The United States Has An Excellent Interstate Highway System

     The roads in the United States are excellent roads, and if you make a large road trip you can find a variety of climates, like a sunny or a stormy day.  This happens specially on the east coast like the I-95, which goes through 16 states (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, District Of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine).  This is a video of a stormy weather near Richmond (Virginia):

     There are also the I-75, which goes through 6 states (Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan); This is a video of  a rainy day near Atlanta (Georgia):

And The I-85, which goes through 5 states (Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia).

     There is a total of 67 primary Interstate Highways in The United States, and all of them are excellent roads.

Get Ready For The 2015 Caminos Del Inca Rally

     After the bad decision of the Peruvian government to retire from the organization of the 2016 Dakar Rally, The Peruvian Car Club (Peruvian car racing authority) is organizing the 2015 Caminos Del Inca Rally, which is a rally that the club organize every year, so now, Peruvian car racing fans have a rally to watch.  This Rally will start on October 10th. from Huaral and will finish on October 18th. in Lima.  This Rally is 3,159 kilometers long (2,270 are timed, and 889 are connections).  This is the route's map:

Map courtesy of  http://elcomercio.pe/

Logo courtesy of http://www.rallycaminosdelinca.net/
   

The 2016 Dakar Rally New Route

     After the wrong decision of the Peruvian government to retire from the organization of the 2016 Dakar Rally, the organizers of Dakar have come with an alternate new route thanks to the Argentinian and Bolivian governments.  Argentina and Bolivia will host the rally.  This is the new route of the 2016 Dakar Rally:

Program of the 2016 Dakar:

31/12 and 01/01: Administrative and technical checks

02/01: Start podium in Buenos Aires

03/01: Buenos Aires - Villa Carlos Paz

04/01: Villa Carlos Paz - Termas de Río Hondo

05/01: Termas de Río Hondo - Jujuy

06/01: Jujuy - Jujuy

07/01: Jujuy - Uyuni

08/01: Uyuni - Uyuni

09/01: Uyuni - Salta

10/01: Rest day in Salta

11/01: Salta - Belén

12/01: Belén - Belén

13/01: Belén - La Rioja

14/01: La Rioja - San Juan

15/01: San Juan - Villa Carlos Paz

16/01: Villa Carlos Paz - Rosario

Courtesy of http://www.dakar.com/  

Picture courtesy of http://www.dakar.com/

Lima Traffic Jams Problems And Its Solutions. Discovery Channel Video Highlights.

     We all know that the traffic in Lima Peru is chaotic because most of the car drivers don´t respect traffic signs, and don´t care about each other.  They just want to get to their destination anyway they can.  Most of the worst drivers are the bus drivers.  They do anything to get a passenger and sometimes race between each other causing accidents.  They don´t stop at the specific bus stops because They stop where they want, and are all over the roads.  There are 200 thousand taxis in Lima for 9 million people which is similar to the population of New York which only has 30 thousand taxis.  There are way too many taxis in Lima.  In general, Lima has too many cars, taxis, and buses for the current avenues and streets, causing a lot of traffic jams and pollution.  Also Pedestrians don´t help to solve the problem because most of them don´t respect traffic signs.  It is a cultural and educational problem.  There has to be more education for drivers and pedestrians, the public transportation system has to be better organized, and there has to be a better and bigger roads infrastructure.

     Part of the traffic in Lima is shown in this video from the Discovery channel  called Don´t Drive Here Lima:

Video courtesy of Discovery Channel

Picture courtesy of Discovery Channel

The Peruvian Government Retired From The Organization Of The 2016 Dakar Rally

     The Peruvian government in a surprise decision retired from the organization of the 2016 Dakar Rally.  This is what the Dakar organizers said about this decision:

The Organizers of the Dakar have acknowledged the final decision of the Peruvian authorities to cancel the Inca Desafío, which was scheduled to be held this coming 11 to 13 September, as well as the stages of the 2016 Dakar that were presented last April during a joint press conference.

• 

Due to forecasts concerning the El Nino weather phenomenon, which is expected to be extremely violent this year, the Peruvian government has decided to make this issue a national priority by ensuring that all state services are able to mobilize if necessary to help the population that could be affected.
While hoping that the people of Peru will not have to face these predicted disasters, the entire Dakar organizing team is already hard at work to create an alternative route with optimal sporting and safety conditions both in Argentina and Bolivia.
The Dakar organizing team is at the disposal of all the competitors who have already entered to provide all relative information concerning these route changes in a timely manner.
The final route of the 2016 Dakar will be announced in the second half of September.

Statement courtesy of http://www.dakar.com/

     This is the statement from the Peruvian government:

COMUNICADO

El Ministerio de Comercio Exterior y Turismo comunica a la opinión pública, que en vista del impacto que el Fenómeno del Niño podría tener en distintas zonas del país y, en previsión a los efectos en la población como consecuencia del mismo, se ha decidido cancelar la participación en los eventos automovilísticos Dakar Series 2015 y Rally Dakar 2016.

El anuncio de la participación del Perú en este evento, se realizó cuando la predicción de dicho fenómeno no había  alcanzado las condiciones actuales, tal como lo a comunicado recientemente el Comite Multisectorial del Estudio Nacional del Fenómeno del Niño (ENFEN).

Esta decisión obedece a la necesaria priorización para atenuar los efectos sobre la población.

Lima, 24 de agosto de 2015


OFICINA DE COMUNICACIONES Y PROTOCOLO
MINISTERIO DE COMERCIO EXTERIOR Y TURISMO

Statement courtesy of MINCETUR

     I think that it is a bad decision from the Peruvian government.  The Inca Desafío Rally was going to be this September, which is before the El Niño weather phenomenon, and the organizers of the Dakar always check for all the unexpected things than can happen during The Dakar Rally (including weather phenomenons), and reduce all possible risks to a minimum.  I think that the Peruvian government is not telling the complete story about its decision.  For example, the Peruvian driver Fernando Ferrand Malatesta (6 times Dakar Rally competitor) said "I am sad because of the news because it leaves the country in a bad situation.  The government have searched for an excuse that have no sense"

Fernando Ferrand Malatesta interview courtesy of http://www.rpp.com.pe/2015-08-24-dakar-2016-ferrand-malatesta-acusa-al-gobierno-de-crear-una-cortina-de-humo-noticia_829762.html

     It is true that the El Niño weather phenomenon is going to be very strong in Peru, but I think that The 2016 Dakar Rally can be done in Peru with great help from the organizers of the Dakar.

The 2015/2016 Niño weather phenomenon

Picture courtesy of http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/
                                       

Salvador Ricci Won The Fifth Race Of The Peruvian Circuit Championship (CCTC) 2015

     The fifth race of the Peruvian Circuit Championship (CCTC) 2015 at La Chutana Circuit in Lima was  won by Salvador Ricci.  With this victory, Salvador got closer to his nearest competitors like Cristhian Kobashigawa, Jean Paul Peyón and Mauricio Paredes.  The next race will be at La Chutana Circuit in September.  This is a video of the race:

     These are some pictures of the race:

Picture courtesy of http://mundotuerca.com.pe

Picture courtesy of http://mundotuerca.com.pe

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) Won The Hungarian Grand Prix

     The Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring was won by Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), followed by Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull), and Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull).

     These are the current standings of this year´s F1 Drivers World Championship:

1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	202
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	181
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	160
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	77
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	76

     These are the current standings of this year´s F1 Constructors World Championship:

1	Mercedes	383
2	Ferrari	236
3	Williams	151
4	Red Bull	96
5	Force India	39

     The next race will be the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on August 23rd.

Picture courtesy of www.formula1.com