great cars and they are doing this whole program to prove that! I go to the Chicago Auto show next week, they have flown my race car in so I can present it and talk about Dakar at the show so if you are in Chicago come and check it out. I don’t know what the future will hold for me. It is hard to know in Carefree Arizona or Dolores Colorado what the guys in Hanover Germany want to do for 2007 and beyond. But I will hold onto one promise, that is; I will not go to Dakar unless I am on a team that is capable of winning. I made that promise to Dirk and myself after the 2004 Dakar. As soon as I know you will know and we can all get ready for what I hope is a great 2007 Dakar Rally!

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