2008 International GS Trophy Competition — Tunisia, North Africa – October 15-24, 2008
After four months of build-up and many more months of organisation and preparation, the inaugural GS Trophy is just days away. The trucks have been unloaded, the teams have unpacked their bags and the competitors are currently on location in Tunisia, ready for the action to get under way.
For those of you who have managed to avoid the hype in the lead-up to the event, the details are simple. For this inaugural year, teams from five countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and the USA) will have a chance to test their riding skills against each other in Africa, specifically the sand dunes of Tunisia. The event will witness some of the best amateur off-road riders from around the globe participate in a week of adventure riding, special tests, teamwork challenges and problem solving. Far from being a race, the GS Trophy is about the experience to be gained, the new friends to be made and the memories to be drawn from taking part in this landmark occasion.
The five GS Trophy teams line up with their F 800 GS motorcycles
For the riders who will go down in history as the first ever GS Trophy participants, it's been a long road to this point. To have made it this far, the riders have had to prove their skills during an arduous qualifying campaign. They will be joined by a selection of journalists from each team who were lucky enough to be selected by BMW Motorrad. Although slightly different in each country, qualification consisted of a host of potential GS Trophy heroes – typically customers who are actively part of the BMW lifestyle – demonstrating their riding skills to the judges and instructors in attendance. Simulating the types of challenging conditions the finalists would encounter, the qualification rounds identified the very best amateur riders who would thrive in the conditions expected in Tunisia.
The participants are:
Germany: Dirk Remmel, Alexander Métayer, Karl-Heinz Fetschele, Thomas Wolf, Timo Grosshans (press), Guido Bergmann (press).
Italy: Giacomo Algisi, Ennio Bragagni, Claudio Guerrini, Stefano Berton, Davide Nicoloso (press), Carlo Tenconi (press).
Japan: Takeshi Hara, Mamoru Kaji, Ikuo Hirano, Jun Yamada (press), Tsutomu Matsui (press), Katsuhisa Mikami (press).
Spain: Miguel Angel Galán-Ruiz, David Borcha-Mateos, Jordi Arnau-Vidal, David Palacios-Iglesias (press), Eduardo Cuesta-García (press), Alejandro Medina-Herreros (press).
USA: James Stoddard, Brad Hendry, Jason Adams, Jimmy Lewis (press), Jonathan Beck (press), Ryan Dudek (press).
Florian Baumeister, Marketing Manager for BMW Motorrad Germany, reveals that preparations are going according to plan. "All the preparations have gone well. On Monday all the bikes were delivered to Milan, where the Trophy was officially started," he says. "All the bikes were prepared by Touratech and fitted with tyres from Metzeler – ready to go for the desert. By Tuesday evening all the participants had arrived and had received a briefing. They also received their material for the trip which consisted of BMW Rallye 2 Pro suits, bags containing a tent, sleeping bag, a 'therm-a-rest' mattress, a compass and a head torch, and most importantly, their personal bike for the next 10 days. They were then informed about the first day on the bikes which involved a ride from Milan to the harbour of Genova, where the ferry to Tunis awaited."
The truck that transported all the rally bikes from Germany to Milano for the ferry to Africa
According to Florian, although the preparations have run smoothly, there have been challenges to overcome. "The organization and logistics of the bikes and all the material has been very tricky," he says. "Getting the teams together within all the national recruiting events, mainly the GS Challenges – in Japan, Spain and Germany – has also been a challenge."
As Florian suggests, the scale of the event is staggering. First, a truck packed with Touratech-prepared BMW F 800 GS motorcycles arrived in Milan, before being unloaded and the cargo distributed to the waiting participants. Then on the morning of departure, a 4x4 jeep led the group on the start of the journey, followed by the first of two large desert trucks that will carry all the essential spare parts and provisions required to sustain the participants and the support crew for over a week in the desert.
Although the final schedule will not be unveiled to the participants until they are deep in the Tunisian Sahara Desert, they can expect some of the most difficult off-road riding on the planet. They will also experience a variety of physical and mental challenges including orienteering, team and mechanical tests. Sleeping under the stars and avoiding hotel accommodation altogether, their endurance will be put to the test during an event they will never forget.
For Florian, the GS Trophy is an event that offers an opportunity to riders who might never get the chance to experience a life-changing motorcycle adventure. "Our vision is for the GS Trophy to be one of the most popular events in the Enduro world and an established event every year," he says. "People should dream of being part of that adventurous world and BMW Motorrad is preparing the basics for that." He also suggested that the event is already set to grow over the coming years. "This year's GS Trophy is just the start of the GS Trophy series, continuing next year. It will become bigger as more countries have already expressed their wish to join in," he concludes.
The German GS Trophy team
Thanks to sponsors Touratech, Metzeler and BOSCH, and to all those who have committed to the project, the 2008 GS Trophy is bound to be an event to remember.