GHR Honda ready for the Safari

The 2011 Safari ceremonial start is less than a day now and the last of the GHR Honda team arrived in Perth yesterday. Most of the heavy equipment and rolling workshop was driven over by road earlier in the week.

The 2011 Australasian Safari GHR Honda entrants include:
Jacob Smith – Condobolin, NSW
Todd Smith – Condobolin, NSW
Charlie Ball – Katanning, Perth, WA
Stuart Bowen – Valley Heights, NSW
David Geeves – Condobolin, NSW
Glen Grundy – Witbank, South Africa
Don Lark – Condobolin, NSW

While originally listed to start the event, Brett Cummings has withdrawn from event due to injury. He has still travelled from his home town in Witbank, South Africa, to accompany his compatriot Glen Grundy.

Preparations have been running smoothly, but sadly team owner and manager Glenn Hoffmann had to return to the east coast due to personal circumstances only three hours after landing in Perth. It’s hoped that he will be able to rejoin the team at some point.

Yesterday all riders did rode shake-down sessions to finalise jetting and suspension settings. The bikes have been cleaned and final preparations performed. At 3pm this afternoon, the riders and bikes will proceed to scrutineering. Thursday September 22 will see the ceremonial start open the event and the prologue on Friday September 23 will determine the start order for the first stage of the Safari the following day.

There has been plenty going on behind the scenes at GHR since returning from Dakar in January this year. Most recently, GHR riders Jacob and Todd Smith secured first and second places respectively in the Yellow Mountain Cross Country held in August, near their home town of Condobolin. It was a reassuring result in a year that has so far been dappled with some tough luck and a range of issues to do with fuel supply. GHR have been keenly focussed on development and infrastructure. Amongst the works are larger CRF450R front tanks, for events such as the Finke, as well as new front tanks for the CRF450X Dakar and Safari bikes. Another interesting development is the emerging interest in the 700XX Honda quad, and there are firm plans to enter clients on these quads for the 2013 Dakar.

Speaking of Dakar, the decision was made earlier this year not to enter the 2012 race in order to allow more thorough development for entry in 2013. The 2011 Dakar was always considered to be the start of a three year project for GHR. While the temptation was there to race in 2012, the experiences this year pointed towards the need for significant changes before the next campaign. Consequently, the venerable GHR MAN truck garaged in Europe has been sold. It was a massive decision to part with the grey MAN, but there is some comfort in knowing it’s still amongst friends with Geoffrey Olholm and of the Coconut Car Racing Team buying it for their next Dakar campaign.

The lack of Australian compliance was always going to make it tricky to bring the MAN back to Australia for domestic use. A new support truck will be designed and built locally on a large four wheel drive platform, partly to facilitate easier contact with the construction, but also to allow it to be used domestically. It will be used in Hattah, Finke, Condo and Safari next year. It will then be repacked and sent to Dakar. The design will be substantially bigger than the MAN, and organised in such a way that precludes the need to ship a separate shipping container overseas as was the situation for 2011. The body will incorporate insulated, dust proof sleeping and bathroom facilities to offer the riders some quiet recovery space after a long day in the saddle. To accompany the truck, there is also the idea to build a rugged car to be entered into the race carrying registered parts that will be made available to other entrants as part of a support package.