Michael Seefeldt died on the 2nd day of the UAE Desert Challenge 2002.

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A really unfortunate and almost predictable fatal mistake costed Michael Seefeldt his life at the UAE Desert Challenge 2002. Unhappy because I worked in a Service Team for some friends myself at the rally and spoke to Michael at a service point before the terrible accident. When he came through (picture above) I filled his camel bag and reminded him to drink a lot.

Why? All the drivers who had passed earlier were exhausted and really tired - they all didn't look really fit anymore - the heat was extreme! Michael said it would be okay - we already drove this thing last year, he said. Yes - in 2000 we drove the race together!? *

We took off the sleeves of his rallye jacket to avoid a build-up of heat and he drove off.

Only 2 hours later he went a little off track and due to that probably also tortured his bike to get back on the right track. Doing so, he must have had some missfiring of the engine, which caused the Airfilter to catch fire and destroyed the same.

Michael had already reworked he filter using his undershirt and was apparently ready to drive on. If he had set off the emergency signal, the helicopter would have come and everything would have been OK, but it would have taken him out of the race. Perhaps this also was one of the unfortunate circumstances that put him in this bad position. He probably didn't really feel bad either and had already had shoot off an emergency signal and tried to catch attention from other riders - he probably just was looking for a buddy to drive with and not beeing just on his own.

Obviously he was not aware of his critical condition! I've seen this before in other accidents! The Camelbags usually still were half full -

so it never was an drinking water problem! People don't even want to drink anymore because their stomach feels full of water! I have discovered that my own before. What at the end was the root cause? For me it clearly was a massive dehydration followed by muscle cramps - if the cramps then reach the heart, thats it! This explaination is backed up by in another report on this web page which is called "The Limit".

I certainly was not his best or closest friend, but through this event I was probably closer to him than I thought myself. Why? The incident kept me busy for another year (another story) and we were very much alike.

Michael was a perfectionist (like me), he loved his sport more than anything (like me), and nothing would stop him from doing it over and over again (like me). We're not talking about a real professional rider who makes his living through racing, and not a pretender, who had to prove something to his friends. He would have been doing this without spectators and this perfection could also be seen on every single piece of his equipment! He was always 100% prepared. He never talked much and preferred to stay in the background, listening to people and watching them - this was Michael. He just had fun racing with like-minded people in the desert.

Thanks Michael, nice to have met you!