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 | When the Dakar Rally starts to its maiden round in South America in 2009 the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 will prove its purpose and character. The 280-hp cross-country rally prototype has been designed to perfectly master one of the "Dakar” principles: "Expect the Unexpected”. Hard, stony and thus difficult-to-drive-on ground, soft sand in the "Atacama”, the world’s driest desert with the highest dune fields on earth, as well as extreme passages through water – all this is awaiting the high-tech 4 x 4 vehicle during the toughest test motorsport has to offer: a test of reliability in order to reach the finish at the end of 14 tough legs leading across a distance amounting to some 9,000 kilometres – and a test of performance capability in order to master these conditions as the best overall contender. "One of the big challenges for us, the engineers and technicians, in cross-country rally sport is that the components have to function in different climatic conditions and on extremely varied ground,” says Andreas Lautner, Technical Director of Volkswagen Motorsport. "40 degrees Celsius, for example on desert sections, or temperatures around zero while crossing the Andes are equally typical in this sport – particularly at the ‘Dakar’. And all this is combined with extreme mechanical loads acting on the components. In addition, the ‘Dakar’ is the complete opposite of disciplines like Formula 1. Instead of operating in clinically clean conditions, the mechanics have to keep the vehicles in perfect shape even when the cars are extremely dirty. And they have to do so across a distance of a Formula 1 season condensed into the space of two weeks. This is an ideal discipline to prove technical prowess.” | ||
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