Demetrio, Celio, Jean and myself are heading home after 20 very intense days in South America. Many emotions, more reparation, wonderful impressions, very little sleep and many new friends are the things we will bring home. Yesterday evening we went out for a quiet evening in a restaurant in Buenos Aires. Celio and Demetrio mentioned to me that their first experience as a Loctite Charlie gave them a new insight about our brands Loctite, Pattex and Teroson and they were very impressed about this. So many were the competitors coming back to the Charlies with great gratitute, for the support we gave, for how well our products work. This is a fantastic feeling if you know that all the work you put in developing products is actually valued by top racing teams, who often say to us:”Without your help, my bike would have never been able to end the Race” or “We just love your hand-cleaner, it’s the best in the World!“I come from the research area, and I just love knowing that mechanics in fact really love the stuff we develop and it’s recognized as the best! Great Job R&D!
As the responsible for the communication material what I bring home besides many images and testimonials, is difficult to describe. The Rally Dakar leaves deep marks in everybody’s memory. You hate it after 15 days, you could not properly shower, sleep, eat, and you are really looking forward to go home and have a bath, but as soon as it ends, you start thinking and planning on the next one, because in fact you love it. Day by day one is confronted with new unexpected situations and everyone, not only the pilots, is put in situation at the limit.
For our brands the Rally Dakar represents the ultimate application. We, the Loctite Charlies once more could witness how important and valued the presence of Henkel’s brands is at extreme racing events.
When Julio Ano (#118) came to us with a little magnet in his hand, we were closing down the stand and could only give him the product for fixing it without doing it ourselves. He asked for help for fixing the little magnet to the wheel, as this was part of his tachometer. Without this, an important part of his instrumentation would be missing. He promised us that if this worked, he would come back and make a photo with us wearing a Loctite cap and stickers. The day after the stage he came, thanking us because the product worked perfectly. Proudly he showed us the work he did with Loctite adhesives and we took a couple of photos together!
Winners of the category “Trucks”
Christian Scholze (MARCOM Henkel) was there representing Loctite and Terosone brands, official suppliers of the Central Europe Rally and sponsors of winning truck #400 of the team MAN Racing.
Windy and cold here at the Balaton sea in Hungary. It has been raining all morning, and now a strong wind blows over the bivouac. While Joachim and Dirk are repairing the body of the Buggy the second leg of today’s special is ongoing. The temperature dropped a few degrees in only 30 minutes, and more bikers just came for support.
Summary of today’s activities of the Loctite Charlies: 23 different reparations on cars and bikes including engine and plastic repair, gasketing, threadlocking, tank repair, windscreen replacement, metal bonding and cylinder housing. Because of the very short stages, compared to the African Rally Dakar, all vehicles are pushing the engines to the limit.
Very impressive the front grid of Robby Gordon´s HUMMER. Watch what Bob, chief mechanic of Robby´s Team has to say about Loctite and our presence at the Rally Dakar. He particularly like those silver boxes full with our products… and yes! we do give them away for free at the Rally!
This is how the dutch guys (Pieter van Kruijsdijk and Cees Bohnenn) racing with Bowler #273 approached us! Holy ?+#$!! We have glues, no parts! Nevertheless Dirk found a way to get the part from another team, and in 15 minutes the they were reassured because the windscreen was replaced thanks to us and they were able to continue the race this afternoon! As I post this entry they are racing!
A few impressions from the action scenes I was able to capture today on video and photo at the 4th special stage of the Central Europe Rally. The video was shot today in Dabas (morning) and Veszprecem (afternoon) in Hungary, while the images are of this afternoon. (SL)
Carlo Souza with his VW Touareg jumping like crazy!!!
Robby Gordon´s Hummer today had problems. In the hotel he approached us just a few minutes ago before going to sleep , explaining that the brakes of his Hummer gave up today!!
Sponsored driver Eric Bernard (FRA)with his BMW reached today overall ranking of 36th
It’s raining today on the military terrain where the first round of today’s rally finished a few minutes ago. This morning, after driving for two hours from Debrecen I walked for 30 minutes in the woods, in order to be on the path of the race, not to far from the start. When the first truck started, the soil startd bein pretty wet, offering spectacular view of these huge racing monsters. I’m now in the car with the BFGoodrich team who kindly offered me a ride to the second part of the race today. In the mean time Dirk and Joachim, our Loctite Charlies and the service Truck transferred for more than 400Km on the predefined assistance-route in order to reach the assistance bivouac in Veszprem.
Log on to the blog tonight, if you want to see some action pictures of today, and some more interviews.
Stephan Schott returned safely at the service park this evening, after his Mitsubishi Pajero made it quite well though the 3rd round of this rally. Unfortunately his team-mate Ellen Lohr was not lucky today, and was involved in a heavy accident. Her Mitsubishi Pajero is not in creep 4m below street level, and will be collected only tomorrw at dawn. Stephan is lucky about the windscreen we replaced yesterday for him.
This is how Joachim Plotzitzka repaired the window of the Mitsubishi Pajero of Stephan Schott after his accident. Keep following us in order to hear about Stephan´s impressions after the 3rd stage this evening.
A snapshot of our setting in Baia Mare. We spent two nights here in Romania, very busy with reparations. We did repairs of all kind, including helmet parts, motorbike parts, light housings and general plastic repairs. We also changed two front windows: one for the MAN Truck team and one for the Mitsubishi Pajero of Stephan Schott (2drive team) who yestarday had a heavy accident ant rolled over twice. The shields are still intact and holding!
The first motorbike drivers started gathering at the Parc Fermé here in Baia Mare at around 7.00pm on the 20th of April. Most bike riders were allowed to load their bikes on the trucks for the 400Km stretch to Baia Mare after the first special stage. Some others used the afternoon for training and drived all the way here on their bikes. So did Eric Palante, driving a Honda 450cc #84, who came to our service point for reparation of his self made prototype seat. His seat is hollow, and has a compartment for reparation tools. Some carbon fibre parts broke, and Loctite Charlie Joachim Plotzitzka was able to repair the locking mechanism of the seat with Loctite Structural Adhesive 3430 epoxy (carbon fibre on carbon fibre) and another part that required a carbon-on-aluminium repair with Terocal 92 25sf. Eric explained me that he uses this race as an opportunity to train for the 10000km Transoriental Rally where he wants to compete this year. Eric was careful on the first special stage today, and his goal was arriving safely to the finish without pushing it too much to the limit. Good luck Eric for the rest of the race!!! (SL)
Loctite® and Teroson at the toughest rally of the world
Henkel heading to South America as Official Supplier of Loctite® and Teroson branded products for the 2010 Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile.
Over the past five years, Henkel power brands have supplied proof of their capability to win - and keep - the Dakar Rally competitors' confidence. When in 2010 drivers are racing for the second time over South American plains and through deserts, the company will support them with fast and efficient repairs.
Henkel products prevent loose bolts, worn bearings and leaking seals, replace broken windscreens, repair gaping holes in plastic components, tape up broken parts - in short, they cover a spectrum of applications too numerous to mention.
The rally provides an ideal testing arena for new product developments, confirming the superior quality of Henkel products even under the most extreme racing conditions. Of course the four Henkel specialists, known as the "Charlies", will head for South America as well to provide advice and hands-on support throughout the rally.
Good luck Eric for the rest of the race!!! (SL)