I'm sitting in the lobby of the Vila Gale hotel in Lisbon, Portugal. It’s 4:40am in Los Angeles and 12:40pm here.  At 1:30pm local time we will head over with the "Press Touaregs" to the tech inspection, an event aptly named  "scrutineering " conducted by the ASO sanctioning body that runs Dakar.

The Press Touaregs that we will be driving for the next 2 1/2-weeks (and 5,700 miles) are production European-spec  Touaregs with V-6 TDI diesel engines. They are converted into “Service Touaregs”  (basically chase trucks) by installing roll cages, Recaro seats, Fox Racing shocks, an 80 liter auxiliary fuel tank, two spare tires, an air compressor, and a cargo area where the rear passenger seat should be.  I’ll be driving truck number 922, which you may be able to track my progress during the race via www.dakar.com.

In an odd turn of events both Volkswagen and Mitsubishi (last year’s Dakar winner) are staying at this hotel, and it seems the two teams are more colleagues than competitors.  I am also impressed by how calm both teams are.  The race drivers and team managers are going over their logistics plans, but there are no frantic phone calls, no last minute crisis, and no talk about working on the cars at all. 

It’s unlike any other pre-race day I have ever seen first hand.  Volkswagen won’t comment on how many people it has here for the event, but my co-driver Sue Mead guessed  76 people, and that number was laughingly  rejected.  When I later suggested 100, even that number was deemed too low.

I’ll send more later today,

David