DONGFENG Challenge Dakar days 7th & 8th 14.01.2014: January, 12 & 13 - Dakar days 7th (Salta-Salta) & 8th (Salta-Calama) Rally Dakar has already held its seventh and eighth stages. Yesterday

January, 12 & 13 -  Dakar days 7th (Salta-Salta) & 8th (Salta-Calama)




Rally Dakar has already held its seventh and eighth stages. Yesterday, a huge crowd moved to attend the spectacle in the roads near Salta. The morning brought some rain with it, but the weather got nicer soon. After crossing the beautiful valleys of the region, participants came back to the bivouac in town.
 

The DONFENG Challenge team camped in the area known as Puna, deprived of any communication, either by phone or Internet. The thin air up there caused headaches to some of them, as well as the typical discomforts of being hypo-oxygenated before driving on their way to Calama.
 

Meanwhile, the rally caravan had its farewell from Argentina today and got into Chilean territory through the Sico Pass, located at 4,600 meters above sea level. Despite such altitude, the DONGFENG, as usual along this hard drive-test, worked free of problems.
 

The issue concerning tyres is very important in a cross-country round like this. Dakar trucks use 14.00 R20 tyres. Its pressure depends on the sort of  road the vehicles run and might go from 14 to 44 pounds (1 to 4 bar). Durability can often become critic when one thinks that these vehicles have between 850 and 1,000 horse power, a number that more than once destroy pieces of the rubber band.
 

As a consequence, it is necessary to change driving tyres each leg, although teams pushing for leading positions will replace a full set of them on a day by day basis. Rules tell that each truck must have at least two spare wheels. 
 

The Kamaz of Andrey Karginov (Russia) won the leg this afternoon, but Gerard de Rooy (Netherland, Iveco) is still on top after 31h20m29s rallying.


Tomorrow, the Calama-Iquique link will consist of 451 kilometers (422 of special stage and 29 of road section). It will be this Dakar’s shortest leg.
 
 


Did you know…?

 DONGFENG’s in-house production of powertrains in 2012 was almost half a million axles for médium duty trucks, 11,693 engines for this same range (4.5-litre.) and 16,852 engines for heavy duty (11-litre).



Facts and figures

Safety care equipment for competitors include a fire-proofing suit, balaclava, gloves and boots, plus helmet and HANS (head and neck support).

In the cockpit, there is a roll cage made of chrome-molybdenum to avoid serious crashes in case of accident, race seats, 5-point harnesses, extinguishers, etc.

 

- DongFeng Challenge, also photos