00:00 Running Dakar in a new race truck with new sponsors was big news, but yesterday's news
00:06 nevertheless.
00:07 We all know now that by stage 8 his attempt to win the 2006 Dakar Rally came to an end
00:12 after an unfortunate encounter with a wall of camel grass hidden behind a large sand
00:17 dune.
00:18 Lucky for us we got some prized footage of his new H3 in the dunes at Glamis in the weeks
00:22 leading up to Dakar.
00:25 Like a bunch of really nervous car geeks, the press in Glamis waited patiently to see
00:30 the first test drive of this brand new H3.
00:37 Then Robbie and his navigator Darren Skilton came flying out of nowhere in a custom built
00:41 Robbie Gordon buggy.
00:42 The H3 obviously not far behind.
00:45 Not.
00:46 I saw the car about 30 minutes ago.
00:53 It should honestly be here any minute.
00:56 I saw it in Brawley.
00:57 I don't know if you guys drove through Brawley or not on the way here.
01:02 They were getting fuel.
01:03 The race car actually you can pull up to the gas station and fill it up.
01:07 So when you put 110 gallons of gas in it, it takes a while when they only let you put
01:11 $50 at a time in.
01:12 They were putting gas in it when I went by them.
01:16 I'm going to say any minute they're going to pull in here.
01:21 With the H3 still missing in action, Tony Becker took a closer look at Robbie's personal
01:25 Baja pre-runner.
01:26 It's been a while since I've been out here.
01:30 Coming in, seeing the change in the vehicles and the buggies and what they have.
01:34 Oh it's amazing.
01:35 I mean I remember when the old Volkswagen beam cars were out here.
01:39 They had four inches of travel and everybody was, they had fun in them and everybody had
01:43 a good time.
01:44 I mean today, the suspension on these cars is unbelievable.
01:45 You have the suspension on a horsepower.
01:46 You're hearing it.
01:47 It sounds like trophy trucks all around.
01:49 Oh yeah, I mean people are super charging, twin turbo charging cars now.
01:56 I mean you have Corvette engines.
01:58 I mean versus your 1600 or 1600 cubic centimeter Volkswagen motor.
02:04 I mean it's unbelievable.
02:05 Sure that and plus the inside of this.
02:07 I see everyone gets a helmet and everyone gets some sound.
02:10 Oh yeah, you have to have your MP3 player while you're going through the dunes to keep
02:13 you occupied now.
02:14 And you got all your GPS's to keep you on track and your two-way system to talk back
02:19 to camp.
02:20 I mean it's come quite a way.
02:22 I would imagine a trip to Baja with about six of these and good friends is totally different
02:26 than it was years ago.
02:27 Oh yeah, oh yeah.
02:28 It's just, it's a free for all now.
02:30 Everybody wants to be the Robbie Gordon and they'll do anything to get in front of them.
02:36 Tell me a little bit about this.
02:37 Well, the engine package we're running is a LS6 Corvette engine.
02:44 Just really reliable, low compression so we can still run P-Max when we're down in Mexico.
02:51 Oh really?
02:52 Yeah.
02:53 I mean we could run just that type of gas and it's not going to detonate.
02:57 Almost nothing runs on that.
02:59 Right, right.
03:00 So I mean how the computer's set up and all the ignition timing.
03:03 I mean you could run all the way up to 114 octane race gas and it'll go all the way down
03:07 to less than 87 octane for your P-Max in Mexico.
03:12 So that helps a lot.
03:15 We're running just your standard Mendiola five speed.
03:17 Yeah.
03:18 I mean it's been a good transmission.
03:21 It handles everything that we throw at it so it's been good.
03:26 The car's been, you know we built it first in '03.
03:30 Yeah.
03:31 So you know through everything that Robbie gives it, it's still a good car.
03:35 Those axles look half as small.
03:36 Yeah well.
03:37 I mean you're looking at them.
03:38 To be honest with you, we've never had a problem with them knock on wood.
03:40 He's in that on a rail.
03:41 Now that I said that.
03:42 I know you crossed your fingers.
03:43 You're screwed.
03:44 Sorry about that.
03:45 No, no problem.
03:46 What else inside the cab?
03:47 Yeah inside the cab, Jet Tem seats.
03:52 Very comfortable seat.
03:53 Robbie loves his Momo strain wheels.
03:55 Yeah.
03:56 So we got him one to match the car.
03:59 Our GPS, same one he uses in the race car.
04:03 So when he's pre-running in Mexico, he can plot all his course and you know watch all
04:09 his spots of interest that he needs to know for the race.
04:12 And we'll just download it on a card and put it right in the race truck and he's good to
04:15 race.
04:16 How dependable are those?
04:17 Because that's one of the new things is the computers.
04:19 Right.
04:20 I always wondered.
04:21 You know, for everything that we're doing, I mean you could hone in on about a tenth
04:26 of a mile.
04:27 So it's like lifetime when you're running.
04:28 You see where everything's at.
04:30 They can mark a hole and that hole's going to be there next time they go by it.
04:34 That is outrageous.
04:35 Now how about this Dakar thing?
04:37 Oh, well, you'll see here in a little bit.
04:40 It's quite the machine.
04:41 I mean it's really taken it another step.
04:43 Just the craftsmanship of it is quite unique.
04:47 It's a lot like this, but it's just fine-tuned.
04:50 A lot of bigger components and it has to last the 16 days of Dakar.
04:56 What can you say about a champion that hasn't already been set?
04:59 If his steadfast confidence impacts those that meet him, welcome to the club, boys.
05:04 It's this absence of doubt that makes Robbie Gordon so fearless in motorsports.
05:10 Houston, the H3 has landed.
05:14 And it immediately got our attention.
05:17 I first met Robbie when he was growing up in Bellflower, California.
05:21 He was drawn to anything with a motor.
05:23 He was racing motorbikes at age eight.
05:25 And at 16, he jumped behind the wheel of a race car.
05:31 Robbie said, "Racing kept me out of trouble."
05:33 Fact is, his mom and dad, Bob and Marlene, wouldn't let him race unless he got good grades.
05:39 In the late 1980s, Ford Racing executives learned about this kid that was kicking butt in Baja.
05:45 In fact, I was his co-driver that year when he won the Triple Crown of Off-Road Racing.
05:49 That's when he won first overall in the Baja 500, the Nevada 500, and the Baja 1000.
05:54 It was the first time that had ever been done, and it had been done since.
05:59 The man, the myth, and the legend was born.
06:02 Robbie hasn't looked back since.
06:04 He continues to pile on checkered flags, and not only off-road, but a NASCAR as well.
06:11 Gordon D'Astoglio's sponsored Hummer prototype was designed and constructed in-house at his
06:15 Anaheim, California, racing facility, specifically for the Dakar Rally.
06:20 A 5,600 mile race from Lisbon, Portugal, to Dakar, Senegal.
06:28 Gordon used his years of racing experience from the deserts and mountains of Baja, California,
06:31 to the vast sand seas of the North African outback, to design and construct this unique
06:36 American entry in the longest, most prestigious and difficult event in the world.
06:43 Here you get a good look at why Robbie is the ultimate racer.
06:46 When testing, Robbie hangs it out.
06:50 We'll be back with more Robbie right after this.
06:53 [00:03:50] [END OF AUDIO]
06:55 (whooshing)
06:57 (gunshot)
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