Charley Boorman - Paris-Dakar

you might have gathered by now i've been watching fifth gear on youtube all day :P
however this was quite a good one, its comparing the BMW F650 Dakar bike against the X5 (albeit very souped up!) support vehichle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptxmebNTCDk

[northwind]

Wonder if he squashed him at the end there! Great video

If you watch the DVD it will show that all the X5 did was break down!
It was also heavily modified from standard.
It seemed totally out of its depth when asked to tackle anything more than
the Kings Road.
Moral, buy a Land Rover instead.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Steve H

Moral, buy a Land Rover instead.

And then fit diff locks if going to play in the sand..........

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Steve H

If you watch the DVD it will show that all the X5 did was break down!

Yeah, but be fair, it was totally underdeveloped... Modified, aye, but Scorpion wanted a year to do the setup, and they got, what was it, 2 months? So it was seriously untested, and not half the job they wanted to do.

Originally Posted by northwind

Yeah, but be fair, it was totally underdeveloped... Modified, aye, but Scorpion wanted a year to do the setup, and they got, what was it, 2 months? So it was seriously untested, and not half the job they wanted to do.

Not half the off road abilities of a Discovery though.

[northwind]

Considering how laden it was in that clip it did pretty well, I thought, I was expecting it to be made to look properly stupid. Maybe a standard discovery can do that, but with all the gear in/on it? I wonder.

Originally Posted by northwind

Considering how laden it was in that clip it did pretty well, I thought, I was expecting it to be made to look properly stupid. Maybe a standard discovery can do that, but with all the gear in/on it? I wonder.

How do we know this was a fair race, people always moan about top gear faking clips. The bike may have been able to make it look stupid but was told to keep it close behind for the cameras. I'm not saying this was the case, just that its possible

[northwind]

True dat... The ending looked a bit suss. But, in the clips when you saw it underway it wasn't exactly a snail.

Originally Posted by northwind

Considering how laden it was in that clip it did pretty well, I thought, I was expecting it to be made to look properly stupid. Maybe a standard discovery can do that, but with all the gear in/on it? I wonder.

Not my scene, but my brother in law is heavily into the off roading scene.
You will be amazed at what the Land Rover can do off road (bloody painful)
on it!
The majority of marshals at any event will all use Landys as the support rescue vehicles. X5s are apparently about as capable as a standard 3 series!