The journey of a lifetime! Max and Laurence Loder at DAKAR 2024

Creation: Max and Laurence spent their entire lives listening to their father’s captivating stories about his adventures at the legendary Dakar Rally. Surrounded by his circle of friends, consisting of former rally colleagues, the fascination for this spectacular event was inevitable. It was no surprise, then, that the brothers finally decided to take part in the Dakar themselves – a project that was accompanied by the father’s blessing. “Guys, you just have to do it,” was his encouraging encouragement.

For their participation, the brothers chose the Classic variant of the Dakar Rally, in which only vehicles built up to the year 2000 are permitted. There were only two vehicles to choose from: the ones her father had driven in 1982 (when her mother was pregnant with Max) and 1985 – a Suzuki LJ80 or a Puch GE280. In view of the fact that the Suzuki LJ80 had not been the suitable vehicle as early as 1982, the choice finally fell on the Puch 280 GE.

Her father Josef Loder played an important role as “Assistance Rapide” for the BMW works team at the time. The team’s declared goal was to win the motorcycle classification. In fact, Gaston Rahier was the first BMW works driver to cross the finish line on the beach in Dakar in 1985.

Unfortunately, the original vehicle, a Puch 280 GE Stationwagon, could no longer be found. So in September 2022, Max and Laurence started looking for a suitable vehicle. In the end, they decided on a five-door Puch 280 GE from 1982, which was once used by a small fire brigade near Graz. However, the Dakar vehicle at the time was a long three-door model. After intensive discussions, they decided to turn the five-door into a three-door model. Over a period of months, all the necessary adjustments were made to prepare the vehicle for participation in the Dakar. These included a custom-made roll cage from the company Wichers, Sparco racing seats, a 100-litre petrol tank, high-quality shock absorbers, powerful racing headlights from PIAA, classic rims from delta4x4, tyres from BF Goodrich as well as an external emergency stop switch and much more.

You might think that 12 months is enough time to prepare a vehicle for the Dakar. Unfortunately, this was not the case – the vehicle was only completed on the last day before shipping from Barcelona to Yanbu. Thanks to the perfect preparation by Achim Grauert, however, the vehicle was able to pass the technical scrutineering in Barcelona without any problems, although the journey by trailer was far from “Dakar weather”.

Saudi Arabia: On 02.01.2024, the racing cars were ready for collection in Yanbu. Max, Laurence, the ingenious mechanic and master mechanic of AutoLoder189 Fabian Stauner and Georg Gattinger, a member of the BMW team of 1985 and mentor of the brothers, made their way to Yanbu the day before after passing Cairo. But the chaotic system in Cairo had taken them by surprise, and they missed their flight to Yanbu. After a short excitement, a new flight to Jeddah was booked, and the collection of the Puch was organized by Lina van de Maas, who was part of the Völkel Racing team, which also involved the men of delta4x4. In the evening, the four finally reached Jeddah and rented a rental car, with which they drove through the night to the start of the Dakar in al-Ula.

Exhausted and tired, they reached the Dakar camp on the morning of 03.01.2024. The “camp” is actually a small town in the desert of Saudi Arabia, where about 3000 people gather. The following two days were filled with orientation, organizing missing parts, preparing and testing the vehicle.

The rally: On 01.05. the first short prologue took place to prepare the participants for the exertions of the following days. Max and Laurence mastered the course with flying colors, but without having dealt extensively with the peculiarities of the regulations beforehand. As a result, penalty points piled up.

The following 14 days were a real ride. The motto of the Dakar was: “A difficult Dakar is a good Dakar”. Although they did not know what this meant at first, they learned it very quickly. The time during the Dakar was like a journey into a parallel universe. Normal life seemed to be paused, and their only goal was to reach Yanbu. The beauty of the Dakar was that 3000 people had the same goal, and everyone knew that they all shared the same desire.

The routes took Max and Laurence through steppes, dunes, stone deserts and wadis (dried up riverbeds) – 8000 km at a breathtaking pace.

Despite the 12 months of preparation and the complete rebuild of the car, minor problems occurred during the rally: a leaking brake hose, a non-functioning compass and Tripy were just a few of them. Nothing that was unmanageable, but still annoying.

A typical day at the Dakar:

05:00 a.m. – Get up, brush my teeth, pack up the tent and stow it in the truck.

06:00 – Breakfast in the catering tent and pick up packed lunch.

06:45 – Drive to the start.

07:00 a.m. – Start – transfer trip to the start of the race.

09:30 a.m. – Start of the stage.

17:00 – End of the stage and return to the camp.

7:30 pm – Dinner.

9:00 p.m. – Pitch the tent.

9:15 p.m. – Falling asleep completely exhausted next to running engines.

Max and Laurence had to deal with numerous problems: A rollover on the third day, a defective gear shift, electronic problems, a burst fuel line – not a day went by when Fabian didn’t have to work on the car. Meanwhile, Georg took care of the minds of the two Dakar drivers, who often resemble roller coaster rides.

The brothers were very happy that they made it to Yanbu. Her proud father hugged both of them at the finish.
An incomparable experience that they would recommend to every adventurer, according to Max Loder.