At home on race track and road

 “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games,” once said Ernest ‘Papa’ Hemingway.

To all of us, and I suspect you too since you’re reading this, motorsport is the ultimate high; the sight of cars going sideways, of pulling gravity defying jumps gets our adrenaline pumping like nothing else. But let us not forget that the high octane world of motorsport is also a tailor-made avenue for  manufacturers to gauge fruits of their R&D.

In all probability it might comes as a shock to our home grown automobile manufacturers (for who sports starts and ends with cricket) but the truth is that the cars and bikes of tomorrow have roots in the machines whizzing across race tracks, rally routes and desert sands today. Besides the R&D aspect, motorsport is also ideal arena for manufacturers to build their reputations, image and identity and to  set themselves apart from the competition. A prime example is Subaru, which before the World Rally program was just another Japanese manufacturer putting out quirky and reliable cars. On entering rallying, Subaru came to be known for its boxer engine and four-wheel drivetrain while the vibrant 555 ciggie livery on the blue Impreza going flat-out over a crest is an image indelibly imprinted on my mind.

Be it WTCC, MotoGP, F1, WRC or rally raids, motorsport provides an ideal environment to develop and test vehicles in. Vehicles are tailored to suit each category of motorsport in line with its specific rules and regulations. This spurs evolution of racing prototypes that may resemble road-going vehicles  but you can be sure are worlds apart.

While WRC cars look similar to road cars, the SUVs and motorcycles built for rally raids and cross country are faster, more agile and most importantly way, way tougher than their road cousins. In fact it is the sheer demanding and uncompromising nature of terrarin on rally raids that have prompted manufacturers to take part in it, over say conventinal rallies. And in a way it better relates to their products - SUVs.  

Mitsubishi for example discontinued its WRC programme despite the Evo’s success and concentrated efforts on winning the Dakar rally (toughest motorsport event); success on which would  rub off on its entire fleet and thus leading to more road car sales.

Volkswagen’s rally-raid version of the Touareg today is the only worthy competition to the mighty Montero on the 16-day Dakar marathon across the Atlas mountains in Morocco and into the Sahara. On two wheels KTM bikes have reigned supreme this millennium, taking over the mantle from BMW.

The Dakar is the most demanding motorsport event in the world and vehicles must be built accordingly, to endure come what may. The Dakar vehicles, looks apart, have wholly different DNA than road-going ones.

Volkswagen Race Touareg

Unlike Mitsubishi which has won the Dakar using petrol engines Volkswagen has been running diesel engines in its prototypes, aiming to be the first manufacturer to win with diesel power and in the process trying to script a similar to story what stable-mate Audi has done at Le Mans with its R10 TDI prototypes.

VW’s Dakar ambitions started in 1980 with production-line specification vehicles. The evolution of the Touareg (named after a Saharan nomadic tribe) started in 2003 when VW re-entered the Dakar. A buggy was test vehicle in the first year and in 2004 VW entered with the Touareg. Today VW has full time staff of 80 committed to the Dakar project.

The Dakar prototype runs a 5-cylinder in-line TDI diesel engine with  two-stage super charging system with turbochargers and intercooler located longitudinally behind the front suspension. If the 5-cylinder sounds a bit tame by the road Touareg’s 6-, 8- and 10-cylinder road versions standards, well, it is anything but. The Dakar Touareg produces 293PS of power and more importantly a massive 600Nm of torque.

The torquey 2.5-litre diesel engine offers advantages over the petrol Monteros while racing on sand. With lower fuel consumption, diesel powered vehicles can start longer stages with less fuel on board, and the weight advantage could be as much as 200kg, over cars with spark ignition engine.

The race Touareg clocks 100kmph in 6.9s, over half a second faster than the V10 road version. Topping out at 190kmph the turbochargers ensure that the gap between race and road Touareg increases as speed increases.

The steel space frame chassis with two-door carbon fibre composite bodywork is purely race-bred and a far cry from the monocoque chassis of road cars and that gives it incredible torsional rigidity while the built-in roll cage lends it the requisite crash and roll-over protection. For the first time ever this year the Touareg had air-conditioning to keep the cabin at a more comfortable operating temperature.

The Touareg has a 400-litre fuel tank. Competition spec 200mm front and rear ventilated disc brakes with six-piston front and rear calipers are used.

The 235/85 16” tyres BFGoodrich tyres on the rally raid Touareg are taken to hell and back. The carcus of the tyre is subjected to great stress and has to last for a competitive stage of 300-400kms. They need to be resistant to punctures and also need to avoid sinking in the soft sand,