Carlton Kirby kindly took time out of commentating on the Dakar for Eurosport to answer some of my questions. Here we tackle the Dakar; there’s more on commentating, motorsport and Tuvalu here.

Like everyone, you must have been disappointed by the cancellation of last year’s Dakar. Are you surprised that the event – and the teams – have managed to survive a fallow year?

I was naturally disappointed that the event was cancelled but I was not surprised at all. The Dakar is an event that is virtually impossible to protect.

Security has always been an issue with various thefts of vehicles and acts of piracy throughout the years, but since 2000 when the race was halted and we had the air bridge to Libya, it was clear that the situation was very bad indeed and that potentially there was a chance the event would become a ‘spectacular’ for the likes of Al-Qaeda, who incidentally were the identified group waiting in the desert to massacre us all in 2000.

We’d never heard of them, but clearly the Americans had – we watched on the tarmac at Niamey in Niger as the US Peace Corps, the US Red Cross and all US citizens flew away in haste. It took five long days before all the rally was clear of the danger; waiting our turn as the Antonov troop transporters (hired by the French Government at an undisclosed fee believed to be around $1m per day) flew every truck, car and bike to the restart. I got gastroenteritis during this delay and was presenting the evening show wearing a towel as a man nappy – it wasn’t pretty.

From that year on the route of the Dakar was changed during the course of every subsequent event – the reasons were always security, men with guns.

Then last year the event was cancelled at the very last moment. The rumours were that the decision to cancel came very late so that insurance companies would pay out. I believe that the race was going to go ahead despite a danger but the insurance companies pulled cover and the big teams got twitchy. Whatever, the fact is security issues killed any chance of using certain parts of Africa and so an alternative had to be found.

So finally to answer your question: this is a big race – some think it’s the ultimate, particularly those manufacturers like Desert Warrior and Bowler and latterly McRae. That they survived the hiatus is a testament to their products – if you look at the Dakar field there are so many customers of these builders from all over the world, this is good kit built for a purpose and they are still providing a means to an end for those crazy heroes who want to do the Dakar. They survived and the likes of VW and Mitsubishi were always going to be involved.

How has the move to South America gone so far in your opinion?

I think pretty well all things considered. The planners had to look long and hard to link the dune sections but managed it. Security is no problem. The main issue is the distances involved for those following the event. Links are made by coach and there is many a journalist who has a flat arse already. Will it stay in South America? Maybe for another year, but personally I doubt it long term. Namibia and South Africa look good to me for the future. They have all the right terrain and it’s Africa after all, but that’s just a personal view. The word is Egypt, and Libya where security can be covered.

With Al-Attiyah’s competitive BMW disqualified and the Volkswagens now looking almost unchallenged, do you think that Mitsubishi might have made a mistake by introducing a new car?

Mitsubishi ran into the back of their development programme. New car, not enough testing clearly. However, remember VW have yet to win this event and they have been involved with a diesel since 2004. This looks like it will be VW’s year – but if you take that as a timetable then Mitsubishi can expect diesel success in another four years or so.

How disappointing has it been to see Cyril Despres experiencing so many problems, leaving Marc Coma with a huge lead in the bike standings? And can Coma be caught?

Despres’s problems stem from an argument between KTM and Michelin. (And this comes direct from Heinz Kinigadner, KTM team chief). Last year the motor-cross team dropped Michelin in favour of Pirelli. This upset Michelin who withdrew support for the Rally Raid outfit. It means that the top KTM works riders had to use Pirelli tyres, for which top end competition mousse is not being made – only a kind of customer mouse. Despres decided to use some ‘old stock’ Michelin competition mousse in his Pirelli tyres. This did not fit properly on the rim and failed on more than one occasion.

So obviously it is disappointing to see such a great rider being hobbled in such a way. He took a gamble and lost while Coma stuck with regular tubes and reinforced inner tubes and has the lead as a result. Can he be caught? Oh yes. This is the Dakar… anything can happen.

The Dakar must be a something of a unique event to cover. What’s a typical day like for you during the rally?

Typical day on the rally for commentator doing international feeds in Africa:

• Get up before sunrise, pack tent, board Hercules troop transporter (adapted for field studio) and fly to the stage end for the day – 3 hours average.
• Help unload aircraft. Eat breakfast. While studio is being rebuilt view tapes of interviews and help edit the What You Missed section of the night programme.
• Finish and voice interviews and feature reports for client broadcasters such as South African TV, Speed in US etc.
• After lunch tapes arrive from the day’s stage via helicopter or 4×4. Shot list and compile/edit these pictures.
• Prepare for evening up link from broadcast field tent.
• Compile results and write intro script.
• On air about 7pm.
• After dinner cruise bivouac for interviews to be edited the following morning.
• Help strike studio and pack plane.
• Put up tent, climb in knackered probably about midnight – often later.
• 4 -5 hours kip… do it all again.

Toilet breaks are the only private awake-time moments – grab bog-bike and ride into the distance with your loo-roll, dig a hole, etc.

South America is very different: no striking studio, it’s in a truck. Hotels at night. Bus journeys are long and horrid. All the rest is the same… except the toilet.