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The Racemakers
Before the Dakar Rally, a reconnaissance team drives the length of the course to compile the guidebook for the drivers. Ahead of the 35th Dakar the fourth since its move from Africa to South America The Red Bulletin called shotgun on this extraordinary exploratory expedition
Words: Christophe Couvrat Photography: Heinz Stephan Tesarek

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GPS co-ordinates, inch-perfect mileage, all potential obstacles noted with military precision. Nothing le to chance

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BRAZIL

PERU
LIMA PISCO NAZCA AREQUIPA 1 ARICA

BOLIVIA
2

hen youre travelling at speeds of around 130kph and conditions are more off-road than on, the slightest bump in the road could be fatal. Yet when dangerous-looking ground rapidly fills the windscreen of a 4x4 piloted by two veteran French motorsportsmen as they map out the course for the Dakar Rally, theres no panic. Jip, in the drivers seat, whispers across something to Jacky as he makes two swift pedal manoeuvres. Jacky makes a note in the book in his lap. These two men know each other, and the terrain, better than anyone. You might call Jean-Pierre Jip Fontenay and Jacky Dubois an old couple, but dont let them hear you. Fontenay, a sprightly 55, has a sun-weathered face rich with wrinkles, but he still has that same beady eye and cast-iron grip that has seen him complete 21 Dakars, including victory in 1998. Alongside him is Jacky Dubois, an even sprightlier 63, who has raced so many special stage kilometres, on the Dakar and elsewhere and everywhere, that he has lost count. When, as is the case now, he is creating the road book for a rally which each driver and, more particularly, his co-driver will use to navigate through the race, he uses three different coloured felttip pens, which are kept on the dashboard just in front of him, under a GPS device. In this car, a Toyota Hilux that the two men refer to as The Toy, there is a brake pedal under his right foot. Sometimes its one, sometimes the other who stops the car. But it is Dubois who notices the slightest changes in terrain. Every bump, ditch, trench, rut, dip, stretch of water, patch of water... It all gets noted down, hand-written in, drawn on. >

PACIFIC OCEAN

CALAMA

SALTA Atacama Desert 3 SAN MIGUEL DE TUCUMN

COPIAP FIAMBAL LA SERENA LA RIOJA CRDOBA

SANTIAGO DE CHILE

ARGENTINA CHILE

Jean-Pierre Fontenay (left) and David Castera getting back to Dakar basics. Even in this era of GPS, in the high plains of South America, the two sometimes use a good old-fashioned paper map to work out where they are

Whats the plan?

Fontenay has racked up 21 Dakar rallies. Dubois, sitting next to him, has lost count of how many rallies he has been on

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Any bump, ditch, trench, water... It all gets noted down, handwritten, drawn on
STEEP-SIDED ROAD In Argentina, Dakar 2013 participants discover stunning landscapes such as here, just a few kilometres away from the wine-growing area of Cafayate, in the north of the country

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The Toy comes to a halt; it is Fontenay on the brakes this time. Dubois is the judge investigating the road. The two men come to an agreement on the DZ 30s 30kph danger zones, a compulsory one for the book whenever the race course passes through a village and the PPs, which are main roads. At each feature, GPS co-ordinates, distances from and to other features on the course, and the level of difficulty and any potential obstacles, are all noted down with pin-point accuracy. On paper, using the felt pens. Even if we provide a glossary in all languages for foreign drivers, says Dubois, nothings as good as a drawing. This is proof of the old one about experience and there being no substitute for it. David Castera, the Dakars sporting director, would not have his road book made any other way. Obviously, we have to come up with the best road book possible, says Castera. We enter the GPS co-ordinates into the computer every evening. Sometimes were too tired, so it all stays in Jackys notebooks and we take care of it later, either when were on the plane or once were back in Paris [where the Dakars organising company is based]. Let me tell you, we definitely dont want to lose those notebooks. During the rally itself, only a few top drivers will take the time to conscientiously study the road book every evening before drifting off to sleep. The others will either be up to their elbows in muck fixing cars, or out for the count. But it is unfamiliarity with the road book that causes more problems than anything else. Take the motorcyclists, says Castera, who came in third on two wheels on the 1997 Dakar Rally. There are 15 who are really fast, 15 who are fast and 200 who trundle along at a regular pace because they havent read the book. >

reconnaissance missions arent all plain sailing. They might well provide a chance to wave and chat to the locals (below right and opposite page), but they can also hold some nasty surprises. David Castera got the rear end of his Toyota stuck in a slippery, muddy stream (top right). Fontenay and Dubois tow him out with two ropes; one wasnt enough. All part of a days work

Setting off on the right foot The

The thermometer reads close to 0C at an altitude of 4,850m. Back down in the valleys, its showing 38C

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