On January 2, 2009 the beautiful megacity Buenos Aires experienced one of two peaks of the Spirit of Rally Dakar 2009. At 16:00 o’clock the podium at Buenos Aires Obelisk was opened and all participants of the Rally drove the few kilometers from the Exposition Center “Rural” to the Obelisk at Av. 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires Downtown to be presented officially as participant. We felt that something special would happen, but we had no idea about what would happen.

First you must know that Argentine people are crazy for motorsport. This has its roots in Manuel Fangio, five times World Champion of Formula 1 and Carlos Reuteman, two times World Champion of Formula 1. The TV, the newspapers, all talk about Rally Dakar. But the vacations just started and many people were on vacations and so officials estimated that there will not come too much people.

To have a good place near the Podium I started just after lunch and arrived at 13:30 (1:30 pm) at Obelisk. There were a lot of people. But finally I had a optimal place to observe and film all what will be happen.

We had to wait two hours. Then it started. After presenting some official personalities from the Argentine and Chilean Government some greetings were made to all over the world. The Argentine Air force was greeting with a flyover of Mirage aircrafts and then the waiting was over.

The participants were presented in four groups.

Quads

First the quad driver with their different models were presented and interviewed. In total 27 participants from 11 nations. A young boy on the shoulders of his father behind me was asking with audible voice what many of us were thinking: “They will arrive with that?” Some were laughing but we wished them the best.

Motorbikes

Then the first motorbikes were presented. 225 participants with their motorbikes. Start number 1 to 235. The line was enormous and it seemed that it never would end.

Cars

But finally we saw the first cars. This was another big group of 185 cars.

Every car with pilot and co pilot. My favorites were:

300 Stephane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret on Mitsubishi (FRA)
301 Carlos Sainz and Michel Perin on Volkswagen (ESP)
303 Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard on Mitsubishi (FRA)
305 Ginel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz on Volkswagen (ZAF/GER)
309 Robby Gordon and Andy Grider on Hummer (USA)
and
315 Orlando Terranova and Alain Guehinnec on BMW (ARG)

On this top favorites we had to wait once more some time. But it was amazing to hear and see them. As Robby Gordon was sent out, he first drove some meters back and we were asking: “What is that? Robby please go ahead and not back!” And then he came. He was accelerating very strong and his Hummer jumped down the Podium. Thanks God it was strong enough to support a heavy Hummer jumping on it.

Trucks

As the trucks arrived at 22:30 hours the people were  beside themselves with joy. The line was immense. Every truck was honking. The people were applauding and the battery of my digital camera was death. So I enjoyed the atmosphere. More than 400000 people came on the streets and to the Obelisk to celebrate the Podium of Rally Dakar 2009. And now the Spirit of Rally Dakar was not only upon this marvelous megacity, no with the quads, motorcycles, cars and trucks it was reaching the whole Nation.

Video

Finally we documented this marvelous afternoon and evening in a 10 minutes video.

We asked Mr. Dirk von Zitzewitz, the co-pilot of Giniel de Villiers in Car No. 305 on Jan. 1^st, 2009 the following question on his blog:

Dear Mr. Zitzewitz. I champ as you at the bit for the Rally Dakar 2009. Yesterday we visited the arrival of the cars in the Exposition Center “Rural” in Buenos Aires. We have some short questions for you: How did you prepare yourself for the extreme altitude? You as person and the VW Touareg. I travelled personally various times in the Atacama Desert in an altitude up to 5200 m (17060 ft) above sea level (without oxygen mask). I was able to work 50 m (56 yards) away from my pickup. And this Toyota Diesel could run only in the second gear with 40 km/h (25 mph). We would appreciated your answer and we wish you the best for the Rally Dakar 2009 and we hope to see your Touareg tomorrow at the Obelisk or on Jan. 9^th, 2009 at the Aconcagua in Mendoza, when you are heading to Chile.

Regards.

On Jan 2^nd, 2009 Mr. Siems answered in the name of Mr. von Zitzewitz:

We have tested the conditions of the Andes in a combine climatic-/altitude-chamber where we simulated temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure together with the airflow of the car regarding different speeds on an integrated dynamometer. During the tests we observed an innovative component of the 2.5 turbo-diesel engine (TDI) over several days. Here we developed an engine map of the mode of operation of the bi-turbo in different altitudes, to prevent an over-rewing of the turbo that may occur because of the rare air. During the rally a sensor permanently is measuring the actual altitude and the electronics of the engine controls the maximum speed of the sophisticated turbo system. We have simulated altitudes up to 4000 m (13123 ft) and basing on these test data we recalculated the engine map for more extreme conditions. Beside testing the stability of the motor we also optimized the power of the engine. Because of the extreme conditions in the Andes the engineers of Volkswagen are estimating a loss of power of more than 20 percent. (Source: Volkswagen Motorsport).

Due to the rally and vacations we send a last greeting on Feb. 14, 2009:

First we thank you for your explanation and send our congratulations for winning the Dakar 2009. This result demonstrated clearly that the car and the team were perfectly prepared. We checked this personally on the road from Uspallata [Village in Mendoza] to Chile, as your Volkswagen Touareg No. 305 was passing us in an altitude of 3000 m (9843 ft) with a speed of 90 km/h (55 mph) while our Toyota 2.8 liter diesel engine (technology similar to the 1.6 liter engine in the Volkswagen Golf II (Rabbit II) couldn’t speed up to more than 50 km/h (30 mph). We were thrilled by the Rally Dakar, especially by Volkswagen. We hope that we have a chance to meet you personally in 2010.

Many thanks.

Remark: Would be great to find this technology in the new Volkswagen pickup Amarok. It would be launched in the beginning of 2010.

Look here the Volkswagen Touareg Car No. 305 at the start on the Podium on Jan 1st, 2009 in Buenos Aires.

Our readers can read the original blog interview in its original language German under: http://zitzewitz.com/dakar/vor-der-dakar-2009-in-argentinien#comment-80711