VW SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES TEST FOR NEW RACE TOUAREG
2010-08-12 18:30:57 Author: admin Source:
In preparation for the 2011 Dakar Rally, Volkswagen has put the new Race Touareg 3 through a series of stringent tests at Spanish and Moroccan destinations recently. Three weeks of testing at Mahmid, Morocco and the Erfoud test centre for the race version Touareg had been concluded and VW has been more than satisfied with the results and data it garnered. The team had planned to complete long runs of one and a half of the ‘Dakar’ distance, but got twice the number of test kilometres instead.
The Race Touareg 3 (RT3) is a successor of the diesel prototype from the model range 2 that had been successful twice in the legendary Dakar Rally handled the more than double "Dakar” distance without any technical problems and thus proved to be well prepared to tackle the remainder of the program before the Dakar Rally set for 1 January in Buenos Aires.
On 20 August, the "RT3” will be presented to the public for the first time in "Dakar” trim in Trier, Germany. From 11 to 18 September. it will make its competitive debut at the Silk Way Rally through Russia that starts in St. Petersburg and finishes in Sochi.
According to VW's Motorsport Director Kris Nissen, the latest Dakar challenger has a direct resemblance to the ‘RT2’. The ‘RT3’ has been built from its original platform of a new car and proven its reliability throughout the three weeks' test. In addition, the new, attractive aerodynamics of the RT3, which improves air flow with more efficient flow directed towards the inter-cooling and water cooling systems, proved its viability. The new flow of cooling air was thoroughly tested around Mahmid where temperatures reach 48 °C in the shade, which equates to the heat that prevails at the "Dakar”.
As the team set its sight on Erfoud for two weeks, the test schedule were focused in conditions resembling the "Dakar” as closely as possible. A 370-kilometre loop that was covered twice per day included dunes with vegetation and a large share of off-road tracks with river bed crossings. Sections with hard soil were on the agenda as well as soft sand passages.
In total, the Race Touareg 3 completed almost 10,000 kilometres of simulated special stages. This equates to the distance of an entire Formula 1 season and more than twice the special-stage distance at the Dakar.
All four "Dakar” duos participated in the tests as driver/co-driver combinations; Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz, who decided the past 2010 Dakar Rally in their favor with VW, Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk, the "Dakar” runners-up in January 2010, Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (above), the "Dakar” winners in the Race Touareg 2 in January 2009, and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford, who completed a one-twin for Volkswagen as the overall runners-up in 2009.
Edited/Images: VW
