As the toughest and most adventurous motorsport, Dakar Rally's place in the automotive industry is self-evident. In order to achieve the best results, the world's major well-known car companies have sent their strongest "tough generals" to participate.
From January 1st to 14th, the 2022 Dakar Rally will resume. The Dakar Rally continues to be held in Saudi Arabia, starting in the northern Saudi city of Khail, then clockwise south and then southwest, ending in Jeddah, the largest port city in Saudi Arabia, with a total length of 8375 kilometers, of which 4258 kilometers are special stages. As the only Chinese figure in the manufacturer group, how is the performance of Beijing Cross Country in this event? Can racing in Dakar give Beijing off-road extra points? 】
Written| by Cai Jialun and editor | Hezi
In the previous Dakar Rally, the participating vehicles need to cross the endless desert, rugged and steep rocks, and even muddy swamps and other complex and difficult road conditions, each stage hides difficulties that ordinary people cannot imagine, and dangerous situations will occur at any time. The 2022 Dakar Rally, which has escalated in difficulty, has become the most brutal cross-country journey in history. Just a few days ago, this "most difficult in history" Dakar Rally has just come to an end. Beijing's cross-country performance in the event is notable.
The difficulty is increased, and it can be called the "Shura Field" for testing the racing car.
According to the official track information released by Dakar, the 2022 Dakar Rally is divided into 12 stages, from Khaira to Riyadh and then to Jeddah on the Red Sea coast; compared with last year's 7646 kilometers, it is equivalent to an additional day's schedule, which is definitely the top test of endurance for both participating vehicles and racing drivers.
In addition to the lengthening of the schedule, the geographical environment of the course is also quite harsh.
In the previous half-stages, for example, teams most likely experienced the extension of the Sierra Serrat Mountains towards the Eastern Daichna Desert. The terrain of this section of the road is undulating, and the landform changes greatly, which can be described as "green mud and plate, hundreds of steps and nine folds of rocks". And driving in a sand and gravel environment is undoubtedly a huge test for vehicle performance, engine high temperature resistance, passability, etc.
The first half of the schedule is already "difficult to go to the green sky", and the second half of the schedule is even more difficult: in the second half of the schedule, the participating teams will cross the desert of the Arabian Plateau, and they will be greeted by hot, dry and overwhelming sand and gravel, which is described in a poem, that is, "clouds and moons, black wind and sand evil". Obviously, such harsh desert road conditions are extremely harsh tests for the chassis, suspension, engine, transmission, four-wheel drive system, etc. of the racing car.
The Dakar schedule is longer, and the Beijing cross-country performance is average
In the face of such a difficult schedule, most car companies are understandably "afraid of the stage", after all, if there is no strong powertrain system, there is no way to finish the race. So as the only Chinese brand to participate in the two competitions, can the powertrain system of the Beijing off-road vehicle overcome the complex and difficult road conditions in Dakar?
It should be noted that the Dakar Rally is not only a long schedule, but also a limited supply point in the middle. In this way, the endurance performance of the participating vehicles must be excellent, otherwise they will have to break down halfway. The diesel engine equipped with Beijing off-road racing car has an average fuel consumption of about 8.5L per 100 kilometers, coupled with a 75L super fuel tank, and the vehicle has an endurance performance of up to 1,000 kilometers, which is theoretically enough to support the Beijing off-road team to complete the long-distance race.
Unfortunately, the actual results of Beijing off-road were not ideal, and on the seventh race day, Zhang Guoyu/Pan Hongyu, the No. 213 of the Beijing Off-Road Team, encountered the biggest obstacle since the event: overturning. And in addition to the problem of rollover, the endurance performance of The Beijing off-road vehicles and the heat resistance of the engine are also relatively general, which affects the final results of the Chinese team. In the end, the total score of Beijing cross-country only ranked 35th among all the participating teams, which was indeed a bit "miserable".
Compared with foreign models, there is still a gap
On the one hand, the strength of independent brand models is constantly improving; on the other hand, our model products still have a certain gap with foreign car companies in some aspects, such as in off-road strength. For example, Audi Motors, the world-renowned car company sent a pure electric drive car: RS Q e-tron, which also made Audi the first car manufacturer to use electric drive cars to compete in the Dakar Rally.
The Audi team that sent electric vehicles to participate in the competition not only successfully completed the race, but also achieved good results, which made people have to sigh that this car company is indeed highly skilled. In addition to Audi, Honda, Toyota and other car companies have also achieved good rankings. To put it more bluntly, Beijing off-road, as a well-established off-road vehicle company in China, also needs to continue to study hard in off-road technology.
Comments
In the daily off-road life, Beijing off-road can indeed be a single beam and easy to do, but in the brutal and professional Dakar Rally, the strength of Beijing off-road is slightly inferior to that of those world-renowned car manufacturers. Although Beijing's off-road courage is commendable and dares to challenge the Dakar Rally, at the same time, we also hope that this Chinese off-road vehicle manufacturer can forge ahead, polish its own technology, and strive to achieve good results in the next Dakar Rally.
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