Heat in Chilecito.

January 8, Chilecito. Terrible heat makes dream about the time when we cross the Andes. This mountain range is the most important in South America climatic barrier isolating the western territory of the Main Cordillera from the influence of heated air masses over the pampas of Argentina; and isolating the eastern coast from the influence of the cold Pacific Ocean. The Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated by intermediate depressions. There is Chilecito on one of this depression. The slightest breeze brings some relief. It is difficult to see your own shadow because the sun is at its zenith almost all the day. Now you begin to understand that the siesta (a common tradition in some countries with a hot climate) is not a national feature of some nations, but rather the basic needs to take refuge from the heat. And at a time when normal people should relax, 720 hot drivers go along the route San Juan - Chilecito at full speed and about 3,000 people wait for them under the scalding sun at the bivouac.

Unfortunately, the crew of Ayrat Mardeev which crashed on the special on the 6^th of January is also in the category of fans now. On the narrow, impassable for trucks road his truck overturned, only by sheer luck no one was injured. This incident is the reason to bother about the quality of the Dakar rally race route. On the one side the organizers of the rally are very pleased that the annual intrigue and fierce battle in the trucks category attracts attention of many race fans. It is perhaps the most spectacular category in rally-raids. But at the same time it is high time to recognize the remnants of the past in some aspects. For example, just before the race the organizers could conclude that the section where Ayrat has crashed was impassible for trucks. For this purpose, at least one truck should be with the group during the reconnaissance of the rally route. Given that the route of the Dakar abounds with narrow mountain areas with the real mountain gorges and serpentines, so in fact it is the neglect of the safety of the participants of the race.

As for the dangers, today's stage is no exception. The altitude of 3200 meters, rocky mountain tracks turned day into the lottery - the result depended on the number of punctured tyres. But the main reason for the loss of time by crews became narrow mountain roads, river beds and a strong dust. Because of all of this there was no possibility of overtaking. Two special stages separated by neutralization with a total length of 501 km. The finish of the first stage brings good news. Andrey Karginov is firmly in command of the truck race. Gerard de Rooy (leader of the overall standings) lies 6'38" behind Karginov and at the checkpoint at km 137 of the second stage De Rooy was exactly 10 minutes after Karginov's Kamaz. But the unfortunate puncture of tyre… and hard-earned minutes have easily disappeared.

"The track is clearly difficult for trucks, says Eduard Nikolaev. – We keep up with cars, then overtake them and suddenly we are in front of a narrow place, so we have to slow down, and in this moment all cars catch up and overtake us".

It was a good test of navigational skills; some of checkpoints were in parallel dry river beds.

Anton Shibalov looks annoyed. He was very fast, but he made a small navigation mistake at the beginning, then after overcoming a mountain river the engine power was suddenly lost. They shut off the engine, and then started it, everything was ok, they continued the route, but precious minutes were still lost.

Summary of the day from the team leader Vladimir Chagin: "Very tough special for all. Despite very strong dust the crews had to make a lot of overtaking. It is very dangerous, there is no visibility at all when overtake on such road! Stones and twigs are not visible at all. All teams were faced with frequent change of tyres. Many fear that tyres may not be enough to end of the Dakar. Fortunately we hadn’t today such number of punctures as yesterday. The only one tyre was punctured, but it was the tyre of the leading the crew. There were small navigation mistakes, but all the crews quickly managed to solve them. As organizers say the next special stage will be even more difficult".

4^th Stage of the rally Dakar. Truck standings.

 Overall after the 4^th Stage