Buggyra Preparing Dakar 2015
Calama/Iquique - Still before the end of this year ´s Dakar Rally the Tatra Buggyra Racing team already plans the next year right in the venue of the competition on the basis of the countless experience and knowledge that cannot be simulated anywhere else. The accumulated data will also be used as the basis for further development by the Kopřivnice automobile factory Tatra. New information from the extreme conditions is gold-worth and so even if prematurely withdrawing the team will certainly not return home empty-handed.
"To leave the competition prematurely was very hard for us but when be looked back with cooled head we had to acknowledge correctness of the decision. Now we try to look at the positives only, for Dakar is an unrivalled competition. We analyse in detail everything that happened to us and try to find the best concept for the next year," is a restored positive look at Dakar adopted again by the pilot Martin Kolomý.
His crew entered the Dakar rally for the first time this year with a brand new vehicle, the Tatra 815 Buggyra. As the competition accelerates the acing special brought about a number of innovative or even revolutionary solutions. Development was implemented in close intense cooperation with the Tatra automobile factory. All material knowledge is to be applied by the factory to serial production. Therefore knowledge obtained at Dakar will help develop standard components with a positive impact on civil drivers. "Installation of disc brakes, which will soon also appear in routine production, brings about a number of related issues, which we manage to reveal one by one. We could continue with drum brakes but even this solution is connected with a number of issues for the axle construction with drum brakes is outdated today and unable to compete with the top with the present speed of Dakar," was the comparison of the two systems by the pilot Martin Kolomý, who mentioned in particular that the new disc brakes face the issue of insufficient heat transfer which will required adaptation of the design of several components of the system. "Now we want to assess everything, learn the lesson and prepare very carefully for the next year. I believe we will be back here again next year with the ambition to struggle for the top ranks! Even this year, when we first introduced our new concept, we were able to ride as quickly as the best trucks and if it were not for the problems with the front axle I dare say we would stay at the top for the rest of the race,” the technical director of Buggyra Robin Dolejš refused to stand with both feet firmly on the ground.
Correctness of the decision to withdraw from the Dakar competition was verified by the crew in the course of the 700 km long transfer to the start of the Tuesday 9th stage in Calama. The teams had to cross the mountains. After crossing the mountain pass at 4175 m above sea level the crews looked forward to the descent but soon after that they had to climb up to five thousand metres above sea level where they stayed for another six hours. "The scenes were beautiful but the air was so thin that some nearly fainted. We adapted the ride to our Fat Boy with the front axle for emergency move only, but we said to ourselves that if anything bad occurred to us there we could not imagine repairing anything under these conditions, let alone the steep slopes around the road," the co-pilot David Kilián expressed in words the chills running down his spine.
Stage 9 reached the northernmost pint of the Dakar route at Iquique, where the pilots saw the ocean for the first time. In the context of the measured section of the stage they swallowed mouthfuls of dust and, above all, the Atacam dunes. The last three kilometres prepared another extreme - the trucks descended literally a thousand metres above sea level. The victory belonged, for the third time this year, to the Russian Karginov, winning over the overall leader of the competition De Rooy like the day before. "The Russians were successful this time. The difference between the third ranking Nikolaev and the fourth ranking Sotnikov was a mere second! This is an incredible difference in such a route," reminded of the traditional strength of the Kamaz trucks the withdrawing pilot Martin Kolomý.
De Rooy has not lost his overall lead so far, although the loss of the second ranking Karginov behind the Dutch pilot is mere thirteen minutes.
Loprais was again the quickest of the remaining Czech crews. After the individual fifth rank in the stage his interim overall rank is the same. The trucks with Gyrtech heart occupied the twelfth rank on Tuesday thanks to Ardavichus and Vrátný ranked nineteenth. In the interim ranking Vildman, Vrátný and Tománek follow each other beginning from the fifteenth rank.
Results - Stage 9 (422 km): 1. Karginov (RUS) Kamaz 4:58:09, 2. De Rooy (NED) Iveco +19:07, 3. Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz +28:47, 4. Sotnikov (RUS) Kamaz +28:48, 5. Loprais (CZE) Tatra +40:05, 12. Ardavichus (KAZ) Tatra +1:18:53, 15. Tománek (CZE) Tatra +1:28:10, 19. Vrátný (CZE) Tatra +1:50:34, 20. Vildman (CZE) Liaz +1:50:56.
Overall: 1. De Rooy (NED) Iveco +36:37:45, 2. Karginov (RUS) Kamaz +13:28, 3. Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz +1:21:41, 4. Sotnikov (RUS) Kamaz +1:33:07, 5. Loprais (CZE) Tatra +2:09:25, 15. Vildman (CZE) Liaz +8:28:54, 16. Vrátný (CZE) Tatra +8:30:44, 17. Tománek (CZE) Tatra +9:29:12, 21. Ardavichus (KAZ) Tatra +11:54:53.
