Name: John Kelly
Age: 30
City and Country of Residence: Gaborone, Botswana 🇧🇼🇧🇼
Dakar 2022 Class: Original by Motul
Race number: 115
Married: No
Spouse’s name: N/A
First Dakar?: Yes
Previous Dakar’s? Provide year(s): None
In this space, please provide a short history of your racing career.:
My first experience with Uniglide was at the 2021 Kalahari Rally, A six day, multistage event covering roughly 3500km of cross country racing, where I competed against 3 factory teams including Husqvarna, Yamaha and KTM. All three teams fielded Dakar prospective riders all featuring bikes that compete in the world renowned event, beating out all three teams.
Before the event we treated the bike I would be using(A 2018 KTM 450 Six days) with 3% Uniglide FRC, servicing it each night and topping up the new oil with 2% FRC. Throughout the whole event, till Today the bike has run seamlessly, including several Dakar preparation rides. All with out having to do a full engine rebuild.
Thus far, I have noticed a decrease in fuel consumption and an increase in performance, as well as reliability. In a finer detail, I would say that I have experienced a 10%-15% decrease in fuel consumption, power output I would say 15% as well, we are just waiting to take the bike to South Africa to be put on a dynamometer, Which we are planning to do before the rebuild as well as after when we bake all the bearings, piston, piston sleeve, conrod, crank shaft, valves and camshaft in Uniglide.
What made you want to do the Dakar?:
It will be my first time. I was, inspired by Ross Branch Vincent Crosbie and James Alexander. I always thought this dream was unrealistic to achieve. When I rode my first Kalahari rally in 2019, I fell in love with the combination of navigation and speed. The Dakar sort of called me. I just had to go.
Any significant achievements:
Your biggest inspiration:
Your biggest supporter(s):
My plan for Dakar 2022:
Brand of bike or car:KTM 450 Rallye
Who will be your support at Dakar 2022:
