Desert Dingo Racing

Category: The Car

  • Another racer joins the World Diabetes Day fold


    Update:     I had an email exchange with Youcef. He finished 10th overall and second in the 8th leg, despite the fact that he broke his sternum. On the eighth stage of the 3,000 km rally, doing 100 km/hour, he went straight over his handle bars. “I woke up with a helicopter next to me. The medics decided I would be okay to carry on. I only noticed (my sternum) was broken a couple of days later.” I think he’s Baja material.

    Youcef CummingsAustralian rider Youcef Cummings is piloting the official World Diabetes Day motorcycle and will be competing in World Cross Country Rally and other regional events throughout Africa and the Middle East this year.

    His first race, which began April 23 and ran for nine days from Marseilles, France through the deserts of Tunisia and Libya, ended today after covering 3000 kilometers.

    World Diabetes Day motorcycleYoucef rides a KTM 690 Factory Rally bike. It has a 72 hp engine with a top speed of over 175 km/hour on sand. The motorcycle is a limited edition factory produced bike designed specifically for desert racing. It has a range of over 350 kilometers and is fitted with navigation and survival equipment, including GPS, proximity warning devices, directional repeaters, two odometers and speed warning devices. The motorcycle sports the official World Diabetes Day logo in English and Arabic, as well as the distinctive blue circle on the tanks.

    We wish Youcef the best of luck.

    I figured I’d do a walkaround of 1101 for those who haven’t seen it up close. 1117 is stripped for painting before I start on the interior.

  • We have a hero card image

    Hero card image for Desert Dingo Racing

    What can I say? Jeff Luhn rocked it. If you saw the video, you can appreciate the time he put in to get this shot. We’ll be printing 5,000 copies on hero cards that will have the warning signs of diabetes on the back.

    And check out these bad asses.

    Thank you very much Jeff.

    P.S. Click on either image for larger versions.

  • Photo shoot

    We did the photo shoot today. Like any photo shoot, you need a lot of stuff.

    First, you need a car.

    Second, you need talent. That would be Charlie.

    You need “below the line people” like Skid and Shawn, who showed up fashionably late on Saturday after I already had 2.5 wheels bolted on the car. They did however, cinch 1101 onto Skid’s trailer for the trip to Felton, so that’s cool. Shawn did fix the muffler and Skid did something that made a lot of noise that probably perturbed the neighbors, however.

    Then you need the guy who can pretty much do anything, like “Hey, this tow bar won’t fit. How can we get the car up to the airport?” And he says “My Sawz-All will take care of that.” That would be Richard.

    Then, when you’re on site, there’s everyone who makes it happen. Jeff Luhn, Brooks Institute photographer, Max Davis, who created our brand identity, Roxanne, who handled catering (in the video). Rich and Elvon Hoogner who gave us access to the runway. And Larry, of Larry Electric, who’s the guy you want in your corner who pretty much can do anything when all you need to do is ask. (He’s in the video). Larry provided the boom truck.

    Here’s a video of the morning.

  • We’ve got a new logo!

    Desert Dingo logo

    Max Davis, who’s designed for Nike, Intel, Eli Thomas and the SF 49ers, among others, contacted us to offer his services. His father has Type 2 diabetes and when he heard about us, he dropped me a note. (I’m partial to the World Diabetes Day blue circle logos integrated into the wheels). We’re already investigating t-shirts. Max has also helped me put together a sponsorship proposal and is coming out to the photo shoot this Sunday.

    Everything’s coming together and I should have news on an event in San Francisco on June 8 pretty quickly.

  • Prepping for the photo shoot

    Not a lot of excitement today. I met with Shawn at Cary’s. Shawn did all the heavy lifting and changed out wheels on 1101. I dropped them off at Skip’s Tire and Auto Center where they’ll move the good tires onto new rims (including two that Shawn painted red). And we’ll have one new tire put on one of the six or eight new rims we’ve collected since the 250.

    Robert's Class 11 1110 in Watsonville

    Robert in Watsonville, who picked up 1110 from Cameron in SoCal, is headed to Hollister Hills this weekend to take it for a drive. He called and invited us to come down with him. Scott and Carrie will already be down there with their motorcycles, Richard said he’ll drive down with Robert and Skid was looking for an excuse to take his motorhome out on a shakedown cruise.

    All that being said, here’s a couple of funny NASCAR commercials from the Texas Motor Speedway (the only NASCAR track I’ve ever seen, even at a distance) race last weekend:

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