TornadoRed
Top Post Dawg
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2003
- Location
- West Des Moines (formerly St Paul)
- TDI
- 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, silver; 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, indigo blue; 2003 Golf GL 5-spd, red (PARTED); 2003 Golf GLS 5-spd, indigo blue (SOLD); 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, Candy White (SOLD)
Dakar 2015 is underway in South America, and Volkswagen Motorsport is nowhere to be seen. The WRC-champion Polo R? Nope, only a few local teams with miscellaneous VW chassis.
The guys who drove for VW in the recent past? Nasser al-Attiyah is with Mini, Giniel De Villiers for Toyota, Carlos Sainz with Peugeot, Carlos Sousa with Mitsubishi.
It will still be fun to watch -- NBC Sports channel has a half-hour daily summary.
"Peugeot has developed a radical diesel-powered two-wheel drive buggy that it believes will give it an advantage over the four-wheel drive Minis.
"Even though the four-wheel drive will give the Minis better traction in the desert stages Peugeot is confident that its lighter, more agile two-wheel drive 2008 DKR buggies can conquer the terrain."
(snip)
Another contender for overall honours in the car category is 2009 winner De Villiers. The South African will tackle the event in a Toyota HiLux he has spent the past three years developing into a serious off-road racer.
A dark horse for the car title is American Robby Gordon, who is always fast but has usually struck trouble. The former NASCAR and Indycar winner is competing in an off-roader racer built by his own team.
Based on his former Hummer-based racer, the Gordini is a smaller, lighter two-wheel drive machine that Gordon has spent 12 months testing and developing in the US.
"This car is better than my best Hummer," a confident Gordon said. "The objective is still the same. I am not coming to relax, but rather to win. As a team owner, I have to admit that the Dakar is the hardest event I know." (end of quote)
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsp...ughest-race-in-the-world-20150103-12h0z9.html
The guys who drove for VW in the recent past? Nasser al-Attiyah is with Mini, Giniel De Villiers for Toyota, Carlos Sainz with Peugeot, Carlos Sousa with Mitsubishi.
It will still be fun to watch -- NBC Sports channel has a half-hour daily summary.
"Peugeot has developed a radical diesel-powered two-wheel drive buggy that it believes will give it an advantage over the four-wheel drive Minis.
"Even though the four-wheel drive will give the Minis better traction in the desert stages Peugeot is confident that its lighter, more agile two-wheel drive 2008 DKR buggies can conquer the terrain."
(snip)
Another contender for overall honours in the car category is 2009 winner De Villiers. The South African will tackle the event in a Toyota HiLux he has spent the past three years developing into a serious off-road racer.
A dark horse for the car title is American Robby Gordon, who is always fast but has usually struck trouble. The former NASCAR and Indycar winner is competing in an off-roader racer built by his own team.
Based on his former Hummer-based racer, the Gordini is a smaller, lighter two-wheel drive machine that Gordon has spent 12 months testing and developing in the US.
"This car is better than my best Hummer," a confident Gordon said. "The objective is still the same. I am not coming to relax, but rather to win. As a team owner, I have to admit that the Dakar is the hardest event I know." (end of quote)
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsp...ughest-race-in-the-world-20150103-12h0z9.html