Rally Raid
This is the sort of extreme engineering required to finish the Dakar Rally
The Dakar is the toughest event in the world for any type of vehicle, so it's no surprise that constructors go to great lengths to ensure their cars, bikes and trucks remain competitive. Here's how.
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With some of the most testing environments on Earth, it’s little surprise that constructors taking part in the Dakar Rally have had to come up with some fancy ways to make sure their vehicles can cope. What’s even more intriguing about these rally-raiders is how low-tech some of their solutions are. So we're taking a look at the ways the Dakar has played midwife to innovation.
01
Support vehicles
The harsh conditions of the Dakar Rally mean contenders have to be in high-performance mode and have extreme endurance at all times. The trade-off is that the vehicles are equally high maintenance. All Dakar vehicles need constant TLC to keep them literally firing on all cylinders. This is where the rally’s support vehicles come in. These 1,000-horsepower big rig behemoths are usually retired race vehicles from the truck category.
As huge and heavy as these 10-tonne monsters are, they’re also surprisingly nimble, able to catch air like a halfpipe snowboarder and would easily outpace the average car on the road. Inside, the capacious interior carries up to 60,000 replacement parts for all occasions and mobile repair facilities which put most urban bodyshops to shame. These would effectively allow the support team to rebuild the competing car or bike in its entirety.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's mobile workshop
© Flavien Duhamel / Red Bull Content Pool
02
Mechanical improvisation
Much work goes into the design and construction of Dakar machines and real-time innovations take place within each category. Vehicles have to be manufactured as per the standards of the production model, without modification and teams have limited access to support vehicles during the competition. This means that when something goes wrong, it’s up to the team to find a way to fix it.
Despite the huge distances and conditions in play, the timings between the teams are often extremely close – a delay of just 20 minutes to fix a major component could cost a team a podium place.
In 2010, after a catastrophic failure of his brake system, Carlos Souza of Mitsubishi spent 90 minutes improvising a workaround using lengths of fuel lines to control brake fluid and a pair of pliers taped to the front suspension. While a lesser driver would have thrown in the towel, Souza’s quick handiwork got him through the stage and enabled him to finish sixth overall.
Two-time Dakar winner Kevin Benavides works on his machine
© DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool
03
Electronic roadbook
It’s impossible to overstate how important the roadbook is at the Dakar Rally, it serves as a map of the stage. Since the Dakar shifted to Saudi Arabia there has been a move to implement an electronic roadbook across all categories. The electronic roadbook fulfils the double objective of limiting the influence of the differences in resources between the teams, thanks to distribution at the start of the special stage, and to facilitate training for those who are less experienced with the paper version of the roadbook.
More Dakar Rally content on Red Bull TV
04
Chassis design
While technically based on existing production models, most of the vehicles in Dakar’s car category take only the loosest inspiration from their source material. Generally speaking, Dakar cars are tube-frame designs built out of lightweight, space-travel materials such as carbon fibre-reinforced plastic and Kevlar.
The most common designs borrow from buggy-style carchitecture, with a broad wheelbase for stability and a high-ride position to keep the vulnerable underfloor clear of clogging sand and slashing rocks.
The body panels are cut high and tight to reduce the chances of them snagging or being ripped off entirely. Beyond these common denominators, however, different teams diverge massively depending on their needs.
For example, temperatures during a 24-hour period range from over 40 degrees Celsius during the day to minus five degrees Celsius at night, meaning the cars need advanced temperature control systems inside and out.
The chassis of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Hilux features 17-inch Evo Corse alloy wheels with 37-inch BF Goodrich tyres in addition to double wishbone front suspension with 350mm travel complimented by double wishbone rear suspension with 350mm travel.
Lucas Moraes
© Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
05
Fuel management
First created in ’82, Honda’s proprietary programmable fuel injection system (PGM-FI) has gone through major redevelopment to make the CRF450-X model Honda competitive at the Dakar. By controlling the flow of fuel in accordance with feedback from sensors mounted on the bike, PGM-FI provides maximum flexibility and minimum stress for riders to cope with the conditions as they ride.
This attention to detail paid dividends for Team Honda HRC at back-to-back editions of the Dakar in 2020 and 2021. The Japanese manufacturer’s two Dakar wins broke KTM’s never-to-be-seen-again streak of 18 consecutive victories in the two-wheel category.
06
Sustainable biofuel
Prodrive were the first major team to compete with a new generation of advanced sustainable fuel at the Dakar. Prodrive have since helped Sébastien Loeb to a pair of runner-up finishes at the Dakar, demonstrating that such sustainable fuels can be used as a direct replacement for fossil fuels in standard production vehicles.
Prodrive developed the sustainable fuel in conjunction with UK-based Coryton Advanced Fuels. Called Prodrive EcoPower, it has been specifically developed to demonstrate the environmental benefits of the latest sustainable fuel technology. The main components are generation 2 biofuel, manufactured from agricultural waste and efuels created by capturing carbon from the atmosphere. As a result, the fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent compared to equivalent petrol.
Sébastien Loeb in Morocco
© Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
07
Digital systems
The mechanical mantra for Dakar teams is to keep things simple – after all, the less there is, the less there is to go wrong. When it comes to onboard electronics, however, the sky’s the limit.
Reducing the number of times the team have to stop for repairs, tinkering or adjustments is critical to a Dakar win, meaning there’s a major advantage to onboard health checks and feedback sensors and other smart ways to help the vehicle respond to its environment.
A recent fashion in the four-wheel categories is to feature a remote tyre pressure system, allowing the driver to inflate or deflate the tyres on the go to cope with what’s happening underneath them, making them instantly floppier for sand or firmer for stretches of rocky tracks.
As well as meaning the driver doesn't have to fiddle around looking for the right screwdriver to keep the valve open at an awkward time, this also has a marked effect on fuel economy, which is particularly important when you’re 500km away from the nearest petrol station.
More Dakar Rally content to watch
08
Audi's electric drivetrain
Ahead of its third outing in the Dakar Rally, the rally prototype with its pioneering electric drivetrain with a high-voltage battery and an energy converter has received innovations in many areas. Audi drivers Mattias Ekström, Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz will benefit from numerous detail improvements in January 2024. The new ideas make the RS Q e-tron safer, more reliable, more comfortable and a little lighter, as well as having shorter maintenance times for the team.
In January 2024, Audi will take on the world’s toughest desert rally for the third time with its low-emission vehicle. “What the RS Q e-tron is fundamentally capable of has been demonstrated by our drivers and co-drivers with six stage victories and 22 other single-day podium results at the Dakar Rally since 2022,” says Rolf Michl, Head of Audi Motorsport.
“Now it’s a matter of showing our performance as steadily as possible so that we can fight for top positions.” Audi Sport has analysed the previous outings, identified weak points and set clear priorities for further development. Dr. Leonardo Pascali, the project’s new Technical Director, has focused on five key topics with his development team since the early summer.
Stéphane Peterhansel is after a 15th Dakar title
© Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
09
Mission 1000
Mission 1000 is a new concept that has been developed to test cutting-edge technologies on the Dakar's topography. 100km sections separate from the stages that make up the rally, adding up to 1,000km will help constructors find out what technical options are worth pursuing in the future.
The ten vehicles embarking on this historic first Mission 1000 will make their first appearance at the start of the prologue in AlUla of the 2024 Dakar Rally. While the challenge is not intended as a competition, several assessment criteria have been defined to put the vehicles through their paces and keep the riders and drivers on their toes. Three engine types have been selected for Mission 1000: fully electric / fully hydrogen-powered / hybrid technology.
10
Power control
Rear-wheel drive cars have their advantages at the rally, with BMW/MINI in particular favouring the set-up. Although it means the cars lose traction in some of the more testing stretches, it lowers their weight, hugely improves their straight-line speed on flats and gives them advantages over their all-wheel drive competition, such as being able to fly straight over potholes and bulldusts without slowing.
But while Dakar’s rules place very specific limits on the cars’ engines, the suspension is what translates the power of the motor into performance on the road. It’s not easily done – the road surface changes wildly and changes often. Cars have to deal with low-grade gravel roads, rocky inclines, sand dunes and mud bogs. This is what makes Dakar a living laboratory for advanced suspension systems.
Toby Price on the dunes
© Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
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