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The Australian duo of Glenn Brinkman and Dale Moscatt will enter the Dakar Rally with the promise of fulfilling a dream to compete at the pinnacle of off-road rally-raid.
The pair will be in the PH-SPORT Zephyr in the T3 category, with the journey to the Dakar Rally taking them through events in Australia, Morocco and Abu Dhabi. Brinkman, a veteran of Australian and world rallying, was raring to go in his first attempt at the prestigious rally-raid.
“Pretty nervous, it’s been a lot of talk in preparation, but it’s starting to get real now and it’s like ‘I’ve got to commit to this’,” said Brinkman to SBS Sport’s Conor McNally.
“I’ve been one of those people that always watch Dakar every January, and I had friends like Dale and Bruce Garland do it. For me, it would be the pinnacle of my motorsport career to go and do Dakar, so I spoke to Dale and formulated a plan.
“I’d only done Rally, so it was recommended that I get into Australian off-road, which I’ve done for two years now, and it’s grown from there.”
Moscatt recalled that conversation, his role making sure that the pair came into the race with the right mindset.
“I think anyone is mad to go to Dakar,” said Moscatt. “When Glenn came to me and said it’s something he wanted to do, to tick it off his bucket list and what were my thoughts, I said ‘If you’re going there to have fun, it’s not that. It has to be an experience thing, a life-long goal, something like that’.
“Glenn and I have been mates for 20 years, he’s got the right temperament to do this. We’re not going to set the world on fire or gain some factory contract, it’s about getting experience so we can work into the event.”
Moscatt first came to the event in 2016 as the co-driver of Peter Jerie for a finish in 32nd. He would return two years ago helping Molly Taylor to reach the finish in 14th position in their category.
“Dakar’s a funny beast, the level of learning you can do in these events is massive. In Morocco and Abu Dhabi, we had punctures and mechanicals, and also the good things, like when world champion guys like Austin Jones (winner of Dakar T4 and T3 categories) came past us and we hung onto the back of him for 220 kilometres through the dunes.
“And always there’s cat-and-mouse thing of going as fast as you can but also protecting the car, as no car will last two weeks going flat out and no crew will either. You see guys like (Carlos) Sainz and (Stéphane) Peterhansel breaking their backs going too fast all the time. The preparation we’ve done going in will see us keep the nerves under wraps.”
The speed and mechanics of the vehicles mix with the psychology and tactics of the drivers and co-drivers, throwing in the treacherous terrain and tricky navigating conditions that make it the ultimate test of man and machine.
“The biggest element is the navigation, which is where Dale comes in,” said Brinkman. “Coming from rally, you drive more what you see, and I didn’t really understand cap headings and compass readings.
“The role of Dale is so much more important, and my role is opening your eyes to what is really available as you’re not really following a track.”
BRINKMANN Glenn (aus), MOSCATT Dale (AUS), PH-Sport Zephyr, portrait during the Stage 1 of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, 2nd round of the 2023 W2RC season, on February 27, 2023 between Al Dhannah and Qasr Al Sarab, Abu Dhabi - Photo Julien Delfosse / DPPI Credit: DPPI/DPPI
“The route is a complete surprise and it’s designed that way because the bigger budget teams were finding ways of getting information on the course… I’m not going to say cheating, but using every bit of information to gain advantage,” said Moscatt. “Now, we get these books at the start of the day, we know where we end up, but what we have to do to get there is a complete secret.
“Some of these instructions can be very, very complex with four or five instructions at once, some compass directions are calculated, others are an average. We slow down at tricky points of navigation to nail the exact spot, as if you speed through and try and gain 10-20 seconds, you’re going to lose 10-40 minutes on the other side.”
An example of a Dakar Rally navigation
“This is the bible, we have to follow this to the letter,” said Moscatt. “There are times when you’ll go for hours without seeing another competitor, hoping that you’re not the one that’s lost. And other times there will be a pack of six or eight of you just jostling for position. But even then, it’s important to follow the route and not the guy in front of you.
“There are so many traps and tricks involved in it all, that’s where the experience comes in and also why it’s important to stay calm in the car.”
Despite experience across rallying from club to state to national level and even in World Rally Championship events for Brinkman and years as a professional for Moscatt, the Dakar Rally is very much a leap in competition.
“First and foremost, we need to finish. That’s the ultimate goal, I want to walk out with a finisher’s medal,” said Brinkman. “It’s motorsport, of course we’re competitive, we’d love a top 10, but the finisher’s medal is the goal and to bring home a straight car.”
From the sand of the Dakar Rally, to the dirt of ProMX to the burning rubber of the Australian Superbikes, there’s a host of .
