Only a few days remain until the start of the 45th edition of the legendary Dakar. Martin Michek, currently the best Czech competitor in the motorcycle category, will also be at the start. In the next episode of the series Without Napkins, he talked about how difficult it is to finance the start and how the preparation for the most difficult motor race in the world takes place.
The fourth start at the Dakar Rally awaits motorcycle rider Martin Michek, who will strive to improve his best from 2021, when he took 10th place. The track of the upcoming 45th edition of the famous rally should be more demanding than in previous years. The organizers also took her to the fourth largest desert in the world, Rub al-Khalí. The competition starts on December 31, 2022.
How was your Christmas, Martin? Were they more a time of rest or peak preparations for the Dakar?
I had them quite calmly in the family circle this year. But I know what you mean. Sometimes even the day before the start, we deal with cooperation with sponsors. Money for the Dakar is raised all year.
Is it a Dakar tradition in our region? After all, when Loprais, Tatra or LIAZ are mentioned, everyone associates it with Dakar.
Probably yes. It is precisely the Dakar category of trucks that has a huge tradition here precisely thanks to Loprais and the aforementioned brands. Thanks to them, sponsors hear more about this hellish competition than about other motorsport disciplines. But let’s not imagine that I call somewhere and everyone jumps around our necks. Finding sponsors is getting harder every year.
Dakar is probably not possible without a budget in the order of millions. Where are the amounts you need to find?
In short, I will tell you what we have to pay before the start. I pay 15,000 euros for myself, 9,000 euros for the mechanic, who, of course, has to have someone on hand to drive the car and help him, that’s another 5,000 euros. The minimum fee for an accompanying car is also around 5 thousand euros. In the final, you’re still at home with potato salad, and you’re in for tens of thousands of euros. You have to buy a motorcycle for that, which costs a lot of money, tires, material… I could go on and on like this. For example, I ride a KTM motorcycle, and in order to buy parts from them during the race, I have to buy their card. It costs two thousand euros. That’s the price for the card only, not the parts. These are paid separately, with a high-altitude surcharge. So the Dakar costs one amount, the preparation before the start often costs the same amount.
At last year’s Dakar, you finished tenth overall and equaled the Czech record. You weren’t good enough for a factory rider. What is the difference between you and them?
They have much bigger budgets. That’s why I have driven two thousand kilometers before Dakar, which should help me. Factory riders have maybe fifty thousand kilometers. I try to eliminate the difference between us with some diligence, patience and the heart I put into the Dakar. Sometimes the result may not be what I expected, but internally I have to feel that I gave it my all. The Dakar simply cannot be driven at 80 percent. If you drive like that, it will come back to you.
Back to those factory riders. Most of them spend the second half of the year in countries where they can ideally train. They are in the saddle of competition bikes in Chile, Peru or even Morocco. They train there for half a year for the Dakar. They also have a concentration with people who do the Dakar routes. It is no exaggeration to say that they already train for exactly what awaits them before the start.
All the fingers he has wouldn’t be enough to count all the screws in his bones. Freestyle motocrosser Libor Podmol crashed badly three years ago during the World Championship race in Munich. Even a severe leg injury did not dislodge him from the saddle…
So are they basically employees of those teams?
You can say that. Unlike me, they can devote themselves fully to it. I have other activities, including riding motocross, in which, unlike the Dakar, I am a professional.
Can you describe to the readers how money is actually raised for the Dakar?
One tries to put together a small amount of money to cover the preparations, the training and the Dakar itself. I recently returned from a week’s training in Dubai. One constantly works with the budget one currently has and plans accordingly. It actually works like a family budget, from which you constantly take and return. In addition, I also have to focus on approaching companies that might be interested in cooperation and maintaining the partners I already have. It’s just a job that never ends.
For which companies is such cooperation with a Czech participant at the Dakar interesting?
You would be surprised, but often these are companies that have nothing to do with motoring. It could be some kind of metalworking, a manufacturer of energy drinks or clothing. Dakar can open doors to the world for many companies. It is watched by a huge and diverse range of viewers. Thanks to this, you can search for partners all over the world. I myself have partners from abroad.
Do you have the experience that there was nothing left to take in that imaginary money box?
Sure, then one proceeds by taking some of their money if they have it. But you have to have the vision that you will get the money somewhere and fill the gap.
How much is the Dakar about physical and how much about technical preparation?
You have to balance it. You won’t ride anything with good technique if you’re not physically prepared and vice versa. That’s why I’m very happy this year that I completed the motocross season without injury. Two years ago it looked like I wouldn’t even get out of bed due to liver collapse. Fortunately, I recovered from it and can drive again. We had a two-month stoppage for health reasons last year as well. This year was without injuries and any other complications, so I feel great before the Dakar.
A story that would make for a dramatic movie or a book that you would read in one sitting. It was June last year, when Buděj’s motorcyclist Martin Michek collapsed during a race in Dalečín. With a non-functioning liver, he ended up in Prague’s IKEM, where…
So now you’re ready for the Dakar the best you’ve ever been?
I feel very well. In addition, experience increases with each passing year, and one becomes a little wiser behind the wheel. I go jogging at Kleť, at Kluk, I train in the gym and I feel that I am doing well. Although it was only a week, I also recently drove in the dunes in Dubai. Training in the dunes is extremely important.
Why?
One has the idea that we are driving and just crossing the dunes. But it is much more complicated. But every dune is different and each one is dangerous for us in a different way. We don’t know what’s behind her and she behaves differently every time. The wind will also very quickly blow the dune away. Beyond its tip may be an abyss, a hole, or another dune. There can also be another biker during the dune race. You have to be able to recognize all this and try to eliminate possible mistakes. Unfortunately, you won’t learn it anywhere in the Czech Republic, so training in Dubai is incredibly valuable. You have to fly through the dunes and at the same time you have to be as careful as possible.
How much will the Dakar track change compared to last year?
The Dakar route is different every year. The organizers from the ASO (ed. note: the organizing organization, which in addition to the Dakar also organizes, for example, the Tour de France) try to make it really uncomfortable for the participants every time. The organizers want the differences between the riders to be seen and it was not a simple competition for them. This time it will take a fortnight, which is two more than this year. The organizers have been in Saudi Arabia for two or three months, where they are preparing the track. It has 8.5 thousand kilometers. Long sections of the desert will be driven again, so we are preparing for the hardest hell. When you drive fast, the miles fly by, you don’t even know how. In the dunes, where the rhythm alternates, there are no meters, let alone kilometers. It usually happens that the fewer kilometers you drive, the worse and more technical it is.
After the Dakar was moved to the Middle East in Africa, the Africa Eco Race remained out of the media spotlight. The goal of the organizers of this race is to continue the spirit of the original Dakar, i.e. more adventure and less commercialism. They strive for a minimal impact of the plant on nature and local residents: recyclable materials and solar energy are used, bivouacs are set up outside populated areas. Wasn’t it tempting to participate in this “original” Dakar?
Africa is beautiful and has its Dakar charm. Three years ago I went to train in Tunis. The Africa Eco Race is sure to be an extremely tough competition. Riders must prepare for a different type of dune, camel grass and other pitfalls. It would certainly be great to start there as well, but again it’s about finances and right now it’s definitely out of reality to start at both races.
At Dakar, a statuette in the shape of a Bedouin is handed over as a cup. Only the winners of the categories receive the big statuette, the small Bedouins are all in the top ten. So the ambition is probably to bring another one to the small one from last year, right?
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. You know I want to bring one more to the little one. And I wouldn’t mind blowing it up a bit. My goal is to enjoy the race again and make the Czech fans happy. I want them to enjoy the adrenaline with us. But I’m already not looking forward to those moments when you want to wrap it up when things don’t go well. It is extremely frustrating. You always overcome it mainly because of the fans, the media and everything that pushes us forward. But back to the question. The dream is one thing, of course I would like to win the big Bedouin for an absolute victory. But I have my feet on the ground, so I set myself the goal of once again attacking the tenth place I tasted and, if possible, improving it even more.
Russian Kamaz trucks, which regularly dominate the competition, will be absent from the upcoming Dakar. The International Automobile Federation (FIA) offered Kamaz participation, but on the condition that Russian athletes sign a statement condemning the invasion of Ukraine. In an official statement, Kamaz said that “nothing like that is out of the question” and that “he is always with his motherland.” Do you think it is right that the war in Ukraine also affects sports? Do you agree that Russian crews should have similar starting conditions?
First of all, I would like to say that what is happening in Ukraine is absolutely terrible. War is always terrible. It is carried away by innocent people, and last but not least, it is prescribed in sports as well. And not just what you’re talking about. As a result of the war in Ukraine, the situation in the search for sponsors is much more uncertain. First covid made it difficult for us, now times are even harder. I also cannot judge the effectiveness of any sanctions on Russia. I think that anyone who wants to do business with Russia will always find a way. I understand the reasons for the aforementioned attitude towards the Russian crews and Kamaz, but I will tell you this – the competition makes the races. Which now means a completely new situation in the truck category, when Kamazes, which always fight on the podium, are not driving. On the other hand, a number of other crews now feel a chance to succeed, as they were driving “in the shadow” of the Kamaz. I probably won’t tell you more, this is all up to the organizers.
