Attwater Insights
Attwater backs Lyndon Poskitt’s Dakar Rally 2017
Lyndon Poskitt, the motorcycle racer from St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire, has an insatiable desire to achieve more. But after you’ve already completed the gruelling Dakar Rally, which he did in 2013, what could be more challenging?
The Dakar Rally is already the longest and most arduous race in the world. How do you top finishing 46th overall (out of more 200 motorcycle competitors) as well as a top 10 stage finish?
To find out, we caught up with him and he shared his plans for his next big race.
So, first of all, what have you been up to since the Dakar Rally in 2013?
I’ve been working on a project called Races to Places. After Dakar 2013 I built a motorcycle capable of travelling around the world and race in rally races. My plan was to ride around the world and race on every continent.
So far, I have ridden just under 150,000km; I am in my 50th country and fifth continent. I’ve raced in five rallies over the first four continents and to share my experiences from all over the world, I have self-filmed the entire thing and released a free Travel Documentary on You Tube called ‘Races to Places’.
It was fun to make and became quite popular, so I kept doing it.
Why the Dakar Rally again?
I planned to be in South America at the time of the rally and quite simply it is the toughest rally in the world, so why not?
I will be the first rider to ride to the start of the race, prepare my bike and race in the rally. It’s a personal challenge.
In 2013 you took your Dad as mechanic and a support crew. Will he do it again this time?
No. This time I wanted to race the rally like the real heroes of the 70s and 80s, the guys who did all the work on their bikes themselves at night, slept in a tent and raced all day up to 1,000km off-road - and then repeat it all again the next day.
It sounds crazy, and it probably will be!
Oh, and did I mention that I’ve also agreed with the race organization to self-film my experience and make a movie at the end of it? I’ll find a few minutes here and there for that, I hope, as there is so little video footage from the event for people to really understand what it is like.
You will race a new bike for Dakar 2017. How is it different from your 2013 bike, and How has Attwater helped prepare the bike?
As with all motorsports these days, more power and less weight is the target. The power came from a factory spec KTM motor bolted into a lighter but more stable chassis.
The engine is a 450cc single cylinder 6-speed and is up around 15% focusing specifically on torque. I will use fuel injection this time for the first time to battle the symptoms of altitude change much better.
A lot of the brackets and components for the navigation tower that sits up front and other parts on the bike that were previously aluminium have been changed to carbon
fibre this year to put the bike on a diet. In my new suspension systems, even some of the internal spacer tubes are now carbon fibre.
Attwater helped supply some of the composite parts as well as a number of parts for use in the service areas to help keep my evening work easier and cleaner. Their experience in this field was a massive help and the total weight of the bike is down 10% from 2013 which improved handling and reduced rider fatigue.
From all at Attwater, we’d like to wish you a successful arrival and preparation - and of course a successful race. We look forward to catching up with you after the event!
Thank you for support and help towards this massive challenge. I could not do it without the help of my many sponsors, including Attwater.
I hope some of you can enjoy following my daily feed from the race and would love to come back in the New Year with a great story and pictures of Attwater Group on the finishers Podium!
With the help of some of Lyndon’s other sponsors, Lyndon will be releasing daily news feeds from the event in South America so be sure to stay tuned to his media if you are interested to find out more.
Facebook: facebook.com/LyndonPoskittRacing
Twitter: @LyndonPoskitt
Instagram: @LyndonPoskitt
Web site: www.racestoplaces.com