Gavin Foster With 24 South African titles behind him Alfie Cox is the most successful motor sportsman of all time in the country. Hes also pretty hot internationally, having finished strongly in every one of the four Dakar Rallies hes contested. With best results of third, fourth and fifth, the works KTM rider is now out to prove that hes one of the truly great by winning the Total Dakar 2002. But is the 38-year-old Durbanite running out of time? Have the years taken their toll? “I dont think my age is a problem,” he says. “Im feeling really great at the moment. Fabrizio Meoni won in 2001 and hes already 44. Experience counts hugely, combined, of course, with a little luck.” Last month Cox confirmed that he has plenty of the necessary attributes for success by taking a record ninth win in the Roof of Africa Rally and buttoning up the 2001 South African Off Road Racing Championship. But he admits that its not getting any easier to win at home because his success as an international works rider has caused local competitors to lift their game substantially. “Everybody really wants to beat me at home now its just business all the time and in a way theres not so much fun to be had anymore. But Im still far from finished.” Cox shook up the establishment when he arrived at the Dakar in 1998 as an unknown privateer and took third place ahead of dozens of works riders. The following year, with limited KTM factory support, he managed a fifth, and after mechanical problems held him back to the midfield last year he took the fifth place that team orders assigned to him when this years race turned into a dreary 10000km KTM procession. For next year management has promised that their riders will be allowed to race for the honours with no serious factory opposition since BMWs withdrawal from the Dakar, the struggle is going to be up close and personal within the clique of top KTM riders. Of course, BMWs decision not to contest the Dakar 2002 did KTM a power of good and weakened the hands of top professional riders who had been in a strong position to demand big money from team management. Suddenly there were lots of sellers and only one serious buyer KTM so terms were very negotiable. “Riders like Jean Roma were especially desirable because of their European roots and the fact that theyre such big names in their own countries,” says Cox. “They also bring big sponsors with them people like Telefonica and Repsol. Fortunately I had a two-year contract with KTM from 2001 already, so it was just a matter of sorting things out with my own sponsors Gauloise, Nashua and Natro Freight.” Whatever else happens, the smart money says the first rider across the line will be mounted on an Austrian KTM in January. The question is: will it be the single-cylinder model that was so successful last year or will it be the new V-twin that takes the laurels? The bigger twins produce more power, but also incur a weight penalty and the combination is hard on both riders and tyres. “Last year BMW battled with their flat twins,” says Cox. “They were just too heavy. Also, the BMWs have those cylinders sticking out of the sides and every one of their riders had damage problems because of this in 2001.” But the KTM is a narrow V-twin and the weight distribution is better.
Cox wont have to worry about the additional weight or the power of the V-twins though like most of the KTM-backed riders, he will be on a single-cylinder machine. Only two twins have been entered by the factory and they will be ridden by the men whove worked hard on developing them all year Meoni and Giovani Sala. “Our Gauloise team myself, Richard Sainct [twice winner of the Dakar], Jean Brucy and Cyril Despres will all be on singles.” Does Cox feel at a disadvantage because of this? “No, I wouldnt want to ride the twin in the Dakar before its proven itself. It also weighs 26kg more than the single and Im not a physically big person, so I might find it a tall order to handle a machine like that. Ive been promised at least one international ride on it for next year, though.” The fact that riding a bucking motorcycle through clouds of dust across a rock-strewn, donga-riddled landscape at 190kph can be a dangerous occupation is brought home to the riders every so often. “Ja, getting hurt is in the back of your mind all the time you dont want to do anything stupid!” says Cox. “One of our KTM development engineers, Max Linhuber, was killed last October. He stayed behind for a week after the Egyptian Rally to test the bikes and broke his neck in a crash … Then this year Richard Sainct had a big crash in Egypt.” So what does Cox have to do that he hasnt done before if he intends to win the Dakar on his fifth, and perhaps last, attempt? “My mistake has been to take it too easy in the beginning. Last year I wanted to arrive in Africa a little behind the leaders, but I lost 90 seconds in one day, which I realise now was wrong because of the dust you end up eating. I know now that every special stage in Europe demands 100% so that you can arrive in Africa in the lead. Its no use sitting back and waiting for the others to break down or something to happen you have to make it happen.” More than 400 cars, trucks and motorcycles will contest the 2002 Total Dakar Rally, which starts in Arras, France, on December 28 and finishes 9436 gruelling kilometres later in Dakar on January 13.