A New Look at Rally Raids: Giving Regional Scale Races to Dakar. chances
- May 21, 2022
- 0
The time is now vague and uncertain. It seems that he has carefully predicted his plans, but everything collapses … This happens in many areas of our lives
The time is now vague and uncertain. It seems that he has carefully predicted his plans, but everything collapses … This happens in many areas of our lives and motorsport is unfortunately no exception. Quite recently, only the MAZ Sport Auto team was an outcast, which was not allowed to enter Dakar at the last minute for political reasons. They removed it very ugly: the athletes had already left for the competition and they were given a challenge at the last minute. Who has benefited from this? Definitely not a sport! The intrigue was removed from the main rally raid – there were no more significant competitors for the KAMAZ master team. KAMAZ workers competed with themselves and won a landslide victory!
Some time passed, and problems arose with performances at international competitions in all Russian sports. However, no one is going to hang a helmet on a carnation. As part of the National Rally Raid Championship, competitions were held in the Leningrad and Volgograd regions. But there were only cars. Trucks are not eligible to participate in the Northern Forest winter race. And at the Sands of Archeda rally, which took place in the Volgograd region in April, a last minute ban on large cars was introduced. As the organizers explained, there was snow on the fields two weeks before the race and there were serious fears that the ground would not have time to dry out. Powerful and heavy vehicles dig deep tracks in unpaved roads.
“Athletes cannot do without training,” said Mikhail Shklyaev, head of the cargo department of the GAZ Raid Sport team, two-time champion of Russia. – Various computer simulations are useful but cannot replace real driving in extreme rally conditions. We have a factory training ground, but the training there is not very effective – the length of the track is not that great and after a few laps the athlete already knows all the bends and the method of passing them. A full-fledged training includes the construction of a route of several kilometers and guaranteeing safety over the entire length. It is difficult and very expensive. It is necessary to involve a large number of people, to prohibit access to certain roads in order to call in the police. The most important rally of the 2022 season is just around the corner: the Silk Road. You have to prepare for it…
Likewise, they think not only in GAZ Reid Sport, but also in KAMAZ master and MAZ Sport Auto. A round of the Russian Rally Raid Cup is scheduled for the end of May, but no trucks will participate. And I really want to run.
Therefore, we decided to hold the Championship of the Volgograd region parallel to the Cup of Russia, to which it is quite possible to invite cargo participants. And what! Champions of Russia and Dakar winners! In general, the main cargo teams arrived from Russia, and actually from all over the world. This is how the regional championship went … At the same time, the best Russian athletes in the T3 category decided to race here – these are buggies.
Moreover, this competition is also interesting because it is… fair! The end result is not important. Agree, for the multiple winner of the championship of Russia or Dakar, it is hardly important to have a letter of pokatashok on a regional scale. Everyone just wanted to show their skills, spread the blood. Tricks are not necessary. What could be the tricks? There are many in the arsenal of athletes!
For example, when a team from Naberezhnye Chelny travels in several crews, there is always a clear division of roles. There is a leader for whom the whole team works. Of the five cars, two will be technicians, and their job is to move in the tail and provide assistance to the main crews if necessary. The capabilities of the GAZ Reid Sport and MAZ Sport Auto teams are more modest – the funding is orders of magnitude less! But they also have a strategy, there are obvious and non-obvious leaders.
And that’s only part of the trick. So, practiced and a direct violation of the rules. For example, the use of navigators in rally roundups is prohibited. However, the quest is not satisfying and the athletes have the right equipment. There was even a special profession – “mapper” (from the English map – map). After receiving a road book, the navigator takes a picture of it and sends it to the mapper, which draws out the most optimal route using the whole possible arsenal of maps. As a result, the navigator ceases to be a navigator. He is not allowed to work on the road book – warn the pilot about dangerous places and dictate turns from the navigator. But in the current race everything is different – the participants are testing their own skills and there is no point in cheating. They drive fair!
There are a total of three competition days. The first is a 20 kilometer prologue. The second – three circles of 80 km each. The last third day consists of two rounds of 80 kilometers. In total, more than 400 kilometers will have to be conquered. Athletes on buggies have taken on bigger obligations: they compete in the Russian Cup and the regional championship. Therefore, on the second day there are two tracks – the Cup and the regional (in total – about five hundred kilometers). An impressive figure, even by rally-raid standards!
– We compete in three crews, – says the pilot of the GAZ Reid Sport team, the current champion of Russia Alexei Khlebov. — Our team is fundamentally different from the main rivals in that all machines are built on standard components and assemblies. The ones used on the conveyor belt in Nizhny Novgorod. For example, the factory tests GAZ vehicles, checks new technical solutions. That is why the rally is not just a race for us. My position at the factory is test driver. We will test our cars in the combat conditions of the rally, determine the future of the Russian car industry …
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Photo avtovzglyad.ru
Photo avtovzglyad.ru
Photo avtovzglyad.ru
Photo avtovzglyad.ru
Some time passed, and problems arose with performances at international competitions in all Russian sports. However, no one is going to hang a helmet on a carnation. As part of the National Rally Raid Championship, competitions were held in the Leningrad and Volgograd regions. But there were only cars. Trucks are not eligible to participate in the Northern Forest winter race. And at the Sands of Archeda rally, which took place in the Volgograd region in April, a last minute ban on large cars was introduced. As the organizers explained, there was snow on the fields two weeks before the race and there were serious fears that the ground would not have time to dry out. Powerful and heavy vehicles dig deep tracks in unpaved roads.
“Athletes cannot do without training,” said Mikhail Shklyaev, head of the cargo department of the GAZ Raid Sport team, two-time champion of Russia. – Various computer simulations are useful but cannot replace real driving in extreme rally conditions. We have a factory training ground, but the training there is not very effective – the length of the track is not that great and after a few laps the athlete already knows all the bends and the method of passing them. A full-fledged training includes the construction of a route of several kilometers and guaranteeing safety over the entire length. It is difficult and very expensive. It is necessary to involve a large number of people, to prohibit access to certain roads in order to call in the police. The most important rally of the 2022 season is just around the corner: the Silk Road. You have to prepare for it…
Likewise, they think not only in GAZ Reid Sport, but also in KAMAZ master and MAZ Sport Auto. A round of the Russian Rally Raid Cup is scheduled for the end of May, but no trucks will participate. And I really want to run.
Therefore, we decided to hold the Championship of the Volgograd region parallel to the Cup of Russia, to which it is quite possible to invite cargo participants. And what! Champions of Russia and Dakar winners! In general, the main cargo teams arrived from Russia, and actually from all over the world. This is how the regional championship went … At the same time, the best Russian athletes in the T3 category decided to race here – these are buggies.
Moreover, this competition is also interesting because it is… fair! The end result is not important. Agree, for the multiple winner of the championship of Russia or Dakar, it is hardly important to have a letter of pokatashok on a regional scale. Everyone just wanted to show their skills, spread the blood. Tricks are not necessary. What could be the tricks? There are many in the arsenal of athletes!
For example, when a team from Naberezhnye Chelny travels in several crews, there is always a clear division of roles. There is a leader for whom the whole team works. Of the five cars, two will be technicians, and their job is to move in the tail and provide assistance to the main crews if necessary. The capabilities of the GAZ Reid Sport and MAZ Sport Auto teams are more modest – the funding is orders of magnitude less! But they also have a strategy, there are obvious and non-obvious leaders.
And that’s only part of the trick. So, practiced and a direct violation of the rules. For example, the use of navigators in rally roundups is prohibited. However, the quest is not satisfying and the athletes have the right equipment. There was even a special profession – “mapper” (from the English map – map). After receiving a road book, the navigator takes a picture of it and sends it to the mapper, which draws out the most optimal route using the whole possible arsenal of maps. As a result, the navigator ceases to be a navigator. He is not allowed to work on the road book – warn the pilot about dangerous places and dictate turns from the navigator. But in the current race everything is different – the participants are testing their own skills and there is no point in cheating. They drive fair!
There are a total of three competition days. The first is a 20 kilometer prologue. The second – three circles of 80 km each. The last third day consists of two rounds of 80 kilometers. In total, more than 400 kilometers will have to be conquered. Athletes on buggies have taken on bigger obligations: they compete in the Russian Cup and the regional championship. Therefore, on the second day there are two tracks – the Cup and the regional (in total – about five hundred kilometers). An impressive figure, even by rally-raid standards!
– We compete in three crews, – says the pilot of the GAZ Reid Sport team, the current champion of Russia Alexei Khlebov. — Our team is fundamentally different from the main rivals in that all machines are built on standard components and assemblies. The ones used on the conveyor belt in Nizhny Novgorod. For example, the factory tests GAZ vehicles, checks new technical solutions. That is why the rally is not just a race for us. My position at the factory is test driver. We will test our cars in the combat conditions of the rally, determine the future of the Russian car industry …
SUBSCRIBE FOR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
PORTAL “AVTOVGLYAD” IN TELEGRAM
Source: Avto Vzglyad
I’m Sandra Torres, a passionate journalist and content creator. My specialty lies in covering the latest gadgets, trends and tech news for Div Bracket. With over 5 years of experience as a professional writer, I have built up an impressive portfolio of published works that showcase my expertise in this field.
