A glimpse into Dakar with Brian Baragwanath.

We arrived to friendly staff at World of Yamaha in Sandton, who managed to pull together a great event, against some interesting odds. As the reception filled with some 200-strong, invitation-only guests, the usual suspects from the racing arena began to appear. I should have known seeing the likes of Brad Anassis, Clinton Seller and Ricky Morais, the tone was being set for a great evening.

Once inside World of Yamaha’s theatre we were treated to the two 2016 Yamaha superbike racing teams, Neolife Yamaha Racing and ETR Performance Yamaha Race Team. A truly personalised introduction to the riders and the outlook for this year’s action packed season. Current national superbike champion, Clinton Seller, started his R1 and revved the sweet sound of true Yamaha engineering for the crowds’ pleasure.

A short interval allowed some to appreciate the stealthy black Lamborghini parked outside the World of Yamaha entrance. This was the frosting on a very delicious cup cake. The cherry however, remained a very informative presentation by homegrown golden boy, Brian Baragwanath, whose almost shy personality belies the extreme talent he showed during the grueling 14 day Dakar in January.

Brian took 3rd place, to secure a podium finish in the quad class, matching fellow South African, Giniel de Villiers, in the car class. Brian spoke openly about the costs of Dakar and explained that it is financially, a very tough race, requiring not only lots of financial sponsors, but support on the ground as well.

Team RhideSA’s entry fee for 2016 across 3 quads, 1 bike and support crew exceeded R1.2million. With continued depreciation of the Rand, this is expected to be much more ahead of the 2017 race. However, Brian was not remiss to reveal the positive return on investment to potential sponsors, with Advertising Value Equivalency in excess of R3 million. 

This exposure helps shine a much-needed spotlight on South African racing – Dakar has 6,4 million strong spectatorship at the race itself, with 1 billion viewers worldwide. It is officially classed as the biggest racing event in the world, welcoming 745 entrants this year alone. 

The 1st Quad ran around 30th in the bikes, with a top speed of 130km/h, with bikes at 170km/h. Placing this into reference, the cars do 190km/h. The Quads also had the largest number of retirees, with just under half not completing the Dakar.  Of the 45 quads that started, only 23 finished the 13 stages spanning some 9 000km from Buenos Aires to Rosario, crossing from Argentina to Bolivia and back.

Irene Huysamen, Chairpeson for RhinoSA, thanked Brian for being a great wildlife ambassador for the Non Profit Organisation, Greenworld Africa, of which they form a part and offered some sad statistics regarding the poaching of rhinos and elephants, with an average of 3 to 4 rhinos being poached a day and elephants as high as 1 every 15 minutes. So while Brian may hold many captive for his great driving skill, I was impressed by the genuine love for this charity and his passion for working with children.

A truly great evening and I’d like to thank Yamaha for the opportunity to attend and want to join them in wishing Brian luck as he ties the knot next month. May Dakar 2017 see him take the win.